CHICAGO TO-DAY.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5302, 20 July 1928, Page 3

CHICAGO TO-DAY.

CITY OF BIG THINGS.

ONE HUNDRED YEARS’ PROGRESS.

So much is heard of crime in Chicago that the following account of the city by an Aiucklajider who was; recently there, Mr H. R McKenzie, chairman of the Auckland Harbour Board, is of great, interest :—

“Chicago,” Mr McKenzie/ opens, “is built on thle shores of Lake Michigan, whose size is 330 miles long and 80 miles wide. Chicago itself is about 30 miles by 20 miles in size, and has a population of 3,000,000, and is the third largest city in the world. There are. huge buildings here, many, up to x 4O flobrs, and they do not hesitate to pull a 25-floor building down and replace it with on'e of 40 floors. The traffic, where there -is no policeman, is worked day and night by lights, so many seconds for each way traffic. The public are not allowed to jay walk ; they must go over at the' crossings. To give some idea of the motor traffic here, at onfe given spot at Michigan Avenue 70,000 motor-cars passed it in 12 hoursz, if one is held up, in 10 seconds you can see; 20' cars at least going tihe same way in< the short time. No motor parking is allowed in certain portions of the city, the nearest point being half a mile away. AH the trains are overhead, and a lot of the tramways ; in some instances the trams run on the street level in the city and overhead also. .You can for 7% cents travel 30 miles by tram, which is owned by a private company. The city receives ‘5l per cent, of the profits. They build their street bridges here of steel ; they are built standing .up, dropped into position, and then ready for, immediate use.

“They have over 50 .miles of boulevard here, a park on each side of ta' e roadway, and most of the different faiths congregate together. The negro population of Chicago is 300,000. They have their univelrs'ity, and picture shows holding up to 3000. Chicago University covers over .30 acres i.n buildings alone, in, addition to grounds for sport which hold over 100,000 people. I saw fere stadium in which Tunney and Dempsey fought their last fight; it holds 150,000 people. GENEROUS MILLIONAIRES“The wealthy are very generous to the city. For instance', one newspaper runs a place far' fresh air for mothers and children; Marshall Field built a museum, probably costing 2,000,000 dollars ; another millionaire has given 2,000,000 dollars for an aquarium; a wealthy lady a huge founta.in ; another, 10' acres fcjr a park, and so on. The sea sets very rough here', and the harbojiir itself has a breakwater The wharf extendls out over half a mile ; but the shipping is going down, with the exception of the ore boats. The lake is frozen ovei’ seven months of the year. “The policemen carry their revolvers and batons in plain view. They arie good at giving directions anij information. The boys’ dress, especially in Canada, took my fancy—long pants .at 8 to 10 years, and those in shorts wore a jersey and pants on the golf pants system. THE MEAT WORKS. “I went through Armour’s meat works one morning. It. is some place. The hog-killing capacity is 2,000 per hour, and it takes, 16 minutes from the time the pig is hooked by the leg alive, carried along by a big wheel, then stuck, until it is delivered into the cool chambers. They use electric saws to cut all the bones,, ap'd the whole work is done by an, army of Workmen, who each doles a little bit of the work. The cattle killing has a capacity of '3'so per hour,, a,nd.t it takes 32 minutes from killing to cool chambers, The ' .sheep capacity is 1000 per hour, taking 21 minutes from killing to cool chamber, in both the cattle' and the she(ep the same method is used, each having many workmen doing their portion. Their lard and trimming- work's are all on a big scale. They also make numerous by-products. At thi;s; company’s killing plants they slaughter over 15,000,000 head annually. The ground area of all plants is over 500 acres.

EATABLES AND DRINKABLES. “This town is full of eating houses, where, you can get anktbing you desire from 50 cents upwards. We went to one recently known as the “North American,” which feeds more pteople than any other restaurant in the wo/rld. You take your tray, walk along and select what you like ; your particular meat is handed to you. Only after your tray contains what you want, the price- is. assessed, you arte given a ticket, take your tray to a table and eat it, paying as you go out and no tipping. By the way, I really believe that their isystem of tipping here is cheaper than in New Zealand. You tip often, but a quarter, in our money is a big tip. “I have not had a drin,k since arrivng in America, and no one has asked me. Other people who. havte returned from here have said the pla.ee is full of booze. Anyway, that 'has not been our experience,”»