Year: 1874

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Gre which stopped the preparations which
one of New York's most popular theatrical
managers was making for the evenings
amusement, and consumed the building.
fortunately before the people had gone into
it. In Washington, before men had be-
como fairly accustomed to write the figures
1873, regulations were blasted BY the score
and the dry rot had begun which has since
made such deep inroads upon the politics
aud politicians who had for years held
unbroken hold upon the power and upon
the destiny Of the nation Then came the
uprising Of Western farmers, vaguely con-
scious Of being imposed upon by monopoly
Of some sort and striking wildly at the
railroads in their exaspeation. And then
came the financial panic and the fall cleo
tions startling the whole country and set
ting public opinion spinning faster than
ever along the Democratic grooves upon
which II was entering But while the
financial panic win be felt 10 the future as
a political force it is mainly as a social
force that men are now most concerned
about II ana with it. For among the mil
lions who celebrate the advent Of the new
year to-day there are not many thousands
who do not directly feel in want or in
broken fortunes and disappointment the
wide-reaching results Of that disaster. For
US Of America It Is BY far the greatest dis
aster Of the year, and men may be thankful
that the new year opens with something of
brighter promise.


Other disasters BY sea and land have
been far more numerous and far more
destructive than is usually recorded Of one
year. In January the English emigrant
ship NorthAeet, bound from London to
Van Dieman's Land, was run down near
Dungeness and hundreds of lives were lost.
On the lst of February great gale pre-
vailed around the English coast, causing
immense loss in vessels and in life. Then
came the frightful wreck of the Atlantic
at Meagher's Head on that cold and dismal
April morning, with its holocaust of VIC
tins. A September gale visited the same
coast, strewing it with wrecks and corpses
for hundreds of miles and destroying mil
lions Of property on sea and land. The
sinking Of the Vile du Hayre win long be
remembered among the distressing events
Of the year, but the lives which were lost
on that Inflated vessel form but small
number compared with the unnamed dead
who perisled in the many lesser shipwrecks
of 1873. No event Of the year is more
remarkable than the destruction of the
entire City Of San Salvador BY earthquake,
which occurred on the 10Th Of March.
The city contained population of l9, 900
who were reused from their beds at mid
night by the shaking of the earth and the
tumbling Of the walls, and yet only seven.
teen lives were lost. The loss Of property
is estimated to have been from $40 900 900
to $40, 100000. During the same month
forty-four acres of buildings were burned
in Hong Kong Later in the year there
was an earthquake in Italy, and in India
300 houses were swept away by food.
In July came the great fire in Baltimore,
which destroyed a hundred houses in the
centre Of the city and in August twenty
three blocks Of business houses were de-
stroyed in Portland, Or. Asiatic cholera
kept Eastern Europe in alarm for great
portion of the summer, and choler Of a
scarcely less malignant type spread death
and CONSERVATION through the cities of
our own Mississippi Valley. Probably no
such fatal yellow fever epidemic has ever
been known in this country as that which
decimated the population Of Shreveport
and Memphis. II is not pleasant to read
Of horrors, and we prefer to pass lightly
over that record which the old year
has left us. But no one can glance back
over the grim record without a feeling Of
relief that it is passed, or without the hope
that by some accident Of time the old year
drew upon the new year for its calamities,
leaving the prospect brighter than the
retrospect. =


The wars Of the year were not important
in magnitude though in one direction they
have been important in results, and in
another they have set one stake forward
on the line Of what appears to be manifest
destiny. The connections which have
distracted Spain have resulted in firmer
establishment Of republican government in
that country than any friend Of republican
government dared to hope few months
ago, and the conquest Of Khiva by Russia
has merely given the latter country a
stronger hold upon the East. The Cuban
war has dragged itself along without any
important result except the capture Of the
Virginius, which may ultimately prove q
more important event for the future Of the
island than any which has yet happened.
The pursuit of the Modoc murderers can
hardly be called war, though the execu-
tion Of Captain Jack and the dispersion Of
his band has practically destroyed tribe
which has been taught to consider itself
an independent nation. The English war
in Ashantee and the Dutch war in Acheen.
though waged against savage tribes, differ
in this from our Modoc war that they
promise some important CONNER ,ial results
for the civilized nations who wage them.


In many respects the old year was
year Of reckoning, and the results Of its
reconings starts the new year forward with
a better moral atmosphere. Tweed pays
the penalty Of his giddy ambition and
avarice by disgrace, and does penance for
his crime in the garb Of a convict. Stokes
terminates a career Of excess and passion
in the Penitentiary, and Foster has gone
70 the executioner, Nixon and Walworth,
coming later among the list Of criminals,
were more speedily overtaken by their
crimes.


The year was one Of discomfort and
misfortune for large bodies Of the working
men Of the country. Strikes and threats
Of strikes have been numerous, but the
arrest Of industry which came with the
panic in Septamber destroyed for time
not only the possibility OF getting higher
wages but in many instances the possibility
OF getting any wages at ALL On the
whole, however, the worst that was antici-
pated for the working-men when the panic
began has not yet been realized. Many
employers Of labor who were for time
compelled to suspend their industries have