The doomed city! Chicago during an appalling ordeal! : the fire demon's carnival : the conflagrations in the West, South and North divisions : graphic sketches from the scene of the disaster . ywooden buildings within the limits of the city, and to-day thefire limits should be the city limits. We have given full sway to drinking, gambling, and licentioushouses,and have by our moral laxity invited to the city, andharbored in it a criminal population almost equal to tliat ofLondon, which is the worst on the face of the earth. We have thus done less to reform this very population, whenin our powe
The doomed city! Chicago during an appalling ordeal! : the fire demon's carnival : the conflagrations in the West, South and North divisions : graphic sketches from the scene of the disaster . ywooden buildings within the limits of the city, and to-day thefire limits should be the city limits. We have given full sway to drinking, gambling, and licentioushouses,and have by our moral laxity invited to the city, andharbored in it a criminal population almost equal to tliat ofLondon, which is the worst on the face of the earth. We have thus done less to reform this very population, whenin our power, than almost any other city. Our Bridewell andjail have cried aloud to heaven for help and redress. We have had the experience of the whole world back of us,and yet, in building a great city and centre of civilization, wehave given the work into the hands of greedy real estate specu-lators, and have selfishly taken care of our own concerns. We have drifted, too, into the hands of a set of tricky politi-cians, the spirit of which is illustrated by our present CityCouncil, and the only recognized aristocracy of the city is a setof ignorant and recently enriched social swells and BURNING OF THE CROSBY OPERA-HOUSE. GEEAT FIRE IN CHICAGO. 39 Now, I say the judgment of our calamity is to teach us tocure these evils. W^ must learn, shortly, economy in our homesand business management. I am not hoping to see again suchelegant residences and business blocks—I certainly never desireto. Europe knows better than we in these matters. Let ourcivic buildings and monuments, our school buildings and churches^our public libraries in each section of the city, our colleges ofthe learned professions, be grand and impressive as may be. Inthese we can illustrate our genius for beauty and our business and domestic expenses are less, we can havemore to give to public uses. What is lost ? 1. Our houses. Thousands of families are houseless andpenniless. 2. Our business. This is
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