The Brattleboro reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1907-1912, 1908-04-17
WEEK in THE WORLD.
Great Events and Movements Which
Are Making History.

eldfitu ON a uuinp IN the city OF ,hclNfd
Mass, Sunday was famed by a north
west gale into conilagation whlcl
. ragged Tor more than Il nours and dc
stnoycd nearly one-thipi OF the city
Nearly l,OO0 buildings were burned, l,Jp
families driven from their dwellings an,
10000 people were made homeless. tn,
property loss il estimated at from -,
0n,DIO To 100000. Fully 100 peopl,
were more or less injured and number
persisted in the flames. The fire was the
worst Greater Boston has known in many
years and dciied the utmost efforts OF the
combined fire departments OF Chelsea and
several adjacent cities and large de
tachment OF Boston ticmen and apparat.
us. The fire area, which was in the form
of an ellipse mile and hall long and
half mile wide in its broadest part,
extended diagonally across the city from
a point near the boundary between Chcal-
sea and Everett to the waters of Chelsea
creek The high wind made it useless
for the fire fighters to attempt to check
the onrush OF the flames and their main
efforts were To prevent a spread OF the
blaze on either side. Not until IL o'clock
at night were the flames under control.
Among the structures destroyed were II
churches, two hospitals, the public Ii.
hrary, city hall, five schoolhouses, 20 bust
ntNN blbthFs u NAhlf vi lh't'llNNH
and more than 300 tenements and
dwellings. The great majority of buildings
were OF wood but structures of other
material We're almost as quickly destroyed.
Late in the afternoon the gale carried
burning embers across Chelsea creek TO
East Boston where buildings caught fire,
but extensive damage in that section was
prevented by prompt and energetic work.
The burned district in Chelsea covers
$50 acres. To protect the 10000 home.
less sufferers the city was placed under
martial law. Hundreds of people left the
scene of their desolate homes to find tenn
porary quarters with relatives in adjacent
cities but the majority of the burned.out
residents spent Sunday night in emer-
gency quarters. Adequate relief measures
for the refugees were at once. recognized.
At first a general appeal was issued but
it was decided later to confine contri-
buttons to Massachusetts,. Fully $1,000
600 is needed and large share of this
had already been subscribed
Compressed into what would be no
more than lO-minute speech on the floor
of congress, President Roosevelt Tuesday
urged that body in special message to
provide at once for the construction of
four battleshps of the largest and most
approved type. The arguments of the
president to impress his insistence on his
naval program We're few, but calculated
to be effective China was held up as an
example of the peace at any price" doe
trine and Great Britain as having the
naval policy to be emulated. The result
of the last Hague conference made it
plain that the nations would not for some
time, If ever, agree on a plan of limita-
ton of naval armament. Arbitration, the
president holds, cannot be relied upon
as an effective remedy. though it should
be utilized to its fullest extent. Dis
any intention on the part of
the United States ever to engage in war
of conquest the president made it plain |
that this country could i'll afford to relax |
into a place where insult would have to |
be borne III silence.
In a special message Monday vetong |
a dam bill, the president warned con
gress that there are pending in this SEES |
sion bills which propose to give away
without price steam rights capable OF
developing 100000 horse-po whose
production would cost annually 25,O00,0OO |
tons of coal; urged in vigorous terms the |
of policy such as the
minority in the house de-
nands which would safeguard the grant
ng of bridge and dam privileges and re-
quire the grantees to pay for them;
announced future policy on
MS part with regard to prompt utili2a-
ion of construction privileges by refus-
ng his signature to a bill giving an ad-
litional three years to the Rainy River
improvement company within which to
ouild a dam in the Rainy river.