Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1896-01-31
ILLINOIS CENTRAL r. r.,
(rid Cairo to Neto OrlednS,)
Jan, % and "a, 1896.

Octopus by the Lakes.
ILLINOIS CENTRAL r. r.,
(uid Cairo to NetO OrlednS,)
Jan. % and "a, 1896.
Ny dear PhGnir: l did not intend,
when | left home, to say much about my
impressions of the larger cities l might
visit, as the newspapers cover that field
to perfection, but since my arrival in
Chicago | have decided to devote this let
ter to my observations while there. Chi
cago, as all of your readers well know, alb
serbs the attention of travellers everywhere
throughout the West. From it large and
small towns take their cue for manners
and fashions. The great city sets the
styles. There is much to admire in the
ambition and perseverance of many of its
citizens. The tall and extensive buildings
erected since 1890, casts a glamor of won
der and surprise over the average beholder
The equipages and swagger of its multi
millionaires, the prominent positions they
seek to attain at home and abroad, all
conspire to give the impression that TO hail
from Chicago is all that is required to gain
attention, fame and honor the world over.
The facts are exactly the reverse; for
while there may be a few thousand of its
citizens with their golden halos perma-
nently adjusted, there are as many hundred
thousands, who have as little claim to de-
cency in morals, knowledge of the duties
of American citizenship, regard for the
rights of others, or the respect of law and
ORDER as the worst types in the domains
of the sultan of Turkey. Corruption,
bribery, the slung shot and knife are the
implements with which Chicago is gov
erned today. Assessments on property
are raised or lowered in proportion as the
property holder will stand the blackmail
levied upon his estate, and the result in
this particular is that the taxer and taxed
are equally venia, consequently the as
sessed value of Chicago for 1895 was less
than $780, 200, 000,-yet Boosting of nearly
100000 inhabitants. Elections are plan
ned and executed in fraud, the franchise
is polluted from the lowest to the highest
voter, the rich keep quiet, for their own
| fortunes have sprung from sources of in
| EQUITY that out Herod Tammany in its
| widest Dreams
Chicago today is bankrupt; it is the
dirtiest and flthiest town in America
The pavements in the principal streets
would make the trail of the savage blush.
| The old homes of the American quota of
its people are deserted, and the average
well-to-do-residents live from four TO eight
miles from their business. South side
| Chicago has not advanced more than two
blocks in five years for business purposes,
consequently the inhabitants are scattered
over territory sufficient, if compactly built
over, to accommodate 100000 people.
The whole town, with the exception of the
| business portion, Is an indescribabe lot of
incongruous buildings, with no appearance
whatever of metropolitan city.
While in the city l made extended trips
| to the outskirts of the suburbs in three
directions. l talked with many people,
and they all agreed in saying that this
| high pressure cannot much longer be main
tanned. Rents are exorbitant, business is
rapidly changing hands, unpronounceable
| foreign names are taking the place of those
we formerly recognized, and the general
| characteristics of those one meets, and for
merly knew, show concluslvely that the
evil results of the late fair was one of the
worst influences that has ever happened in
Chicago history. The natives have alb
sorbed and retained all that was debasing
in foreign visitors, but forgotten everything
else.
Commercially and financially Chicago is
a huge octopus, stretching out its tentacles
a thousand miles in all directions, accept
ably, we hope, to all concerned; but polit-
ically it is hideous and monstrous squid
that fills the moral atmosphere with the
inky stencil of the poisonous sepia, which
destroys friend and foe alike. l met a
gentleman who lives near the central part
of the state, who is and has been a mem
Der of the state board of assessments for
II years. / asked him if it was true that
the valuation of the state outside of Chica-
go had fallen Sl00,000,0 900, and he said it
was true, and the cause was not in a real
decreased valuation, but in the mode of
assessments for taxation. He told me the
true valuation of the state of Illinois, in
Guiding Chicago, was about s., 900, 000, 900,
but the assessed value was $40, 900, 900,
the aggregate taxes being less than those
of any other state, on the real valuation.
Why the state board should countenance
such proceedings may be inferred from the
fact that many times persons who have
property of six or eight hundred dollars
value are not taxed at all (which think
means If they agree to vote rightly. An
other reason why the valuation is kept so
low is the continual squabble going on be-
tween Chicago and the rest of the state
concerning state taxes, as the smaller the
values, the less each party expects to pay.
The Illinois Central railroad was the
first to receive a charter in the state OF
Illinois. The original route extended from
Chicago to Cairo, in the southwest corner
of the state, at the confluence of the Ohio
and Mississippi rivers, 1855 miles from
Chicago; line extending from Chicago
directly west to Freeport, thence directly
south to Centralia, connecting with the
line first mentioned, and traversing nearly
all the best agricultural lands in the state
With this charter the company received
immense land grants, contiguous to the
several lines, for which favors and privl-
leges it agreed to pay the state per cent
of the gross earnings or forfeit the charter
and lands. 1t is needless to add that in
the period of 50 years since this compact
. was made wonderful growth and develop
ment of the country have taken place; the
extensions and connections of the Illinois
Central system extend to all the western
and southern states, not forgetting the
two great lines to Memphis and New Or
leans, and thence to Mexico. AS a result
of this development the per cent on the
original chartered lines now amounts to
the sum of abont SS00,00 paid annually
by the company into the state treasury.
Our route south from Chicago carries Il:
through several of its attractive and pros
porous suburbs, - Pullman, Kensington
Matteson and others. Champaign, which
we reach 12S miles from our start, is pleas
antly located in the centre of one of the
most fertile sections of the state. This il
par excellence the corn belt of the world
The profits now made are from feeding thu
corn to hogs, which affords a fair return
to the farmer. At Centralia, 262 mile
from Chicago, we approach the end of the