Evening star., 1925-07-08
Santa Barbara's Quakes
Reveal American Spirit

Universal praise is given throughout
the country for the calmness and cour-
age of the people of Santa Barbara
! during and since the earthquake that
wrought destruction in that city. From
! the East, South and Middle West come
a chorus acClaiming the heroic quail
ties which have made America great.
What more amazing spectacle of
courage and faith and love of home
could there be- observes the Knox
, vile Sentinel, than that of the people
of Santa Barbara, amid the ruins of
| their city, while even yet the ground
was shaking beneath their feet and the
| remaining walls were tottering about
them, as they set to work to remove
| the debris and organized plans to re-
build the city," AS convincing in
stance of community courage and de-
termination" it is believed by the Bal
timore Sun to be unsurpassed. Bal
timore, after its great fire." according
to the Sun, put up fireproof build
| ings and thereby lessened the chance
| of a recurrence of it's disa aster. Santa
, Barbara can build ever so well without
| influencing the behavior of earth
| quakes one bit.
The story of the street sweeper
! who continued imperturably to WELD
| his broom as the ground rocked under
| it" arouses the enthusiasm of the Buff
/ falo News, which asks: How do the
| psychologists account for this general
absence of fear? Are Californians as
a people developing the courageous
qualities of veteran soldiers accus-
toned to being under fire?" Continu-
| ing, the News says of the future:
with fine courage, Santa Barbara al
ready is going ahead with rebuilding
plans. But no matter how carefully
| man may build, he is not able to cope
with such natural violence as was let
| loose at Toxic and Santa Barbara. He
| still is held in the hollow of the Om-
nipotent Hand"
Like a hero of ancient Rome, Santa
Barbara, as viewed by the Grand
Rapids Herald, gives a "demonstra-
ton of mans resiliency and cour-
age" AS the story. is told by the
Herald: During a quake in ancient
Rome 800 years before Christ, we
have it on Livy's authority, NJ. Cur
tius-armed and mounted on a
stately horse-leaped into the dread
| full chasm in obedience to an oracle.
Figuratively speaking, and in a vast
| ly more practical sense, man has
been doing that same thing ever
since He does it at Santa Barbara.
He faces his unacceptable burdens
with composure, with fortitude, with
ultimate triumph"
X X X
A more modern example for COM
parison is observed by the Columbus
Dispatch in the comment: The
farms and farmers villages that dot
the sides of Mount Aetna are more
numerous today than ever before, al
though the crater has poured de-
structive and death dealing foods of
molten lava over them again. and
again, ever since the Sicilians first
became aware of the rich possibili-
ties of the disintegrated lava on
those dangerous slopes"
"It is this never say die spirit that
has made the United States what it
is in the world; with what sublime
confidence these people vision the
new town that shall rise resplendent
on the ruins of the DID," in the judg-
ment of the Harrisburg Telegraph.
National pride also inspires the Ann
| Arbor Times News to, declare: 'Is it
not, after all, the Spirit of America :?
Does not the situation, while making
us admire California, likewise en-
gender in our breasts a feeling of
pride for this whole country, of
which that golden State is an inte-
grail part? Remember the Chicago
| whose spirit was unconquered by
| fiame?"
OF the possibilities of such disas-
ters the Rochester Times-Union says: