St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-10-03
CHICAGo's GREATDAY.

Chicago will not be permitted to carry
off all the honors of Chicago day. at
the worlds fair. The day selected as
belonging especially to that majestic
city is the anniversary of the great fire
that almost swept her from existence
less than quarter of a century ago.
But that day does not belong 10
Chicago alone; 1t belongs to the whole
country, and especially TO the North
west, which has contributed largely to-
wards the rebuilding and rehabilitation
of the metropolis. -
Every citizen of the Northwest is
proud of Chicago. Her dauntless en-
ergy and enterprise, her avenues of
palatial residences and miles of cloud
capped business structures, her ships
and her railroads, her schools and her
churches, are part of the great empire
OF winch she Is the heart, throbbing
with youth, and life, and vigor. Each
pulsation of that heart is felt through
out the forests and across the prairicS
of the Northwest, and each returning
current carries to Chicago an excess of
life and an increase of prosperity.
Through the arteries of trade the life
giving current IS ceaselessly flowing
and ebbing. carrying in one direction
the plenty of the forest and field, and
in the other the wealth OF the loom and
the workshop. Chicago would not have
a being but for the Northwest; the
Northwest would be but barren waste
without Chicago.
AlthnIuh i,,i
who, in the prime of their manhood,
witnessed the beginning of Chicago.
and although her greatest growth and
ripest development has been within the
full view of the present generation, her
career will never cease to be theme
for wonder and romance. Her founda-
tons were laid in morasS, presenting
seemingly insurmountaDle obstacles to
settlement. But the ingenuity OF man
was potent to overcome the niggardli-
ness of nature. The swamps were
drained; the streets were raised above
the lake level; the channel of the slug
giSh stream that meandered through the
town site was Strengthened, deepened
and widened so that it might float the
commerce of a continent; far out into
the lake channels were dug through
which an ineXhaustible supply of the
puresJ water in the world was obtained;
railroads stretched forth in every direc-
ton, all having Chicago for their center,
and wealth, and art, and culture flocked
there. each to add its part to harmOni-
Gus whole-a city without a peer since
the worlds beginning.
Even if Chicago we're as selfish as she
is sometimes accused of being, she can
not deny to the Northwest the privilege
OF being with her on her day of jubilee
and joining in the universal congratula-
tons that will be heaped upon her. We
will not do her homage, but we will
honor her. We will not worship, but
admire. We will not even envy her,
for we recognize the matchleSs energy
that has comprised her present great
ness, and feel that it has only had its
just reward. If Chicago will permit it
we will place upon her brow a wreath
of laurel, and in her arms Sheaf of
wheat, while at her feet we will Law the
treasures of our mines, the timber of
our forests and the fishes of our lakes
and streams. And III return we will ask
but there would be no use in asking
for anything, for after all Chicago is
hoggish, and wants the earth for herself.