The St. Louis Republic., 1904-12-18

Chicago, over = surprise package II IL
selr has perDatga.ei \ surprise on Chi
caEo. IN tho typical Chicago manner the
metropolis of the Great Lakes first he
lied. later believed. and now boasts that
undermining its busiest and most crowd
ed section II system % underground
streets which ultimately will revolution
lie the downtown district Of the first city
OF Illinois rs far As surface travel and
business are concerned.
1t required two b1sv wears FOR |hlcaEo.
the city. to realize chat directly under the
tscrt Of the hustliu.; and busting city
thousands Of men were working day and
night. cutting out the regal blue clay over
which the city Is built and dumping ii
along the lake front Boston, New York.
Philadelphia and 4 majority of The East
ern cities had son; committees 20 look
over tho progress of the work and 70 fig
u-s upon flo possibilities of so herculean
n task before ClicGSo's own enterpr,sing
citizens and newspaper men had realized
the mammoth proportions OF the human
eu6cavor then in progress.
s.. Louis, long suffering but wfthal dis
posed 70 turn friendly hand 20 the big
town at the other ca1 or Tho drainage
ditch. had been the first 70 invest capital
IN the undertaking. and prominent flnan-
ciers of the Worlds Fair city OF 1904. the
Queen OF the Mississippi Valley, were
among the earliest to attempt the solution
OF the problem of ailsviatin- the troubles
OF Chicago. and it was their money which
Instituted tho prelinina-ies which have
led to absolute success.
Degree by degree have the plans OF the
promoters expanded, until to-day Chicago
has the most wonderful. most practical
and most useful system OF underground
transportation in operation anywhere. not
excepting the much-talked-of New York
City tunnel, only Just opened for traffic,
the underground railway system of Paris
or tho latest accomplishments Of science
and mechanics in Washington. Boston or
in any other city in the world
SYSTEM Is CHICAGO'S OWN.
Clicago's system is all her own. and is
fitted to the requirements and necessities
OF her peculiar needs which probably are
duplicated in no other OF earth's great
centers of population. It is not proposed,
Nor is the system fitted, for passenger
traffic
Freight. mails, newspaper and the in
staIlation OF e. Twentieth Century tele-
phone service IS all that the Illinois Tua-
mel Company. which now owns the tunnel
systeTn, propose TO care for. As conditions
are. and will likely be. for decades to
come. with Chicago, with these sent be
low the street level there IS plenty OF
room on top for the busy throngs OF the
daily mercantile life OF the city.
Peculiar, indeed, in Its creation is the
physical system Of Chicago, and where
its Hfeblood puIsates down between the
branches OF It's turhid river and the lake
front. conditions arc 30 astounding that
should there ever be a class in municipal
physiology in some university Of the cen
.uries to come Chicago's rigid corpse will
be the marvel upon Its dissecung table.
Within a radius OF one and one-half
miles from State and Madison streets,
where at tho busy hours there is little
more safety to the casual passer-by than
there is TO the man in the track Of a
Kansas cyclone. ;hirty-eight railway svs-
tens. reaching to all paris of the United
States, center. At six separate stations
ard freight yards n block apart from
each ether. 20 per cent OF the total rail-
way mileage og the nation has its term
iEals
Between the Chicago River and Lake
Michigan these railway terminals ilght
with the mercantile estahiishmcnts for
breathing space. Within this compara-
tivelv small area every one Of the big
department stores IS built.
The Post Office - near its center. and
practically the entire commercial business
OF the city and some of its manufacturing
business is conducted within this little
island.
II there We're any increase in business.
such as usually accompanies increase in
population. Chicagos business district had
10 either grow up or grow down"
Years ago It was put up 10 her citizens
jim exactly such terms. and with the ad-
vent of tho skyscraper the impression
rained ground that Chicago had decided
TO grow up.
While the end OF the skyscreper con-
struction IS not yet. the Illinois Tunnel
Company has demonstrated that 10 grow
down. is much the easier and more prac-
tjcahle method of expanding the downtown
district.
ORIGIN OF THE PLAN.
The present stUpendDus project which
has been realized in its greater details,
originated in an effort Of practical tele-
phone men to give to Chicago 4 telephone
system cheaper and more satisfactory
than that of the holders OF the telephone
franchise in existence at the time the
matter was broached four or five years
ago.
Owners of a patent right, which IN
cluded absolute privacy of telephone COM
munication and automatic connection with
a1r desired r.atioa without the necessity