The Palatka news and advertiser., 1915-08-13
A Pen Picture of Chicago.

was written for The Palatka News by
Moses Folsom, former secretary Of
the Palatka board of trade, and we
are sure it will be filled with inter-
est to our readers. Mr.. Folsom knows
how to condense into small space mat
ter of great interest:
Chicago has 100000 population
and covers territory about the area
of Putnam county. Every nationali-
ty in the world is represented ana
newspapers ate printed in all the
principal languages Of Europe.
1t has 5000 saloons and nearly
everything is wide open on Sundays
except the general stores. Sunday
papers are sold on the streets Satur-
day night. For distant points the
Sunday papers are shipped Friday
night, the telegraphic dates being adj
vanced. There are no newsboys run
ming about the streets, instead papers
are sold from stands at the street
corners.
There are 700 movie picture houses.
some of them running all night, and
prices of admission range from 8
cents to So.
Numerous arrests stopped the hab-
it of splitting on the sidewalks and
accordingly the walks are scrupulous-
ly clean. A similar enforcement of
law would stop the nasty habit of
splitting on the walks in every city
and town.
The value of building sites in the
business or "loop" district-a section
circled by the elevated tracks-will be
appreciated when say that 14-sto-
ry building is being torn down on
Madison street to be replaced by one
2S stories high. There are dozens of
buildings in the loop district with
from 1000 to 5000 occupants. | saw
a drug store the other day on the 18th
floor of one of these buildings, and
stores of all kinds can be found from
two to twenty stories above the street.
Rentals in the loop district, on the
street, range from 81 900 to $4,000
month, for rooms the size of The
News Office.
There are l 400 miles of street car
tracks, With over 10000 employees.
Three weeks ago a strike stopped car
service for three days and paralyzed
business. The men won an increase
of from 2 to cents an hour. 1t is
possible to ride 25 miles for 5 cents.
On the principal streets the roar of
the passing cars is constant and pre-
vents ordinary conversation on the
crowded sidewalks.
| happened to be on North Clark
street last Saturday morning and saw
men running toward the bridge. l
was on the scene in few minutes and
saw the steamer Eastland settle down
and carry nearly 1000 peopl to
death. The Eastland and several 9TH
er steamers had been chartered to car
ry the employees of the Western Elec-
trio Co., and families, some 1000 per
sons, on an excursion to Michigan
City. The Eastland had over $500 on
board and nearly half of them drown
ed. 1t turned over at the dock just
as the guy ropes were being cast off.
Four or five Investigations are in pro-
gress and the papers are full of SEN
sational stories with hourly issues,
some as late as 10 o'clock at night.
Chicago has reason for being proud
of its park system. Lincoln, Grant
and Jackson parks on the lake front
stand on land rescued from the water,
now beautifully laid out with walks,
trees, flower beds-now in radiant
bloom-and green lawns with spaces
for baseball, croquet, lawn tennis,
golf, etc. | counted seven ball games
going on last Sunday in Lincoln park,
which also has an extensive zoo-ele-
plants, lions, tigers and over 800
kinds of birds. Theodore Roosevelt
was out there last Sunday and visited
the band of Moose.
Along the 25 miles of lake front the
patient fishermen sit and sit and sit
thousands of them every day, the
usual catch being perch, the largest
not as long as lead pencil.
| was in the Armour fruit canning
factory at the stock yards a few days
ago and saw 200 girls seeding cher
ries from Italy-1, 300 tons during the
present season-brought over in casks
filled with salt and sulphur brine
In this condition they are white and
uneatable, but after they are colorcd
red and put in bottles with pretty la
bells they are ready for market.
1t takes a vast quantity of produce
to feed the people and it's sight to
visit the South Water street neigh
borhood and see the variety of stuff
that is handled. California labels on
boxes are conspicuous-and Florida
only half as far away.
There are over a thousand uni
formed local baseball teams belonging
to churches, schools, fraternities, fac
tories, etc. The Methodist denomina.
ton has forty, the Mccormick Pres
byterian church has four, the Knights
of Pythias fourteen, and most of the
games are played on Saturdays and
Sundays.
l could fill columns with interesting
facts about this wonderful city, but
will close by saying that in the two
months I've been here the weather has
been cold and rainy, very few really
pleasant days, and the summer half
gone. The wonder is that there
should he Such a great citv in such a