Waterbury Democrat., 1902-02-06

piled lnC0 the cellarS OI luS iuAheli structures about town is progressing with remarkable speed, and if the weather continues favorable during the rest of the week sightseers from abroad who are said to be planning to come in here next Sunday will not have much to see except the places where the burned buildings stood. The vault of the New England Engineering Go was opened to-day and all the books and other property stored there- ill found in as good condition as though nothing had happened. This shows the wisdom of being prepared for any emergency that may arise. A force of men is at work making temporary re- pairs on the American building. and it is said that the plant will be in opera ton at the old stand after day or two. They were fortunate in not los ing their files and other things in that line which mean more to q newspaper than the best structure that man can build. Walls and machinery can be replaced. but the files of paper when once destroyed can never be got to- gether again, except by. the merest chance
 All the merchants who have been driven out have secured offices and show a determination to keep in touch with their patrons regardless of cost, so that it is not at all likely that any of our neighboring towns will think 1t worth while to go to the trouble of se- curing railroad facilities for the &C., commodaton of Waterbury people who might find it necessary to go else where to do their shopping
 Local bricklayers and masons laugh at the idea of anybody saying that there is demand for labor of that class here. One of them told a Democrat reporter that there is nothing to speak of doing in their line in Waterbury at the present time and. that the state ment in the out of town papers to this effect is misleading and if given any credence by bricklayers and nasons in other places could have but one result, that of bringing men here who would find 1t impossible to get anything to do. So far as can be learned all the unions are willing to make some sacri- flee in order to accommodate people who want to rebuild as quickly as pos sible. They will work extra time, but of course where this is done they will demand pay for it. It is not to be supposed that if eight hours constitute a days work and men should put in q couple of hours over that time that their employers would object to pay ing them for the additional time.
 A group of business men was dis cussing the situation in Exchange place last night and during the course of the conversation one of them re- marked that too much could not be said in praise of the cooIness and ex- cellent judgment displayed by Mayor Kilduff in issuing such prompt appeals for aid from other towns and calling out the militia. "It was time.'' he said, swhen we needed a man at the i helm that does not get rattled, and I'm pleased to be able to say that the 1 mayor proved equal to the emergen- cy." This opinion was shared by every person present The same thing might be said of the heads of the diff. ferent departments. Chief Snagg. Chief Egan, Superintendent Kelley of the street department. Superintendent O'Brien of the bureau of water. and Engineer Cairns. All rendered eff cient service and the men connected with their departments worked like beavers through one of the coldest nights we had this winter. Of course there are people who say that the Lil- lev block should have been blown up with dynamite the first thing, but 1t is the easiest matter in the world for those who stand on the sidewalks to tell what ought to have been done. Things are bad enough, but we ought to be thankful that they are not far worse. If the ground had been dry all the fire companies in the state would not have saved the entire city from being wiped out. People talk about sparks flying in all directions. Sparks. l indeed! Logs of blazing timbers would be more fitting name for the chunks or f1re that were tossed about by the fierce winds.
 1 While the crowds of sightseers are not so large to-day as they have been III the earlier part of the week still the number of strangers about town
 was considerable and it is thought that they will keep coming in for sev- i eral weeks. It is said that many for
 1ner residents of Waterbury that have not been here in years called upon i their old friends since the fire and that others have notified relatives to be prepared to receive a call from them
 any day The demand for local papers
 Is enormous. Copies of the Democrat
 nave been sent to almost every part
 or the civilized world. some b.1ving as
 many as dozen to mail 70 relatives
 in different parts of the old world and Canada.
 Naturally, we'll all soon be talkine
 about what the fire means to the city
 In the matter of dollars and cents. If
 would be hard to get at anything like
 the exact figures at this time. Prob
 ably the loss will be felt most of all ir
 the making up of the grand list o1 1902. None of the ruined buildings 4 will be replaced by March of this year
 and very little stock will be on hand
 with any of the merchants compared
 with what they would have if the fire 4 had not occurred, consequently all this property will not be available for tax
 ation in the list of 1902. In addition
 to this there will be the expense of th