Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-02-09
COUNTING UP Loss
Continued from First Page.)


in Baltimore. jumped fifty cents gallon,
and were not plentiful. Other prices
went up in corresponding degree.
The restaurants which operate on small
margins and are patronZed by the middle
and poorer classes being first to feel the eff
feet of the increased prices, were first TO
raise the figures on their bills of fare. The
increase averaged % per cent. Potatoes,
meats and all manner of provisions were
held at higher figures.
Fire Effects Not Yet Realized.
1t Is apparent, therefore, that the full eff
feet of the fire Is yet to be realized. The
people are dazed as yet by the enormi;y OF
their calamity, but the details of household
shopping and marketing VIII soon bring
them to a clearer understanding of what
that fiery blast which swept the business
center meant. Had the fire included the
residence section of the city, the loss would
have been Immediately felt by the general
population. 1t was confined wholly to bust
ness quarters however, and therefore the
result, while perhaps more vital in the end
will be the more slowly comp ehended
Best Buildings Destroyed.
IT Is one of the lamentable features of the
situation that the best of Baltimore s pnsi-
ress buildings were selected as prey 1or
the flames The are many ante-bellum
buildings In the monumental city which the
residents themselves admit would be better
ont of the way. But the fire, in its rapa-
cous progress. made no distinctions. 1t
licked up the ancient piles of brick and
mortar and swept through the modern ana
stately structures of stone and steel With
In the fire territory all the modern once
buildings stood Their destruction was as
good as complete. for. while their frames
stand intact, they are but skeletons of their
former beauty and utility.
At the office of Henry W. Rogers and
Brown g. Griffith, situated at North Charles
and Saratoga streets, representatives OF the
firms handling large real estate interests
made no secret of the fact that they were
imposing as heavy a penalty as the sltua-
ton warranted upon those in search OF tenn
porary quarters. The corporations were
rich they believed, and we'll able to stand
the increased scale of prices. The strug-
Cling merchant was confronted with the
same scale however notwithstanding the
fact that he was about to begin business
anew on very limited capital and in
strange neighborhood.
Reorganization Begun With Will.
Unholy as the extortion makes the situa-
ton. the companies and the business men
are setting about their work of reorganiza-
ton with will which bespeaks their ult-
mate success They comfort themselves by
the slogan Remember Chicago" and point
to the magnificent city of the lakes today
in comparison to the Chicago prior to the
fire of Il They feel that Baltimore pluck
and business energy will rehabilitate the
stricken city, and that the new monu-
mental city will be a model American
municipality of the twentieth century.
The people are realizing, however, that
the aftermath of the fire is as serious In its
aspects as was the confagration itself. II
may be stated in all truth that not whole
sale house Of any considerable size remains
in a city that was once the shopping and
buying center of nearly the entire south.
The seriousness of this situation is not 10
he oyerestimated. The wholesale mer-
chants are making efforts to have the Or
ders of their regular customers filled by
out-of-town houses, and are meeting with
some success There are fears That the
fire may divert the trade of the south to
an extent that will be hard to overcome
when the city Is rebuilt.