Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1896-11-12
A captioas Rnxiish Critic.

A Captious Rngllsh Critic.
A special commissioner Of the Lon.
don Mail, who has been travelling thro'
the United States taking notes and
sometimes misrepresenting US and
sometimes doing US justice, was some
what impressed with Chicago, which
he calls the queen and guttersnipe Of
cities" and the ''cynOsure and cesspool
OF the world" Whether Mr.. Stevens
can escape condemnation at the hands
Of Chicagoans for these ''arf and arf''
compliments is problematic, but Chi
cagOans really do not care great deal
for such English opinion. Mr.. Stew
ems devotes much space to noting Chi.
cago contrasts and dealers, after telling
of the iron and stone or brick sky scrap
ers, that these structures are sublime
and almost awful" and ''lnstinct with
! almost ferocious energy and force"
Then he dwells with pleasure on the
bouleva ds and lordly private residenc-
es, the universities, endowed heavily
by liberal mllllonaires, in board con-
trast with depressed Oxford and Cam
bridges" the art galleries and libraries,
private aud public, and then by way Of
bathos he drops the reader upon the
residence portion Of the poorer class
and says:
"Street stretches beyond street of lit
tie houses, mostly wooden, begrimed
! with SCOT, rottlng failing to pieces.
The path ways are Of ricke, y and worm
eaten planks, such as we should not
tolerate n day in London as temporary
gateway where house is being built.
Here the boarding is flush with the
street, there it drops to it in two-foot
precipice, over which you might easi-
ly break your leg. The streets are of
quagmire of black mud; and no At
tempt is made to repair them. They
are miserably lighted, and nobody
thinks Of illuminating them. The police
force is SO weak that men and women
are held up and robbed almost nightly
within the city limits; nobody thinks Of
strengthening it "
If you come to death by misadventIre
among these pitfalls; all the c0nsOla-
tion your friends will get from Chicago
is to be told that you ought to have
taken better care of yourself.
The truth is that nobody in this rush
ing, struggling tumult has any time to
look after what we have long ago come
| 70 think the bare decencies Of civiliza-
| tlOUs u1o uu0u ID III . W WVIA
| up his tallOw, that man to ship his
grain. Everybody is lighting to be
rich. is then stealing to be refined, and
nobody can attend to making the city
| lit to live in. have remarked several
times before that America is every
where still unfinished, and unless the
character OF the people modofes itself
| with time I do not believe it ever will
be. They 60 half way to build up
civilization In the desert, and they are
4 satisfied and 60 forward to half civilize
some place further on. 1t is not that
they are incapable of thoroughness,
but that in certain things they do not
feel the need Of it.
This is quite an accurate picture Of
such sections of all our news towns and
cities. The largest residence district
in Chicago, which Mr.. Stevens ad-
mired, was one, not twenty years ago,
covered with such frail architectural
efforts as he saw in the southwestern
and western portions Of the city. Those
are temporary structures, which give
way in time to substantial buildings,
stone sidewalks and streets which are
severed. and furnished with water pipes
while electric lights are placed in po-
sition. Few Englishmen coming to
this country ever think OF the rapidity
of development; the sudden and phe-
nOmenal growth Of population, increas-
ing beyond the power of municipality
minister to their needs in public works.
It ia only surprising that our new
municipalities keep as close on the
heels of urban progress as they do.
What Mr.. Stevens says about the
struggle to get money is true, but It Il
not true that we only half civilize one
locality and then ''go forward to hall
civilize some place further on" Take
Minneapolis q few years ago an aggre
cation OF frame structures, with un'
paved and unlighted streets. II there
any NATURALIZATION here? There 10 /
large district, as In Chicago. where
wooden structures dominate; but they
will give way, as acres Of similar struc
lures have, nearer to the center Of tht
city in years past. And 1t is strange
for an Engliehman, who has been Il
London. Manchester and other town
in England, to talk about sQualid build
iings when, Ia those cities, there ar,
Hundreds Of acres of small, rickety ant
begrimed, rOtting structures, which
are the only homes Of labor. Ia LOndol
the sanitary boards are just beginninl
To tear, down fetid, rOsting structures
which have been the only shelter Q
many families. II is q libel 70 say tha
In our new American cities We have d
regard Tor s'the true decencies of civil
xation.n These communities will com
pare most fayorablv with any In Eng
land - 70 their insistence upon all th
aCesoories and deCcncies Of civilizati0s
y
]. Apples! Apples!
New York stata BAld dwins, 80 per bt
0r1onin1S, 76C pr bushel.
III Ccna quick They Won la1t In
Z ~ 9oyo pries Rxle1AsE gh4oo.