THE HARDWOOD RECORD. 



13 



tlii'ir iiiouey to speiul it themselves tban l 1 

 give it to somebody else to spcml. 



But the Boaril of Trade and Transp.ir- 

 tatiou mail has done well, and of the en- 

 tire eireular Ave have but one eriticism to 

 olt'er. He reminds the farmers and lab<jr- 

 ingmeu that previous to ISOl the ocean 

 carrying tonnage of this country was 

 three time.s_ what it is to-day. That Is not 

 a happy comparison, for previous to ISiU 

 tlie farmer of tliis section who got ovoi- 

 ten cents a l)ushel for his corn was in 

 luck; he is getting fifty cents a bushel to- 

 day. And previous to ISOl the laboring- 

 man got about fifty cents for a day of -if- 

 teen hours; he gets ?2 a day for eight 

 hours now. This would seeui to indicate 

 that the prosperity of the farmer and la- 

 lioriugman is not dependent on the amount 

 of ocean carrying tonnage, or if 1^ proves 

 anything it proves that the less of such 

 tonnage the country has the more prosper- 

 ous the farmers and laboringmen are. 



However, the circular of the Board of 

 Trade and Transportation man is all right 

 and we await the next one with interest. 



ONE OF THE WONDERS OF THE 

 WORLD. 



The e~ity of Chicago is one hundred 

 j-ears old this fall. That is it is just one 

 hundred years ago that a detachment of 

 United States troops came to Chicago 

 and erected a fort at the point where 

 the Chicago river empties into Lake Mich- 

 igan. Around the fort there grew up 

 a trading station, which was the flrsl at- 

 tempt of the white race to create a set- 

 tlement where the second city of the 

 United States, and the fourth city in the 

 world, now stands. 



Later this little settlement and the few 

 soldiers who protected it were completei.v 

 o;bliterated by the Indians in what is 

 known as the "Fort Dearborn massacre."' 

 But the Indians were puni.shed and the 

 fort was rebuilt, and once more the little 

 settlement giew up within shelter of its 

 guns; but it was thirty years later that 

 this settlement was incorporated as a 

 city, with a population of about 4,5<)0 pocj- 

 ple — whites, Indians and half-breeds. 



You have probably read the Arabian 

 Nights, where the oriental imagination 

 spreads itself in unrestricted exuberance, 

 but there is no wonder set forth in tliat 

 volume of extraordinary romances whi<h 

 equals the wonder of the upbuilding of 

 this mighty city by the lake. 



When there was nothing standing 

 where Chicago now stauds except a fort 

 and a few shanties, surrounded by a 

 swamp, St. Ijouis, Cincinnati. New Or- 

 leans and all the Atlantic coast cities 

 were old cities, some of them three h\ni- 

 dred yenrs and more; and if you had told 

 one of those first settlers that within one 

 hundred years there would be a city 

 standing on the swamps that would be 

 jrreater than any city in the world at that 

 time, or that had even been in the world. 



you"d Aave prol)al)ly l>ccn locked up in 

 tile guardhouse as a lunatic. 



There is a well authenticated storj- of 

 one of the first lumber dealers in Chi- 

 cago, who conducted a retail yard here 

 a little more than fifty years ago, which 

 well illustrates how little idea the peo- 

 ple inhabiting Chicago at that time had 

 of the great future in store for it The 

 city then had a population of about 5,000 

 people, huddled along the high ground 

 near the river. This high ground was cre- 

 ated by the action of the waves upon 

 the deposits of mud brought down by the 

 sluggish ri\er, and extended for two or 

 three hundred jards on each side. For 

 a mile south of what is now Randolph 

 street was a swampy meadow and then 

 the ground began to rise again. The lum- 

 berman in question prospered in a busi- 

 ness way, but the population of the little 

 city, hemmed in by mud and water, was 

 composed of very rough elements in the 

 main — soldiers, sailors, traders and In- 

 dians — and the lumberman did not like to 

 raise his children in such au atmosphere, 

 so he went out beyond the swampy land 

 on the south and bought him a farm. 

 built a house, and moved his family out 

 there, intending when he had made a lit- 

 tle more money to retire to the farm him- 

 self and build up a family estate. 



That man is still living, but he is not 

 living on his farm. For where he built 

 his house Siegel-Cooper's big store now 

 stands, and the great teeming city 

 stretches away for miles on every side. 



Of course, Chicago is merely the fruit 

 of the development of the great Middle 

 West and Northwest. Such a city must 

 have a foundation, a backing, and its mar- 

 velous growth merely typifies the mar- 

 velous development of its tributary coun- 

 try. 



Aijd the end is not yet by a good deal. 

 There is every evidence that the popula- 

 tion of Chicago is increasing at a greater 

 rate now than ever before. From the 

 school and police census and additions 

 made to the city directory, it is evident 

 that Chicago is adding to its population 

 at a rate in excess of 100,000 a year. 



It is difficult to grasp the full meaning 

 of such a growth. You are acquainted 

 with some cities of 100,000 population; 

 Memphis, for instance. And a city of 

 tliat size is a good chunk of a town. We'l, 

 Chicago is adding a town of that size 

 each year. Each year the city authorities 

 have to provide for an increase in school 

 accommodations, fire and police protec- 

 tion, sewerage, water, street paving, etc., 

 to accommodate a city of the size of Mem- 

 phis. That is just tlie increase, mind you. 

 This fall nine mammotli new scliool build- 

 ings were opened and instantly filled to 

 overllowing. and the school board must 

 immediately begin preparations to erect .'.t 

 least that many more for next year. Is 

 it to b(? wondered at that some depart- 

 ments fail to keel) "P? 



It is more or less amusing to hear a 

 visitor from a neighboring city, which has 

 been probably 2(X) years growing to one- 

 tenth the size of Chicago, swell out his 

 chest and tell how well the streets of his 

 home town are paved, etc. Bless the man! 

 We are building a town the size of his 

 and cquiiipiiig it complete every year 

 or so. 



We trust our readers in neighboring 

 cities and in the country will bear with 

 us. We must blow a little in this, our 

 centennial year. And there are a few 

 erroneous ideas which we wish to correct. 



There has been much joking about the 

 amount of territory that Chicago has an- 

 nexed and the boundless e.xtent of the 

 city limits. In that connection, we will 

 say Greater New York and Philadelphia, 

 the only rivals Chicago has iu the matter 

 of population in this country, each occu- 

 pies a much greater space than does Chi- 

 cago. 



Another erroneous impression is that 

 Chicago is governed by boodlers and that 

 the city government is very corrupt. Chi- 

 cago has the best and cleanest city gov- 

 ernment of any city of over half a mil- 

 lion population in the United States. 



Chicago has never had a political "boss,'' 

 as other cities understand the word. 

 There have been several aspiring gentle- 

 men who have undertaken to boss it, but 

 it was too big a conti-act. We attribute 

 their failure lai'gely to the fact that Chi- 

 cago people have no aristocratic and fin- 

 icky notions which make an election day 

 "scrap'' offensive to them. If it is neces- 

 sary in the interest of good politics to 

 chase a gang of toughs away from a poll- 

 ing place, the average citizen of Chicago 

 will travel miles to take a hand iu it, 

 and be bitterly disappointed if the trou- 

 ble is over before he gets there. 



And you mustn't think that we are over- 

 looking our hand and don't know what 

 we are doing. We've got more land 

 bought for parks and it is better located 

 than any other city, and our drainage 

 canal insures us the best water supply of 

 any city iu the world. We may not be 

 able to kcei) all the loose ends of the pres- 

 ent up. but we are looking out for the 

 future. Chicago is a pretty hard town 

 to keep up with, but the citizens feel that 

 they are doing fairly well. 



The A. Hubbard Lumber Company of 

 I'aterson, N. J., has purchased from II. W. 

 Forde & Co. of Nashville, 'I'cnn., dealers 

 in timber and coal lands, a tract of 5,00v) 

 acres of hardwood timberlands in FrauUirn 

 County, Tennessee, where the company will 

 build and operate a large saw mill. The 

 tract end)races some of the most valuable 

 timberlands in the state, it being esti- 

 mated that there are nearly 350,000,000 

 feet of fine poplar, oak, ash, chestnut, 

 hickory and other woods on the tract, 

 which has the advantage of being only 

 about two miles from a railroad. 



