Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-04-20
Reckoning the Losses.

Now comes the awful work Of examining
the ruins OF San Francisco. even though
the fires have not yet burned out and a
section of the city hitherto considered i'm
Inuue from danger is nsensced by the de-
vouring element. In the business and tene-
ment district, where the earthquake was
most severe and where the fires started the
debris is now a sckenng mass of building
materials smolderiRg and smoking. No
man can tell how many lives have been lost
md how many million dollars worth Of
property has been destroyed. From Kan
as city comes an exceptionally intelligent
Itatement OF the case, to the effect that
here is at this time positively no means
81 knowing whether there are 800 or 20, 900
Head. The writer however, quotes an in
Iurauce official as stating that the property
uss VIII be approximately half a billion
dollars. this computation being based upon
the insurance policies held by San Fran
Ciscans
1t will he many weeks, perhaps many
months. before the full measure of the loss
IS known. 1t is possible that save by the
fact Of continued absence on the part of
individuals. no accurate record OF the
deaths from the earthquake and the fire
will ever be written. In the confusion of
tematlc search Of the ruins could be made,
for the fires soon drove the rescue parties
out of the debris. In the panic of the
people which followed and the rapid spread
OF the flames during Wednesday and Thurs
day additional lives must have Deen lost,
though how many one can now only guess.
without assurance of accuracy.
Sufficient IS it for the country to know
that San Francisco has suffered what is
probably the greatest disaster in the his
tory of the new world, far as the loss
OF property and the paralysis of business
are concerned. The fire exceeds those that
swept Chicago. Boston and Baltimore by
many degrees of destructiveness. In San
Francisco to the horror of the sudden
shocks the deaths and the swift rolling
together of the flames in a great cauldron
OF fire. is added the fact that the homeless
people are for the time without food or
water. Hemmed in as they are by the
sea on three sides. they cannot relieve their
wants. Save in small numbers they cannot
flee to the eastern side of the bay for they
are blocked of on that hand by the fires,
and there are transportation facilities for a
very few There In the parks and on the
sand lots OF the western side of the city
they are huddled a trembling hungry
thirsty, suffering crowd of homeless peo-
pie, perhaps two hundred thousand of
them. presenting n spectacle never before
witnessed in this country and, 1t Is to be
prayerfully hoped, never to be repeated.
The country is responding to the call for
help in q manner and spirit promising the
immediate accumulation of an enormous
relief fund. The United States sets a noble
example by appropriatng 100000. The
large financial bodies are following suit in
liberal degrees and the people of all the
cities are preparing to make their con-
tribuuous in stream that within a
few days will probably mount into the
tens of millions. There will be no lack of
money if the spirit now evinced is sus-
tanned. The problem Of administration will
be eventually more acute than that of pro-
vid.ng the means. The need of the hour is
an organization which Will make the best
and quickest use Of the golden food now
pouring toward San Francisco to assuage
the hurts of the stricken community.