The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1868-02-13
CHICAG0s,LETTER.
CHICAGO, FEBRUARY Sth 1868.

Eds. TRIBUNE
The recent great fires which have oc-
Cured here have rather frightened the
insurance companies and the Board of
Underwriters of Chicago are evincing a
liveliness to which they have, for long
time before, been strangers. BY the one
great Lake street fire, the lowest compu-
tation shows that fully two million dol
lars worth of property was destroyed, an
amount exceeding By some $lO0. 900 the
aggregate OF all lost in the year S67 and
this, coming directly upon the heels of a
number of other disastrous confagra-
tlons, has rather impressed the companies
with a sense of insecurity in risks in this
locality They accordingly determined
to increase the rates of Insurance twenty
hastily takenand has exciteda storm OF IN
dlgnauon mong business men, SO great that
some of the companies refuse to abide
by the action of the Board. Another
safe-g guard which the companies have an
der consideration but which tEey do not
seem generally ready to accede to is a re
solution to insure for but three fourths Of
the value OF any property offered. Al
though the fear that some of the weaker
companies would go under has not been
realized. all having pulled through two
OF the oldest companies represented here
the North American Of PHILADELPHIA
and the Queens OF London England :
are l learn, about to withdraw their agen
cles from Chicago and :'quit the game, y
SO lar as Chicago Is concerned Neither
has lost very heavily by the recent great
fires, but they are Old fashioned conserva-
tive companies and deem IAN ounce of
prevention worth a pound Of cure " It
IS pleasing to observe the energy with
which the sufferers by the great fire have
recovered from its effects. 1t even seems
to have instilled little of new life into
the general dullness of trade and firms
which before were lazily waiting for the
spring trade to open have now taken the
bull by the horns and opened it for
themselves. They have taken new stores
bought new and larger stocks OF goods
and instead of waiting for business are
sensibly publishing their efforts for busi
ness to recover their great losses.
One OF those most prompt and decisive
in its action was the firm of Merrill s.
Honkins, locatc4 for mary wears at No %
Lake street, dealers IN crockery, earthen
20 plated and glassware, etc. While
the II. which entirely destroyed their
ster. w;tn Is rich stock Of samples,
was still raging, Ia. 0"gaged desk room
in a building across the stree d couple
Of days afterwarl, had a new store H'e
magnificent than their former one and
hotter adapted to the wants Of their rap
idly growing business. Fortunately thei,
warehouses we're fully stocked with goods
50 that they have not suffered an hour 5
.i..2r.t,i ,,io.i ia their ling of orders.
Their new location is at No. So ~.
Water street, opposite the Richmond
House. All ;heir presen; stock OF goods
i. ..t1: and has been purchased at uuusl,
ally low rates 30 lat they are able to fiji
orders at much less than otter iobhers
and with the most superb class of goods.
Superior advantages are also offered BIZ
taeir SYSTEM of 'assortmcnts, a IoveIty
peculiarly their own, by Which their pa
trol receive th-i- orders i'll uianu!ac-l!:-
crs packages.
the ''.c.i! 'l..:c...i!s Nraman's Refuge,' Of
this city, q sort Of subimated Magdalen
Asylum, had It's anniversary the other
day and / cannot avoid at least bricf
reference to it as one Of the prominent
institutions Of the city, one which ha
about as extensive a field for its opera
tons as any other car boast. Of the
''erring females under its charge, it re
ports returned to their homes 6, married
?. There are only about three thou
sand professional social evils in our
city, more than as many more amateurs
and large floating population, sort of
guerrillas who are here to day and gone
tomorrow. Altogether, we may estimate
the erring females of Chicago, at about
six to eight thousand. How gratifying
then is the exhibit Of the E. w. r. re
turned to their homes 6, married 2. .
Five, it is also reported ran away, but
| that has nothing to do with the question
| do sincerely regret that the idea has not
occurred to some of these good people
who back up institutions of this class,
that it would be better to aid in saving
young girls from sin than to require GER
tiiicates of their bad character before they
ar deemed eligible for Christian effort.
| There is a home here for poor and friend
less young girls, but its resources are
very limited and half the amount cxpend-
ed last year to achieve the glorious result
of returned t" heir homes 6, married
p would hav cry materially increased
its usefulness with much better results.
The charitable intentions Of the good
people who run the f. w. r. admit OF
no doubt but. as the Scotchman said OF
the ram who brtted the locomotive, Il
admired his courage more than his Judge
ment.'
Fred. Douglas, tie Angle African ora
tor iectured here the other evening, on
self made men and had very large
audience. He does not seem to be quite
so big card as he was in the days wher
the great fight for abolition was going OF
bat he still draws we!l and evinces IN hi,
lectures all of his old ability and origin
ality. Don
ASSASSINATION AND DEMOCRACY =