The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-11-23
REALLY MAGNANIMoUS.
Chicago's Surrender of the olympiar
 Games of 1904 to St, Louis.

| Chicago Inter Ocean. a.. l It appears to have been decided by the | local committee having the matter in | charge that the Olympian games which | were to be held here in 1904 shall be held | in St. Louis instead. and in connection | with the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. The change has been made in response I to request of President David R. Fran | els of the St. Louis Worlds Fair Asso- ciation representing the directory or that enterprise, and in behalf of our sister | city in general
 The time was, and not so very long ago. when the spirit of Chicago would have revolted against a concession of this kind, or of any kind. to St. Louis, but this time has happily passed away and this spirit has completely vanished. Chicago ] is not only pleased TOW to contribute 10 | the success of the great undertaking which St Louis has on hand. but glad 10 be afforded an opportunity of proving her | friendship to that city by making sac rifce, and one of extraordinary gener- osity, that this result may be achieved. St. Louis will doubtless understand and appreciate that in handing over to her | this magnificent gift-for 1t can be con- sidered in no otho light-Chicago IS practicing self-denial upon a very large scale. Our people have been looking for | ward to the holding of these games here | for several years. A great deal of labor and a great deal of money have been ex- | pended by private citizens Of Chicago Tn | tn effort to secure them.
 Plans have been made upon an elaborate scale for the carrying out of the games In 1904 on a grander scale than has ever | been attempted elsewhere. The holding | of the games here would bring to Chi | cago hundreds of thousands of visitors; | would i'll our hotels and would greatly
 increase our retail trade. Estimated in
 dollars and cents. the Olympian games | would be worth millions to us.
 But St. Louis has embarked upon an
 enterprise of mammoth proportions, and
 one in which the entire nation is inter
 ested. As the second greatest city of the | Middle West, St. Louis in this enterprise | will represent the vast trritory of which Chicago is the recognized metropolis. We | are more deeply concerned in the success
 of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition
 than we are in the success of any merely
 local enterprise
 Chicago. which a hundred years ago
 was not to be found on the map. which
 sixty years ago was merely the chief | town of county, which~twenty-five years
 ago was simply the chief city of a State.
 Is now the intellectual, industrial, and
 financial capital of an empire, and her interests are those of the great Middle
 West which is tributary to her.
 Chicago can afford to be generous now
 She cannot afford to be narrow or selfish
 in any particular. The old things have passed away. Among the new things
 that have come to her with her growth ir
 wealth. population, and dignity is the
 consciousness that she must be found
 henceforth hand-in-heart with all thai
 makes for the good of the West and the
 nation.
 All that she asks in return for tn,
 splendid gift which she lays at the fee
 of St. Louis is that the Olympian game.
 shall be carried on there as they would
 have been carried on hereto the credi
 of the West and the country.