Evening star., 1925-08-16
BY CARROLL BINDER,
Correspondence of The Star and the Chicago
Daily News


Daily News
KILAUEA CRATER, Hawaii
Forty-siX earthquake and volcanic
Calamities in the last 23 years have
exacted an annual toll of 10000 lives
and yearly property damages averag-
ing half n billion dollars. Were one to
reckon the havoc wrought by ty-
phoonS. foods or tidal waves having
their origin in these violent earth
disturbances the figures for loss of
life and property damage would be
far greater.
Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions
are not infantile Affections which the
human kind will outgrow, these sta
itstics demonstrate. Mighty forces
are still ChurninE so or 100 miles
down in the bottom of the earth and
tragedies as great as those at Toxic,
destroying 400. .000 lives and half bill
lion dollars worth of property, or at
Martinique, killing 10000, and San
Francisco, causing destruction of 500
000, 900 worth of property are yet to
be staged by Mother Earth.
Cities Increase Menace.
Instead of diminishing in serious
ness, these earth movements work
more and more havoc upon the race
cided 70 build large cities with tower
ing skyscrapers, narrow streets and
great fire risks in earthquake lands.
a violent shift in the inner regions
meant no great calamity in many
instances. 1t was a relatively simple
matter to flee from the hut when the
earth began to tremble and few were
crushed by toppling structures.
Few lands are exempt from earth
i i
United States is not among these
fortunate areas. Six of the eleven
great disasters since 1900 were in
American territory, two were in
Italian and three in Japanese. Vulcan
struck with amazing rapidity and
force in widely scattered regions.
AS civilization reaches out it's
tentacleS 1t reduces more and more
the area where earthquakes may
occur apart from mankind and thus
does the earthquake toll increase.
The sea bottom has witnessed mighty
convulsions among its mountains
and valleys which have been per
ceptible only to the denizens of the
deep. Only sea birds and seals have
been injured by the colossal earth
quakes, landslides, floods and volcanic
outpourings which have taken place
in Alaska, Kamchatka, Antartica,
Siberia and Patagonia. When man
goes hunting for sealskins, gold or
other treasure in those lands the
earth begins to exact its toll. When
hundreds of thousands or millions of
men cOngregate in Toxic, San Fran
cisco, Messina and other places with
treacherous habits, the casualties
increase appallingly.
AS the world is more and more
ri yr1ir fnc ~-;o
a disaster in TOXIC almost as keenly
as though it were within their own
borders. But there is more than
such a broad humanitarian base for
American interests in the nature of
these earth disturbances and ways
to resist them.
Time for New Quake.
Prof. Jaggar points out that in 1863,
1875, 1911, 1886 and 1906 great dis
turbances occurred in the st. Law.
renee, the Mississippi, Boston Bay,
the Carolina coast and the California
coast. The average interval for these
widely separated manifestations was so
years. Writing in Scribner's last year.
he said that "since 1898 we have had
eight tremendous earthquakes in
Alaska, California, Guatemala, Mexico,
Costa Rica, Jamaica and Porto Rico,
averaging four and a half years apart
for the rs years. 1t is about time for
eastern America to demand seismic
toll of life and property again, for
these twentieth century places hither-
to have been west and SOUTH
The Chicago territory, Michigan
and other sections of the Great Lakes
territory seem to Prof. Jaggar to be
resting on pretty solid earth, and in
less danger than some other regions
Of the United States The under
ground heat is apparently much less
than that in California, but the de-
gree of seismicity, or "earthquaki.
ness" of the Chicago area can be de.
termined only after extended inyesti-
cation and observation.
The Pacific Coast area remains in
the forefront of the earthquake re-
gions. Amy one of the Pacific Coast
cities may get another big earth
quake" says Prof. Jaggar. After
nine months of earthquakes in the
Carolinas, Virginia, Ohio, New York,
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Que
bee, Montana and California, it be-
hooves those coast cities which have
not yet experienced quakes to pre-.
pare for violent disturbances. Those
cities, such as San Francisco and Santa
Barbara, which have had earthquakes
are the least in need of precaution
The danger is far greater in such
communities as Seattle, Portland, Los
Angeles and other cities which have
not yet had disturbances"
Copyright. 1928. by Chicago Daily News Co
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