It should be remarked that as the above list includes contributions of money only, while many states made large contributions of supplies the value of which cannot be given exactly, no just comparisons can be made on the basis of the amounts of the money contributions only. It is estimated that the contributions, including both money and supplies, reached a total of five millions of dollars.

CHAPTER XXXIII

CHICAGO FIRE-CONTINUED

THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF SYMPATHIZING FRIENDS EDWARD EVERETT HALE'S APPEALSTIRRING ALLUSIONS TO THE DISASTER-NEWSPAPERS RESUME PUBLICATION-PROPERTY LOSSES LOSS OF LIFE-DESTRUCTION OF LIBRARIES AND ART GALLERIESDESTRUCTION OF CHURCHES SERVICES HELD IN THE OPEN AIR-EFFECTS OF THE FIRE OFFICIAL INVESTIGATION INTO ITS ORIGIN CONDITION OF THE FIRE DEPARTMENT TRIBUNE'S REVIEW ONE YEAR LATER--CHARACTER OF LOSSES-CHICAGO'S RECUPERATIVE POWER-RECORDS OF LAND TITLES DESTROYED-LEGAL REMEDIES BY

THE

LEGISLATURE-PROFESSOR SWING'S "MEMORIES OF THE CHICAGO FIRE”SWING'S DESCRIPTION OF THE FIRE-PERSONAL EXPERIENCES-DEMEANOR OF THE PEOPLE INCIDENTS OF THE FIRE-RETREAT AND FLIGHT-ASPECTS OF THE CONFLAGRATION-LOSS OF VALUABLES SAFETY UNDER THE OPEN SKY-"ALL LOST, BUT ALL HERE' -THE WORLD'S CHARITY-WHITTIER'S POEM ON THE CHICAGO FIRE.

THE GENEROSITY OF THE GIFTS

HE total amount of money sent for the relief of Chicago was $4,820,148.16, of which $973,897.80 came from foreign countries. It would be difficult to estimate the value of contributions in the form of carloads, wagonloads, barrels, and boxes of supplies of every kind. There were all sorts of things, from a shipment of fifty-nine barrels of syrup to a box of fine old brocade silk gowns made in the style of 1700, with immense sleeves and short waists; storehouses were filled with the cooked provisions and the clothing which came in, and those who needed help had but to apply for it as the committee directed. Transportation on trains leaving Chicago was given to thousands, and shipments of supplies were brought to the city without charge. Gifts were gladly and eagerly made, and with many of the donations came messages of sympathy and encouragement. In churches in distant parts of the world sermons were preached to arouse the listeners in Chicago's behalf, and in countless towns in the United States were men entrusted by the citizens with a fund to be sent to the sufferers from the great fire. In Boston a special meeting was held at Faneuil Hall, at which Rev. Edward Everett Hale made an eloquent appeal for help, in these words:

"Mr. Mayor and Gentlemen:-It is but a single word that I have to say here. I have simply to remind you that this is no mere matter of voting in which we are engaged. I have to remind you that these people, our people in Chicago, by their munificence, by their generosity, by their strength, by their public spirit, have made us debtors to them all. There is not a man here, the beef upon whose table yes

terday was not the cheaper to him because these people laid out their world-renowned and wonderful system of stock-yards. There is not a man here, the bread upon whose table today is not cheaper because these people, in the very beginning of their national existence, invented and created that marvellous system for the delivery of grain which is the model and pattern of the world. And remember they were in a position where they might have said they held a monopoly. They commanded the only harbor for the shipping of the five greatest states of America and the world, and in that position they have devoted themselves now for a generation to the steady improvement, by every method in their power, of the means by which they were going to answer the daily prayer of every child to God when praying that he will give us our daily bread, through their enterprise and their struggles. We call it their misfortune. It is our misfortune. We are all, as it has been said, linked together in a solidarity of the nation. Their loss is no more theirs than it is ours in this great campaign of peace in which we are engaged.

"There has fallen by this calamity one of our noblest fortresses. Its garrison is without munitions. It is for us at this instant to reconstruct that fortress, and to see that its garrison are as well placed as they were before in our service. Undoubtedly it is a great enterprise; but we can trust them for that. We are all fond of speaking of the miracle by which there in the desert there was created this great city. The rod of some prophet, you say, struck it, and this city flowed from the rock. Who was the prophet? What was the rock? It was the American people who determined that that city should be there, and that it should rightly and wisely, and in the best way, distribute the food to a world. The American people has that to discharge again. I know that these numbers are large numbers. But the providence of God has taught us to deal with larger figures than these, and when, not many years ago, it became necessary for this country in every year to spend not a hundred millions, not a thousand millions, but more than a thousand millions of dollars in a great enterprise which God gave this country in the duty of war, this country met its obligation. And now that in a single year we have to reconstruct one of the fortresses of peace, I do not fear that this country will be backward in its duty. It has been truly said that the first duty of all of us is, that the noble pioneers in the duty that God has placed in their hands, who are suffering, shall have food and clothing; that those who for forty-eight hours have felt as if they were deserted, should know that they have friends everywhere in God's world. Mr. President, as God is pleased to order this world there is no partial evil but from that partial evil is reached the universal good. The fires which our friends have seen sweeping over the plains in the desolate autumn, only bring forth the blossoms and richness of the next spring and summer.

"I can well believe that on that terrible night of Sunday, and all through the horrors of Monday, as those noble people, as those gallant workmen, threw upon the flames the water that their noble works-the noblest that America has seenenabled them to hurl upon the enemy, that they must have imagined that their work was fruitless, that it was lost toil, to see those streams of water playing into the molten mass, and melt into steam and rise innocuous to the heavens. It may well have seemed that their work was wasted; but it is sure that evil shall work out its own end, and the mists that rose from the conflagration were gathered to

gether for the magnificent tempest of last night, which, falling upon those burning streets, has made Chicago a habitable city today. See that the lesson for this community, see that the lesson for us who are here, that the horror and tears with which we read the despatches of yesterday, shall send us out to do ministries of truth and bounty and benevolence today."

The ministries of Boston were indeed bountiful and large hearted, and for them Chicago has always since felt a special gratitude to that generous city.

A study of the report of the Chicago Relief and Aid Society for the years 1871, 1872 and 1873, will convince the reader that the work of relief was managed with unusual efficiency by the Society, and that its means were quickly and well adapted to the enormous demands unexpectedly made upon it. So systematized was the work and so thorough were the investigations made into the needs of those asking help that there was small opportunity for fraud and imposture, the relief being given with great discrimination.

IMPROVED CONDITIONS IN THE CITY

Eight days after the fire General Sheridan reported to the mayor on the condition of the city under his surveillance:

"Headquarters Military Division of the Missouri,

To His Honor, MAYOR MASON, Chicago, Illinois:

Chicago, October 17, 1871.

I respectfully report to your Honor the continued peace and quiet of the city. There has been no case of violence since the disaster of Sunday night and Monday morning. The reports in the public press of violence and disorder here are without the slightest foundation. There has not been a single case of arson, hanging, or shooting-not even a case of riot or street fight. I have seen no reason for the circulation of such reports. It gives me pleasure to bring to the notice of your Honor the cheerful spirit with which the population of this city have met their losses and suffering."

Peaceful conditions continuing in the city, the mayor addressed a letter to General Sheridan a few days later, providing for the discontinuance of military aid in the city.

"LIEUTENANT-GENERAL P. H. SHERIDAN, U. S. A.

Upon consultation with the Board of Police Commissioners, I am satisfied that the continuance of the efficient aid in the preservation of order in this city which has been rendered by the forces under your command in pursuance of my proclamation is no longer required. I will therefore fix the hour of 6 p. m. of this day as the hour at which the aid requested of you shall cease. Allow me again to tender you the assurance of my high appreciation of the great and efficient service which you have rendered in the preservation of order and the protection of property in this city, and to again thank you in the name of the city of Chicago and its citizens therefor. I am respectfully yours,

Chicago, October 23.1"

1 Report of Chicago Relief and Aid Society, p. 21.

R. B. MASON, Mayor.

The water supply of Chicago had been limited during the first week after the fire to the streams that could be forced through the pipes by a few pumps driven by engines pressed into service. On Tuesday, October 17, a week after the temporary supply had begun, the engine at the water works was started up and the usual water supply resumed. This brought the greatest relief to the city, and was one of the first steps in the general recovery.

NEWSPAPERS RESUME PUBLICATION

One manifestation of Chicago enterprise was the early starting up of the newspapers. By Monday evening, the very day of the fire, the Journal had found a job printing office in Canal street, west of the river, and issued a sheet four by six inches. Wednesday morning the Tribune, also established for the time being on Canal street, issued a sheet, and the other large papers were soon coming out. The advertising columns were full of notices of removals, of rooms to rent "at reasonable prices" in the unburned portions of the city, and of inquiries for articles lost in the flight from the fire.

PROPERTY LOSSES FROM THE FIRE

In 1870 the city of Chicago occupied a space about three miles wide which extended six miles along the lake shore; houses were scattered along the shore line, however, to the southern and to the northern boundaries of the city, in all a distance of ten miles. Owing to the rapid growth of the city and the demands of its increasing commerce, homes and business blocks had been hastily and insecurely built, with too little regard to danger from fire. To some extent these earlier buildings had been torn down and replaced by larger, more solid and much more pretentious structures, which in many cases stood side by side with small, often dilapidated, frame buildings. Within the limits of the burned district alone were about thirty miles of pine sidewalk. The most massive buildings, those constructed of supposedly imperishable materials had, nevertheless, joists, partitions, floorings, cornices, door and window frames of wood, and very few had iron shutters. On each side of the river, which flows down through the heart of the city, were immense coal yards, lumber yards, planing mills, and various other combustible material.

In the West Division, where the fire originated, one hundred and ninety acres were burned, five hundred buildings, mostly inferior ones, were destroyed, and twenty-five hundred persons made homeless. In the South Division four hundred and sixty acres were destroyed, the business center of the city, including most of the largest buildings of the city, all the great wholesale stores, the newspaper offices, the principal hotels and places of amusement, railway depots, churches, and a large number of handsome residences. Three thousand six hundred and fifty buildings were destroyed, including the homes of twenty-two thousand people. The fire in the North Division swept over one thousand, four hundred and seventy acres, burning thirteen thousand, three hundred buildings, among these being churches, schools and the dwellings of seventy-five thousand people. The most of the West Division of the city was saved, owing probably to the area burned the night before, as well as the fact that the Oriental Flouring Mills, located on