The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-07-15
THE DIRr1EsT OF CITIES.

- OA~SO' O0t reCufreIicS ooS0 AOC
ameiiorate the offense, and the people OF
Chicago are as much. incensed over the
last insult as they were over the first
Within few days, an English lecturer
known casually to fame as the Very Rev.
Charles W. Stubs, dean of Ely, and
Robert Herrick, the writer, have said
some very nasty things about the Windy
City. and they were the more offensive
inasmuch as there is a strong element of
truth in their statements.
Dean Stubs after touring the United
States with more or less i'll success re-
turned to his home in the tight little isle
and had himself interviewed, and in the
course Of his interview he declared Chi
cago to be the most hatefully unlovely
city he had ever been in; and furthermore
he termed 1t "a clanking wilderness of
endless streets, monotonous. unpictur-
esque, untidy, dirty, foul
The sacred Lake Front park. Dean
Stubs described as Give square plats
of NANCY grass, bisected by the Illinois
Central railway" He declared the ap
proach to Jackson park to be "a valley
of Htnnom without its cleansing fires"
Other things equally nasty are said by
Dean Stubs about Chicago.
Then comes one Robert Herrick and in
a new book he has written and which
has just been published he refers to Chi
cago in these terms:
But the street itself, with It's drays
numbering into the hidden depths of
Shiny pools, it's dirty, foot-stafned cement
walks. had the indubitable aspect Of Chi
cage !e% o+,o. o,+-. -, n,oso oo,,,a nro
sent quite this combination of tawdri-
ness, slackness. dirt, vulgarity"
Merely desolate and unforgivably WI
gar.
Mr. Herrick has other things to say to
the discredit of Chicago, some of which
relate to its public school system. but the
quotations are sufficient to indicate his
opinion of the Windy City.
To say that 1.-The people" OF Chicago are
indignant over these criticisms Is an ex-
ceedingly inadequate way Of describing
their state of mind. The Chicago news
papers are extremely vicious in their re-
marks resenting the attacks Of Stubs
and Herrick.
Neither "the people" nor the papers
can see any fault In their city. 1t is all
perfect. The Chicago Tribune solemnly
asserts that Chicago Is an ideal summer
resort, the one great attraction of which
is the climate which makes it the Riviera
of America. and winds up a half column
editorial descriptive Of the quiet loneliness
of Chicago with an outburst OF poetry IN
which the city is referred to as this de-
licious nest"
The sentiment which leads the Chi
cagoese to sc violently defend their city
comes from an excellent source, but It's
unqualified manifestations are liable to
create the impression that the grand dis
play of Indignation is largely due to
conscious guilt.
1t is seemingly Impossible for thor
oughbred Chicagoan to be made to per-
ceive any defects In his city or in any
thing pertaining thereto. It's indescribA-
BILE filthiness he cannot see. It's raclking
noIsiness he cannot bear. It's general air
of frowsiness and squalor he does not per-
ceive. To the supply OF vile drinking
water; to the riot of crime; to the per-
vading municipal corruption; to the an
archiStic outbreaks of a large and de-
PRAYED portion of the population; to the
prevailing unsanitary conditions. the over
erowdtng, the want, poverty and suffering
as chronic Affections he is perfectly OBJ
livious. All such defects in the social and
political fabric of Chicago, defects which
are apparent to all who visit the city, the
Chicagoan seems congenitally incapable
of perceiving.
To even hint at the existence of such
things is to insult Chicago, and 1t may
as the Chicagoese remain encysted in
their present mental condition, incapable
Of learning how to better their truly mis-
cradle condition and becoming enraged
eminent are pointed out to them, just so
long will the city of Chicago retain its
unenviable reputation as being the
dirtiest noisiest, most corrupt and filth
ly depraVed city in the United States
Even while the Chicago Tribune was
venomously assaulting the city's critics
and lauding 'this delicious nest" as a
spot in every way superior to paradise
and very much healthier, the local col
umns OF the same paper contained state
ments to the effect that all cleaning of
the city's streets and alleys had been
stopped, the collection of garbage might
cease altogether for five months and tba
street cleaning force Of 200 men and
half the garbage collectors had been laid
Off. The insufferable conditions arising
from such neglect of absolutely necessary
cleanliness and sanitary precautions can
be imagined by those familiar with the
usual shocking condition of Chicagos
streets and alleys when the street force
is in full working order
While as to the climate of this ode
licious nest" all the Chicago newspapers
have published daily list of deaths and
prostrations from the suffocating humid
heat.
Chicago might be- made endnrable as
a dwelling place If the people would profit
by fair criticism. But they don't, and
they won't q -