The morning call., 1894-11-04
AFTER THE FAIR.
Chicago Experiences u;
Reaction.
MERCHANTS LIVING ON HOPE
Great Depreciation i'm Rents-Land-
lords Deserving of
Pity.

since the Columbian Exposition was at the
zenith of its glory. That month of Oct0-
Der will never he forgotten; especially the
9th, when ia 900 people paid their way
into the White City. This day has been
set aside as an anniversary worthy of
celebration, commemorative, as it does,
not only the pride Of civic glory, but the
great and devastating fire which left Chi
cago a heap of smoldering ruins and sent
Mrs. Leary and her cow echOing down the
alsles of pOsthumous fame.
That the ninth was worthily celebrated
mere goes without saying. The old-time
dignitaries shOne again in reminiscent
glory and, warmed up with champagne and
other good things, revamped ths glOries of
the past, and told an old tale over again.
But there was one thing they did not tell
about aud that one thing is painfully ap-
parent 10 the visitor who remem bers Chi
cago in the days of the Worlds Fair. They
did not tell of the travail through which
the city has gone the past year due to the
reaction after the fair. 1t was we'll
beloved miDS trel VINO prOphetically an
nounced through his lyric muse set t. the
tune of that classic air, After the Ball
Is Over" the dire misfnrtuues that should
visit the city After the Fair Is Over"
and every one OF those misIOrtunes came.
leaving the whole business community
WILDLY shrieking for the one thing Pandora
left in her casket of ills-Hope. And that's
what most OF the merchants here have
been living on the past year.
The first thing the newly arrived
stranger experiences on alighting in Chi
On 90 is pang of pity for the landlord.
Whole blocks of residences lie idle with
uucanny posters emphasizing their de-
SaTtan Porhans nr
pied houses remain in one block, the un-
fortunate tenants having taken leases which
keep them there. This general emptiness
does not prevail only 10 the Hyde Park
district where the fair was held, but in all
residence districts on the West as we'll AZ
ION as well as Wo0dlawn or Lincoln Park
districts. Indeed riling in on the train
from the suburbs from any direction the
m0notomy Of vacant houses is painful.
Prices? Why you can get flats In Chi
cagO just now for any figure. On the South
side one can get beautiful seven and eigut
room flats. fitted with natural gas piped
from the HOOsier State, hundreds of miles
away, furnace heated and "all modern
Improvements" for $50 a month, and if
ycu want 10 go out far enough still less
than that. The same kind OF flats at
Twenty-second street last year were rent
ing for $50 and $50. Out where the fair
:
$40 and So is no unusual figure. Out of
curiosity | visited dwelling on Fifty
piuth street, where / had essayed to get
rooms just before the fair opened. The
lady of the house offered me her front
room then for 500 a month. "Will yoG
put any one else in here?" l asked tim
idly, for her face was of the Gordon type,
and the draft made her bangs wiggle in
an aggressive way. 'WelI, l may put two
more in. but you can depend that l Will
put no more in than that" she rejoiued.
| could rent the whole building now for
that much. In fact | had difficulty in get
ting away at all. The agent seeming a
deaf treated me TO innumerable cocktails
and even suggested that | should OCCUPY a
box al the ;heater with him that evening.
It's as much as a mans life is worth
almost In Chicago Just now to take look
at a vacant house.
AS 30 the business of the city to talk of it
10 merchant is to bring the cold sweat
out on his brow. Never has Chicago
passed through such period of depTes-
sion. The great index TO the business
activity of city Is invariably its news
papers, but hardly any advertising was
done at all this summer. What's the
good of advertising? nobody's got any
money To buy" was the way the merchant
put il. One of the greatest dailies in the
cOunuy-a morning raper-came out once
at least this summer with less than
100 lines OF advertising display. Many
smaller periodicals died from lack, OF
nourishment, ana / have it from the very
best authority, the owner of paper, tina,
only two daiieS in the city made expenses
But things are picking up now. Winter
goods are coming IN and the harassed
merchant is beginning to advertise again.
The advertising agent is beginning to nut
on his old clipper air and leaves the Rialto
10 be paced by embryo HamletS, with
whom he has some affinity when times are
hard.
1t will be many a long day. however be-
fore the vacant houses ill I'D and multi-
tudeS thrOng the streets as of yore But
you can't sell this t. a Chcagoan. If
there is one thing the inhabitant OF the
Windy City brides himself upon it is his
civic pride. BY a system of arithmetical
progression that would puzzle Cambridge
senior to figure ont he shows you plainly
that there are more people than ever in
Chicago. It's no use to point out the
columns of vacant houses advertised daily.
"All transient, my dear SIR" he reioips.
Every city has vast floating population.
but Chicago more than any," And then
will proceed to show you by the school
census that Chicago will next census have
1000 900 inhaoitInts. You spring the
census of 1890 upon him showing 1892
$50 people, but this only makes him
laugh, and he will prove 10 you that i'm
1893 there were 100000 and odd inhabi-
tants here. So enthusiastic is the Chica-
gOan on this matter of population that the
Two Million Club is an established institu
ton here. 1t is needless to add that over
their banqu,tS the future population of
Chicago is iiniitless. But this matter of
civic pride is what makes Chicago go
ahead, and try 10 do everything better
than any other city does it, or at least do
more of il, for quantity always tells in
Chicago, whether quality goes with it or
not. The Civic Federation is great ex-
ample of this spirit. 1t is an echo and a
very powerful one of the Parkhurstian
crusades in New York, stimulated by the
revelation of the LeXOw committee. The
Civic Federation took it into its aggregate
head that there was gambling 60
ing on in the city. The
Mayor and Chief OF Police said there was
not. Then the Federation undertook to
demonstrate their position and hired Matt
Pinkertun. who speedily unearthed the
"hells." Raid after raid followed. The
Grand Jury took the matter up indicted
seventy odd gamblers and long list of
owners of the buildings where the 'jolnts"
were. In reading down the list OF gam
blers one is amused to fiud there the same
names that Carer Harrison, the murdered
Mayor, had arrested two years ago when
he said he would regulate the business"
They all paid their fines then and straight
way resumed their business. Just now
the efforts of the Civic Federation have
hroE MI, in CbicaUn lint 10