Feliciana sentinel., 1892-07-16
WORLDS FAIR CITY.
Entertaining information from the
City by the Lake. ,t ..-.


City by the Lake. rt ..-..
tile Trend Of Things Political and flis.
torical-Grent Drainage .Scheme-Ge-
oEraphy of the Lake Rekion-In.
tclicctnal status OF the Ago.
.9St sc =. 1t-@ z ryatf-s.ES
Especial Chicago Correspondence
A Chicagoan feels to-day MS If he were
placed in a huge observatory from
which he views this broad continent
and the entire world with caimness
md an entire absence of passion that
makes him feel as being with them but
not OF them. The tendency Of svents
Of late years has been to give
to this city such an e1ninently national
and cosmopolitan character that 1t
sometimes appears like Paris, being
the representative Of the whole conn
try, and an entirely i,tapersonnl repre-
tentative, mere machine to register
the movements of the country around
1t. Well, the world's fair and tho tin-
tional convehtions ccntering interest in
this section such feeling is but natur-
nl. 1t also enables one TO think t1ispas=
ssonateiy OF affairs which usually exer-
else individual feeling most violently.
ran across man the other day
who developed some rather peculiar
3dehs on politics. leaving aside oil par
tisan feeling. II think this year will
show some remarkable phenomena III
politics." he said. ''YoN have noticed
the strange conduct of the weather
this spring. We'll, politics will be just
as strange. Ahsnrd7 ! Thought you
would say so. The weather does not
make politics. OF course. But may not
4 ~t 4. Al
II think it is true that great events
in human history have generally been
contemporaneol1s with remarkable nat
ural phenomena. am not an astro1o=
ger Iknow nothing of that science or
cali it. But I do believe that the fund
amental principle of that now despiscd,
but once powerful. belief is correct
AS l understand It, the principle Is that
human affairs as well as all the rest of
nature are governed by certain laws.
We may be able to discern the opera
tion of these laws better in affairs
other than human, and from happen
ings in other parts of nature draw con-
clusiOns as to our own affairs.
''Some French astronomer has at
tempted to account for the recent pecul-
lar seasons by referring to the sun
spots, those cruptions of hydrogen and
other gases that project from the sun
ATTY thousand miles or more and proba-
bly, exert some influence, magnetic,
electric, optic or thermic, upon our
earth. They had an extraordinary win
ter in Siberia three years ago. next in
Russia. last winter in western Europe,
and fancy it will be here next winter.
/ believe the peculiar weather that has
prevailed here this season is due to the
same cause. ~
Now l have said. extraordinary
events frequently occur at the same
time in nature and in human affairs: so
commonly. in fact, that both may be
owing to the same causes. if not bear
ing any direct causal relation to one
another, Hence from the present cx-
traordinary condition of our atmos-
rhere l conclude that there will be ex-
traordinary political events. have an
idea that many of the old traditions OF
our politics will. be completely over
thrown. Some republican states may
join the democratic column and on the
other hand, have had intimations
that the south may not turn out a solid
democratic front. some people are
talking of Louisiana being lost to The
democrats, and others say that Illinois
or Iowa may fall away from the re-
puDlicans. 1 am not interested in it
beyond the way have indicated,
namely, of something extraordinary
being likely to happen. There is quite
as much truth as poetry in Shakes
pearc'S saying:
"'Whcn tcygars die tho r. are comets seen
The heavens ,h, mscIvos tI,ze forth the death
ofprrc st''s
The trustees of the sanitary district,
commonly called drainage trustees,
have at last decided upon route for
the great canal which is to relieve Chi.
cago of its sewage and at the same time
improve the rivers down to the Missis-
sippi to make them more navigablc.
The point at which work is to begin
has also been selected. The cut is to
be commenced between Willow
Springs and Joliet where rock forma-
ton rises to the surface and the work
will be the most difficult.
This drainage canal scheme which is
now approaching realization gives rise
to some peculiar reflections. In ancient
times it would have been thought i'm
pious presumption on the part of man
thus to reverse the operatiqisof nature S
laws and restore Il condition which ma
ture herself ages ago abandoned in
favor of the condition now prevailing.
This involves some interesting bits of
the history of this region of the "new
world which is the old" For the North
American continent is the oldest of the
main lands of the earth excepting Aus
tralia. 1t is older than Europe, older
than Asia. the cradle of the huma n
race. so-called. and the oldest part of it.
perhaps the oldest part of the inha bitcd
earth, is this our region of the upper
lakes. 70
! Northern Wisconsin and the Gogeb bic
region is the patriarch among the lands
now inhabited by men. All of Lake
Michigan, including half of the states
of Wisconsin and Michigan on either
side. was at one time huge glacier.