Show SOCIAL EXTREMES AND indications indication two events occurred in new york city on on february 5 of this year which are occasioning considerable discussion both aeng newspaper writers and political reformers the afie events however fully illustrate the anomalous condition of our social or as contrasted with our political system how such extremes in society can arise in a country where universal franchise prevails is one of tile the questions lons which puzzle the political philosopher for example read this dispatch new york fob 5 at high noon today miss louisa shepard daughter of colonel elliott F shepard and granddaughter of the late william H vander bil married to 0 o william H lin privileged friends were allowed to look at the wedding jr jp ants resents morning they are stored in the grand parlors an and present a startlingly brilliant army array at tile the least computation they represent a m monetary value of among other things is a silver dinner set got of six mix pieces each of which is gold lined and magni magnificently M bently wrought A card attached bears the legend with the compliments of mr and mrs B harrison I 1 the most costly gift is a necklace of diamond pendants pennants pend ants the whole formed in the shape of a flear de lis in this necklace are diamonds many of them of several carans carats weight represented in money value the ornament is offset b by it is the gift of mrs mm and arz mrs W J sloane other gifts are both magnificent ent and costly it will be seen that the wedding gifts in this case amounted to half a million dollars dollare also almo that the president of the united states and his wife are among the donors of these presents and further that a private person named sloane makes a present of diamonds worth in cash there would seem to be nothing wrong in all this here is the other event NEW YORK fob feb 5 starved to death in the very heart of the city such was the sad issue that befell mrs mary rosenberg a handsome young woman of 26 who lived in the basement of a house on broome sa s1 reet stretched at full length on the cold bare floor lay jay attic woman body all day yesterday several candles burned on tile the floor noar the be head bead of the corpse and threw their flickering uncertain rays about the miserable quarters in the room oom r sat two men while playing merrily a bout about were two innocent children hot both of whom were less than seven years old one of the men was the heartbroken heart broken husband when food became scarce marce the woman had heroically given up her portion to her two children eating only what was absolutely necessary to sustain life the husband and father max rosenberg was on out t of the city looking for work and when a wee week k ago the food supply dwindled to nothing mrs rosenberg ceased eating the children got a good living from charitable neighbors but the real condition of in the house was unknown and mrs rosenberg would neither talk of her affairs nor stoop to ask tor for charity tuesday afternoon the woman lay jay on a miserable cot her eyes sunken bunken her features white as marble every few minutes she went into violent convulsions she gradually grew worse until she died 1 it caillot cannot be denied that these ex show a great wrong in the prevailing social system and the question arises can the condition exist with safety to the republic Be public the chicago times contends that the lavish display of diamonds at the wedding can in no sense be responsible for the death of the starved woman at the other end of the street it says sayd that if all the wealth of the Vander bUta bilts were distributed in new york hunger would still prevail I 1 it t says that nero fiddled while rome burned but that the fiddling did not cause the con fla gration flag ration technically this iball tr true e nero did I 1 not burn rome borne he fiddled while it burned and then punished the christians christiana for burning it the christians held that such a man as nero presaged the distraction dist destruction ruction ot of rome borne for saying this they were murdered as traitors and disloyal loyalists dis lets the condition of rome borne at that time was socially on a par with what ours is now the wealth of f the empire was being concentrated cen cent rated in the hands of a few families the populace were growing poorer and poorer the tie that formerly bound rich and poor in rome borne was dissolved that tie was roman citizen ship and the ambition of all was the grandeur supremacy and dignity of rome borne in neros time the change had come the rich ignored the poor and even denied them citizenship it is IN true large amounts were distributed in alms but these alms alma were made is ft means to gain political power and to lull the people while corruption was rampant the ane Vander bilts fiddled in now new york the other day while an american ni other mother starved to death vanderbilt cant be blamed it is probable that hat if he knew such a tragedy was being enacted within a stones throw of his residence he would have hastened to relieve the poor woman but it is the condition which produces a vanderbilt and a gould which now threatens the disruption of society the man who would condemn this state of things is liable to be classed as an anarchist but who can deny that we are approaching a crisis idmilao to that which destroyed rome it I 1 lisa Is a disgrace to our eur boasted religion humanity and civilization that a young mother should me die of hunger in one of our richest cities and while a million millionaires alres wedding was in progress pro giess the press which licks the rich mans man 18 plate is much to blame why did it not help to relieve the barving woman as well as to congratulate the jeweled bride |