The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-03-06

Even so long ago as 1860, Chicago.
from lake to forest, was succession
of inspirations. AS the Attic salt in
fused the soul of every true Athenian,
so the spirit Of creative thought seemed
to possess tie mind Of every man who
entered her gates. If not sermon,
there seemed at least a purpose ami
mating the very stones of her streets.
She IS an epitome of that progress
which has been spinning down the
ringing grooves of time" ever since
the Genoese set sail in search of a
western passage to the Indies, and
amid desolating fire and commercial
panic she has answered fate as Column
bus answered the faint-hearted sailor
Who questioned him:
''What shall say, great Captain, say,
If we sight naught but seas at dawn
S'Why. you shall say, at break of day,
Sail OF, sail on, sail on and on"
There was ever an unseen, unvoiced
growth in Chicago that led along I'M
expected ways to achievement, like
steps that lead to heights Enterprises
burst forth from her soil, and cIasped
the light and sucked the air of
strength. Men planned and their plans
koutrun their clutch as with a momen-
+um that could not be stayed. Men
died. and yet the thought they planted
multiplied in a hundred fields. AS
from the ridge of the great Northwest
the willing and impartial waters sever,
one part flowing northward and east
ward through lake and strait, roaring
over cataract and seething through
rapids 20 the surging Atlantic-the
other part gliding westward and
southwark TO recruit the tawny cur
rent that carries the wash of con-
tinent to the Mexican Gulf; so this
great city of saitIess seas divided her
favoTs. Millionaire and pauper. poer
and pork-packer, all were welcome to
march in the ranks of her armies.
She babe the stalwart soldier of for
tune to fab in, and placed her strong
arm about the shy, unrecognized child
of genius dumb and halting, maybe
with discoura cement and despair, and
so Sleduleu OH MS Ie6J III the pro-
cessfon. imposing no conditions but to
keep step.
In this mighty city the strong, clear
element of earnest endeavor, the con-
quering tread of huge-limbed labor.
the flexible yet tenacious mentality,
the eager out-reaching spirit of get !
on has ever been manifest and catch
rg. Not that the life is feverish or
hysterica1, as in a new mining camp,
or city of climate and boom. BY no
means. But a handful of the seed Of !,
empire fell upon this favored acreage, |
where only grain was meted out to !
other lands, and it grew because 1T |
could not help but grow.
The bronzes of conquest were once
stricken from the column Vendome in
Paris, because they perpetuated the
memory of triumphs won through the
blood and the tears of the people, to ,
g1ut the vanity of an emperor who
desolated the world that he might IL :
1umine a throne. But Chicago's COM
memorative columns and arches are
her irOn-laced highways, her marts of
trade. her palaces of industry, her
miles of beautiful homes. The record /
of her victories is greater than that
of the Greek who boosted that he
never caused an Athenian to put on
mourning, for she can say that her
growth was directed and her indus
tries so controlled by master minds.