Omaha daily bee., 1919-04-13
Views and Rel . 2us
Latest Tornado Visitation only
a Little One bg Comparison

Disastrous as it has been to those whose
homes were wrecked by the tornado that slashed
across Omaha week ago, the damage done by
this visitation is so small by comparison with
! the catastrophe OF six years ago that it has been
| not even the customary three-day wonder The
| reason, of course, is the most miraculous alb
sence of serious physical injury and loss Of life
as against the recollection that $50 people were
killed by the 1913 tornado and the after-effects
continued to collect the penalties OF shock and
exposure for months and years. This time there
| was no need of an organized relief committee,
| of a call for help beyond what neighbors were
| gladly volunteering no establishment of sta
tons for refugees, serious disturbance OF the
regular course of community and business life.
We will not even take strangers out to see the
wind-swept sections of the city or to impress
them with the rapidly of the restoration work
This is all because by comparison the tornado
was little one and Omaha has made mighty
strides forward in the six years intervening.
Yet the pictures of the storm center al
most identical with those of the ruins on the
previous similar occasion. By these | am re-
minded of the little pictorial portfolio gotten
out by The Bee at the time of the big tornado
in which we gathered together the most striking
photographs taken in the path of wreckage and
reproduced them in an attractive form tor
people to send to out-of-town friends in graphic
portrayal of what had occurred. The booklet
was made to retail for 10 cents copy and to
wholesale to the boys who vended them at about
nalI tndt price, leaving US d very narrow margin
of profit and we were greatly surprised that
more than 900 of them were sold A month
later, after the rebuilding was well under way,
suggestion was brought to us that there would
be an equal if not greater demand for another
booklet showing not only the wreckage of the
day after, but also the achievement of restora-
ton. We had new photographs taken OF the
same locations and put them out in paired con-
trast, but scarcely anyone wanted them The
sale perhaps aggregated thousand copies,
plates The popular disposition seemed to be
to spread the news of the calamity far and wide.
but not to follow it up with proclamation of
the wonderful way in which we had risen above
our misfortune and rebuilt in an incredible
space of time what had been SO suddenly de-
stroyed.
Thomas ]. Titzmorris, so long familiar
figure at our exchange desk, has retired from
the strenuosty of newspaper life to enjoy.
period of restful ease except as interrupted by |
the work of looking after his accumulation of
real estate and other worldly goods AS an |
old timer in Omaha journalism, Mr.. Fitzmorris
has the record, so far as | know, having started |
in with The Bee in 1873 which is Al years ago. |
feel however, that | should correct the state
ment made in another paper. that he was Al
years in continuous service with The Bee. When
John A. McShane took over the old Herald to
subserve his ambition to become governor of
Nebraska he lured Mr. Fitzmorris to that
paper. This was in 1889, but it was for short
time only "Fitz," as he was called, returned
to The Bee a year later, but again quit about
1891, when his name was off the roster for some
eight or ten months. The longtime record on
The Bee is still held by my father, the founder
and first editor who directed the destinies of !
the paper from the beginning till his death COW
ering span of nearly So years. Nevertheless,
Fitzmorris' absence is being noted by us and
he will be missed by his former associates while
we are envying him the satisfaction of slowing
down from the speed of the high-geared ma
chilie and hoping he will look in on us occa-
sionally for a long time to come.
So Sidney Drew is so soon dead! His pass
ing is shock to those who saw him Keep Her
too bad that his last visit to Omaha should have
been needlessly marred by unpleasant
memory. He was not the greatest of the famous
Drew family of American actors and he obvl-
ousy had faults, which he wore on his sleeve,
but he had real talent and lkable personality.
Had he confined himself to the speaking roles
the final curtain would have been rung The
can continue to entertain or amuse through the
mechanism of the movie so long as he holds a
following who want to see him.
The first bow of the Sunday issue of the
Des Moines Capital, put out by my friend, Lafe
sembling more the usual special number, which
of course, it is, unless it can keep the initial
pace. And Des Moines has always had good
Sunday papers The new departure must be
taken to mean that the Iowa capital is expert
encing similar growth and business expansion
as is Omaha-that the whole middle west is
going up on the same swelling tide.
Rz e. I'D