The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-07-13
OUR NEW YORK LETTER
PEOPLE ARE JUST BEGINNING TO
REALIZE THE HORRORS or WAR.
TIL July I IL All Seemed Like a Dream to
the Majority. but Santiago Is Making It
n Personal Matter With Thousands
Extras -Bplletins-Maimed Veterans.


American people as awhole, judging from
their representatives in this the largest
city Of the country, began to realize In
sober earnest what war really Is.
For a month before the reported carnage
among our boys near Santiago those
who took the present struggle very seri-
ously were not numerous. The bloodless
nature Of the earlier operations, so far as
our side was concerned, particularly the
destruction Of the Spanish ships in Manila
bay, had led most folk TO conclude that 1t
wasn't much more than a play war for
US, after all.
This was not warranted by any logical
analysis Of the situation or by the lessons
of history, and here in New York at least
It was in curious contrast to the worried,
almost panicky feeling SO apparent all
through the first month after the begin
ming Of hostilities. Then 1t was confident
" feared-if 1 may couple these words
that the bold and bloodthirsty dons would
surely lombard the Atlantic coast cities,
and that New York would, of course, be
q great sufferer from the Spanish shots.
Extras and Bulletins.
1t was while this feeling lasted that the
newspapers, distinguished by enormous
captional display and mighty little news,
all set in job type, enjoyed their greatest
vogue. At that time New Workers seemed
quite daft in their devotion to these frothy
products of the rapid press, each extra
selling tens of thousands and maybe hun
dreds of thousands of copies, even when
its contents included nothing save what
had already been printed.
1t was during this period, too, that the
bulletin boards received the greatest atten
ton, the crowds in City Hall park and
some other localities often aggregating
thousands early in the morning, increas-
ing TO vast multitudes by midday and per-
sisting resolutely till shutdown and after.
Itwas then that the hot rivalry between
two well known penny newspapers, each
Boosting tho largest circulation since the
invention of the printing press, was at its
height, and it was then that the steady
going old Tribune was sufficiently swept
off its feet to join in the push for bulletin
board patronage.
The pressure that brought this about
must have been keenly felt in The Tribune
Office. Never before had its managers
done anything so ''infra Dig" as to make
special blackboard displays Of the news.
There had been Tribune bulletin board
for years This board, however, had been
white one and almost timid in its I'M
obtrusiveness, while the black letters writ
on its surface daily were essentially SEEM
ly and modest in size and design. But the
crowd attracting blackboards in front of
Mr.. Hearst's Journal, bearing bulletins
inscribed in great chalk white letters and
flanked with wondrous displays of rapid
colored crayon art-pictures of impossible
warships and highly tinted generals and
commodores-had not long been in evil
dence before The Tribune felt constrained
to follow suit And it must be said that The
Tribune's bulletins arc rarely inferior to
The Journals in effectiveness, while there
arc days on which The Tribune excels tre-
mendously not only in the size and in
tense white of its bulletin lettering, but
also in the brilliance of its chalk pictures.
pictures.
The Tribune in fact, has met The Jour
nal fairly and squarcly on its favorite bull
letin board field, playing the game to the
limit, though not going as yet to The
Journals length of hiring n cornetist to
play patriotic airs for the bulletin watch
ers to sing AS for The Worlds bulletins,
they have been as big as either The Trib-
uuC > VI lhC oi biiptSh INV ~ 'AeAAO
as gaudy and of little attracting power.
No Lack of Interest.
At present, save on days when there Is
heavy fighting to be reported, the sales OF
the extras are very much below high wa
ter mark, while the bulletin crowds are
scarcely moro than one-quarter of their
| maximum size even on such days. That
| Is not because tho people arc not interest
| ed. The reverse is true, but the attitude
of the public toward the war is now entire
| ly devoid of tho earlier anxiety, since there
| is no longer any possibility that New
| York or any other American city will DO
tho target of Spanish guns.
| Yet, as i have stated at the beginning
of this letter, the truly horrible nature of
war is only beginning to DO generally
| comprehended. It's reported movements
seemed hardly real to the majority while
yet the number of killed and wounded was
small. The fate of the gallant Bagley and
his brave companions reused much sym
pathy, to be sure, but necessarily there
were few in this town or the country at
largo to whom their deaths seemed per
sonal loss, and the episode was naturally
regarded in much the same light as any
historical incident of bravery and death.
1t has been different since the beginning
of July. Though light in comparison
with the number of killed and wounded
In several of the civil wars great battles
the casualties in the vicinity of Santiago
have been so numerous that 1t Is not easy
to walk dozen blocks on Broadway with
out meeting some one who has lost rela
tive or friend, and tho intensely persona
feeling of those thus bercaved has, O
course, communicated itself in a measur'
to the entire city.
J BY and by when tho MANNED, but recov
cred victims of Spanish bullets and she'll
begin to appear on the streets, showing
empty sleeves or walking with tho linn
that betrays n wooden leg, or showing
ugly scars in the face this personal feel
ing will be vastly increased.
The demonstrations Of personal admi
ration sure to be accorded the first maime'
and hating survivors to appear on Neyv
York's streets will be something wei
worth being present to see. In certai
, sense tho people of this town arc absorbe
In their own affairs and remarkably IN
different to all else, but there arc time