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Show The Chilian Catastrophe. A great calamity has come upon the Southern Republic of our continent. Down under the Southern Cross there is mourning and fear and apprehension of further disaster. A fair city Is wrecked, a rich province is devastated and over a whole people there has come a feeling of uncer- I tainty In all human affairs that Is most hard to bear. To that people Is brought vividly the con-viction con-viction of how helpless poor mortality is when nature's destructive forces take up their march and how the most careful calculations of men are brought to naught. All up and down the Andes and Cardllleras it is as if the formation state of the earth Is not yet completed, its fires are not banked, its warring war-ring forces not yet under control. Both flanks of the tremendous range are still unsettled. We wonder what the scientists will report on Valparaiso', Valpa-raiso', They explain why San Francisco was shaken tremendous pressure, the region buckled and was shivered. Now is it the same way about Valparaiso? And is the present a permanent settlement of the trouble or a mere incident liable to be repeated at any time? And those devout people who said San Francisco Fran-cisco was crushed because of tha wickedness of its people, will they say the same of Valparaiso? And if so what of the villages where the barefooted bare-footed peasantry pass their simple days without much food, without much clothing, and where, day and night, they pray to the Virgin for protection? pro-tection? We know nothing about the causes but there are twenty-three volcanoes in Chile, several of them never bank their fires. The earth is very much alive there, so much so that tremblors are frequent. To the people the constant quivering of the earth is a hopeful sign, for it is a'theory with them that while the slight shivers continue the terremoto is not to be feared. At least that was their theory a week ago. Wo wish that our government would send a shipload of supplies down there. No flour will he needed for Chili is a great wheat country, but canned fruits, rice, corn meal, blankets and clothing cloth-ing will be needed. The climate there at this time of year is about the same that it is in Seattle in February, for this is their winter season and by keeping that in mind a shrewd guess can be made of the weather there at this season. It is in about the same latitude south that Charleston, S. C, is north, and people camping will want some clothing. When San Francisco was shivered eighty-five millions of people responded. Chili has but about 2,500,000 people and neither Peru nor Bolivia will respond much to the call for help and Argentine Argen-tine is a long way off. It would be a gracious act for our country to respond and a swift steamer from San Francisco Fran-cisco ought to make Valparaiso in fourteen days. They are a long way off and their sense of isolation isola-tion must add to their depression. And then they have no such means of recuperation as San Francisco has. Chili is a little" republic set off by itself. A great many ships stop" there, but the country coun-try has no extensive trade on the sea and the backbone of the Andes has not yet been pierced to make a way into Argentine. They need all I the sympathy and all the help that a generous world can render them. |