The Indianapolis leader. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1879-1890, 1880-07-24
CHICAGO
As It Appears to a Hoosier.
Special Correspondence of the Leader.

Railroad Wednesday evening, July z, at
6 o'clock, after very pleasant trip of sew
en- hours, during which l received the
kindest attention at the hands of all the
gentlemanly attaches on the train, from
conductor down, / arrived at Michigan
City, Indiana's only lake port, and the seat
of the State Prison North Here l waited
until 4:3O A. NJ. for the Michigan Central
train, which brought nae to Chicago. Dur
ing this clay over" through the thought
full consideration of Mr.. Anthony. the
courteous chair car conductor, l whiled
away the wee sma' hours of the morn
wrapped in the gentle but seductive en-
brace of the charming Morpheus, and
stretched at length in one OF the de-
lightful parlor cars which render travel
over the L., p. 81 c. Road so pleasant. My
advice to friends who wish to go to Chicago
or anywhere else in the north or north
west, is to go via the indianapolis, Peru
not only find pleasure and comfort in
travelling, but will meet with the politest
attention possible from all the train Of
fcials.
CHICAGO.
Boar ding the 4:30 train on the Michigan
Central, after an uneventful ride of two
hours and half, found myself in Chi
cago, which is ffty-six miles distant by
rail from Michigan City. have said un-
eventful ride, bat it was eventful in one
respect; and that was by the maneuvers
and counter-maneuvers of the two trains
at Michigan City, got "turned around"
and bewildered as to directions; and when
the sun arose in the morning, behold it
came from the north. 1 have tried dill
gently to adjust myself to the circumstan-
ces of the case and believe that what seems
north to me is really east, but have failed
so far. When arrived in the city and
told Doctor McCallister of my predica
ment as to cardinal points, he at once sug-
gested that had brought out cargo OF
"tamarack" from Indianapolis, and had
sampled it too freely. In hope OF finding
the receptacle and ,ew unconsumed
drops of the "craythur," he at once began
thorough search OF my pockets, valises,
etc, but finding nothing but piece OF
blue ribbon and cigarette holder, he
finally came to the conclusion that as
assured him, l was a strict disciple OF
Murphy, the temperance oracle, and that
the deran cement as to directions must be
accounted for on other grounds. After
talking over the matter, we agreed that
the trouble arose from the immense in
crease n the population OF Chicago, which
has been growing day by day at such a
rate since the first announcement, when it
was 475 900, that it is new above half a
million and increasing. The fact is, there
is no telling what it may be when they
get through counting it. The only thing
that will stop the growth is for the Super
intendent OF the census at Washington to
telegraph for the returns to be forwarded
to him. This is the only thing that will
keep it from doubling st. Louis before
they quit bringing in unfinished returns
The Joy of all classes of Chicago people
at the unexpectedly large increase in their
census returns is unbounded. The polite
and cultured think it is extraordinary"
unprecedented" REMARKABLE while the
irreverant say that it beats hi. The s..
Louis drummer in bated breath and sup
pressed whisper, says that it's all a id
lie. He takes care, however, to 60 out on
the lake shore wherc nobody can hear
him when he says this. Leaving a large
margin for "doctoring" in the returns as
published, there is no doubt that the in
crease in the population and business of
Chicago, in the past ten years, has been
immense. And it is not undeserved either.
Chicago is city broadly metropolitan in
all its characteristics. While of course
Anglo-Saxon ideas and policy pre domi
nate, yet almost every nation of Europe,
together with the omnipresent washee,
waShee, John Chinaman, are represented
in The city's population. The colored
population is thought to be somewhere be-
tween five and eight thousand. There is
very little, comparatively, OF the ignorant,
foolish, narrow minded and damaging
color prejudice, characteristic of st. Louis
and other southern and semi south-
ern cities. A man goes more
upon his merits here than upon his
color. This point is we'll illustrated and
slbsl lantiated by reference to DR.. ]. L.
Lewis, dentist; DR.. G. H. McCallister, ply
sician and surgeon and Lloyd Wheeler,
Esq, successor to John Jones, deceased,
in the clothes renovating business, and
other colored men doing business here,
VIII M | have not met. DR.. Lewis and Nc
Callister each have large practice, and
most of it comes from the whites too. In
such places as st. Louis and Louisville
these educated and expert professional
gentlemen would be characterized as "Nig-
ger" doctors, and would have to depend
entirely upon colored people for support;
but here in enlightened, free and progress
sive Chicago, their talents and skill are re-
cognized and patroDized alike by white
and colored. Every lover of humanity, of
justice, of liberal ideas, and of progress in
general, can not fail to rejoice at seeing
Chicago distance st. Louis and all other
cities of Southern Pre- clivities, whether in
the South or not. | do not wish to be
understood as saying that there is no pre-
judice at all in Chicago, but think l am
within the bounds of truth, when say
there is as little of it here as anywhere on
the continent.
Chicago is liberal, too, in other respects
than color. She is liberal in the amount
of beer and whisky which she manufac-
lures, and her citizens are decidedly lib
ersiin the amount of it which they con-
sumo. My first impression was that they
we're trying to drink it all up so that the
disappointed st, Louisans couldn't get
any OF it to brace up their fallen fortunes. l
presume, however, that is not the case, as
their shipments in the direction of that
y L..