, 1881-10-09

!
tenth anniversary Of The Great Fire wlicl
DESTROYED tho greater part of the City O
Chicago, and elected the sympathy and Iia
tcrial aid of the civilized world. It is fittin,
at the close OF this the first decade following
that calamity that THE TRIBUNE s}1oulc
make report in 4 special exhibit Of the prog.
ress made by Chicago since she was lifted
| from the ashes by the friendly hands ex
tended to aid her from all the countries o1
| the globe
Ten years ago the city contained q popula
| ton in round numbers OF $50 co., Today the
then area covered by ashes and Tie smoking
rains maintains population Of sc, ZOO, CHI
loying and Sharing wealth and prosperity
that has previously been unknown.
| In another article the reader will find the
statistical details Of the growth of the COM
merce, manufactures, and wealth of the city
during these years of recovery, not only
from the effects Of two successive fires, but
of the hardly less disastrous financial panic
which took place in 1878. The severity Of
these visitatloDs can hardly be appreciated
outside Of Chicago. Tie fire of 1S71 de-
stroyed property to the value in round nl,1u-
bers Of 200,000, 600, out of which there were
rescued III the form of insurance and salvage
about S., 100000. With this saving the peo-
pie of the city undertook to cover the vacant
places, and upon the ruins to build up again
the stores, and warehouses, and dwellings.
and public buildings. The world was gen
erous and liberal to our people. Money was
abundantly rendered. and even before the
SHOWS OF 1S71-'72 had melted the work Of
restoration had begun and continued until
late in 1878. The new city was vastly superior
to the one which l1ad preccdedit:' The archi-
lecture was more ornate and the structures
more costly. more substantial, more uniform,
more durable, and far more numerous. The
city authorities had been able to establish,
limits within which the curse and abon,ina-
ton Of wooden buildings had been prohibited. j,
These improvements had cost some SCO Coo
GU III addition TO the means in the hands Of
the people Of this city. This money had
been borrowed at a high rate of interest, and
everything was bright and promising when,
in the fail Of 1915, there came the blight OF !,
financial suspension, under which the In
dustry and trade of the whole Nation re-
manned PROSTATE for number of years. As
III all cases OF financial stringency the debtor
class suffers most, so Chicago, overwhelmed |
with debt, private and public. was subjected |
to trials under which no other CITY less
blessed with impcrlshablc resources could
have been maintained. In 1871 second fire
visited Chicago, buTylng in new ruins q large
.reas OF the newly-bullt city, entailing m
almost total loss upon the owners of the
property destroyed.
Struggling under these combined misfort-
ines Of two great fires and general de-
truction OF credit and an Overwhelming
[ebt, the people of this city as a whole
ee1ned to have been inspired by new
ourase- Individual cases may have oc~
urred "'ieFeHlespair was superior to hope,
I'D where. those who had counted their
iealth BY, millions were reduced to poverty,
ut the community never nbatcd their cuer-
e>HS N |
ontidcnce in Chicago. Capital ca1ne hituer.
[ortgagees were glad to take the mortsaged
roperty and wait, and i'll due time out of
lie vast mass of mortgased lands and build
lgs. piece by piece audi block by blockt,as
cen rescued and redeemed, until at this I
1te, on this tenth anniversary Of The Great | I
ire, there is not practically mortgage
ven for money borrowed to rebuild ,
licaso that has not been paid or dis I
larecd with interest and taxes, or I
which the money 10 pay the rnmatured
ortsage cannot be obtained on demand.
here may 'be here and there improved =
eces OF land in the city still unredeemed, !
It as a whole the Sreat mortgages under J