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1886
the foremost of which was twelve feet above
the sea level, the waves of the gulf swept
until a considerable part of the parish was
ten feet under water. Under the combined
action of the wind and the water, "house
after house fell in and was swept away,
either burying the doomed people in the
debris or drowning them. The cotton and the
stores next succumbed, and Radford and
Johnson's bayous were destroyed as completely
as if an invading army had done the
work. Even the houses that withstood the
storm were completely gutted. Such of the
inhabitants as escaped were fortunate enough
to reach the higher ridges, where they remained
without food or water fit to drink
until the waters receded." Eight-five lives
are known to have been lost. Of eight thousand
head of stock six thousand were
drowned, and the remainder, it is feared, will
die of thirst, as all the water is salt. Following
close on this comes the news of the detruction[destruction]
of the greater part of the town of
Salisbury, Maryland, by fire with immense
loss of valueable property. It is at the West
where the tornadoes sweep to destruction
everything they encourter in their path,
and in the States bordering on the gulf that
the terrible power of the wind and rain
storms of this continent is most frequently
felt. But at Sabine Pass, and in Cameron
Parish, Louisiana, the destruction was principally
due to the rising in overwhelming
force of the waters of the gulf stream,
while at Salisbury the scourge was fire.
The series of earthquakes so disastrous
recently in South Carolina has added
a new terror to death and a sense of danger
heretofore unknown. Happily, such shocks
are of rare occurrence, and when the subterranean
forces have readjusted themselves
anew, no further disaster may be apprehended
for a long time to come. But the
people of the States whose homes are destroyed
and whose lives are put in joopardy
by tornadoes, cyclones, fires and floods,
deserve at all times the utmost sympathy of
the States that are free from such terrors,
and such material help as their condition
may require.
A REVIEW OF THE PAST YEAR.—The year
1886 compares very favorably, from several
important points of view, with its immediate
predecessors. It has been marked, it is true,
by frequent destructive storms, earthquakes,
floods and conflagrations in various parts of
the world, and by incipient social and plitical
movements of threatening import, but it
has been free from actual wars, and its closing
months have been characterized by a
large incrase in industrial and commercial
activity. The almost universal depression of
trade, of which the panic of May, 1884, was
an aggravating incident, and which at the
beginning of 1886 still weighed upon every interest,
passed away in large part before the
twelve months were gone, and has been succeeded
by a decidedly more hopeful feeling.
Baltimore has kept its normal pace of steady
progress. The city government has been
well administered, and peace and order have
maintained their wonted sway within our
limits. Notable events of the past year in
which the city has a lasting interest were the
completion of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
to Philadelphia, and the inauguration
of the Enoch Pratt Library.
Baltimore's business men, in a survey
of the transactions of 1886, have
no reason to be dissatisfied. They have
held their own in nearly all lines of trade,
and in some they have enjoyed great prosperity.
They have seen their business
undergo changes of method, perhaps, the old
giving way to the new, but looking to the
aggregate volume of business they find it
very considerably increased over the business
of 1885 and preceding years. For the
city, and for the entire State, the process of
liquidation and recuperation has been well
advanced, and for the whole United States,
indeed, the outlook for 1887 may be said to be,
from every point of view, reassuring. The
past year has been markedly one of
peace and progress. The federal government,
in its executive branch, has
addressed itself assiduously to the work of
administrative reform, abstaining wholly
from vexatious unconstitutional interference
with the rights of the States, and everywhere
winning for the restored Union the respect
and affection of the people. An event
which tended not a little to lessen any
asperity of feeling with which political opponents
may have regarded the President was his
marriage last summer to a beautiful and accomplished
young lady of his native town.
The dispute with Mexico on the Cutting incident
was brought to a satisfactory conclusion,
and if the fisheries question with Canada remains
open it is because the legislative branch
of the government rejected the wise mode of
settlement recommended by the President.
Congress has been recreant to its duty to the
people in twice voting to perpetuate unnecessary
taxation, but the passage of a presidential
succession bill, taken in connection
with the action had upon an electoral count
bill and upon an interstate commerce bill,
shows that that body is beginning to take a
worthier view of its functions. A most significant
social phenomenon was the development
of the association of the Knights
of Labor into an organization embracing the
workingmen of the whole country, a movement
which reached its climax in the past
year. The appearance of Mr. Henry George
as the labor candidate for the mayoralty and
the emergence of labor candidates in local
contests elsewhere was a significant hint of
the direction in which political speculation,
if not action, may hereafter drift to a great
or less extent. The congressional elections
of 1886 had for their net result a diminution
of the democratic majority in the House and
a prospective increase of the democratic
minority in the Senate, showing a virtual reaffirmation
by the people of the verdict of 1884.
The improved relations of the sections and
the abatement of rancorous partisan feeling
throughout the country were signalized during
1886 by a number of public events. The
enthusiastic reception accorded to ex-President
Davis in his tour through the Gulf
States excited scarcely any resentment in the
North, where it is at length understood that
fond remembrance of the past is not incompatible
with the discharge by Southern citizens
of the obvious duties of the present.
The repeal by the Senate of the tenure-of-office
act, a relic of a period of bitter party
strife, marks undoubtedly a long step of
progress on the part of the dominant party
in that body. A demonstration of the prevalence
at length of the idea that no part of
our population is under federal proscription,
or in a position of inferiority as regards any
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