will assuredly become as unsubstantial in its essence as we shall have made it ineffective in its demands upon our stern and rigorous allegiance.

Indeed, it is not a relaxation of the army code in its exactions in matters of honor that is wanted, but some approach to similar standards in other fields. Social ostracism in flagrant cases of "high finance" is a weapon that the world stands much in need of, for its defense against the agency which is today more potent for demoralization than any other one is tempted to say than all others combined. The idea of commercial honor has done more than laws and prisons to preserve honesty and right dealing in business, and to protect each man against the temptations that beset him. The charity—if it be charity, and not mere weakness— that would relax the standard in this matter, is the diametrical opposite of charity to the men who have not yet offended; and these are a thousand to one as against those who have actually fallen. The thing which, above all others, protects the trusted official against temptations to betray his trust, and the business man against temptations to dishonorable practice, is the realization that to yield is to forfeit forever the respect of those with whom he has lived his life. Whatever we have of such protection, whether in the army or elsewhere, let us prize as one of the solid results of ages of trial and effort.

THE FIRE

(February 8, 1904)

Since II o'clock yesterday morning there has been blotted out of existence in our city an amount of property, in the shape of business buildings, merchandise, and plants, which may safely be estimated at about $50,000,000. The fire is still raging, and it is impossible to state precisely what will be the boundaries of the region that will have been ravaged when it finally subsides. But as to the destruction. of property of enormous value, we are warranted in believing that we have come to the end of that. Further extension of the fire, though it may add considerably to the area of the region covered, will, according to all indications, add only a relatively insignificant amount to the aggregate value of the property destroyed. How much of the loss which the destruction covers will fall upon Baltimore owners it is, at this hour, too early to estimate. Incomplete insurance leaves a margin between loss and compensation which, in some cases, is very serious, but there is every reason to believe that the amount to be added to this deficit by failure of insurance companies to meet their liabilities will be but a trifling percentage. The wise practice of distributing insurance among a large number of outside companies so subdivides the burden that in only a very small proportion of the whole amount will any weakness in the underwriting companies be developed by our disaster.

However calmly the field be surveyed, it is impossible for any Baltimorean to contemplate the situation today with feelings other than the most serious. There are, to be sure, two aspects of the disaster which give cause for profound gratitude. First, that the tremendous conflagration has brought with it almost no loss of life; and secondly, that several great buildings on the very edge of the flames, and especially our noble courthouse, have escaped destruction. But the very heart of the great business section of our city has been eaten out. The spring trade, which was just opening, has been cut off, and the resulting disorganization of business connections is a matter of most serious moment. The financial loss comes almost on the heels of the trust-company embarrassments which recently came as so painful a shock to our people. It would be mere hypocrisy to pretend to belittle the magnitude or the gravity of the blow that has fallen upon our city and its business interests. The first feeling of everybody must be a feeling that Baltimore, in being made just at this time the victim of the third, or possibly the second, greatest fire loss in the history of America, is subjected to a terrible blow.

The first feeling, but not the last. Heavy as the loss is, it carries away, after all, but a small part of our total material resources; and it will be of no consequence if it leaves unimpaired the capital that is the real basis of the city's greatness-the spirit of the people. And to suppose that the spirit of our people will not rise to the occasion is to suppose that our people are not genuine Americans. Chicago dates her greatness from the great fire of 1871;

Boston's fire in 1872-more like our own, in that it swept away the most valuable business property in the city-stimulated Boston's improvement and development; even little Galveston, overwhelmed by a flood which seemed calculated to wipe out all hope and courage in that town, rose up after her calamity more vigorous and more aggressive than ever. Baltimore will do likewise. We shall make the fire of 1904 a landmark not of decline but of progress. With the call for aggressive energy so suddenly sounded in our ears, many who have been inclined to let well enough alone will be roused into ambitious enterprise that they otherwise would not have thought of. We must remember that, along with perhaps a score of splendid buildings, there have been destroyed hundreds of mean and incongruous houses which lined our chief thoroughfare and filled up a large portion of the adjacent land. These will be replaced by buildings of a solidity and value corresponding to the natural character of their location. And the spirit and energy which this process will develop is not going to stop at mere building of houses. It will give tone to the whole business life of the town. The vitality and pluck that are demanded by the emergency will remain after the emergency is over, and it will be said ten years hence that along with the flames that swept over Baltimore on that memorable Sunday in February, 1904, another flame was kindled—the flame of enterprise, energy, pride in the ability to overcome obstacles, ambition to stand alongside the best American cities in everything that makes a city strong, attractive, and prosperous. Such are the uses to which adver