Evening journal., 1904-02-08
THOUSANDS OUT
OF EMPLOYMENT
Concerns Giving Work tc
Many Men and Women
Burned Out
WIRES EMBARRASSED FIREMEN


spent years In advancing tie interests
CT The city throughout the South. In
trinslcally, perhaps. It's losses are small,
but K seems an irony of fate that the
home Of the association IS in ashes IN
the midst of the ruins Of great dry
goods houses for which It's best efforts
have been spent while its records, no
doubt destroyed, can never be replaced.
The fact that the dry goods houses, with
one exception, were clustered in one dis
trict results in a practically complete pa
ralys.s. Here. too. the wholesale boot and
shoe concerns. the wholesale millinery, a
portion Of the wholesale clothing houses,
as well as the bulk Of general iobbers
were centred. Mills. factories. importers
and many other branches Of industry
north 10 Maine viii feel the effect of the
sudden cessation of business activity in
Baltimore at a season when all was alert
ness for the opening season.
The buildings destroyed represent every
class. Among them are splendid new
structures, built on steel skeletons on
what are termed "hreproof'' lines. Such
were the Union Trust and another, the
Law Building. The wholesale FIRMS. as a
rule, occupied stcel-framed. brick struc-
lures, from FIVE to eight stories in height
Few have been constructed in recent years
but all represented the best building meth
DDS Of from ten 10 twenty-five. years ago.
finder Boxes For Sparks.
Here and there throughout the firc dis
trlct were venerable structures, dating
twenty. thirty TO forty years back. and
some few even older. Remodeled fronts
made these structures serviceable for
smaller concerns, but a fire Of the magni-
tude Of this found ready material IN these
TO gather fresh energy. Sparks blown
squares across roofs found in these verit-
able tinder boxes, and offered a menace
TO better-bunt buildings all ABOUT them
Baltimore loses some fine warehouses.
Few, if any, OF the buildings destroyed,
however. but viii be supplanted event
uaily by structures calculated to add at
tractiveness 20 the city. The city posi-
lively profits IN a score OF cases. and the
gain In this one aspec- viii exceed the
loss.
It viii be found when investigation be-
gins that the Baltimore Fire Department
and its assistants from other cities were
hamptred throughout their task by over
head wires. Baltifhore street is a veritabls
highway for trunk lines.
Wires Embarrass Firemen.
A forest Of poles Is presented to view
looki..g along the street in either direction.
Two to three hundred wires may be fosnd
despite costly preparations to place al
of them underground. Ladders have fire.
quentiy been found useless at Baltimore
street fires as q result and today the ef-
feet was the same
Fully 900 firms did not resume business
this morning. The average number OF
lemployes for each Of these firms is. per
lhaps, 100, running from ten in smaller
Baltimore street stores TO many hundred.
In the number Of large concerns involved
lIt may safely be estimated that from
1900 to a00Q persons are out Of employ.
Iment as one result Of the fire. Many
will be carried by tho larger firms. bui
perhaps 10000 vii be left without work
Among the many venerable structure,
in the path Of the fire was one at tn.
corner of Baltimore and Hanover
streets. occupying the site ana partl,
/ the original structure in which sat IN,
continental Congress during one of ia
enforced migrations from Philadelphia
IA handsome bronze tablet had been place.
on the building in recent years, recording
tins fact.
The destruction OF the Maryland In
stitute Of Art and Design, on East Bal
timore street, removes classical Bal
timore landmark. Here, for years, cen
tred the artistic and social life OF tn,
city. Years ago it gave way TO stmc
lures farther up town, and Jewisl
population has filled the neighborhood
Jenny Lind sang there; Henry War,
Beecher, John b. Cough and others ad
dressed audiences there.
The art school, in part supported b,
the city. is Of itself classic institution
II has had such directors as Andre Gas
taigne, and is az present the seat Of th'
decadence Of the house began. and IL
school sculpture founded by Relnhardt
which has graduated students in Parii
and Rome. It's galleries contained costl.
2 marbles and casts of famous works o
+ art as wen as scores Of splendid can
vases. the work Of teachers and pupils
many Of them famous in American ar
circles.
I The Front Street Theatre. while amonl
. the ruined buildings. IS among the pionee
lplaynouses Of the country. Once the elit
IQl DdiliIlnAt HhA NHcHiih toh HV%Nr'
there. There John Wilkes Booth. TO b
the slayer of Lincoln, played about tn
dressing rooms while his great father
, lJunius Drutus Booth, held vast audience
! spellbound from the stage. Years ago th
, doom was finally sealed IN 1896, when sixt,
peop,e were killed an a disaster simila
in nature 10 the recent Chicago disaster
, A cry Of ere" caused a stampede. an
, in twenty minutes mass OF dead. dyin
or injured more than 200 In all. lay heape
, at tho foot Of an entranen stairway.
The Baltimore American, whose ofhc
, building at Baltimore and South street
I is probably in ruins. Is amons the oloes
newspapers OF the United States. 1t wa
Established as a weekly in 1776, and, wit
the exception Of short Interruptions earl
y in its career, has been an unfailing re
: view Of news for great number Of read
, ers. At an early hour this morning tw
I daily German newspapers are alone un
G affected by the FIRE, though both are 4
: danger. The Baltimore Sun has an aux
: iliary plant on North Calvert street, nea
l. enough TO be far from safe. but offerin
! a means Of presenting some form Of pape
! for the benefit of its readers. Othervis
y there will be no newspaper accounts Q
: the fire. The Baltimore News. an after
noon daily; the Baltimore Morning Hel
}. aid, the Daily Record. a law court joul
nal' and the American are homeless.