The sun., 1904-12-04
FATHERLESS CITIES.
New York With Father knickerbOcker and
The City OF Penn Are Exceptions.


DO you know that many towns in the
country have represent ative founder,
either from tradition or fact?" said man
whose life study has been among curios
and in the dust of antiquity. you know
that Father Knickerbocker represents New
York, whether the occasion be one of joy
or grief, and that Penn is associat ed natu-
rally with Philadelphia. Every schoolboy
and schoolgirl associates the two cities
with those figures.
What other figure can you recall readily
that represents any cityS 1t has become
the fashion in later times TO put up comey
young woman as the device OF city. But
as TINS Is the type Of a number OF towns
it is meaningless. m
Chicago with all its push and fondness
for publicity is represented by a young
woman Of determined counte nance ana
athletic build, wearing q shield with the
motto i Will, in whatever that town under
takes. This figure Is of recent adopt ion
and has no tradit ion. The sculpture group
on street where there is little travel, of ali
Indian scalping woman, would mean
more than the Amazon with a will
you quickly associate Boston with the
sacred Goldfish, bat that Is largely in your
mind 1t is hardly eve, seen in print except
it be in caricature. | think the Chicago
figure would be much more appropriate
in Bost ton.
Bunker Hill Monument has to do duty
at times when Boston want % make dis
play but the inanimate figure Il never
sometimes trotted out, but he is New
Highlander and not Bos oman,
The old set III ST. Louis associates the
town with Pierre Choteau, one of its early
citizens, but he never figures as Father
knickerbocker or Penn does. II is called
L. N@A,F ID httN ats IL hNr
"Tbo figure Of steamboat appears in all
Of st. Louis's endeavors, but that has no
other meaning than that steamboating
was the industry which gave the town its
start. ] have often wondered why st.
Louis did not adopt Bent on as its patron.
San Francisco has the Argonaut, but
somehow he can't be made to play in every
incident OF the city's existence as Knicker-
booker and Penn, who are as well known as
Johnny Bull or Uncle Sam.
Baltimore takes its name from the
founder George Calvert, or Lord Balti
more, but when the town is stirred up over
any occurrence he is not run in print. !
never understood why. for the founder was
stirring personality.
Washington, the nations capital. has
no figurehead, Sometimes Uncle Sam or
the American eagle Is trotted out to rep.
resent the city. but they are borrowed for
the occasion, because they are national,
But Washington itself is national. Az
city it has no individuality.
NO city in the South 30 far IA I know
has q single type or figure by which 1t is
known, and yet every one Of them has
hero.
Cincinnati and Milwaukee are famous
on account Of certain brews. but you can
make beer cssk show up in this respect.
Il was out in that hustling town, Kansas
City, few years ago. and in talking with
one OF its settlers asked him il the town
had any patron saint.
a'We have no Pat he replied, not mean
!1E SiEks:' sG be funny as ! believe but we ''0
Further inquiry revealed that he referred
to Col. Mike Magee, a noted townsman
who had helped to boom the town at the
right moment, and who afterward became
a Mayor Of the rugged type: But the pict-
ure of Magee is never used in any event
connected with the plucky city Of hills.
sOne Of the most substantial towns In
the Middle West is St. Joseph, Mo. Finan-
cially and socially il Is in advance Of some
cities of greater population. It, founder
was a Frenchman, Joseph Robidoux, whose
Indian wives and progeny were more nu-
merous than Brigham Young's:
sUp to the breaking out Of the civil war
every street. north and south. in the town
was named for one Of old Joe's pappooses.
But was told that Joe Robidoux had never
been utilized in the town as figure, either
in caricature or otherwise.
sThe index, device. figure or whatever
you NAV call It. of town is founded on
tradition. or some striking fact. and that
Of course, is one reason why there are 30
few in this country. We are still a young
country when YOU leave out of considera-
ton New York Philadelphia and Boston