The Sweetwater enterprise. (Sweetwater, Tenn.) 1869-187?, 1871-10-19
THE ENTERPRISE.
Sweetwater, Thursday, Oct, 10, 1871.
The Great Fire at Chicago.

lue calamity winch has ONtltakCN
Chicago affects not that city alone, but
tine whole country, and even the whole
world, The moral and material inter
eitS VI mankind are so linked together
that the mlslurtuues OF one portion are
shared mere OF less by all. Especially
in these days Of electric telcgrnphs and
steam communication does blow struck
at any important point vibrlte swiftly
through the whole body polite, rs the
scenes witnessed yesterday in this city
testify, There could hardly have been
more excitement, or Il vivid sense
of loss produced, if Brooklyn had been
burning instead Of Chicago-if the con-
fagrations were ut our doors instead Of
being n Thousand miles of. like sym
pnthy was manifested in Cincinnati, st.
Louis, and other Srent centres OF popu-
%lation; and the measures promptly taken
there, ms well as here, to put this SYM
pathy into the form of substantial relief,
proves that it was no mere superficial
feeding. The inhabitants Of Chicago
nro regarded rs our fcllow-citi2ens and,
"A such, entitled to our prompt assist
Rnce,
New York, however, has particular
reasons for being afflicted in the utllic-
ton of Chicago. The two cities are so
closely connected in their business rela-
tiOns that whatever hurts one hurts in a
peculiar degree the other. The larger
portion of the trade of the Mississippi
valley which comes to New York, comes
through Chicago as an intermediary,
Tho grcat lines of railroad which bring
the productions of the Western prairics
and forests to our warehouses;, ARE fed
from Chicago rs an immense central
atorchousc; and in return our importl-
tions are largely distributed through the
agency Of Chicago merchants to thcil
final destination. The destruction, even
for n short space OF time, Of the machin.
cry by which this trade is carried on
cannot but prove II serious injury to us
And when the amount of New York cap,
it'll invested in Chicago, and the i'm.
monHc risk, mt stake there by our bank
and insurance companies, are consider.
ed, it will DO seen shat We, Of I'LL others
can sincerely mourn over the ruin Sc
swiftly wrought.
It is impossible MS vet to make an nc
curate estimate of the value of the prop
oTty DESTROYED. Even the area Laid waste
by tho cOufagIation is not accurutel,
defined. The only way to form IN adc
quatc idoa Of what has happened is t.
Imagine a fire to start in this city Mt tn,
foot of Broadway, and to sweep iron
that point in a Widening track, omhra
cling Wall street aud its neighborhoot
tho Aston House, the City Hall, the ney
Court House, and othc" public building
in the Park, and thus going IN until /
reached from river to river and rs IA
north as Fourteenth street. Fortunate
", few lives have been lost, hut thou
sands have been rendered homeless. an,
what is more, have been thrown e]ntircl,
ont of employment. There will be nee,
%o'ablnlnnt liborality ON the part Oft char
itablo people everywhere, to prevent en-
ormoas suffering; and it il to b
feared that, with every cXcrtion, II Iarg
number will perish Of exposure and pri
v~atiOns.
One good result will be obtained
Chicago, when it is rebuilt, will I've buiI
much more substantially and handsome
Is than it was before. It is impossibl
that, in the face Of this awful w]nrnin,
the authorities will permit the frrthc
erection of those wooden shanties whic
were at once so distiguring and so dan
gerous to the city. For it is not to b
doubted that but for the immense nuns
Der of these inflammablc structures, tn
fire could never have got the Roadway
did, and thus been enabled to ovcrcom
the more substantial buildings of brio
and stone. Exposed us Chicago is t
fierce winds from both the lake and I'll
prNiries, to build it of wood was to il
vite precisely the devastation which h;
swept over it. In the infancy OF til
city it was perhaps impossible to pr,
vent this from being done; but now til;
its prosperity is consolidated and its fl
ture assured, the pcrilous practice shOuI
be prohibited N. Y. Sun, Of the lot