, 1876-01-02
TIE MANUFACTURES AND GENERAL BUsI-
NESS or CHICAGO,


TIE MANUFACTURES AND GENERAL BusI-
Nf5s OF CHICAGO.
The reader who has examined, or who will
examine, the review Of the trade and COM
merce of Chicago, published in TIE TRIBUNE
yesterday, will notice that the growth of our
commerce, while it has been large, hes been
steady and regular. It's growth has been so
most adverse ca1a,n ties have never inter-
rupted, weakened. or destroyed it
The aggregate sales atwholesale in Chicago,
during 1875, were sG5., ,000, 900. No city of
equal population, old or young, in Europe or
the United States, can show such an immense
trade in single year. To our own people,
who are accustomed to activity and hustle,
the last year has seemed one Of depression
in other cities it has been season of actual
depression. Yet none Of those cities have
been afflicted as Chicago has been. -Four
years ago, the savings and capital
of the city were annihi1ated in
night AL that was left Of the &C
cumulated wealth of the city,-the active
capital with which business was done,-was
the bare ground on which the city had stood,
and few foundations, and the fragments of
materials OF which the city had been built
Chicago had, therefore, to begin new life;
to sta-t afresh, without money and without
buildings In the period that has elapsed the
merchants and manufacturers Of this city
have had their labor, their credit, and their
capital crippled with the imperative necessity
for rebuilding the city; Of furnishing stores
and warehouses for business, and dwellings
for themselves and families. Following this
dire calamity was tho fnancial disaster Of
1873, which in d few weeks swept away the
assumed wealth Of thousands, destroyed
sources of income, and left many branches
Of active business crushed and overwhelmed
with debt Out Of the wreck Of the panic
Chicago was the first to emerge.
Her business resumed, and the record
of 1873 and 1874 showed that even during
those years of general stagnEtioa the growth
Of our trnde and manufactures had been as
regular as in previous years, when prosperity
was general Ths fire ITSELF destruc-
ton of so many millions Of capita, did not
destroy the trade, reduce the production, OF
weaken the activity Of Chicago. Though
there is no record Of the business Of 1871,
that of 1872 shows gain ove- 1870 Of the
general average of two years successful
business Weighted with calamitics, taxed
with the extraordinary expenditure required
to rebuild the city on largely increased
plan and in more durable and costly style,
the trade and production Of Chicago have not
been interrupted, but the increase has gone
on as if no fire had ever taken place and no
financial panic had crushed the business Of
wide-extended portions Of the country.
From this We may judge Of the stability OF
qhe growth and the enduring chg :acter Of the
commerce which finds its natural centre in
this city.
Another striking lesson taught BY these
tables ia the success which has attended all
branches of manufacture in Chic 90, and that
not one Of them owes its SUCCESS to the laws
which havs for their excuse the pretext Of
protecting manufactures. Let rs look at
their character. First are the various manu-
factures Of commercial products falling un-
der the head Of provisions, pork and beef,
lard, tallow, grease, and other articles; then
follow agricultural implements, cars, bridges,
and other nrticles made of iron and wood,
in wood, manufactures Of all
kinds Of building material, tunnels sewers,
and buildings, manufactures OF leather, gas,
chemicals, varnish, lead, soap, oil, ETC., cigars
and tobacco, printing and printing materials,
clothing, fax, lime, watches, glassware, inks,
brushes, buttons, and the whole range given
in the long list enumerated To these are to
be added the iron aud steel manufactures, en-
bracing every description of goods, from steel
rails to files. There is not branch Of manu.
facture III successful operation here which is
not injured, rather than promoted, by the
henry taxes levied nominally for their pro-
tection- The only line Of production which
can make claim to having 3 benefit from
protective taxes is that OF iron and steel, !
and within the last two years American man.
ufacturers Of iron and steel have had an in-
creasing export trade in those. Despite the