Omaha daily bee., 1903-06-03
Kaw River at Kansas City is Steadily
Declining.
FIRST SIGHT or THE SUN FOR A WEEK
Situation Now Shows Decided Improvement
In Every Respect.
NO ESTIMATE CAN Be MADE ON lives LOSS
Flooded City Asn $ that Its Prosperity is
Not Affected
PRoFFERs OF ASSISTANCE ARE REFUSED
Public UtiIities Are Ready to Resume
Operation and All Business Az
fected VIII He ReOpened as
soon as waters Recede.
(From a star Correspondent

CFrom stan Correspondent
KANSAS CITY, June Especial Tele-
gram.)-With the worst passed and the two
rivers stationary II not slightly reeeding,
the stricken city Is beginning to resume its
| wonted spirits. Attention is diverted for
the moment from disasters already wrought
and centered on a united effort to mini
mize those yet to come. Already the cold
and the wet, the suffering by lack of water.
the exhaustion of both rescued and res
cuers, is telling on the public health and
every doctor in town is kept more busiy
| employed than ever before. Most of the
| hospitals are full, II not overcrowded, there
is free hospital In Convention hall and
scattered wards in many of the churches.
| There are also scores and scores of pa
! tients distributed among the private houses
i of the resident districts. All these must be
cared for and guarded against the Ill ef-
| fects of unfiushed drains and lack of proper
| sanitation. Then, too, with the absence of
| gas and electric light comes added dam
| ger of fire, which, with crippled brigade
to night 1t. might cause incalculable dam
| age. To meet this the mayor has issued an
order sternly prohibiting the use of gaso-
line in any form and cautioning the people
against the careless use of matches In
this way the two chief causes of fire as
! shown by insurance records are provided
for, and by extra vigilance it is hoped that
any emergency that may arise will be ef-
fectively met.
Supplying Pressing Needs.
At the same time, while preparing for the
dangers to come the city is slowly but
surely overcoming the evils 1t already con-
tends with. Today three lines of cable
cars have been running and tonight two
trolley routes are In operation. A some
what erratic gas supply is being furnished
and hordes of transfer wagons are meet
ing the local transportation needs in a
very effective manner. AS for water Kan
sas City has been too recently a village
not to remember It's primative supplies. In
4 the downtown district carts are drawing
loads to keep the elevators and light ma
chinery running while in the suburbs plen-
tiful springs blunt the edge Of the suffer
ing. Still, though actual needs may thus
be met, much yet remains to be done.
Laundries are closed. drains un1ushed,
barber shops either idle or partially so,
restaurants hard put to supply their Gus
toners, while horses often travel the
streets in the endurance of torture.
These are the actual signs of distress
which all may read, but it needs a closer
. view to measure at all accurately the full
, disaster Though the food problem has
been met by the few railroads still running
= concentrating their efforts, practically nc
: freight of any kind is moving. What this
means can hardly be imagined, but perhaps
an illustration may assist. There are -four
daily papers published They are produc-
: ing sheets half the usual size to save paper
and ink. One of them has halved its stan
, and two are turning away advertisements
to save space. The net result is that. al
though all are normally big money.
makers, all are today selling phenomenallY
and yet losing hand over fist What 1:
c true of the papers is true also to a greater
D or less extent of any other business.
Fifty Thousand Idle.
II has been estimated that $1,000 men arr
v out of employment as the direct result o.
4 the foods and to these must be added 100
= street car men and hosts of others In
directly affected. The big department
: stores are spending large sums on waite
? and so forth to keep their business run
a ming but purchasers are scanty and sale
of small amounts. Those who supply tn
a business might almost as well close a
the theaters have already done, while evel
r such necessities as clothing are being deal
!, in only to the smallest possible extent.
A is not alone that so many have nothinl
: | now but that even those fairly well OF
!, today realize that tomorrow, next week. Il
q a month hence they may come to thei
last dollar without where TO turn for more
With the cessation OF the flood rise men ar
4, talking less OF points to the west. TIL
y horrors at Topeka are almost eclipse
at this time by those nearer home, an
u today, with the first detailed news fror
Kansas City. Kan, since Sunday. ther
is much remark on conditions there bU
generally the home disaster is now al
. sorbing all attention.
" The various authorities have tackled IN
task OF caring for the sufferers and pre-
= tecting the city with commendable prompt
- tude and great skill, and 1t is entirely du
:, to their efforts that things are moving a
smoothly as they are, II must not be fol
gotten that these men have taken upO
- ~ themselves this problem without compenss
~ ton and have turned aside all poignant su
'o fering. An example of the spirit actuatin
individual citizens came TO light this morI
ing l.. f. Fetter, the leading underwritC
| of the city, visited Convention hall yeste
day, and found the chief need of the m'
Ie ment was clothing for the rescued. H
promptly borrowed a wagon, and In tW
hours had personally collected full loa
of garments for distribution among II
homeless, 1t is this spirit which is turnir
or disaster into triumph. 1t is this spirit, to
" which. turned into other channels, ca
ne alone ward off the danger of a terrib
I