The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-02-09
THE CALAMITY IN BALTIMORE.

In the presence OF the terrlDre calainlty
that has befallen the city of Baltimore.
all the world stands still in horror, awe
and sympathy.
| In all history no such catastrophe has
| befallen any city. The Chicago fire OF
I1S71 almost wiped out the Western me
| tropolis but the grand total of the loss
in the Baltimore fire exceeds that of the
Chicago blaze of ruin. The disaster at
Pelee, where thirty thousand people per-
lished, was, of course, more horrible and
Iheart-rending, and stands without rival
in the worlds calamities, because life is
worth much more than property rcr-
ltunately-aye, miraculously-there is Mite
loss of life in the Baltimore fire. Only one
man was reported dead on Sunday When
it is remembered that mammoth buildings,
100000, were burned down without great
loss of life, it seems too wonderful to be
true. In the universal regret, the foct
that human lives were spared furnishes
the only cause for thanksgiving
The story in detail of the reddening
blaze that swept over the Souths chief
city is told in the news columns of to-
days paper. 1t is a story that will be
read with sickening heart in every homo
in America, and profound sympathy will
be felt for the cnterprising people OF
that great city whose possessions, obtained
by the skill and industry of generations
were swept away in a day.
The loss cannot be expressed in figures
OF in dollars. We will learn later on tie
money value of the buildings and their
contents, but ten thousand precious things
have persisted in the flames that can
never be replaced. Every newspaper of
fec in the city was burned. The build
ings and the presses and the types cali
put new machinery and new presses that
will be as good as the burned plant
But a newspaper office has in it multi
tude of things, which have been gathered
through the years, that cannot be invcn-
toried or valued. They are gone forever
to the future impoverishing of the paper
Baltimore was a rich city on the Sab
bath morning when worshipping congrega-
items fastened from the churches to s,e
the city in the jaws of a blazing holocaust
Today it is poor city-the wealth OF
century largely licked UP by the greedy
breath of the lurid flames. Much insur-
ance there was, of course. But, if the in
surance companies are all able to prompt
ly meet their losses, the net loss will BE-
not less than seventy-five to one hundred
million dollars--a sum so large that i:
CAL hardly be fully appreciated by those
who are in the habit of dealing with
thousands and hundred OF dollars. 1t is
loss which benefits nobody else. 1t is COM
compensation. 1t is gone forever, and
represents the labor the enterprise, the
thought, the business sagacity of many
Of the first business men in America.
The people of the South will sympa-
thize keenly with the people of Balti-
more, not because it is a Southern city.
In disaster so terrible there can be no
sympathy bound by sectional lines 'rae
sorrow the Southern people will feel
more keenly than others is because OF
their long. close and intimate associations
and connections with that city. For genera
items it has been the chief business city
OF the South, and North Carolina people
have long been accustomed to do much
of their trading and banking in that city.
In business and social way the inter
course has knit together the people OF
Baltimore and of North Carolina, and tn
blow strikes very near home.
Baltimore will rise in splendor. its
people have the spirit of enterprise ana
are made of stuff too stern to quail IN
der any calamity. When they have as
certained their losses, and have had time
to think, they will turn their faces brave
ly to the future, and rebuild their city
upon even larger foundations than before
The history of Chicago's recovery will be
duplicated by Baltimore.