The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-01-02
CHICAGO'S SHORTCOMINGS.


w. G. Nicholas, in Pittsburg Dispatch.
Senator Depew's remarkable interview in
advertisement of Peoples Gas and blow
ing the horn for Chicago has invited re-
taliation In many quarters and provoked
unlind remarks about the Windy City.
One of the ulti-millonaires who has re-
moved from Chicago TO New York because
the former city is not good enough for him
catalogued few OF the things which in
duced him TO migrate. jotted down few
of the items he enumerated and pass them
along as food for thought, although dis
avowing sponsorship. He said:
Chicago has lost 250,0o people within
the last four years. 1t has ceased to be
a desirable place of residence, and people
are getting away from it for many rca-
sons. Workingmen by tens of thousands
abandoned Chicago because OF unceasing
labor disturbances, and tens of thousands
more of them moved from the city proper
to manufacturing communities which have
sprung up at various points along the
Belt road line of railroad running
from the lake on the north around the
city to Hammond and South Chicago on
the south at an average distance from the
town of from twenty to twenty-five miles.
This road was built and operated as
a clearing house for the congested traffic
of the roads centering in Chicago. Manu-
facturers, finding they could carry on bust
ness cheaper on the Belt road than in
the city. began establishing themselves
along the line several years ago, and it
has now become quite the fashion. The
workingmen discover they can do better
away from the temptations and expenses
Of the city; that the air is purer, that
they can live in better houses. dress their
children better and give them better edu-
cational advantages. To such an extent
has this movement been going on that bust
Of all wit i'm he cit
has been seriously affected.
1.-THE great department stores are suffer-
ing, real estate outside of the congeSted
ten acres has deprecated from % to 60
per cent. and tens of thousands of dwell
ings and flats vacant 1t is not an ex-
aggeration to say that on some business
streets Of Chicago there are more vacant
storerooms than In the whole of New York.
The streets are filthy beyond description.
even in the heart of the city, where 1t
would seem as though an extra effort
would be made for cleanliness. This gem
eral shrinkage in the city is not apparent
in the bank clearings, for all the bust
ness concerns within a radius of forty or
fifty miles do their banking in or through
Chicago. 1t is the habit of the newspapers
to point to the bank clearings as an un-
answerable defense against statements that
the town is on the decline.
There Is a reason for this descent in
Chicago's pride. The worlds fair cost
the city, directly and indirectly, more
than 500, 100000. That was seven years
ago. The community has never recovered
from the blow, and since then 1t has been
misfortunes. The drainage canal cost
another $4O.000000. and will cost many
millions more before IT serves the purpose
intended, II 1t ever does. 1t was built as
a sewer, but 1T may never be used, or. If
used, may prove inadequate. Overcon-
struction of elevated railway systems and
transportation in surface street railways
cost Chicago s50000.0O0 The failure of a
large number of industries which We're
recognized and foated in Chicago put a
SCI, Co., 600 scab on the capital of the place.
These things have all happened since the
worlds fair. including the hegira from the
city proper TO the outskirts and beyond,
where there are work and reduced taxa
ton.
Chicago is essentially 'on the hog
Everybody of means who can get away
is leaving the city and taking what they
have with them. Those whose affairs are
in such shape that they must continue to
do business there are establishing homes in
New York and other Eastern cities and
are putting in only as much time in Chicago
as they are obliged TO. OF my own knowl-
edge / can call the names of a hundred rich
men who have left Chicago within two
years
MANY still have interests there-and are
sorry for it. There is no way of forming
a close estimate of the amount of money
which has been literally lifted up and car
ried away from Chicago by rich men who
were formerly its citizens, but the total
WILL in my opinion, not fall short of S75,-
100000. / not surprised that the men
upon whom the burden has fallen are de-
lighted to hear Senator Depew's words OF
good cheer, and that they viii welcome the
capital put into the town by the states
rnan-financier They money is needed. All
that strangers can take there for many
years TO come will not, however. half fill
the gap made by money taken away OF
lost"