Fort Wrangel news., 1898-07-13
THE SHAME OF THE CENTURY.

On the morning of the 4th inst. the French liner La Bourgogne collided in a fog with the iron sailing ship Crom- artyshirc off the Grand Banks and sunk in half an hour. Of the I23 souls on board but l62 were saved. The nara tive discloses that the officers of the ship lost all control over their crew; that the crew and a numh her of Italians from the steerage united to terroriZe the women and children. They killed to gain possession of the boats. As a result but ono woman WAS rescued. Helpless women, helpless, tender chil dren were stabbed h death and swat lowed up in that terrible maclstrom of water Better that all civilization per ish from the earth and that if be re solved back into chaos than such den onstratiou should give its evidence of human ticndishness. To think of it. Men entrusted with the lives of so many people. resting under the weight of so terrible responsibility. were un- able to meet an emergency to which those who navigate the sea are always subject. and against which it is their imperative duty to make every possi- hle provision. How k il to be account ed for that men gathered together by the hundred should show no single sign of a heroic thought or of n heroic action. l. life SO sweet to the average man that in order to save it he would trampla over women and children and force them to d terrible death without compunCtion? Words cannot express the abhorrence which every high-mind- ed man must feel in contemplating this awful occurrence. No man of iutelli- gcnce will believe that an .Anglo-SaYon crew would exhibit like characteristics under any circumstances. l. it a fact that people of the Latin nations are so endowed as to he unfit to be trusted with the necessary aud unavoidable re responsibilities of life?
 Under the shadow of this appalling sorrow lot Ills f"arlessly consider the wort hleseneSS of the French character. \ few years ago witnessed q like scene in the loss of d French liner The same exhibitions of inearaclty and brutal cOwardicc wcre ir evidence. Recently in Paris public building. crowded with thousands of women and children, burned to the ground Titled French men struck women and children in their mad efforts to save themselves. Ah, is it possible that among polished nations the masses of men are so en- tirely daatardS: The Italians. who con- stituted large part of the snip steer age complement. in a frenzy of fear struck remorseieSsly with their knives that they might get into the boatS There must be something wrong when members of particular race show such d want of the qualities which make for our ideals of men.
 This consideration opens up field for grave reflection. IL touches nation al as well as individual character. It discloSes beneath the enamel and taW- dry colorings of ant, refinement and glittering superiiciallties muderous craven soul hideous ill its pnerility. It appears to be reserved to these races, renowned for vain-gloryiug and braya do, to show to thc world their worthless ness as a people, The time has certain ly come when nations are to be judged by the traits and qualities of their clti- ZenS. As time progresses, the ttteSt, wisest. strongest and braver people will inevitably dominate the governments of the world. Ne turn from this sick ening scene to look with pride upon our own people. We are now waging a war dllu OUeIlu1 tue blOpu Ol utIOlC Iltu that murder and incest and cruelty may no more be practiCed upon de fenseless people. God grant that Span ish domination shall cease. God grant that hereafter no American will eyer entrust his dear ones to these cOwardly effeminates of the sea who command the ships of the French line. The soon CT prohibitory head tax Is put upon the dago the better. He crosses and recrosscs the Atlantic upon the French liner to work upon the American rail roads and the public streets of New York in the summer to the exclusion of our own citizens and returns to Italy to spend his winters. Meanwhile he gives his aid to the murder of our wives and children when ill-fated ships subside into the sea. It is time there was firmly established an Anglo American alliance. What is it which so ennobles our race, which loves to as sist the weak, despising vain boasting which holds deep reverence for human rights and tolerance for others. Is it the school house? We feel sure of it. We think the public. unsectarian school house is at the bottom of much of it. Let us in the future realize more and more the excellent virtues of our own ences have developed manhood which has never before been attained in the worlds history. We are the people who have at last solved the question of ab- solute liberty. That liberty which lives under the shield of the law, submits cheerfully to the intelligently prescrib