The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1904-10-26
Gne Thousand Die.

In catastrophe which suddenly
blots out nearly thousand lives the
civilized wcrld finds cause for horror
and sympathy alike. On the commu
nifty in which such disaster occurs its
first effect is dazzling. and it is not
strange that following the destruction
| Of the General Slocum expressions Of
doubt as to the wisdom Of q cd and his
| direction of human affairs should be
heard alike from the irrcligious and
the unthinking. /. il only in the
calmcr time Of afterthought, that,
thanks to the figures Of the statisti
clan, such an accident, terrible in its
detail and shocking in it's nature,
sinks into ins.gnficancc in the death
list of the day, not merely in the
world or the nation, but even in the
state and the city.
The estimated annual death rate for
the world Of ~. 900 900 daily total
Of l23,OOO, sends into obscurity the
| thousand or fewer who were slain on
the General Siocum In the oninis-
cience Of God, whether one assume the
| position Of the doubtcr or the cynic,
! the death roll Of single accident,
even though it be as great as that Of
the General Slocum, can be only mi
nor detail, even more insignificant, in
view of the fact that all life is doomed
to perish. In tho case Of this recent
borrow nearly q thousand lives, q
larger number than in any similar &C.
cidcnt in recent years, were lost. For
a few hours the wharvcs and shores
along the river were transformed into
q morgue. In single day there were
more than 200 funerals Of victims
while the city vas plunged into
mourning and the civilized world gave
expressions to its sympathy and sor.
row.
Yet, great as was tho tragedy at the
moment, it's part even in the death lis,
of the year is only slight. In the
normal existence of this metropolis as
many persons die every l0S hours
from reasons incident to city life as
pcrishcd in the holocaust near North
Brother island. That this numbe,
should be equally significant to the
Divine power must be granted, and
as death is the commonest factor ir
human life, it cannot be regarded from
a ditfent standpoint, whether it oc
ours in accident or in ordinary course
of affairs. Within this State 800 die
every day. The tale of deaths in the
United States reaches 1850 daily, {
figure three times that Of the victim.
of the General Slocum.
There die annually in Greater New
York $4,000 persons, number larger
than that Of the population of Tren
ton, N. j. Within the United Stutes
graves are annually dug for more thar
a million cof6ns. In the face Of this
vast harvest Of mortality, the number
slain on the General Slocum seem:
slight, even to the human intellect
In the death rate Of the year for the
State or city the Slocum horror viii
hardly make an appreciable differ.
cnce, while in the 100000 dead Of
the world each IL months it is only 6
tiny item. Therefore, to sober second
thought, the unreasoning instinct to
place upon the power which the mil.
lions regard as omnipotent-whethel
rightly or wrongly does not enter into
the question-any additional respon
sibility for SO slight an increase tc
humanity's death roll appears patent
ly absurd. New York Tribune.