Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-01-19
WIDESPREAD DISTRESS.
The Army of Idle Men That Throng
the Streets of Chicago.

the streets OF chicago.
1T is the sheerest foolishness for any SEN
sible citizen of Chicago to attempt to contra
dict even the most lurid stories that have
reached the east regarding the mournful
condition Of the unemployed in the big
town." said ]. s. Chisholm, a well-known
board Of trade man In the worlds fair city,
to a Star man this morning. Its
thing that cannot be got around. OF all
the yawpers who ever rent into visible
slices the Opaque atmosphere of our town
IN praise of its nultitudinous joys and vir
tues, 1 suppose 1 have been the most I'M
pardonable any time these past ten years,
and l was particularly ferocious in my de-
fensive tactics before and during the prog
ress OF the fair. Even at this moment.
while / am talking, l am firmly convinced
that the sky is higher In Chicago than IL
is anywhere else on earth, and the first
tenet in my creed Is that New York CITY,
which in a past era may have had some
pretensions to rival Chicago. is now merely
an understudy for st. Louis. But Arcadia
like. every true Chicagoan must believe
his town to be under ordinary conditions
1t Is folly to deny that it is in a most woerul
condition just now as regards a very con-
siderable portion of Its population.
A Double Burden.
THE city is bowed under the weight of a
double burden. When the gates Of the fair
were shut they closed upon many thousand
employees whose prodigality in the matter
OF expenditures was encouraged by the
general delirfousness of the occasion, and
who for the most part were not possessed
of single sou-marque when they were
thrown out of employment. Besides these
there were unnumbered thousands who
were drawn into the Chicago maelstrom be-
fore and during the fair, vainly hoping to
get employment on the grounds ofrhand, and
who, when they learned their grievous mis-
take, were unable to get out of town. These
two almost innumerable classes, who for
the most part are still in Chicago, are the
direct and most unfortunate sufferers from
the natural reaction following a great ex-
position in any community. The same re-
action had powerfully depressing effect
upon every line of business. and even the
most enormous slumps from the fair-inf1at-
ed prices have dismally failed to restore
business to its normal basis.
An Army on the Streets.
Then, right upon the heels of the fair
reaction, came the hard times which have
afflicted this country and the world in gen.
eral for the past few months. Thousands
of men in every line of industry have been
thrown out Of work in Chicago by reason
of this universal depression in business,
so that at this moment there are easily
115OO0 men, most of them eager for en-
ployment, practically on the streets of the
town. Never, in my opinion, in the history of
this country has a charitably inclined people
responded so swiftly to the calls of the suf-
ering as have the people Of Chicago under
these conditions. But the talk of alleviat-
ing the suffering of all or any appreciate
number of the city's unemployed has
proven too gigantic. and encouragement is
written on the countenance of even the
most sanguine. Men in patent-leather
shoes and silk hats have been put to work
as laborers on the drainage canal and In
cleaning the streets. and l venture to say
hat Nrnfn fC tod hxyf taa
men who have thus been given an oppor-
tunity to earn a bare subsistence.
THE philanthropic people of Chicago
have exhausted every conceivable resource
in their endeavor to abate the evil which
hangs over the city like pail, and l dare
say they have gone deeper into their pock-
cts than the people of any other city ever
did under similar circumstances
Reign of Terror.
but the evil is increasing day by day.
You can't get away from the army Of
homeless and desperate in any part of Chi
cago or its environs. / say desperate. for
as a simple matter of fact a man whose
appearance is in any way prosperous dis
plays his wisdom, in walking through the
darker streets of Chicago at night, by taxi
ing the middle of the road, with gun of
large caliber in his right-hand overcoat
pocket, ready for use; and thousands of
the most solid citizens of Chicago are care
fully following this rule for self-preserva-
ton. The conscience OF man VINO has
been hungry for long time is very apt to
become warped, and this fact accounts for
the long list of 'hold-ups' which the Chi
cago papers publish every morning. Mayor
Hopkins. on account Of the reign of terror
which the distressing conditions have caus-
ed in the way of an alarming increase in
crime. has decided to drive as many of the
INDECENT as he can get hold of out Of Chi
cago, and what is to become of the poor
wretches when he puts this determination
into effect is sorry thing for a man to re-
fleet upon, for the condition of the country
in general, and of the west in particular,
is not conspicuously gladstone or hilarious
just now.
ION my visits to Washing ton / have fire.
quently heard employees of the government,
drawing good salaries, lament their hard
lots, but all the same 1 notice that Wash
ington, of all the large cities of the coun-
try, is the least affected by the general
blight, and it seems to me that a govern
ment job, with sure pay and comparatively
little work, is a thing for any man TO be
orr faf, nj ipS