t. The energy of
New York is said to be mere leisure compared to the hustling of Chicago.
Wherever you go you are conscious of the universal search after
gold. The vestibule of the hotel is packed with people chattering,
calculating, and telephoning. The clatter of the machine which registers
the latest quotations never ceases. In the street every one is hurrying
that he may not miss a lucrative bargain, until the industry and
ambition of Chicago culminate in the Board of Trade.

The dial of the Board of Trade, or the Pit as it is called, is the
magnet which attracts all the eyes of Chicago, for on its face is marked
the shifting, changing price of wheat. And there on the floor, below the
Strangers' Gallery, the gamblers of the West play for the fortunes and
lives of men. They stand between the farmers, whose waving cornfields
they have never seen, and the peasants of Europe, whose taste for bread
they do not share. It is more keenly exciting to bet upon the future
crop of wheat than upon the speed of a horse; and far larger sums may
be hazarded in the Pit than on a racecourse. And so the livelong day
the Bulls and Bears confront one another, gesticulating fiercely, and
shouting at the top of their raucous voices. If on the one hand they
ruin the farmer, or on the other starve the peasant, it matters not
to them. They have enjoyed the excitement, and made perchance a vast
fortune at another's expense. They are, indeed, the true parasites of
commerce; and in spite of their intense voices and rapid gestures, there
is an air of unreality about all their transactions. As I watched the
fury of the combatants, I found myself wondering why samples of corn
were thrown upon the floor. Perhaps they serve to feed the pigeons.

Materialism, then, is the frank end and aim of Chicago. Its citizens
desire to get rich as quickly and easily as possible. The means are
indifferent to them. It is the pace alone which is important. All they
want is "a business proposition" and "found money." And when they are
rich, they have no other desire than to grow richer. Their money is
useless to them, except to breed more money. The inevitable result is
a savagery of thought and habit. If we may believe the newspapers of
Chicago, peaceful men of business are "held up" at noon in crowded
streets. The revolver is still a potent instrument in this city of the
backwoods. But savagery is never without its reaction. There has
seldom been a community of b