The Plymouth weekly Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1860-1869, 1867-12-19

Chicago correspondence

CiiicAGo. Dec. Is. 1867.
fhe Chicago river is now literally filed
with vessels laid ~ Ter the winter IN this
safe and excellent haybor. and old ki1e
Fsost las put h fst.ers on the sluggish
stream. Twice already it has been frozen
ever, bet advcn;nrous, busting, smoky,
bowling little tugs 60 rushing rouad IS
long as il isai all practicable for shem q
60 So hfeak;ur u each formation Of Co
= '.e .-r7e. dissrs1 OF the boys No are
a7eiops'y waitiae Ger nature 10 complete
.i.eir rec skating ark. The wl9.e ra.r-
Der Of vessels aid Up hera IS 500. The
river vas nerer more intensely, horribly
iiilhy than : IS nov It IS not stream
q w~tar, BOT Z sluggish. back ooze Of coal
~, scNer Gra.aage. sink contents, gar
haso ana thousand Undesirable and IL
dciinabls semi-iDid eondcnsatious of tie
most powerful ADD revolving s;iuas. Il IS
scarcely probable that aay effort at IN
proveu.cni Of it. condition will be made
'lis season. n the spring the old plan
for temporary relief, pumping into the cal
uilot OF he canal will no doubt be put in
N operation with the spasmodic energy
Whicil olarac:cr.zes all our endeayors up
on that most pestiterous Of nrisances.
The most noticeable feature Of enter
prise or commercial speculation at The
present time is the new telegraph compa-
ny, which has been making extraordinary
efforts for = while past and now bids far
10 Gust from It's throne the grand monopo-
y Of lie Western Union Go Nothing in
this country has ever Afforded such i'm
mensc and rich returns as tolceraphiug.
The fortunes amassed in Il have even II
vailed those drawn IRON the famous East
India company In 1916 the receipts fer
ielegraphing ia The entire United States
amounted to but $1,000; last ve1r they
had mounted up to $500, 600 and it is
computed that for 1867 they ~ill be fully
$s,00G, SEQ The poorest paying line is
that from ST. Louis to San Francisco, and
that returas cent per cent annuity. The
Boston, Worcester and New York line
pays, II remember rightly, nineteen hun
bred per cent. No stock has ever been so
watercd as that OF The Western Union
Telegraph Co. and none has ever returned
such immense profits 70 the holders. By
very ingenious process OF doubling ana
adding on 70 the original stock, so that
what was originally Sl00 Is u some So
333, and the one and half lilhon OF cap
iial stock with which it started out, have
magnifed, grown and swelled until they
are now lifiy-six millions. Why, in this
city alone, the amount PAID for Geographic
dispatches now reaches to 1920 900 per
annum Look at the grand moguls of this
Western Union, this SERPENT which has
swallowed up all It's brother serpen,s, all
over the country, until it is practically a
vast monopoly. Judge CAToN owned five
eighths Of the Illinois & Mississippi Inc.
That line was sold cut TO the We~ern
Union on a perpetual lease for $50, goo per
annum. OF tins, Judge CAroN enjoys the
pleasant annual bencfcc OF $50 .000, and
what Go y,a suppose vas Ais original IN
vestmcnt TO secure this, merely and
barely $1,000 his friends say. y. SrAGER,
superintendent Of the Western Union line
and one of its principal men, enjoys an m
come Of $4,000 per annum. Ezra
Cornell, one of the richest of the New
! York capitalist, and deeply interested in