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

spent years. in advancing the interests
cf he city throughout the South. In
trinsically. perhaps. its losses are small.
but Il 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 its best efforts
have been spent while it's records. no
doubt destroyed. can never be replaced
The fact that the dry goods houses, with
one exception, were clustered in one dis
lrict 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 jobbers,
were centred. Mills, factories importers
and many other branches Of industry
north to Maine viii feel the effect of the
sudden cessation Of business activity in
Baltimore az 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 steel-framed. brick struc-
tures, 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 to twenty-five years ago.
finder Boxes For Sparks.
Here and there throughout the fire dis
trict were venerable structures. dating
twenty, thirty to forty years back. and
some few even older. Remodeled fronts
smaller concerns, but a FIRE Of tho magni-
tude OF this found ready material in these
to gather fresh energy. Sparks blown
squares. across roofs found in these verh-
able tinder boxes. and offered menace
to better-built buildings all aoout them.
Baltimore loses some fine warehouses.
Few II any, Of the buildings destroyed.
however. but will be supplanted event
ualiy by structures calculated to add at
ltractiveness to the city. The city post
lively profits in a score Of cases. and the
gain In this one aspect viii exceed the
loss.
II VIII be found when investigation be-
ID gins that the Baltimore Fire Department,
and its assistants from other cities were
hampered throughout their task by over.
head wires. Baltimore street is a veritabls
highway for trunk lines.
Wires Embarrass Firemen.
A forest Of poles Is presented to view
llooli,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.
quently been found useless a. Baltimore
street fires as result. and today the ef.
feet was the same
Fully 200 firms did not resume business
this morning. The average number OF
employees for each of these firms is. per.
haps. 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
Il5.oeo to 10000 persons are out Of employ.
Iment as one result Of the FIRE. Mans
win be carried by the larger firms. bui
perhaps 10000 vii be left without work
Among the many venerable structure.
in the path of the fire was one at tbs
corner of Baltimore and Hanover
streets. occupying the site and parti,
the original structure in which sat III,
lContinental Congress during one of ia
enforced migrations from Philadelphia
Ia handsome bronze tablet had been PLACED
ION the building in recent years. recordins
tins fact.
The destruction OF the Maryland In
lstitute Of Art and Design on East Bal
timorc street, removes a classical Bal
timore landmark. Here. for years. cen
tired the artistic and social life Of thu
clty. Years ago 1t gave way to struc
lures farther up town. and Jewisl
population has filled the neighborhood
Jenny Lind sang there; Henry War,
lBeecher. John b. Cough and others ad
dressed audiences there.
The art school. in part supported b,
the city. is Of itself classic institution
It has had such directors as Andre Cas-
ltaigne, and is al present the seat of tn,
ldecadence- OF the house began, and itl
school sculpture founded by Relnhardt
(which has graduated students in Paris
land Rome. Its galleries contained costl.
marbles and casts Of famous works O
art, as well as scores Of splendid can
vases. the work OF teachers and pupils
many Of them famous in American ar
circles.
The Front Street Theatre. while among
the rained buildings. is among dhe pionee
jplayhouses OF the country. Once the elit
of Baltimore and Washington hocke,
there There John Wilkes Booth, TO b
the slayer of Lincoln. played about th'
dressing rooms while his great father
lJunius Brutus Booth, held vast audience
lspellbound from the stage. Years ago thi
doom was finally sealed in 1896. when sixt!
people were killed IN a disaster simila
lin nature 10 che recent Chicago disaster
= A cry Of FIRE" caused a stampede, ant
in twenty minutes a mass Of dead dyinl
or injured more than 200 in all. lay heape,
at tho foot OF an entrance stairway.
The Baltimore American, whose ofic
building at Baltimore and South street
Is probably In ruins, is among the oldes
newspapers Of the United States. II wa
Established as a weekly in 1T16. and will
the exception Of short interruptions earl.
in its career, has been an unfaillng re
view Of news for great number Of read
ers. At an early hour this morning tw
daily German newspapers are alone un
: affected by the FIRE, though both are Il
! danger. The Baltimore Sun has an aux
iliary plant on North Calvert street, nea
enough to be far from safe. but offerinl
a means of presenting some form OF pape
for the benefit of its readers. Otherwis
there will be no newspaper accounts O
the fire. The Baltimore News. an after
noon daily; the Baltimore Morning Her
. aid. the Daily Record. a law court jour
lnal, and the American are homeless.