Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1906-03-07
From Uncle Silas III Chicago


Well sir, boys, it was sight to be-
hold. Great, no use a talking. Look.
in down t'ward the west and you could
see nothing but dirty house roofs and
sooty chimneys till it was all lost in
a haze of smoke. To the east was the
lake and along it's shore run the trains
as looked like little toy cars. It is
said that on clear dry day a Teller
can see most 'cross Lake Michigan
and smell the beer from Milwaukee.
The wind was blowin' at about so
miles an hour and the wheels in my
cocoanut got to turnin' pretty lively,
I reckon, fer got to doin' some
pretty tall thinking. AS stood there
clutchin' the iron railin', I thought
as what an injustice our home county
papers are all the time doin' to these
mail order houses in advising to us
farmers to always patronize the hum
merchants. I admit that Montgomery
Ward & Co., don't help pay our
school taxes; I admit they won't let us
get any thing on tick if we're in a
pinch; I low they didn't subscribe
nothin' to'rd our new church organ
nor give nothin' fer the fourth July
celebration; I admit they are not han
dy, like our hum store keeper, ready
to do the right thing by Teller if
there is anything the matter with the
goods you have bought. But jest think
of building tower over 400 feet high
fer the special benefit of yer customers.
One of the highest buildings in the
world expressly fer the ''upliftin'" of
the rural classes when they come to
Chicago. What kentry merchant ever
offered anything to match that, and
then to think that it's absolutely free
to the farmers and that the city folks
hain't allowed to go up the tower no.
how. From your, UNCLE S1LAs.
Well, the second Tuesday in March
will soon be here, reckon, and the
question of license will bother the con-
science of the voters up there in Min
nesota. When I was hum were some
what of temperance crank, but since
I come to Chicago and seed how Ii
cense regulates the liquor traffic 1
most changed my mind. I find that
the saloons here are not only ''regu-
lated" but are "regulated' so we'll
that they run night and day, Sunday
and week days, and not only that but
they REGULATE" the whole bloomin'
town. Just to show you that I know
what I'm talkin' bout I'll take my
shears and take a few clippin's from
the leading Chicago daily that lays
before me:
Editorial-''The liquor traffic is respons-
ible, directly or indirectly, for 80 per cent of
the crime committed in the city,
The Rev. Herbert Gwyn:-"Put away your
idle dream of municipal ownership, Mayor
Dunno, until you can drag Chicago from the
slough of crime into which it has sunk
News Iten-'Threats of personal injury to
Chief of Police Collins made by his enemies
among the gamblers and other 1aw-break-
ing clements have led to extraordinary pre-
cautions on his part. He does not go ten
feet from his private Office without having a
revolver within easy reach Of his right hand"
"In little more than the past decade Chi
-.
woeful change" said former Judge Nathaniel
c. Sears. "In 1893 Chicago was the White
City'-a city of our pride. But it has disap-
peared. In it's stead we now have the Black
City. The civic change has brought our
disgrace. The conditions are result of the
peoples choice ofpolicy- a wide open town."
Jeakin Lloyd Jones-"The seven or eight
thousand saloonkeepers exert far more
constructive influence in the politics of the
city than do the one thousand ministers and
their seven or eight thousand direct officials"
DR.. w. A. Bartlett II believe that the
present reign of terror is due to unfaithful-
ness of the Mayor and police officials, who
are in league with the liquor interests.
II believe that there should be a martial
law, which was in vogue when Chicago was
burning, and the citizens were robbed by
ghou1s.
Il believe every woman who must be out
after dark and has to pass unfrequented
places should be encouraged to carry pistol
in her hand, and if spoken to or threatened
should shoot her assailant"
Bishop Fallows-"We do not want to see
crime increased, women attacked and out
ragged, murders multiplied, through the. d.