New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-06-27
Continued from page l

tives and have means Of their own.
Besides the problem Of caring for the
homeless and idle, the municipality is
confronted with a most serious prob
lem. One-third of its taxable property
has been destroyed or burned over, and
difficulty is going TO be experienced IN
meeting appropriations based on taxes
levied on that property last month. The
tax rate now is high-s24 on $1,000 OF
assessed valuation, which is about two
thirds of the market value-and II IS
not improbable that relief will have to
be asked from the Legislature, now IN
session. An immense sum will have TO
be raised to restore streets and public
buildings destroyed by the fire and IN
rehabilitating the city generally.
Another question is that of rebuild
ing. Beyond doubt many of the firms
and corporations which lost their
plants will not rebuild in Salem. Those
who can will get buildings elsewhere,
and Salem fears that those who go VIII
not come back. It is believed certain
that the Naumkeag company, which
employed 5000 hands, will rebuild,
though that question will have to be
passed upon by the stockholders.
II will be a herculean task 70 pro-
vide houses for the thousands now
sleeping in the open, but this task will
be lightened measurably by the GER
tainty that hundreds of those who were
employed in the various factories will
leave town soon to find employment in
similar lines elsewhere.
The city to-day has been jammed
with visitors from nearby cities, the
n
running in all directions having re-
sumed service. The crowds have been
orderly. and there have been few ar
rests and no looting. The local electric
lipht company, the New England Tele-
phone and Telegraph Company and the
Street railway companies at once Sc;
about restoring service, the city gov
eminent having issued special permits
for such repair and emergency work as
the companies may deem necessary.
The city is well lighted tonight, and
telephone and streetcar service is near
" normal. In anticipation Of tine big
crowds which will be here tomorrow
and Sunday. additional militia Will be
placed on duty.
Ruins Still Burning.
When dawn broke this morning
smoke clouds and the red haze from
the still burning ruins of one o. the
greatest fires ever known in the COM
monwealth covered the city. The
crowds of citizens who surged past the
militia were down near the water front,
fascinated by the god of fire. Up on
the hillside, where the big fire started,
il was still as death, and tall forest
of chimneys rose gray from the ashes
of the ruins.
throughout the city to-day and to-
night there has been a spirit Of carni-
val hardly in keeping with the sltua-
ton. In the high school grounds.
where there are rows and rows OF
fonts. and on the grounds at Forest
Hill Park, children, in high glee,
danced down the tent colony streets,
and excited women, all thought Of
class distinction gone, chatted and
laughed and borrowed what little they
could from one another. In the park
there is a babble of French, for 1t IS
there that the residents Of French
town" who worked in the mills, have
found temporary shelter, and their
Gallo temperaments have risen 70 lit
them out Of the dolor that belongs IN
so many other places in this stricken
town.
In the high school itself things are
different, for there many Of those who
have been separated from loved ones
some Of whom may be in hospitals