"God be merciful unto those who suffered from the awful calamity that swept down on Baltimore.
"Tongue fails; pen is inadequate and refuses to comprehend the extent of the disaster that has overtaken us. We have heard of awful calamities to others; in fancied security we have looked on in sympathy while others have suffered. Now the pain, the anxiety, the suffering is ours and we stand appalled, unable to realize the immensity of the terrible affair.
"The World is the only newspaper office in the city that is standing. Once it was on fire and was saved only by the earnest, valiant and courageous work of the World employes and the goodness of God. To our suffering contemporaries we extend the greatest sympathy and to the hundreds of other sufferers also. For those thousands who are thrown out of work in the dead of winter, with sorrow and suffering staring them in the face, our heart throbs with a feeling that we cannot express. All we can say is, 'God help them.'"
Local and national military authorities took immediate charge of the situation to prevent looting and disorder, possible because of the vast sums of money in the various safes and vaults scattered about in the ruins. Recognition of the disaster came from the nation in another practical form. A bill was promptly and appropriately introduced in Washington by Representative Martin Emerich of Illinois reciting the destruction by fire in preamble and then continuing:
Whereas, The fire has so crippled the merchants and business interests in the City of Baltimore that they are unable adequately and properly to provide and care for the many who are rendered homeless and penniless by this calamity, and
Whereas, The City of Baltimore and its people are probably unable in the face of the unlooked for catastrophe to provide proper means for effectually checking the fire and promptly to remove the embers and debris; and
Whereas, The same, while remaining, are constantly a menace to the safety of many citizens, it is enacted that the Secretary of the Treasury be authorized and directed to pay upon the order of the City Council of Baltimore, certified by the Mayor of the city, to any designated authority of said city, any necessary sum of money not exceeding the sum of $1,000,000 out of any money in the treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated, to be used for the purpose of providing shelter for those rendered homeless by the said fire, and also to be used for the purpose of clearing the streets and localities devastated by the fire and in order to render the city available for the use of residents and others as speedily as possible.
The bill was referred to the committee on appropriations.
Two days after the fire insurance men estimated the loss at $125,000,000 and the insurance carried at $90,000,000.
For the thousands of clerks and other employes whose positions are gone forever there seemed to be nothing before them but to move to other cities.