New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-10-03
TJON'S TRAGIC SIDE.

That was pliiful and suggestive stor~ which
was told in yesterdays papers. a. Broadway
and Thrty-fourth-st.. about o'clock on Friday
evening. q man and his wife. who were a.
companied hy their three little children. fell
down on the street through exhaustion from
lack OF food. The mar was Hungarian who
until recently made n comfortable living FOR
himself and family rs n bookkccper. But some
time ago he lost his place. far appears
through no fault of his. and 10 complete his
III fortune he also lost all his little savings
through n rascally lawyer. He tried in vain TO
get employment of any kind. 4 foreigner and
a stranger without any friends ncccss arly has
little chance Of work in city where even in
prosperous times there Is always small army
Of willing and experienced men looking for
work Four days ago the family reduced
10 It's last crust. and in desperation The man
determined 10 TAX" his wife and children with
him in til" qucs. for work hoping that their
mute misery would add strength 10 his appeal
But in this he was disappointed. and after near
IL three days Of starvation he and his wife
collapsed on the street.
The story Is title one. II Is duplicated
every week in all great cities. II reveals 10 us
the tragic side Of civilization. which with all
its strength and progress 50 often finds itself
unable TO take due care and oversight Of its
children. Yet II Is not easy to sugges' rem
edy for such cases. II can he said. Of course,
that men ought not 10 c0ngrcgatc in the large
cities and towns. and that If they do they have
only themselves to blame when they suffer
through the operation of the law Of supply and
demand But while that seems the obvious
thing to say II throws no Hight on the question.
For the tendency Of mutltudcS Of peop: 10
crowd into the cities Is n fac thar must be
taken into the account. II can neither be IL
norcd nor reasoned away. 1t has enormously
Increased the difficulty Of the municipal prob
lem by throwing into every city great con
gestcd and unassimacd mass OF men and
women. some of them vicious ana ignorant and
most OF them poor and helpless. II Is this blind
and unreasonng desire TO flock into the city
which makes the municipal problem in this
country the most urgen, question Of the day.
some solution Of which must speedily be found
If our civilization is TO endure. OF It's ultimate
solution we entertain no doubt. The public con-
science is rapidly becoming reused 20 it's para
mount Importance. In spite of much that
tends TO discourage the municipal rcformcr. the
problem is already in the way OF being solved,
and, though we mag have to endure many evils
and righteousness will triumph IN the end. and
the nebuous dream of good government in our
cities will become an actual fact.
In the mean while the picture is not wholly
black. The light of brotherly kindness. innate
in the heart Of even the most thoughtless and
selfish, flashes upon II This poor man and
his wife might well have thought that all the
world was against them. that in this whole city
no heart could be made to beat one throb OF
sympathy for them. But in this they would
have been mistaken. When their misery be-
came really known willing hands were stretched
out TO help them. Casual strangers on the
street came eagerly forward with money and
food. and. what was better yet. offers Of en-
, rloymont came to The man. The world IS not
cruel. though through It's pr"occupaton and g-
norancc it may seem culpaby indifferent 10 the
daily tragedy of sorrow and want In lao pre-
ccding age OF the world. history has the pas
sion of hr0therly kindness been stronger in the
hearts OF men. and never before has that pas
sion manifested itself in more helpful and Ten
der ways. The failure OF modern civilization.
so far as 1t il failure, Is not the lack of
desire to help the poor and the needy. but the