The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1892-11-18
THE WINDY CITY.
Some Queer Developments in the
Growth Of Chicago.
4 Strange Eject OF the High BuiIdIngs-
Things That Are Overdone - Odd
Phases of Human Nature-An
Escaped Sea Lion.
Especial chicago Correspondence.l e.l


Chicago has been called the windy"
city, the term being used metaphoric-
ally to make out that Chicagoans were
braggarts. The city is losing this rep
utation, for the reason that as people
| got acquainted with it they found most
! of her claims to be backed up by facts.
( As usual, people go to extremes in this
! thing also, and one can tell a stranger
/ almost anything about Chicago to-day
/ and feel that he believes it implicitly.
/ But IN another sense Chicago is
actually earning the title of the windy"
city. 1t is one of the effects of the tall
/ buildings which engineers and archi-
tects apparently did not foresee that
! the wind is sucked down into the
/ streets. Walk past the Masonic
/ Temple or the Auditorium any day
! even though it may be perfectly calm
/ elsewhere, and you will meet with a
J lively breeze at the base of the build
ing that will compel You to put your
/ hand to your hat. If it blows at all,
! the streets next to these big buildings
are filed by howling gale. On one
occasion this wind broke some plate
! corner. The other day when there
was little gale blowing l was going
| up Randolph street towards State
where the Masonic Temple is located.
Some distance ahead was wagon
loaded with empty dry goods boxes. As
it reached the middle of State street a
gust of wind swept around the build
! ing and scattered the big boxes all
/ over the street. As they were rolling
around there came a dozen men run
ming in between them dodging the
/ boxes and trying to rescue their hats
which the same puff had carried out
into the street This is one of the pen
alties of greatness.
/ Another penalty of greatness, and in
/ another way, is the reputation that
! rich men acquire much against their
desire. Talking to 4 wealthy board of
trade man the other day about this
subject l asked him to tell me honestly
what he was worth. He said it was
about half million dollars. This man
is reputed to be worth about three mil
lions. 1T is always that way" said
another prominent man who himself
: ColllhStICo hCilOii stO tDOub OlC lIlll-
lion. 81 have the name of being worth
/ five millions. There is friend of mine
who Is considered enormously rich.
| They talk about his millions as if he
were another Vanderbilt or Gould. As
a matter of fact know that he could
not scrape together more than seven
! hundred thousand dollars"
1t seems to be popular to overdo
things. One of the most striking ex-
amples of a thing Overdone is the mat
ter of worlds fair schemes. There is
not any branch that has not been
worked to death and there will be, as
q necessary result, numerous disap-
pointments. There has been an al
most inconceivable amount of litera-
ture published on the fair, but with
very few exceptions it may safely be
set down as trash. If one has any
plan that possesses any merit it is diff
cult to interest anyone in it because
they have all been taken in" by some
scheme or other that is not what it
started out to be.
Most emphatically is this true in the
matter of labor. No sooner was it an
nounced that Chicago was to have the
worlds fair than there began an eXo-
dus from all over the country. People
flocked to this city by the thousand.
When they did not have the fare they
rode on the brake or on top of freight
cars and landed in Chicago with scarce
ly anything that they could call their
own. This has been going on for two
years. Even from outside of the Unit
ed States men come to the worlds fair
thinking there must be work for all,
or perhaps, more properly, not stopping
to think at all.
Standing at q street corner the other
evening waiting for cable car 1 was
accosted by a man who made the i'm
preston of being an Englishman, as
he turned out to be in fact. "Do you !
happen to be an employer of labor,
sir?" he asked In reply l asked him |
what there was about me that looked |
as if l had a bank account ''No Of
fense, sir, l hope" ne went on. Il |
thought you might have an opening for
a man. l came here from Jamaica, |
thinking there would be plenty of work |
here on account Of the worlds fair"
$50 there is 1 said, but there are |
plenty of people to do it, too"
81 didn't think of that" he con-
tinued. Il had brother here and |
thought that would help me, and as |
sugar planting was getting bad in /
Jamaica l concluded to come here. l |
find that my brother left here to 90 |
back to England n few days ago. l |
have not been in a bed for three nights |
and have not had warm meal for two /
days. 1 went out to railroad freight
yard last night and sat on log all
night"
The fellows manner seemed to indi-
cate that he was telling the truth. He
had travelled several thousand miles in
order to get work at the worlds fair
as a common laborer or mechanic, for
he did not claim to have any speciality.
The election is over once more and
some people are happy, while others
think that the country will surely go
to the dogs. This political excitement
certainly has a dangerous tendency.
If you see real, live, grown men going
around the street with big paper
roosters covering their hats and blow
ing little tin horns, or if you see half a
dozen men, also real, grown men with
boards, and apparently in the full pos
session of their mental faculties, carry
ing huge horn across their shoulders
and footing as if they were practicing
for jobs as assistants to Gabriel on the
day of Judgment; if you hear them yell
themselves hoarse over bulletin that
Maine has given a large republican
or that Texas has at last