Presented to 
 
 MR. CHARLES L. HUTCHINSON 
 
 With Compliments of 
 
 THE COMMERCIAL CLUB 
 OF CHICAGO
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB 
 OF CHICAGO
 
 THE 
 
 MERCHANTS CLUB 
 
 of CHICAGO 
 
 1896-1907 
 
 PRIVATELY PRINTED BY DIRECTION OF 
 
 THE COMMERCIAL CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 i, ii i' M 
 
 FOR DISTRIBUTION AMONG ITS 
 MEMBERS
 
 COPTRIGHT, 1922, 
 
 BY 
 THE COMMERCIAL CLUB OF CHICAGO
 
 To THE READER-. IN CONFIDENCE: 
 
 The committee appointed by the Commercial Club 
 of Chicago to prepare this History of the Mer- 
 chants Club regrets its shortcomings. The official 
 minutes of the early meetings were brief and in- 
 adequate. These have been supplemented by per- 
 sonal recollections of some of the members. The 
 committee extends sincere thanks to them for their 
 aid, especially to Mr. Charles D. Norton and 
 Mr. William E. Clow. Without their sugges- 
 tions and advice this record must have been far 
 less complete than it is.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB, I 1 
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB, II 5 
 
 BY-LAWS 47 
 
 OFFICERS AND COMMITTEES 55 
 
 MEETINGS AND SUBJECTS 79 
 
 CHICAGO CITY PLAN 95 
 
 FIRST FAWNERS SOCIETY 105 
 
 PUBLIC SCHOOLS 113 
 
 NIGHT SCHOOLS 123 
 
 NAVAL TRAINING STATION 129 
 
 NON-RESIDENTS' LETTERS 143 
 
 MEMBERSHIP 165 
 
 NECROLOGY . 175 
 
 THE COMMERCIAL CLUB , 179 
 
 APPENDIX . .183 
 
 vii ]
 
 PORTRAITS 
 
 ARTHUR MEEKER 5 
 
 DTTNLAP SMITH 5 
 
 JOHN V. FARWELL 57 
 
 H. GORDON SELFRIDGE 59 
 
 EDGAR A. BANCROFT 61 
 
 HERMON B. BUTLER 63 
 
 RICHARD M. BISSELL 65 
 
 ALEX. A. McCoRMiCK 67 
 
 WALTER H. WILSON 69 
 
 ALFRED M. BAKER 71 
 
 CHARLES H. WACKER 75 
 
 CHARLES D. NORTON 77 
 
 DANIEL H. BURNHAM 95 
 
 LESLIE CARTER 105 
 
 THEODORE W. ROBINSON 113 
 
 ALLEN B. POND 123 
 
 GRAEME STEWART 129 
 
 RICHARD BISSELL AND CHARLES NORTON 145 
 
 WILLIAM KENT 149 
 
 FREDERIC A. DELANO 151 
 
 H. G. SELFRIDGE (Cartoon) 155 
 
 EDWARD D. KENNA 159 
 
 NELSON P. BIGELOW 161 
 
 JAMES GAMBLE ROGERS 163 
 
 [ix]
 
 PORTRAITS 
 
 GROUP OF FIVE 164 
 
 CHARLES H. HODGES 
 JOHN F. HARRIS 
 CHARLES R. CRANE 
 JOHN R. MORRON 
 FRANK B. NOTES 
 
 Entrance Gate, Great Lakes 135 
 
 Radio School, Great Lakes 142 
 
 Dinner Menus facing pages 10, 42, 43, 44, 78 
 
 [x]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB 
 ITS BIRTH AND GROWTH 
 
 [xi]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB 
 OF CHICAGO 
 
 THE Merchants Club of Chicago, dating 
 from 1896, had an independent existence 
 of ten years. Founded and conducted 
 avowedly on the same lines as the Commercial 
 Club, it was natural that it should gravitate to- 
 wards the older club and become a part of it. The 
 tendency of modern business to combine in large 
 units to make possible division of labor and greater 
 efficiency and economy within the unit may per- 
 haps have hastened this union, but it was bound 
 to occur, and in fact was accomplished in 1907. 
 It is with the busy life of these intervening ten 
 years that this narrative is concerned. 
 
 The one outstanding principle of the Merchants 
 Club that differed from and was an improvement 
 upon the plan of its prototype was in the provision 
 for continuing youth. Its basic law decreed that 
 no man who had reached the age of 45 years was 
 eligible for election to membership, and when he 
 reached 50 years he ceased automatically to be an 
 active and became an associate member. Thus 
 one in good standing never lost membership and 
 interest, but the working list was kept young. 
 
 The wisdom may be challenged of the change 
 made several years later to permit the election of 
 older men as associate members. There was opposi- 
 
 in
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 tion to this at the time, based on the thought that 
 it might interfere with the progress of the Club 
 and disturb its traditions. Perhaps that was an 
 evidence of youth, the belief that the Club had 
 built up traditions at that stage of its existence. 
 Another quality of youth, though, was the alto- 
 gether admirable energy and enthusiasm of its 
 members that encouraged them to discern and 
 attack civic evils and strive for civic welfare. 
 
 The Merchants Club was no place for the "tired 
 business man" seeking rest and recreation: its pace 
 was too strenuous for that, its purpose too serious. 
 To provide conditions under which men might 
 dine together in genial mood and discuss important 
 topics over the amenities of the dinner table, for 
 a good dinner in good company softens possible 
 acerbities of temper in debate as diplomats have 
 found; to give a man opportunity not alone to 
 accept or oppose his neighbor's views, but first 
 to understand them and to express his own; to 
 become posted on questions interesting to himself 
 in his own environment, and on questions agitating 
 the world; to hear these expounded by the best 
 thinkers in this community and by profound think- 
 ers from the world over, by men who had long 
 given their minds to these topics and then to 
 adapt the sum of these judgments to the advan- 
 tage of this community such was the real purpose 
 of the Commercial and the Merchants Clubs, and 
 such purpose in some measure these Clubs have 
 accomplished. 
 
 [2]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 The organization was incorporated as The Mer- 
 chants Club of Chicago. That was the legal title, 
 but almost always the identifying words of Chicago 
 were omitted. During its ten years of individual 
 existence, it held 49 regular open meetings, be- 
 sides many extra and closed meetings where only 
 members were present. It formulated and dis- 
 cussed many subjects and had a proud record of 
 achievement in many matters for the good of the 
 city of our choice for Chicago was then too young 
 to say the city of our birth. The minutes of these 
 meetings, incomplete and at the best but a bare 
 recital of facts without illuminating comments, 
 are not easily accessible to the members. To many 
 of them the tale of the Club's activities is unknown, 
 or at least unfamiliar. Lest this record might in 
 time be overlooked and forgotten, the Commercial 
 Club in 1920 appointed a committee to make avail- 
 able some permanent record of these ten years of 
 service. Four of the members of this committee 
 had been members of the Merchants Club. By 
 a searching of the original minutes and of the news- 
 papers and other publications of the time, rein- 
 forced by the recollections of the early members, 
 this record has been produced. Several chapters 
 that relate to important phases of the Club's 
 efforts are from the pens of men who were the 
 most active participants in those efforts. The 
 writer of the sketch that follows immediately 
 after this was never connected with either Club, 
 which fact may explain and make apology unneces- 
 
 [3]
 
 sary for anything that may seem self -laudatory in 
 that recital. 
 
 The first regular meeting of the Merchants Club 
 was held on Saturday evening, February 6, 1897; 
 the last of such meetings was on the corresponding 
 Saturday evening of February, 1907, almost exactly 
 ten years from the date of the first. The manu- 
 script for this history was completed for the 
 printer February 9, 1922, just fifteen years after 
 that last meeting. The first two dates were un- 
 premeditated: the last was by intention. 
 
 THE COMMERCIAL CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 BY ITS COMMITTEE ON 
 CLUB PORTRAITS AND HISTORY 
 
 Members of Committee 
 
 JOHN J. GLESSNER, Chairman 
 ERNEST A. HAMMILL 
 HUGH J. McBiRNEY 
 ALLEN B. POND 
 Louis A. SEEBERGER 
 
 [4]
 
 ARTHUR MEEKER 
 
 The Merchants Club had its origin in conferences of Arthur 
 Meeker with Dunlap Smith in the fall and winter of 1896-7.
 
 DUNLAP SMITH 
 
 Died December, 1901 
 
 Aged 38 years
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB 
 OF CHICAGO 
 
 WAS intended as a vehicle of opportunity for a 
 group of energetic young business men to learn 
 facts and conditions and to interchange ideas about 
 affairs of this community, and to translate these 
 ideas into appropriate action. At its beginning the 
 average age of its members could not have been 
 much above thirty years. 
 
 The origin of the Club is not stated distinctly 
 in its minutes but is shown in two letters of widely 
 differing dates, one each from the two men most 
 concerned in the preliminaries of its foundation. 
 The first of these, from Dunlap Smith to the 
 Secretary, Henry A. Knott, is dated December 
 11, 1896, at the time when the Club was formed, 
 and relates 
 
 . . . "that the idea of the Club originated with 
 Mr. Arthur Meeker. He consulted with me and we 
 had two preliminary meetings, one at the Chicago 
 Club and one at his house. These were followed by a 
 third preliminary meeting at the Chicago Club, 
 attended by Mr. H. B. Butler and yourself. The next 
 meeting was held at the University Club on November 
 30th, the minutes of which are enclosed herewith." 
 
 This is all of contemporary record that exists 
 of the birth of this organization, but this organiza- 
 tion was to be of much moment to the city. When 
 
 [5]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 young, active-minded, matter-of-fact men come 
 together animated by a common purpose, much 
 can be accomplished. To review the list of charter 
 members and recall what each man has done in his 
 own personal business makes plain why this 
 organization became so influential, and why it has 
 accomplished so much of real practical value. 
 Each of these men already was an important factor 
 in some one or more of the city's greater business 
 enterprises. Chicago had in fifty years gained a 
 position of influence in the world attained only 
 after many more years in many other cities. 
 Chicagoans are prone to think that this is because 
 of a certain indomitable Chicago spirit. If that 
 thought is justified, then it should be added that 
 these were among the men who had that spirit 
 in large measure. They were 
 
 Aldis, Owen F. Greeley, Frederick 
 
 Armour, J. Ogden Jones, David B. 
 
 Bartlett, Charles L. Kent, William 
 
 Bigelow, Nelson P. Keyes, Rollin A. 
 
 Bissell, Richard M. Kimball, C. Fred 
 
 Buckingham, Clarence Knott, Henry A. 
 
 Butler, Edward B. Meeker, Arthur 
 
 Butler, Hermon B. Meeker, George W. 
 
 Carpenter, Benjamin Mitchell, John J. 
 
 Coolidge, Charles A. Revell, Alexander H. 
 
 Corwith, Charles R. Seeberger, Louis A. 
 
 Deering, James Selfridge, Harry G. 
 
 Ellsworth, James W. Smith, Byron L. 
 
 Ewen, John M. Smith, Dunlap 
 
 Farwell, John V., Jr. Strobel, Charles L. 
 
 Foreman, Edwin G. Wilson, Walter H. 
 
 [6]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 The second letter is from Arthur Meeker to the 
 Committee on History, under date of April 6, 1921, 
 and contains some interesting details as well as the 
 suggestion of a possible debt of the Merchants 
 to the Commercial Club. 
 
 "I will give you the following facts from memory and 
 think they are substantially correct. 
 
 During the winter 1895-6 I went to one of the Com- 
 mercial Club dinners as a guest of the late Philip D. 
 Armour. It occurred to me there that there was a field 
 in Chicago for a similar organization of younger men. 
 I discussed the matter in an off-hand way with Dun- 
 lap Smith in the spring of 1896, and again with him 
 at my home in June of that year. We both agreed 
 that the plan should be carried through. In July we 
 arranged to dine one night at the University Club 
 and discuss the matter still further. ... In Septem- 
 ber we had another meeting at which the late Hermon 
 B. Butler and Henry A. Knott were present. They 
 both concurred in our ideas; and this was followed 
 by another meeting in October, when I think John 
 V. Farwell and the late Clarence Buckingham were 
 present. The next meeting occurred November 20th, 
 1896, at the University Club, there being twelve men 
 present. 
 
 It is my recollection that I acted as temporary 
 chairman, Dunlap Smith as secretary, that by-laws 
 were adopted at that meeting, that we incorporated 
 about that time at Springfield, .... Mr. John V. 
 Farwell was elected first president of the Merchants 
 Club. Since that time I presume the records of 
 the club will indicate its progress and what it has 
 accomplished. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 ARTHUR MEEKER." 
 
 [7]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 These men of the Merchants Club were at once 
 practical and idealistic. Seemingly engrossed in 
 business, they have been able to take a long look 
 ahead, and to plan not only for their own material 
 interests, but for the comfort, growth, and adorn- 
 ment of their city. They loved Chicago and were 
 proud of it: they had faith in it and in themselves, 
 and believed it had the right to command their 
 best service. Although in the By-laws which the 
 Club adopted they stated their purpose simply as 
 that of "advancing business interests by social 
 intercourse of merchants and business men, and a 
 free and unrestrained interchange of views upon all 
 business matters of public interest," the public 
 soon found that a new interpretation was being 
 put on the word "business." Of course his own 
 affairs, commercial and domestic, were the first 
 concern of each individual member, as is the case 
 with normal men, yet the last thing that the Mer- 
 chants Club as a club seemed to think of was the 
 personal interest or business of its individual 
 members. On the other hand, what they meant 
 by "business matters of public interest," was 
 found to be the application of business principles 
 to the minutest detail of providing for the comfort 
 and betterment of the poorest, the most illiterate, 
 as well as the rich and cultivated; it was found to 
 include everything from cleaning the streets of 
 the city to building up from the lake more land on 
 which future embellishments might rest; it was 
 found to mean the doing for the people of Chicago 
 
 [8]
 
 whatever a devoted parent could think of to provide 
 for his family a better and more beautiful place in 
 which to pass their lives. These were practical men. 
 They had ideals, and then applied their business 
 principles and training in carrying these ideals out. 
 
 The formal adoption of the name "The Mer- 
 chants Club of Chicago" occurred at a meeting 
 held at the University Club in its building in 
 Dearborn Street on November 30, 1896. On 
 December 10 of the same year occurred the first 
 formal election of officers, resulting in the choice 
 of John V. Farwell, Jr., for President; Dunlap 
 Smith, Vice-President; Charles R. Corwith, Treas- 
 urer; Henry A. Knott, Secretary. Mr. Knott 
 resigned from office on December 18, and was 
 succeeded by Walter H. Wilson. The first Ex- 
 ecutive Committee appointed included John V. 
 Farwell, Jr., Chairman, Charles R. Corwith, 
 Dunlap Smith, Harry G. Selfridge, Henry A. 
 Knott, Clarence Buckingham, Walter H. Wilson, 
 and Arthur Meeker. 
 
 Apparently there was never any regular formal 
 constitution for the Merchants Club of Chicago. 
 Its fundamental law was included in the more 
 flexible code of By-laws. These were modified 
 from time to time, though not in important par- 
 ticulars, the changes having to do principally with 
 dates for regular meetings, amount of dues, pro- 
 vision of fines for inattention. A further revision 
 of the By-laws was contemplated shortly before 
 the merger but not completed.
 
 " THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 Direction of the Club's affairs was imposed upon 
 its President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Secretary, 
 an Executive Committee and a Reception Com- 
 mittee, all to be chosen at the annual meeting. 
 Other necessary committees might be appointed. 
 
 Membership was fixed at first at 40 men, and 
 increased afterward to 60 active members, with 
 associate members drawn only from the active 
 list; but this rule was changed after a time so that 
 older men might be elected directly as associates. 
 Membership was highly prized, and members were 
 regular in attendance at meetings and attentive 
 to committee work; rarely were fines for inatten- 
 tion necessary. Several members resigned because 
 of removal from the city or of changed circum- 
 stances: one or two were dropped for inattention 
 or for non-payment of dues. 
 
 A singular contrast with the present scale of 
 living in several directions is afforded by the fact 
 that the hour for dinners was fixed at 6 :30, and the 
 price per plate at $3.25, including "wine, cigars, 
 flowers and menus, leaving a balance of 25 cents 
 from the price of each plate for extras." At later 
 dinners they cut this cost per plate down to $3.00, 
 and yet the diners were not suffering privation, to 
 judge from some of the menus arranged by the 
 committee on menus, a one-man committee, 
 Arthur Meeker. This charge for dinners was 
 changed afterwards to $60.00 per year. 
 
 Regular meetings were to be held on the first 
 Saturday evening of each month, November to 
 
 [10]
 
 FIRST FORMAL DINNER OF THE MERCHANTS 
 CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 FEBRUARY 6, 1897 
 
 >/' ^lan 
 
 ~/cta/o<>y 
 
 m' o/' dsee/, tia 
 
 , /a 
 
 jauternf 
 
 V/art'
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 April inclusive: afterwards changed to the second 
 Saturday, to avoid conflict with other clubs. 
 
 The annual meeting and election was in April, 
 at the close of which the old administration with- 
 drew and the one newly elected assumed direction 
 of the Club and its affairs. 
 
 Regular open meetings were held at the impor- 
 tant hotels of the time, generally at the Auditorium 
 or the Grand Pacific. Closed meetings, and 
 dinners for members only, might be at one of the 
 clubs. 
 
 Frequently local ministers were invited to 
 public meetings, but there was no rule requiring 
 their ministrations. Also many times there was 
 music during the dinner by a small band, but there 
 was no rule for that. 
 
 Several times meetings were omitted or ad- 
 journed because of the death or bereavement of a 
 member or the death of some prominent citizen. 
 
 The first regular meeting open to members and 
 guests was held at the Auditorium hotel on the 
 evening of Saturday, February 6, 1897. No 
 record has been found of the number in attend- 
 ance. "The Needs of a Great City," the topic 
 for discussion at this first official dinner, was in 
 a sense indicative of the Club's attitude, which 
 was never "What can we get?" but "What can 
 we give?" There was little sentimentality in the 
 way they went about it. In order to ascertain 
 the "Needs," they had Washington Hesing, an 
 aspirant for the mayoralty, set them forth, and he,
 
 nothing loath, compared Chicago to Constanti- 
 nople under the government of the Sultan of 
 Turkey, in point of uncleanliness, physical, moral 
 and political. To be perfectly fair, but also to 
 bait rival candidates one against another, His 
 Honor Mayor Swift was allowed to take the side 
 of the administration, and it is beyond doubt that 
 he lauded his own performance as Mayor. Mr. 
 Glessner, representing the Commercial Club, 
 brought a message of good will from that body and 
 the hope that the two clubs might cooperate in 
 all good works, and D. H. Burnham, the archi- 
 tect-in-chief of the World's Fair, in his benign, 
 big-hearted way helped them to see how, by 
 planning large enough, they could secure hearty 
 cooperation from the city that they sought to 
 serve. 
 
 To begin with first principles, the Merchants 
 Club on March 7, 1897, discussed "The Primary 
 Election Law," and passed resolutions heartily 
 endorsing "all provisions of the bill now before 
 the State Legislature which we believe will give 
 equality to all, etc. and respectfully urge our hon- 
 orable representatives at Springfield to press the 
 passage of this bill in its entirety." This bill was 
 passed, and we find this minute in the Club records : 
 "While we cannot truthfully claim that our Club 
 passed that law, we can rightfully assume that we 
 were one of the main important factors in crystal- 
 lizing that public sentiment which finally demanded 
 and obtained its passage." 
 
 [12]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 The first steps leading to the achievement of a 
 great result are always worthy of note. As the 
 French say, "It is the first step that costs." 
 The Chicago Plan work of the Club began in this 
 way. On the llth of April, 1897, the Executive 
 Committee of the Merchants Club was empowered 
 to see Mr. J. W. Ellsworth, chairman of the 
 Board of South Park Commissioners, and ascer- 
 tain his opinion of the prospect of erecting an 
 Exposition Building on the Lake Front. The 
 Executive Committee, Messrs. Meeker, Bucking- 
 ham and Selfridge, waited upon Mr. Ellsworth 
 the following day, and after conference with him 
 decided to visit Mr. Burnham at his office in the 
 Rookery building. The result was that the plan 
 for a single large permanent Exposition Building 
 on the Lake Front was abandoned, and the broad- 
 er question, "What can be done to make Chicago 
 more attractive?" was scheduled for the next 
 meeting of the Club, on April 3rd. 
 
 At that meeting Burnham, dreamer and planner 
 and builder all in one, seized the opportunity to 
 present to his audience in a perspective landscape 
 painting, a bird's eye view of Chicago from Fifty- 
 first street to Grant Park, showing a park from 
 300 to 700 feet in width to be built along the lake 
 shore to the east of the Illinois Central Railroad 
 from Jackson Park to 12th street, and another 
 park to be built out in the lake as an island about 
 six miles in length. The lagoon formed by these 
 two parks varied in width, and a dozen or more 
 
 [13]
 
 bridges of graceful design were to connect the island 
 with the main land. It. was the first glimpse of the 
 Lake Front Park as it was planned to be. 
 
 Far from considering this an idle vision, the 
 next speaker on the program, Ferdinand Peck 
 destined in 1900 to be United States Commis- 
 sioner-General to the Paris Exposition pro- 
 nounced it "entirely feasible" from a financial 
 viewpoint, and Mr. Selfridge, who has since shown 
 London what a Chicago merchant can accomplish, 
 reported himself as "enthusiastically in favor of 
 the scheme," saying that it was "an opportunity 
 for making Chicago the most remarkable city of 
 the world, and which it would be the height of 
 folly to neglect." 
 
 The project of "The Lake Front Park" was 
 endorsed in executive session on April 12, 1902, 
 and was again made the subject of discussion 
 before the Merchants Club at its dinner in the 
 Auditorium on February 14, 1903, when the 
 speakers were Daniel H. Burnham, John H. Ham- 
 line, Bryan Lathrop, and Daniel F. Crilly the 
 two latter being Park Commissioners, the one of 
 Lincoln, the other of the South Parks. 
 
 That the importance of the subject was realized 
 is indicated by the fullness of the Club minutes. 
 Much enthusiasm was manifested, and it was the 
 unanimous wish "that the Club should actively 
 support this important move toward the beautify- 
 ing of our city" to quote from the minutes. 
 Alexander McCormick was president at this time, 
 
 [141
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 but being temporarily absent from the city, the 
 Vice-President was instructed on February 17, 
 1903, to name a committee of "proper persons" 
 to arrange for the preparation of the Lake Front 
 Park bill, and its presentation to the Legislature 
 at Springfield. The bill involved the dedication 
 of the land under the lake to this purpose, and the 
 project necessitated the building of breakwaters 
 and the dumping of the city's refuse and excava- 
 tions in certain marked locations along the sub- 
 merged shore to form new land with an elevation 
 of seven feet above the water's surface. John H. 
 Hamline Esq. drafted the bill, and with the well- 
 directed untiring efforts of Graeme Stewart and the 
 active cooperation of the Merchants Club it was 
 passed. Grant Park, consisting of 150 acres along 
 the Lake Front, was filled in at practically no 
 expense, during a period of six years, and is now 
 the site of one of the largest marble buildings 
 in the world the magnificent new Field Museum. 
 The Chicago Plan, as it developed in all its 
 fullness, involved the widening of Michigan boule- 
 vard, the widening of 12th street, or Roosevelt 
 road, the creation of other boulevards and the 
 connecting of the park systems of the North, 
 South, and West sides by a network of boulevards, 
 as well as the re-arrangement of railroad terminals 
 to facilitate traffic without congesting the streets 
 or defacing the city, etc., etc. As all of these 
 projects began to seem feasible of accomplishment, 
 it was found that funds must be provided to cover 
 
 [15]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 expense of maintaining headquarters for the work, 
 and for the employment of engineers and assistants 
 to Mr. Burnham, but Mr. Burnham contributed his 
 own invaluable services, and gave of his funds 
 besides. In a report read before the Commercial 
 Club on January 25, 1908, Charles D. Norton, 
 Secretary of the Merchants Club from April, 1904, 
 to May, 1906, and its President in 1907, stated 
 concerning the Chicago Plan, that the Merchants 
 Club first guaranteed the sum necessary for these 
 expenses, and then "raised thirty thousand dollars 
 in small subscriptions from nearly four hundred 
 persons in and out of the Merchants Club and the 
 Commercial Club." On May 5, 1905, Mr. Charles 
 Wacker, now the head of the Chicago Plan Com- 
 mission, was elected President of the Merchants 
 Club. In a very real sense, therefore, may the 
 Merchants Club be called the prime mover in the 
 initiation and furtherance of the Chicago Plan. 
 
 The conception of the scheme, of course, was 
 Burnham's. He presented and explained it to 
 Clubs, to individuals, and to many public and 
 semi-public bodies. Men talked about it, nearly 
 all conceded its beauty, as a dream has beauty, 
 many thought it might be possible of accomplish- 
 ment if others would make it so. The conditions 
 were much as Mark Twain found them about the 
 weather everybody talked about it but nobody 
 did anything that is, not until the Merchants 
 Club took it up. The Club held many meetings 
 over it, public and private, and worked up a spirit 
 
 [16]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 of helpfulness that gave the work its start. Then 
 other organizations aided, until to aid the plan 
 became the thing. And now we begin to see its 
 beauties and its practical utility. Again, the 
 conception of the scheme, of course, was Burnham's 
 the aid and encouragement came in largest 
 measure from the Merchants Club. Indeed the 
 greatest work undertaken by the Merchants Club 
 was for the Chicago Plan, and it was the most 
 continuing. 
 
 In his latter years, Charles Eliot Norton, Har- 
 vard University's great professor of the History of 
 the Fine Arts, "held a warm belief in the destiny 
 the West was carving for itself," writes his daughter 
 "through its energy and high civic purpose, which 
 men like Mr. Burnham embodied." To this 
 Chicago Plan Mr. Burnham not only gave his 
 time, his thought, his ability, his money, but more 
 than these, his enthusiasm, all without any com- 
 pensation whatever. He felt he had the unbound- 
 ed, unfailing, ungrudging support of the Merchants 
 Club and of the citizens generally, but especially 
 of the Merchants Club. What he thought of this 
 and of the men who composed that Club committee 
 is told by his biographer Charles Moore in better 
 words and to greater extent than can be done here. 
 
 He spoke in praise of their altruism, of their 
 understanding of the needs of the city, and of 
 their efforts to supply these needs. He character- 
 ized Charles D. Norton as a man of the highest 
 ideals and of unusual ability, eager to do for the 
 
 [17]
 
 public a great service; he spoke of Charles H. 
 Thome as the embodiment of simplicity and 
 quiet power; of Joy Morton's forceful influence, 
 felt as soon as he entered the room; of Edward B. 
 Butler's constant and faithful support of the Plan ; 
 of Frederick A. Delano as a prince among men. 
 He keenly appreciated having Clyde M. Carr on 
 the committee, and that he should direct his great 
 business acumen to the work of the City Plan. 
 
 With active and whole-hearted support from 
 such men, Mr. Burnham felt his task was light. 
 And so the work went on rapidly and thoroughly 
 until the union of the two clubs. After that union 
 the Commercial Club retained the old committee, 
 several of whose members had belonged to both 
 clubs, and continued the work. And the City 
 Council adopted the Plan November 1, 1909, 
 when it authorized the appointment of the Chicago 
 Plan Commission, with Charles H. Wacker as its 
 head and made up partly of city officials and partly 
 of other citizens, and also passed ordinances for 
 improving Michigan avenue and Roosevelt road 
 (12th street) in accordance with the Plan. 
 
 Not all the efforts of the Merchants Club were 
 so decorative in outward effect as those connected 
 with the Chicago Plan. Some of them were quite 
 otherwise, though intensely practical, as, for 
 instance, the movement to establish a Municipal 
 Pawnshop, which the Club inaugurated and 
 carried through. No law existed in Illinois em- 
 powering a municipality to do anything of the 
 
 [18]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 sort, consequently the Merchants Club had to set 
 about getting such a law passed. The initial 
 resolution on the subject was introduced by 
 Alexander H. Revell at the Club's tenth meeting, 
 April 8, 1898, covering the drafting of the bill. 
 The bill was drawn by Leslie Carter, one of the 
 members of the Club. The topic for discussion at 
 the meeting of January 14, 1899, was "Provident 
 Fawners' Societies," and a resolution was intro- 
 duced and unanimously adopted, providing that 
 
 "WHEREAS, In the judgment of the Merchants Club 
 of Chicago, the establishment of a Provident Pawners' 
 Society, for lending small sums of money on goods and 
 chattels at a fair and moderate rate of interest, is de- 
 sirable, and 
 
 "WHEREAS, The laws of Illinois do not permit the 
 incorporation of societies or companies for such purposes, 
 
 "RESOLVED, That the President of the Merchants 
 Club be directed to appoint a committee of five persons 
 to take charge of and present to the State of Illinois 
 a bill which will authorize the formation of such cor- 
 porations." 
 
 The Committee was appointed, visited Spring- 
 field in the interest of the project, and the law was 
 passed. On November 6 of the same year, the 
 Associated Press came out in Chicago with this 
 statement that was telegraphed all over the 
 country and reprinted in scores of newspapers: 
 
 "A municipal pawnshop, operating under a law 
 passed by the Legislature, was opened here today, and, 
 judging from the number of applications for loans, will 
 be a success. The institution is operated under a State 
 
 [19]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 charter, and lends money at 1 per cent a month instead 
 of the customary 5 or 10 per cent, and upwards, charged 
 by pawnbrokers. The first and chief object of the 
 society, as announced, is to protect poor people who 
 borrow money on small chattels. The president of the 
 society is J. V. Farwell, Jr." 
 
 The object had been successfully accomplished, 
 and Chicago afforded the world the unique spec- 
 tacle of gentlemen of the highest social and busi- 
 ness standing conducting with clean hands and in 
 the spirit of pure human brotherhood what 
 generally had been looked upon as a sordid, con- 
 temptible business, often conducted in a heartless, 
 oppressive manner, sometimes even criminally 
 trading on the necessities of the poor. In the Club 
 archives is a scrapbook of clippings showing what 
 a surprising interest the world took in these un- 
 selfish efforts of high minded men to help humble 
 folk. Something of the scope of the work is ex- 
 plained in a subsequent chapter. 
 
 Similar in intent was the move on the part of 
 the Merchants Club for the establishment of mu- 
 nicipal lodging houses, of "Mills Hotels" in 
 Chicago, which came in the years 1899 to 1901. 
 
 "Small Parks and Playgrounds" became the 
 subject of discussion by the Merchants Club on the 
 occasion of the initial dinner under the presidency 
 of Edgar A. Bancroft, November 11, 1899. Fol- 
 lowing its usual thorough-going custom, the Club 
 had invited the author of "How the Other Half 
 Lives" to address this meeting Mr. Jacob A. 
 
 [20]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 Riis, of New York. Richard M. Bissell, Benjamin 
 S. Terry and Alderman Robert K. Griffith were 
 also on the program. Mr. Riis and Mr. Bissell 
 illustrated their remarks with stereopticon views 
 of New York and Chicago conditions in the con- 
 gested regions. Twenty-two members of the City 
 Council were present. All responded to the 
 authoritative statement made by Mr. Riis that 
 " For every slum block you tear down to make room 
 for a playground you let the sunshine into the 
 souls of 10,000 children who, in the next generation, 
 will pull this great city out of the mire." 
 
 The ultimate outcome of that meeting was the 
 establishment of a Special Park Commission 
 under the city administration, empowered to 
 carry on park and playground extension work. 
 An annual gift of $100 from the Merchants Club 
 was used in providing prizes for the competitive 
 playground work among the boys and girls. 
 
 Closely akin to the above was the Club's work 
 for the greater use of school buildings for social 
 and recreative purposes in the evenings. In the 
 Executive Committee meeting of July 5, 1900, 
 Messrs. Cooley, Lewis and Hannan of the Board 
 of Education were present by invitation, and Mr. 
 Cooley, Chicago's Superintendent of Schools, 
 stated his experience in this direction. Mr. 
 Cooley addressed the closed meeting of April 12, 
 1902, and the result was a resolution of the Mer- 
 chants Club endorsing the work of the Educational 
 Committee and pledging its continued support 
 
 [21]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 toward obtaining a larger use of public school 
 buildings for the betterment of the neighborhoods 
 in which they are located, as well as advocating 
 the expenditure of a portion of the public funds for 
 the purpose of rendering such usage possible. 
 The value of this work, not only to those who 
 benefited directly, but to the community at large, 
 because of its aid in Americanization, has long 
 since been demonstrated. It is a return to "the 
 little red schoolhouse" as a community center 
 which has been such a safeguard to the nation in 
 the case of rural communities, and which is doubly 
 needed in the rapidly increasing foreign settle- 
 ments within the wide boundaries of all great 
 cities and especially of Chicago. 
 
 The phrase "Greater Chicago" came into com- 
 mon use in the years 1898 and 1899, in connection 
 with the effort of the Merchants Club and others 
 to secure consolidation of the taxing bodies within 
 the city, so that one municipal government should 
 perform the functions of the city, county, and 
 various small town governments. A special meet- 
 ing of the Club, led by Judge John Barton Payne, 
 was held on March 11, 1899, to discuss this sub- 
 ject, and individual members appeared in con- 
 ference with the Citizens' Committee of 100, 
 among others, Mr. John P. Wilson, speaking on 
 the legal aspects of the matter, and Louis A. See- 
 berger on the real estate interests involved. 
 
 This was the time when the papers all over the 
 country were full of direful predictions to the
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 effect that, whereas Chicago already covered 184 
 square miles, it would soon be increased to 400 
 square miles, and include "prairie, corn-fields, 
 forests, and frog-ponds, while every living thing 
 would be included in the census, bringing the 
 total up to 5,000,000, and ending with the annexa- 
 tion of Illinois." 
 
 All the objects sought to be accomplished by the 
 bill which was presented to the State Legislature 
 at that time have not yet been attained, but 
 Chicago did gain considerable territory from out- 
 lying towns, simplifying, to some extent, public 
 improvements of general interest, such as the 
 extension of roads beyond the former city limits, 
 and leading to a more concerted action between 
 city and county in such matters as the Forest 
 Preserve, when, in the course of time, that move- 
 ment arose. The work on the proposed new charter 
 was put into the hands of a Charter Revenue 
 committee of the Merchants Club, and much 
 preliminary work done, and many obstacles in 
 the way were removed by this committee, working 
 in conjunction with the Commercial Club, the 
 Civic Federation, the various park boards and 
 taxing bodies. 
 
 The establishment of the United States Naval 
 Training Station at Lake Bluff, which has since 
 proved of not only national but international 
 importance, came about largely through the 
 instrumentality of the Merchants Club of Chicago. 
 The matter was first presented at a meeting of the 
 
 [23]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 Executive Committee at the Union League Club 
 on October 23, 1903. On October 27, the subject 
 was discussed, and again on October 29, in execu- 
 tive session, George E. Foss, Chairman of the 
 Committee on Naval Affairs of the House of 
 Representatives, being the principal speaker. 
 
 As a result of these meetings, a special meeting 
 was held in honor of Secretary of the Navy 
 Paul Morton, on July 14, 1904, at the Chicago 
 Club, at which 150 members and guests were 
 present. The speakers were Shelby M. Cullom, 
 United States Senator, George E. Foss, Chairman 
 of the House Committee on Naval Affairs, Joseph 
 G. Cannon, Speaker of the House of Representa- 
 tives, and Edward D. Kenna, with Secretary Paul 
 Morton in the closing speech of response. Action 
 was taken by the Club at a meeting of the Exe- 
 cutive Committee held at Kinsley's on July 19, 
 1904, by which a committee was appointed with 
 the right to increase its own membership, "for 
 the purpose of doing everything in its power to 
 secure the placing of the United States Naval 
 Station in Illinois on the shores of Lake Michigan 
 north of Chicago." President Baker appointed on 
 this committee Graeme Stewart, chairman, John 
 R. Morron, Fred W. Upham, and Harold F. Mc- 
 Cormick. 
 
 At an executive meeting on July 21, this com- 
 mittee was increased by the addition of President 
 Alfred L. Baker, ex qfficio. A letter was written on 
 this date to the President and Executive Com- 
 
 [24]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 mittee of the Commercial Club, inviting them to 
 appoint a committee of equal number, "so that 
 the undertaking may be a joint enterprise," and 
 adding that "the Commission appointed by the 
 President of the United States is now in the 
 neighborhood of the Great Lakes to decide on a 
 location; therefore it becomes necessary . . . that 
 this joint committee be at once organized for 
 work." 
 
 On the following day, the Executive Committee 
 of the Commercial Club met and accepted the 
 invitation of the Merchants Club, advising of 
 their action, and of the appointment of William L. 
 Brown, James H. Eckles, Louis F. Swift, Charles 
 H. Wacker, and the President, J. Harley Bradley, 
 ex officio, as their representatives. 
 
 Graeme Stewart of the Merchants Club was 
 chairman of this joint committee. On August 30, 
 at a meeting of the Executive Committee of the 
 Merchants Club, there came a telephone message 
 from Graeme Stewart that he had "secured a 
 strictly confidential offer of the Downey tract (for 
 the purpose of the naval site only) for $80,000, and 
 that he proposed to tender the land to the Naval 
 Committee, which is to be in Chicago today for 
 that purpose." By November 16, $60,000 of the 
 $80,000 required to buy this tract had been secured. 
 The Downey tract contained 120 acres. To this 
 was added the Murphy tract of 52 acres, making 
 172 acres in all, valued at $172,000, which was 
 collected from about 50 persons. 
 
 [25]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 Fifty -eight tracts in different places were before 
 the committee appointed by President Roosevelt 
 to decide on a site for the training station. Ad- 
 vocates of these different sites were droning away 
 before the committee, which was patiently listen- 
 ing to their long-winded discourses on November 
 21, 1904, when Graeme Stewart, representing the 
 Merchants Club of Chicago and the Commercial 
 Club, appeared before the Committee, and in a 
 speech which is said to have lasted but two or three 
 minutes offered to give the whole splendid tract 
 at Lake Bluff to the Government, in order to secure 
 the location of the station near Chicago. 
 
 On November 24, 1904, word came from Wash- 
 ington that the government had decided to accept 
 the offer of the Lake Bluff site. By June 27, 1905, 
 the Merchants Club was appointing a committee 
 to take charge of matters pertaining to the laying 
 of the corner-stone of the principal building when, 
 on the same day, it became necessary to appoint 
 a place of meeting preparatory to attending in a 
 body the funeral of Graeme Stewart. The Great 
 Lakes Naval Training Station may be said to be 
 his memorial. 
 
 At the beginning of the twentieth century, 
 Chicago, whose existence as a city extended over 
 less than the three score years and ten allotted to 
 man by the Psalmist, had not had time to attend 
 to all details of personal nicety in the manner that 
 might be expected of a city that had longer experi- 
 ence. With plans for a beautiful city in mind, 
 
 [26]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 however, it behooved her to begin with funda- 
 mentals and see that the streets in the business 
 center at least were decently cleaned. Neglect on 
 the part of those whose legal duty it was to attend 
 to the city's needs in this respect, led to a deter- 
 mined move on the part of her true and loyal 
 friends to render this humble service. On April 
 8, 1904, David R. Forgan, Harry G. Selfridge, 
 Alexander H. Revell, John R. Morron, and Frank 
 H. Armstrong of the Merchants Club were ap- 
 pointed a Street Cleaning committee, to cooperate 
 with the Commercial Club committee for the 
 same purpose. 
 
 The Commercial Club, the elder body of the 
 two, had invited this cooperation, and on its part 
 appointed on the Street Cleaning Committee John 
 G. Shedd, Charles H. Wacker, John V. Farwell, 
 Joy Morton and Benjamin Carpenter. Each club 
 pledged itself to give to the extent of $5,000 if so 
 much were necessary, providing that the total 
 cost of the work did not exceed $10,000. The 
 fiftieth regular meeting of the Merchants Club 
 came on March 18, 1905, at the Auditorium 
 hotel, and was in reality a joint meeting with the 
 Commercial Club to discuss the subject "Street 
 Paving and Street Cleaning." The speakers were 
 John A. Alvord, Civil Engineer, Richard T. Fox, 
 Charles H. Wacker and Prof. Albion W. Small. 
 
 Joy Morton was appointed chairman of the 
 joint Street Cleaning Committee of the two clubs. 
 The territory staked out by this committee was 
 
 [27]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 the loop district. In a body the committee called 
 on Mayor Harrison, and told him that they pro- 
 posed to keep this part of the city clean very 
 clean for one year, as an object lesson. The 
 Mayor agreed to turn over to them the funds the 
 city intended to apply to this district for that 
 period, and to give them the contract. Of course 
 they had to be incorporated in order to take such 
 a contract, and accordingly this was done, and the 
 work begun, in the name of The Citizens' Street 
 Cleaning Bureau, Inc. Before the Bureau took 
 charge June 1, 1905, this committee, combined 
 with similar committees of other Clubs, had ex- 
 pended more than $66,000 on the work. 
 
 Richard T. Fox, an eastern expert in street- 
 cleaning methods, was appointed active super- 
 intendent; an office was fitted up, and men were 
 employed as sweepers. To make them more con- 
 spicuous, these latter were uniformed in white, 
 and were soon dubbed "White Wings." Nothing 
 that ever happened in Chicago had created greater 
 enthusiasm. Inspired paragraphs poured from the 
 pens of newspaper writers, enough to fill a portly 
 book of clippings; and as for the cartoonists 
 with a great Scottish chief of Chicago finance and 
 a great merchant chief of Chicago trade (of New 
 England extraction) in full panoply of white wings, 
 with brooms rampant, mops couchant, scrubbing 
 the streets to make a "Spotless Town" truly the 
 daily newspaper cartoonist found his ways were 
 ways of pleasantness and all his paths were peace. 
 
 [28]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 The effect upon Chicago was electrical. All over 
 the city associations were formed to keep the city 
 streets immaculate. Women's Clubs and Children's 
 Brigades joined in the crusade. As for the mer- 
 chants of State street, they were not to be satisfied 
 with merely keeping the street clean, they wanted to 
 make it a model street, and formed the State Street 
 Improvement Association. So impressed were the 
 ordinary street sweepers that they vied with the 
 "white wings" on streets that came in contact with 
 those of the joint committee streets, in keeping 
 them cleaner than they had ever been before. 
 
 At the end of the year for which they had con- 
 tracted, it was generally agreed that "The Citizens' 
 Street-Cleaning Bureau" not only had made good 
 on its promise and kept the loop streets clean, but 
 had created such a sentiment among the people 
 that they would not again put up with former 
 conditions. In an editorial of June 7, 1905, under 
 the caption Cleanliness that Pays, it was asserted 
 that "An experimental year of downtown street 
 cleaning by private enterprise had proven so 
 successful that the members of the Commercial and 
 Merchants Clubs, who were instrumental in start- 
 ing the movement, may take credit to themselves 
 as great public educators." For the next year, sub- 
 scriptions amounting to about $2,500 a month were 
 added to the $2,000 a month contributed from the 
 city treasury. Chicago, having once enjoyed the 
 luxury of clean streets in the down-town district, 
 resolved that they should be kept clean. 
 
 [29]
 
 While attending to what its By-laws called 
 "business matters of public interest," the Mer- 
 chants Club of Chicago decided to include in these 
 duties the investigation of, and the practical 
 application of business principles to the subjects 
 taught in the public schools of the city. From the 
 viewpoint of business men, commercial and manual 
 training had been overlooked to a large extent 
 in the schools of Chicago, not from want of desire 
 or from inefficiency on the part of the school 
 authorities, but largely because of insufficient 
 funds, accompanied perhaps by a general lack of 
 information on the part of the public on this par- 
 ticular subject. 
 
 The discussion at the regular meeting of February 
 9, 1901, was on "Commercial High Schools." 
 Professor Jeremiah Jenks of Cornell University 
 had come on to address the meeting. He said in 
 part: "The schools of the present do nothing to 
 develop the skill of the hand of the worker. They 
 do something for character, but do not teach 
 individual action or the relations of the pupils to 
 society. We could throw away enough useless 
 matter now taught in the schools to give time for 
 this instruction." Superintendent Cooley explained 
 that such subjects had not formerly been taught 
 in the schools of Chicago because in an earlier 
 stage of social organization every child received a 
 share of such instruction in his own home, but that 
 the school of 1850 was not necessarily the best 
 school in 1901. Mr. Shedd, out of his practical 
 
 [30]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 experience in the employment of young men and 
 women in business, spoke with authority, to the 
 effect that the high school graduates of today are 
 ill -prepared for business, and advocated a commer- 
 cial course of two years in high school in addition 
 to the regular course. 
 
 Action was taken in the form of a resolution, 
 one clause of which read: "First, that the constant 
 aim of all instruction and training be to produce 
 intelligent, self-supporting citizens," and which 
 ended with this solemn dedication of the Club 
 to this work: 
 
 "RESOLVED, That the President, with the approval 
 of the Executive Committee, be empowered to take 
 such steps and appoint such committees as may seem 
 in their judgment calculated to aid in carrying out 
 this important work, which, we believe, offers an ap- 
 propriate and practical field for usefulness on the part 
 of the Club, and to this end the members of this Club 
 pledge themselves to give their earnest endeavors to 
 the work of helping to enlarge, improve and approve 
 the scope and character of services rendered by the 
 Public School System as set forth above." 
 
 The secretary was absent from the city at the 
 time of this meeting, and the names of the first 
 Educational Committee seem not to have been 
 recorded. The Educational Committee for the next 
 season, 1902-3, included John R. Morron, chair- 
 man, James G. Rogers, Charles D. Norton, A. F. 
 Gartz, Frank H. Armstrong, and Joseph T. Bowen. 
 Among dinner topics suggested at the meeting of 
 
 [31]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 November 11, 1902, was the following well worked 
 out program emanating from James Gamble 
 Rogers : 
 
 1. "Need of a Public Manual Training School 
 
 for Girls. Object Instruction in domestic 
 science and arts, such as cooking, sewing, 
 etc. 
 
 2. Need of a Trade School for Boys. Object 
 
 Instruction and apprenticeship in the dif- 
 ferent trades. 
 
 3. Need of a Public School Commons. Object 
 
 To give better business training than that 
 afforded by business schools in a six months' 
 course." 
 
 At its meeting on February 18, 1904, the Club 
 had as guests representatives from the City 
 Council, from the Board of Education and from 
 the Press, and adjourned from the dinner table to 
 go to the Washington school at the corner of 
 what is now Grand avenue and North Morgan 
 street. It is recorded that "an interesting evening 
 was spent inspecting the work done in the night 
 schools of Chicago, etc., both that by the Board 
 of Education and that by the Educational Com- 
 mittee of the Merchants Club, the latter support- 
 ing manual training, cooking, sewing, typewriting 
 and pottery departments." 
 
 Returning to the Auditorium at ten o'clock, a 
 supper was served, after which addresses were 
 delivered by Edwin G. Cooley, Superintendent of 
 Schools, W. G. Bogan, Principal of the Washington 
 
 [32]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 school; Joseph T. Bowen, chairman of the West 
 Division Educational committee of the Mer- 
 chants Club; Allen B. Pond, chairman of the 
 O'Toole School committee; James G. Rogers, 
 chairman of the Washington school committee. 
 After so strenuous a program we are glad to read 
 the Secretary's record that Alfred Cowles sang 
 "On the Road to Mandalay," and that President 
 Charles Wacker led the Assembly in "The Stoker 
 Song." 
 
 By the time that the Merchants Club had pro- 
 gressed to the 48th regular meeting, on January 
 14, 1905, the subject of "The Public Schools" 
 appeared in its rightful place as among the impor- 
 tant factors of the city's progress, even on a pro- 
 gram which included such topics as "The Chicago 
 Commercial Association," "The Great Lakes as a 
 Factor in Transportation Facilities," "Chicago 
 as a Financial Center," " Chicago as a Manufactur- 
 ing Center," and "The Spirit of Progress and 
 Chicago's New Charter." 
 
 At the last annual meeting of the Merchants 
 Club as an independent body, May 5, 1906, the 
 subject of Manual Training Schools occupied a 
 large part of the consideration of the Club. It 
 developed that under the Illinois Act of 1897, the 
 establishment of a manual training department 
 for high schools was possible; that in 1900 such a 
 department was established in Chicago, and that 
 during the year then just past one such school 
 was held in the building at Cass and Illinois 
 
 [331
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 streets, and another in the Moseley building on 
 20th street. The students were principally from 
 apprentices to the mason and carpenter trades. 
 By an amendment in 1903 to the Illinois Act on 
 Apprentices it was provided that in municipal- 
 ities where manual training schools are maintained, 
 indentures of apprenticeship shall require the 
 master to cause the apprentice to attend such 
 school for at least three consecutive months in 
 each year without expense to the apprentice. 
 
 It was pointed out that to a certain extent 
 existing manual training schools were failing of 
 their primary purpose, and the labor unions pre- 
 ferred to keep trade training in their own hands, 
 and were practically compelling the so-called 
 manual training schools to limit their instruction 
 to reading, writing, applied arithmetic and drawing. 
 
 On December 8, 1906, at the Auditorium hotel, 
 and under the presidency of Charles D. Norton 
 of the Merchants Club, occurred one of the most 
 notable meetings in the cause of education that 
 ever took place in Chicago. The speakers were 
 Theodore W. Robinson; Edward C. Eliot, ex- 
 Chairman of the Board of Education of St. Louis; 
 James J. Storrow, President of the Board of Educa- 
 tion of Boston, and Nicholas Murray Butler, 
 President of Columbia University, New York 
 City. Four States were thus represented by the 
 men who spoke, and every grade of school from the 
 lowest to the highest. Moreover in the audience 
 were men who had been studying these questions 
 
 [34]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 from the vantage-point of applied education, and 
 who were in a sense the fulcrum against which 
 the long lever of public opinion rested in raising 
 Chicago's load to a higher level. 
 
 The meeting which immediately followed this 
 was a closed joint meeting with the Commercial 
 Club and the Merchants Club in conference. Only 
 one more meeting of the Merchants Club took 
 place. The curtain was falling, but it is significant 
 that when it rose again the first regular meeting 
 held by the united bodies was in the cause of 
 education. At that brilliant gathering the sub- 
 ject of discussion was Industrial Education, with 
 speakers from abroad and from both the industrial 
 world and the field of advanced ideas in teaching. 
 The developments in manual training which 
 children of the present enjoy in Chicago, and those 
 of the future will enjoy, must be credited in large 
 part to the clear thought and open hand of the 
 united body of business men made up of the Com- 
 mercial and Merchants Club members. 
 
 Of the 71 meetings during its ten years of in- 
 dependent existence, three were joint with the 
 Commercial Club, six were special, as visits to 
 business establishments, outings, and in honor of 
 some friend or celebrity, thirteen were closed 
 meetings, for reviewing the past, etc., leaving 
 forty-nine for critical or constructive work, and 
 these were devoted to discussions of finance and 
 trade, of educational matters, of political not 
 partisan subjects, embracing both municipal and 
 
 [35]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 national affairs. The wording of the subjects 
 was different in each case, of course, but really 
 the subjects fell into these four categories, for 
 these are the things that concern men. Not all of 
 them had as definite concrete results as the 
 Fawners' Bank plan, the Great Lakes Naval Sta- 
 tion, the City Plan. One meeting was addressed 
 by women only, Mrs. Maud Ballington Booth, who 
 spoke of her work with State Prisons and of her 
 Hope Halls which started the ex-convicts on the 
 right road when they had served their time and 
 discharged their legal debt to society; and Miss 
 Jane Addams, who told her methods to prevent 
 boys and girls from becoming criminals. Presidents 
 and ex-Presidents and Cabinet Ministers, Foreign 
 Envoys, Scholars, Statesmen, eminent Jurists and 
 Philanthropists and Ecclesiastics, Naval and Mil- 
 itary officers, Railroad and Industrial and Com- 
 mercial magnates, and Labor leaders, experts 
 who had given years of study to their subjects, men 
 of affairs from all over the land, and many honor- 
 able private citizens, gave entertainment and 
 instruction at these meetings, and members of the 
 Club have taken counsel together, seeking knowl- 
 edge to justify action. 
 
 Officials were officially received, with due for- 
 malities and attention. Always these receptions 
 were intended to be decorous and dignified. With 
 the best intentions decorum and dignity sometimes 
 fail. Members may recall the great preparations of 
 the Reception committee to welcome the Am- 
 
 [36]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 bassador of His Imperial Majesty of China in 
 1905, and going in a body to the station expecting 
 to meet oriental splendor and ceremonial, to find 
 instead a quiet, democratic gentleman, carrying 
 his own suit case; and perhaps they may recall 
 also the several amusing contretemps attending 
 his entertainment and departure. 
 
 There were some unusual meetings, one in the 
 winter of 1902, while many guests were present, 
 when a well known and much loved cartoonist 
 mounted the table and rapidly drew caricatures of 
 half a dozen of the more prominent men present; 
 and again at a dinner at a member's home, where 
 some unconscionable wag reported that the wine 
 had given out this was before prohibition days 
 and even hinted that resort should be had to a 
 near neighbor, the redoubtable and sportive Mike 
 McDonald, for a further supply. 
 
 Occasionally there was a bit of delicious fooling, 
 mostly at closed meetings with only members 
 present, and rarely at an open meeting, but once, 
 when a staid and dignified member spoke on a 
 serious subject wholly in the manner of the newly 
 arrived Swede in thought, in gesture and in accent. 
 And at the final meeting of the club, lest any 
 feeling of gloom or regret might exist, some light- 
 some frivolity was introduced in many short ex- 
 tempore speeches and in singing parodies of topi- 
 cal songs. 
 
 A custom of the Club, honored annually in its 
 observance, was to take a day for the inspection 
 
 [37]
 
 of some commercial, railroad or manufacturing 
 enterprise, or other type of Chicago industry, and 
 once this was construed to include a visit to the 
 County Institutions at Dunning; or, better, the 
 Club spent a day in some open air pastime, as 
 when it accepted the courtesy of the C. & N. W. 
 R. R. for a trip to Madison to see the baseball 
 game between Wisconsin and Chicago Univer- 
 sities; or to spend a day on the golf links at some 
 time in the early summer; or as guests of one of 
 the members at his country home, to enjoy country 
 sports and country air and scenery, relaxation from 
 business, and the graces of hospitality, combined 
 in one pleasant holiday. Formality was taboo; 
 the years and the dignity slipped from back and 
 shoulders, and the spirit and zest and sprightliness 
 of youth replaced the sober grind in pursuit of that 
 acknowledged measure of success, the nimble and 
 elusive dollar. That day of outing was ever a joy. 
 While it has seemed more important from a 
 Chicago viewpoint to dwell on the things in the 
 Merchants Club annals which touched Chicago 
 most closely and changed her institutions for the 
 better, one can not write the history of the Mer- 
 chants Club without recording certain addresses 
 made before that body which were of universal 
 or nation-wide interest. Two of those of especial 
 significance were that of November 8, 1904, when 
 the Right Hon. John Morley discoursed on Ameri- 
 can Elections, and that of March 10, 1906, when 
 President Eliot spoke of the Ethics of Corporate 
 
 [38]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 Management. Many thought these the choicest 
 meetings held by the Club, filled as they were with 
 instruction, entertainment, delicate humor and 
 sparkling badinage. Both were large meetings, 
 and with men of such marked ability and char- 
 acter speaking, public opinion necessarily was 
 drawn to such topics. Always on such occasions 
 the Club and its members were generous in in- 
 vitations to friends and the public. The Club 
 did not set itself up as a preacher or an exemplar, 
 but strove to do its work as a part of the public and 
 for the public good. Another such dinner was 
 at the Grand Pacific hotel on November 12, 1898, 
 when the subject, "Advantages to be gained by 
 Chicago and the Northwest from territorial ex- 
 pansion," was discussed by Stuyvesant Fish, of 
 New York, William E. Curtis, of Washington, 
 Henry S. Boutell, United States Congressman, 
 and H. P. Judson, of Chicago. Again, on the 
 llth of February, 1899, there was a notable con- 
 sideration of our trade relations with Canada, 
 with President Selfridge, who had graduated from 
 the business of Marshall Field & Co. into his own 
 establishment, followed by such men as Hon. 
 John Charlton, member of the Canadian Parlia- 
 ment, and ending with an address by James H. 
 Eckels. "Canada and Reciprocity" was the sub- 
 ject November 10, 1906, presented by President 
 James J. Hill of Great Northern Railway. 
 
 The Negro Problem in the South was ably 
 presented before the Club one evening early in 
 
 [39]
 
 March, 1901, by P. B. Barringer of the University 
 of Virginia, a southerner of the old school, and 
 with equal ability, and doubtless to the better 
 liking of the Club, by Booker T. Washington of 
 Tuskegee Institute. Financial and industrial com- 
 binations were given an airing by Carroll D. Wright, 
 United States Commissioner, and Judge James B. 
 Dill, of New York, the latter known as "the father 
 of trusts," a director in the Carnegie Company, 
 and in many other corporations. It was remarked 
 on this occasion that there was no debate between 
 the speakers, but that though neither knew the 
 contents of the other's paper, there was a striking 
 parallel between the arguments they advanced. 
 
 Melville Stone, President of the Associated 
 Press, who claimed New York for his residence, 
 yet could not keep away from Chicago for any 
 length of time, came on to speak from his ripe 
 experience on "The Infallibility of the Press," 
 This was at Kinsley's, on January 11, 1902. Mr. 
 Stone while admitting the infallibility of the As- 
 sociated Press of course, took occasion to warn the 
 public against all sensational writers, and said that 
 the only paper really to be trusted is one which 
 does things for the public good, one edited by a 
 man who makes the newspaper an end by which 
 success may be achieved, and not a means." He 
 said that it should be " untrammeled, able to 
 criticise without fear when it finds a thing that 
 should be criticised," a doctrine readily assented 
 to by the members of the Merchants Club. Slason 
 
 [40]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 Thompson and John McCutcheon were present 
 on that occasion, and the latter improved his 
 time in getting some swift sketches of Mr. Stone, of 
 John V. Farwell, of Alexander H. Revell and James 
 H. Eckels in characteristic poses. George Ade was 
 unable to be present, but a letter that purported to 
 be from him was read by Slason Thompson, to the 
 effect that he knew the great pleasure of which 
 he was depriving the Club, but it was unavoidable ! 
 This was enough like Ade to have been his genuine 
 letter. 
 
 Always speakers before the Club have been un- 
 trammeled in their utterances, were privileged 
 to say what they thought, whether agreeable to 
 their hearers or not. Rarely have the people of 
 Chicago listened to plainer talk on police admin- 
 istration than that delivered by District Attorney 
 William Travers Jerome of New York City and 
 his aides, Police Inspector Frank Willard (Josiah 
 Flint), and Deputy Commissioner Captain Alex- 
 ander Piper. They were the guests of honor of 
 the Club on January 9, 1904, and before 62 mem- 
 bers and 150 guests they dwelt on our short- 
 comings in a masterful manner, and doubtless 
 for our good. 
 
 Chicago's feelings were somewhat mollified 
 when, on March 12, 1904, at the second meeting 
 after that tempestuous dinner, George Bruce 
 Cortelyou, Secretary of the then newly created 
 Department of Commerce and Labor, spoke to the 
 Club on "Some Problems and Policies of the 
 
 [41]
 
 New Department.'* There were present 45 mem- 
 bers and 101 guests, among the latter foreign 
 consuls, army and navy officers, city officials, 
 and others. Brigadier-General Frederick Dent 
 Grant followed Mr. Cortelyou, and thereafter we 
 rejoiced that if in the eyes of some eastern friends 
 Chicago was not impeccable as to its police de- 
 partment and it was not at least there were 
 other friends to credit us with some knowledge of 
 commerce and labor. 
 
 President Roosevelt visited Chicago on May 10, 
 1905, and was entertained first among many 
 affairs at a luncheon at the Auditorium by the 
 Merchants Club. On his arrival on the noon 
 train, fresh from the West, after shaking hands 
 with the engineer, as was his custom, and after 
 sundry exciting moments amid the crowds who 
 were shouting for "Teddy," he was greeted by 
 the Committee of the Club and hurried off to the 
 noon-time repast. In the light of events that have 
 followed, we may read with a new understanding 
 some of the things which our warrior-President 
 said that day: 
 
 "I believe in a big navy, and I hope that I need 
 not say that I believe in it, not as a provocative 
 to war, but as a guaranty of peace . . . ' "We 
 have not the choice, gentlemen, as to whether this 
 country shall play a great part in the world; we 
 cannot help playing a great part. All we can decide 
 is whether we will play it well or ill ; we have that 
 to decide . . . ' 
 
 [42]
 
 ^J trstdcnt 1: t J? c iliulrfr H^at 
 
 
 
 w
 
 l4*4*&M 
 
 
 
 s
 
 &' 'ifa/rnv, 
 
 & 
 
 ^ 
 
 6
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 "We cannot abandon our position on the 
 Monroe Doctrine ; we cannot abandon the Panama 
 Canal; we cannot abandon the duties that have 
 come to us from the mere fact of our growth as a 
 nation, from the growth of our commercial inter- 
 ests in the East and in the West, on the Atlantic 
 and on the Pacific. Now I earnestly hope that 
 with the added responsibility will come not merely 
 a growth in power to meet that responsibility, but 
 a growth in sobriety of mental attitude on our 
 part toward these new duties. If there is one 
 thing that ought to be more offensive to every 
 good American than anything else, it is the habit of 
 speaking with a loose tongue offensively about 
 foreign nations, or of adopting an ill-considered 
 and irritating attitude toward any one of them. ' ' 
 
 "I hope to see our foreign policy conducted 
 always in the spirit not merely of scrupulous re- 
 gard for the rights of others, but of scrupulous 
 courtesy toward others, and at the same time to 
 see us keep prepared so that there is no position 
 that we take in either hemisphere that, once taken, 
 we cannot stand on." 
 
 Soon after this, on November 11, 1905 the Club 
 discussed "Our Trade Relations with China," 
 with that most able and authoritative exponent of 
 the Chinese side, Sir Chentung Liang-Cheng, His 
 Imperial Chinese Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary 
 and Minister Plenipotentiary, as the principal 
 speaker. This was followed on December 9 of the 
 same year by a conference on The Old Navy and 
 
 [43]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 the New, with General Horace Porter and Ad- 
 miral Dewey as speakers ; while at the next meeting 
 Gifford Pinchot discussed the National Forest 
 Service fully and ably. 
 
 Perhaps the Club felt that it had had enough 
 of the serious and the strenuous part of life for a 
 time, or perhaps it was trying to carry out Presi- 
 dent Roosevelt's advice, and be courteous to our 
 national neighbors. At any rate, its next meeting 
 was held on February 18, 1906, in the Cafe de 
 Chapultepec, in the City of Mexico. Mr. Robert 
 Mather, President of the Rock Island Railway, 
 took the Club as his guests on an excursion to 
 Mexico, on pleasure bent but not inattentive to 
 business considerations at the same time. In the 
 party were Alfred Cowles, Edward A. Turner, 
 Charles H. Thome, Nelson P. Bigelow, Charles 
 R. Corwith, W. Vernon Booth, Granger Farwell, 
 Frederick Greeley, George Merryweather, Walter 
 H. Wilson, Benjamin Carpenter, Charles R. Crane, 
 Charles D. Norton, Arthur D. Wheeler, Charles 
 L. Strobel, and others. 
 
 A dinner to Mr. Mather, given by President 
 Wacker at the Auditorium on February 27, 1906, 
 followed the return of the Mexican party, at which 
 dinner it appeared that the Club had been deeply 
 impressed with the development of Mexico, par- 
 ticularly in the direction of mining enterprises. 
 
 Much might be said in recognition of the work 
 of Charles D. Norton, who presided over the City 
 Plan committee until called to Washington as 
 
 [44]
 
 <7 

 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 Private Secretary to President Taft, and of his 
 successor, Charles H. Wacker; of John V. Farwell, 
 who sponsored the Pawners' Bank plan and was 
 first president of the bank; of Theodore Robin- 
 son and his great efforts for vocational education; 
 of William E. Clow, of Joseph T. Bowen, of 
 Richard M. Bissell. Special attention might be 
 called, also, to the work of other members on each 
 of the great questions that were before the Mer- 
 chants Club, for many deserve special commenda- 
 tion for unselfish devotion and persistent and 
 wisely directed effort. Such special mention might 
 be invidious, however, for in each case every 
 member did what in him lay to help the causes 
 advocated by the Club, and no man sought special 
 commendation. It was the loyal teamwork of all 
 that accomplished successful results. 
 
 Some indications of other efforts and intent of 
 the Merchants Club, and of the wide range of its 
 activities and discussions may be gathered from 
 the list of meetings appearing elsewhere in this 
 book. These discussions never were frivolous 
 but earnest and dignified, and almost always 
 brought about good results. 
 
 One or more meetings of more than passing 
 merit, and ending in good constructive work, 
 marked every administration, though as often is 
 the case, some of the most efficient were the least 
 spectacular and had the least record. 
 
 The last meeting of the Merchants Club as an 
 independent organization took place at the Audi- 
 
 [45]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 torium hotel on the evening of February 9, 1907. 
 It was a closed meeting, and the secretary has 
 left no record of it in the Club's Minute Book. 
 There is no need. The Merchants Club had 
 written its record into the lives of the children of 
 the city, in the altered homes of the poor, in the 
 cleaner streets and cleaner policies of Chicago, in 
 the great Naval Station which was to go so far 
 toward saving civilization in the world war, in the 
 dawning vision of the City redeemed and made 
 beautiful. To belong to the Merchants Club of 
 Chicago had become a sufficient charter of nobility. 
 There was only one added honor for it, and that 
 was to be invited by the elder organization, the 
 Commercial Club, which had so long borne the 
 standard of civic righteousness, to fall in line be- 
 side it. Both were striving for the same ends. 
 One in purpose, they became one in fact, and 
 April 27th of that year found the two organiza- 
 tions blended into one, under the presidency of the 
 man who had been the first president of the Mer- 
 chants Club. This was also a closed meeting, and 
 its subject marked the beginning of the city's rise 
 to a new and higher plane, the realization of the 
 "Plan of Chicago" to be a city of law and order 
 and beauty a city of opportunity alike for its 
 humblest and its proudest citizen. 
 
 [46]
 
 BY-LAWS OF 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB
 
 II
 
 Object 
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO is organized 
 for the purpose of advancing business and public 
 interests, through an association of merchants and 
 business men, and a free interchange of views. 
 
 By-laws 
 ' ARTICLE I 
 
 MEMBERS 
 
 SECTION 1. The club shall consist of those by 
 whom its original constitution was framed, and of 
 such other members as shall be elected in accord- 
 ance with the provisions of its By-laws. 
 
 SECTION 2. Recommendations for membership 
 shall be made in writing to the Secretary. If the 
 Executive Committee unanimously approve a can- 
 didate for membership, his name shall be placed 
 upon a printed ballot, which shall be sent to each 
 member by mail, but only one name at a time shall 
 be approved by the Executive Committee or sub- 
 mitted for election; and each member may vote 
 upon the election of such candidate by writing 
 "Yes" or "No" opposite the name upon the ballot, 
 and shall return such ballot to the Secretary within 
 
 [49]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 the time therein specified. Three (3) negative 
 votes shall exclude the candidate. An entrance fee 
 of $25.00 shall be paid on admission, and annual 
 dues of $60.00 shall be payable at the beginning of 
 each year, which shall include all regular dinners. 
 The fiscal year shall end with the annual meeting 
 in April. 
 
 SECTION 3. In the admission of members due 
 regard shall be had, as far as practicable, to the 
 branch of business in which candidates are en- 
 gaged, so that the various interests of the city 
 shall be fairly represented in the Club. 
 
 SECTION 4. The membership shall consist of 
 active, associate and non-resident members. The 
 number of active members shall not exceed sixty, 
 and no person over fifty years of age shall be 
 eligible to active membership. Associate mem- 
 bers shall be chosen only from the active mem- 
 bership. 
 
 SECTION 5. Any active member, who has been 
 such for ten years, may, at his written request, 
 when approved by unanimous vote of the Execu- 
 tive Committee, become an associate member; 
 and every active member, upon reaching the 
 age of fifty -five years, may become an associate 
 member. 
 
 SECTION 6. An associate member shall have 
 the same privileges and duties as an active member, 
 save only that he cannot vote for the election of 
 members or officers or Executive Committee, or be 
 elected an officer of the Club; nor shall he be fined 
 
 [50]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 for absence from Club meetings, except when he 
 has notified the Secretary that he would attend a 
 meeting. Associate members shall be eligible to 
 the Executive Committee and to all other Com- 
 mittees of the Club. The annual dues of associate 
 members shall be the same as those of active 
 members. 
 
 SECTION 7. Any active or associate member 
 who has changed his residence from Chicago to 
 any point not less than one hundred miles there- 
 from may make application to the Executive 
 Committee and upon their approval, become 
 a non-resident member. Non-resident members 
 shall have the privilege of attending any regular 
 meetings of the Club upon giving the Secretary 
 due notice of their intention so to do. They shall 
 pay annual dues of $10.00 payable at the begin- 
 ning of each fiscal year, and an assessment of 
 $5.00 for each meeting of the Club they attend, 
 Non-resident members shall not be entitled to 
 vote or participate in the election of members or 
 officers. 
 
 SECTION 8. Any member who shall fail to pay 
 his annual dues or fines for absence for the space 
 of two months after notification by the Treasurer, 
 and any active member who shall absent himself 
 from four consecutive meetings without the ne- 
 cessary excuse hereafter specified shall thereupon 
 forfeit his membership. 
 
 SECTION 9. Every active member shall attend 
 each meeting of the Club unless prevented by 
 
 [51]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 sickness or unavoidable absence from Chicago and 
 vicinity. If he absents himself without the neces- 
 sary excuse he shall be assessed as follows: 
 
 First absence $ 5.00 
 
 Second consecutive absence . . 10.00 
 Third consecutive absence . . 15.00 
 
 ARTICLE II 
 
 OFFICERS AND EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 
 
 SECTION 1. The officers shall consist of a Presi- 
 dent, a Vice-President, a Secretary, and a Treas- 
 urer. 
 
 SECTION 2. The Executive Committee shall 
 consist of the Officers, the President of the Club 
 for the preceding year, the Chairman of the Re- 
 ception Committee, and four other members of the 
 Club to be elected as hereinafter provided. 
 
 SECTION 3. At the April meeting of the Club, 
 the officers shall be elected to serve one year, 
 or until their successors are elected. The four 
 elective members of the Executive Committee 
 shall be elected to serve for a term of two years. 
 Two of these four members shall be elected an- 
 nually. 
 
 SECTION 4. A Reception Committee of five (5) 
 members, including a Chairman, shall be elected 
 at the April meeting, having been nominated 
 according to Section 1, of Article III. This Com- 
 mittee shall have in charge the entertainment of 
 speakers, guests of honor, and new members; 
 
 [52]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 serving in a general way as hosts of the Club, 
 subject to the Executive Committee. 
 
 SECTION 5. The Executive Committee shall 
 have the power, by unanimous vote, to discipline 
 or expel any member, whenever in its judgment 
 the best interests of the Club shall require such 
 action. 
 
 SECTION 6. The Executive Committee shall 
 have the power to assess members for expenses 
 which it may be necessary to incur for any special 
 occasion. 
 
 ARTICLE III 
 
 NOMINATING COMMITTEE AND MEETINGS 
 
 SECTION 1. A Nominating Committee of five 
 members shall be selected at the regular March 
 meeting of the Club, and this Committee shall 
 prepare a list of candidates for the various offices 
 and elective committees. Such list shall be mailed 
 to each member at least two weeks before the 
 April meeting, at which meeting the annual elec- 
 tion shall be held. 
 
 The Secretary shall also mail to the members 
 at least five (5) days prior to the April meeting, 
 any opposition ticket received by him which has 
 the written approval of at least ten active members. 
 
 SECTION 2. The Club shall hold meetings on the 
 second Saturday of each month, from November 
 to April, inclusive. The Executive Committee 
 is authorized to change the date of the meeting 
 whenever they may deem it advisable. 
 
 [53]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 ARTICLE IV 
 GUESTS 
 
 SECTION 1. Any member, with the permission 
 of the Executive Committee, may invite one or 
 more guests to attend any regular meeting. 
 
 ARTICLE V 
 
 AMENDMENTS 
 
 SECTION 1. These Articles may be altered or 
 amended by a two-thirds vote of the members 
 present at any meeting of the Club, if notice of 
 the proposed amendment was given at a previous 
 meeting. 
 
 [54]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 ORGANIZATION
 
 LIST OF OFFICERS AND COMMITTEES 
 
 February 1897 February 1907 
 N seeking to estimate the value of an untried 
 
 i 
 
 organization, one first scans the list of Execu- 
 tives and working Committees. The theory of 
 the Merchants Club was that each administration 
 should have one year of office only, but that one 
 member of the current administration should hold 
 over to the next, to insure continuity of policy. 
 At its beginning its committees naturally were 
 few: as it settled down to its work the commit- 
 tees grew greater in number and larger in mem- 
 bership, and many times were divided into sub- 
 committees, that their efforts might be directed 
 to the best advantage. The rosters here given 
 for each of the ten years of the Club's life are 
 thought to be complete and substantially correct. 
 
 An effort has been made to have the portraits of 
 the Presidents of as near the dates when they held 
 office as was possible.
 
 JOHN V. FARWELL
 
 From the Year of Establishment 
 1897-98 
 
 President John V. Farwell, Jr. 
 
 Vice-President Dunlap Smith 
 
 Treasurer Charles R. Corwith 
 
 Secretary Walter H. Wilson 
 
 Executive Committee 
 
 Harry G. Selfridge, Clarence Buckingham, 
 Arthur Meeker. 
 
 Membership Committee 
 
 Henry A. Knott, 
 John V. Farwell, Jr., Dunlap Smith. 
 
 By-laws Committee 
 
 Clarence Buckingham, 
 Charles A. Coolidge, Harry G. Selfridge. 
 
 Committee on Name of Organization 
 
 Hermon B. Butler, 
 Frederick Greeley, Charles R. Corwith. 
 
 Committee on Revenue Legislation 
 
 Henry A. Knott, 
 Alexander H. Revell, John V. Farwell, Jr. 
 
 [57]
 
 The Club year ended with the election of officers for the next 
 year at the April meeting. The new administration assumed 
 management at once with no regular club meetings during the 
 summer, but many committee meetings for continuation work and 
 to prepare later programs.
 
 HARRY G. SELFRIDGE
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 1898-99 
 
 President Harry G. Selfridge 
 
 Vice-President Leslie Carter 
 
 Treasurer Nelson P. Bigelow 
 
 Secretary Walter H. Wilson 
 
 Executive Committee 
 
 John V. Farwell, Jr., Hermon B. Butler, 
 
 Rollin A. Keyes. 
 
 [There were other Standing and Select committees, but the titles 
 of these and the names of members were not recorded.] 
 
 [59]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 On Nominations 
 
 The names of the members of the committee on 
 the nomination of officers and standing committees 
 for the year ending in April, 1900, were not re- 
 corded. 
 
 The election was at the annual closed meeting 
 held April 8, 1899, at Grand Pacific Hotel. 
 
 60]
 
 EDGAR A. BANCROFT
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 1899-1900 
 
 President Edgar A. Bancroft 
 
 V ice-President Rollin A. Keyes 
 
 Treasurer Nelson P. Bigelow 
 
 Secretary . . . . Alexander A. McCormick 
 
 Executive Committee 
 
 Hermon B. Butler, Leslie Carter, 
 
 Richard M. Bissell. 
 
 Reception Committee 
 William R. Harper, Chairman. 
 C. Frederick Kimball, Edward B. Butler, 
 Graeme Stewart, John G. Shedd. 
 
 Committee to Provide By-laws for 
 State Pawners* Society 
 Richard M. Bissell, 
 Clarence Buckingham, E. A. Bancroft. 
 
 Committee to Revise By-laws of 
 
 Merchants Club 
 
 Hermon B. Butler, 
 
 Dunlap Smith, Walter H. Wilson. 
 
 Committee on City's Finances 
 
 Arthur T. Aldis, Chairman. 
 
 Harold F. McCormick, Rensselaer W. Cox. 
 
 Small Parks Committee 
 Frederick Greeley, Chairman. 
 Edgar A. Bancroft, Alexander A. McCormick, 
 Graeme Stewart, Frederic W. Upham. 
 
 [61]
 
 The Committee on nominating the next year's 
 officers was appointed at the March meeting of 
 1900, in accordance with the By-laws. It con- 
 sisted of: 
 
 Walter H. Wilson, Chairman. 
 Arthur Aldis, Charles H. Hodges, 
 
 Henry A. Knott, Charles H. Wacker. 
 
 Election was at the meeting April 14th, at 
 University Club.
 
 HERMON B. BUTLER
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 1900-1 
 
 President Hermon B. Butler 
 
 V ice-President Graeme Stewart 
 
 Treasurer Edwin G. Foreman 
 
 Secretary Hugh J. McBirney 
 
 Executive Committee 
 
 Richard M. Bissell, Alex. A. McCormick, 
 Edgar A. Bancroft, Rollin A. Keyes, 
 A. J. Earling. 
 
 Reception Committee 
 
 Rollin A. Keyes, Chairman. 
 Charles L. Bartlett, Frederick Greeley, 
 Benjamin Carpenter, Charles L. Strobel. 
 
 Membership Committee 
 
 Edgar A. Bancroft, John V. Farwell, Jr., 
 Richard M. Bissell, Nelson P. Bigelow. 
 
 Committee on City's Finances 
 
 William Kent, Arthur T. Aldis, 
 
 Rensselaer W. Cox. 
 
 Committee on Prevalence of Crime 
 Rollin A. Keyes, Albert J. Earling. 
 
 [63]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 Committee on Nominating Officers 
 Appointed in March, 1901 
 
 Alex. A. McCormick, Chairman. 
 Nelson P. Bigelow, Charles R. Corwith, 
 
 Leslie Carter, Harry G. Selfridge. 
 
 Election at meeting April 20th, at Kinsleys. 
 
 64]
 
 RICHARD M. BISSELL
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 1901-2 
 
 President . . . . . . Richard M. Bissell 
 
 Vice-President Arthur Meeker 
 
 Treasurer " . Alfred L. Baker 
 
 Secretary Benjamin Carpenter 
 
 Executive Committee 
 
 Albert J. Earling, Bernard E. Sunny, 
 Edgar A. Bancroft, Arthur T. Aldis, 
 Frederick Greeley. 
 
 Reception Committee 
 
 Frederick Greeley, Chairman. 
 John R. Morron, Hiram R. McCullough, 
 
 Frederic W. Upham, Tracy C. Drake. 
 
 Small Parks Committee 
 
 Graeme Stewart, 
 
 Edgar A. Bancroft, Frederick Greeley, 
 Alex. A. McCormick, Frederic W. Upham. 
 
 Finance Committee 
 
 Arthur T. Aldis, Harold F. McCormick, 
 
 Graeme Stewart, Frederic W. Upham, 
 
 A. F. Gartz, Alex. A. McCormick. 
 
 [65]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 The Committee on Nominating Officers was ap- 
 pointed March 8th, but members names were not 
 recorded. 
 
 Election at meeting April 12, 1902, at Kinsleys. 
 
 66]
 
 ALEXANDER A. McCoRMicK
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 1902-3 
 
 President .... Alexander A. McCormick 
 Vice-President .... Louis A. Seeberger 
 
 Treasurer Alfred L. Baker 
 
 Secretary W. Vernon Booth 
 
 Executive Committee 
 
 Arthur T. Aldis, Bernard E. Sunny, 
 
 William Kent, Charles L. Bartlett, 
 
 Benjamin Carpenter. 
 
 Reception Committee 
 
 Benjamin Carpenter, Chairman. 
 Rensselaer W. Cox, Granger Farwell, 
 Alexander H. Revell, John F. Harris. 
 
 Committee on Lake Front Park 
 
 Frederick Greeley, 
 Alfred L. Baker, Arthur T. Aldis. 
 
 Educational Committee 
 
 John R. Morron, Chairman. 
 Richard M. Bissell, James Gamble Rogers, 
 
 Robert Mather, Charles D. Norton, 
 
 William E. Clow, A. F. Gartz, 
 
 Granger Farwell, Frank H. Armstrong, 
 
 Harold F. McCormick, Joseph T. Bowen. 
 
 [67]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 The Committee on Nominating Officers was 
 appointed March 14, 1903, but names of members 
 not recorded. 
 
 Election at meeting April 11, 1903, at Audi- 
 torium hotel. 
 
 68]
 
 WALTER H. WILSON
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 1903-4 
 
 President Walter H. Wilson 
 
 V ice-President .... Alexander H. Re veil 
 
 Treasurer Harold F. McCormick 
 
 Secretary Frank H. Armstrong 
 
 Executive Committee 
 
 Charles L. Bartlett, Hiram R. McCullough, 
 William Kent, Edward D. Kenna, 
 
 Frederic W. Upham. 
 
 Reception Committee 
 
 Frederic W. Upham, Chairman. 
 Charles H. Wacker, John R. Morron, 
 Louis A. Ferguson, David R. Forgan. 
 
 New Charter Committee 
 Edward B. Butler, Alexander H. Re veil. 
 
 Educational Committee 
 
 Granger Farwell, Chairman. 
 Joseph T. Bowen, Theodore W. Robinson, 
 
 Harold F. McCormick Alfred L. Cowles, 
 John R. Morron, Charles H. Hodges, 
 
 William E. Clow, Allen B. Pond, 
 
 James Gamble Rogers, Charles L. Strobel, 
 Charles D. Norton, Reuben H. Donnelley, 
 Frank H. Armstrong, Francis C. Farwell. 
 
 69]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 The Committee on Nominating Officers was 
 appointed at the meeting March 12, 1904, but 
 the names of members were not recorded. 
 
 The election was at meeting of April 8, 1904, 
 at the Auditorium hotel. 
 
 70]
 
 ALFRED L. BAKER
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 1904-5 
 
 President Alfred L. Baker 
 
 V ice-President .... Charles H. Wacker 
 
 Treasurer Reuben H. Donnelley 
 
 Secretary Charles D. Norton 
 
 Executive Committee 
 
 Hiram R. McCullough, Edward D. Kenna, 
 John R. Morron, Granger Farwell, 
 
 Graeme Stewart, Walter H. Wilson. 
 
 Reception Committee 
 Graeme Stewart, Chairman. 
 William E. Clow, Charles G. Dawes, 
 
 Theodore W. Robinson Louis A. Ferguson. 
 
 Educational Committee 
 Joseph T. Bowen, Chairman. 
 W. E. Clow, Secretary and Treasurer. 
 Arthur D. Wheeler, Joseph E. Otis, 
 Frank H. Armstrong, Frederic A. Delano, 
 Granger Farwell, Allen B. Pond, 
 
 Harold F. McCormick, Albert J. Earling, 
 James Gamble Rogers, Reuben H. Donnelley, 
 Theodore W. Robinson Francis C. Farwell, 
 Charles D. Norton. 
 
 High-School Scholarship Committee 
 
 Granger Farwell, Chairman. 
 Charles H. Wacker, John R. Morron. 
 
 [71]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 Street Cleaning Committee 
 
 (To cooperate with Commercial Club Committee) 
 David R. Forgan, Harry G. Selfridge, 
 
 Alexander H. Revell, John R. Morron, 
 Frank H. Armstrong. 
 
 Committee on Regulation of "Loan Sharks" 
 
 Edgar A. Bancroft, Chairman. 
 Frederic W. Upham, Edward A. Turner, 
 Graeme Stewart, John V. Farwell, Jr. 
 
 Lake Bluff Naval Training Station Committee 
 
 Graeme Stewart, Chairman. 
 Frederic W. Upham, John R. Morron, 
 Harold F. McCormick, Alfred L. Baker. 
 
 Committee in Charge of Visiting Chicago's 
 
 Industries 
 
 Harold F. McCormick, Chairman. 
 William R. Harper, Alfred Cowles. 
 
 Committee on Lake Front Park 
 Walter H. Wilson, Chairman. 
 Edgar A. Bancroft, Alex. H. McCormick, 
 
 Charles L. Bartlett, Edward D. Kenna. 
 
 Small Parks Committee 
 
 Graeme Stewart, 
 
 Edgar A. Bancroft, Frederick Greeley, 
 
 Alex. A. McCormick, Frederic W. Upham. 
 
 [72]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 New Charter Committee 
 Alexander H. Revell, Edward B. Butler. 
 
 Charter Revenue Committee 
 Walter H. Wilson, Chairman. 
 Edward B. Butler, Arthur D. Wheeler, 
 
 Graeme Stewart, Bernard E. Sunny. 
 
 Committee on Nominating Officers 
 
 Frederic A. Delano, Chairman. 
 Nelson P. Bigelow, Hugh J. McBirney, 
 
 Allen B. Pond, Benj. Carpenter. 
 
 Committee appointed March 18, 1905. 
 Election April 22, 1905, at Auditorium. 
 
 Y 
 
 There were some important offerings under 
 Mr. Baker's administration that should be set 
 down here for lack of a better place. The visit of 
 Right Honorable John Morley was notable in 
 that it extended over several days and brought out 
 two memorable addresses one at luncheon, and 
 particularly another at dinner on the evening of 
 the same day. The dining room was decorated 
 with the national colors of Great Britain and 
 the United States, and the tables made gay with 
 small flags of both nations at each diner's plate. 
 During his stirring peroration Mr. Morley waved 
 these small emblems and expressed eloquently the 
 
 [73]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 desire of the British government and people that 
 these flags should always float together in amity 
 and good will and for the promotion of peace 
 throughout the world. 
 
 Another event deserving mention here is that 
 the Club grieved with the nation over the death of 
 John Hay, Secretary of State, and had the added 
 grief that it was thus deprived of the opportunity 
 to hear the Secretary's voice. He was to have been 
 the guest of the Merchants Club just at that time, 
 to speak on Franklin's diplomatic mission to 
 France, for which address he had made most pro- 
 found and careful study. It was finished and ready 
 for delivery one of the best efforts of this brilliant 
 essayist and speaker but his illness and death 
 prevented. Afterwards it was published in one of 
 the leading magazines Scribner's or the Century 
 with the statement that it was intended for the 
 Merchants Club. It is included, also, in Hay's 
 published works. But for the invitation of the 
 Merchants Club that essay never would have 
 been written. 
 
 [74]
 
 CHARLES H. WACKER
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 1905-6 
 
 President Charles H. Wacker 
 
 Vice-President .... Frank H. Armstrong 
 
 Treasurer David R. Forgan 
 
 Secretary Charles D. Norton 
 
 Executive Committee 
 
 Theodore W. Robinson Granger Farwell, 
 Alfred L. Baker, Louis A. Ferguson, 
 
 John R. Morron, Charles G. Dawes. 
 
 Reception Committee 
 Theodore W. Robinson, Chairman. 
 Charles H. Thorne, James Gamble Rogers, 
 Arthur D. Wheeler, Albert A. Sprague II. 
 
 Lake Bluff Naval Training Station Committee 
 
 Walter H. Wilson, Chairman. 
 Frederic W. Upham, John R. Morron, 
 Harold F. McCormick, Alfred L. Baker. 
 Charles H. Wacker. 
 
 Charter Revenue Committee 
 
 Walter H. Wilson, Chairman. 
 
 Frederic W. Upham, Edward B. Butler, 
 
 Arthur D. Wheeler, Bernard E. Sunny. 
 
 Committee in Charge Visiting Chicago 's 
 
 Industries 
 
 Edward F. Carry, Chairman. 
 Medill McCormick, Albert A. Sprague II, 
 Hiram R. McCullough, Samuel Insull, 
 Harold F. McCormick. 
 
 [75]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 Educational Committee 
 Arthur D. Wheeler, Chairman. 
 Joseph T. Bowen, Harry G. Selfridge, 
 
 Benjamin Carpenter, Charles L. Bartlett, 
 Walter B. Smith, Rensselaer W. Cox, 
 
 Harold F. McCormick, Thomas E. Donnelley 
 Joseph E. Otis, John F. Harris, 
 
 Allen B. Pond, Hugh J. McBirney, 
 
 Clayton Mark, Frank B. Noyes. 
 
 High-School Scholarship Committee 
 
 Granger Farwell, Chairman. 
 John R. Morron, Frank H. Armstrong, 
 
 Charles H. Wacker, Albert J. Earling. 
 
 Small Parks Committee 
 
 Frederick Greeley, Chairman. 
 
 Clarence Buckingham, Allen B. Pond. 
 
 Lake Front Park Committee 
 
 Alex. A. McCormick, Chairman. 
 Walter H. Wilson, Edgar A. Bancroft, 
 Bernard A. Eckhart, Charles H. Thorne. 
 
 New Charter Committee 
 Alexander H. Revell, Chairman. 
 Edward B. Butler, Bernard E. Sunny. 
 
 Street Cleaning Committee 
 
 David R. Forgan, Harry G. Selfridge, 
 
 Alexander H. Revell, John R. Morron, 
 Frank H. Armstrong. 
 
 [76]
 
 CHARLES D. NORTON
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 1906-7 
 
 President Charles D. Norton 
 
 V ice-President John R. Morron 
 
 Treasurer Willian E. Clow 
 
 Secretary Thomas E. Donnelley 
 
 Executive Committee 
 
 Charles H. Wacker, Frederic A. Delano, 
 Louis A. Ferguson, Charles R. Crane, 
 Charles G. Dawes, Arthur D. Wheeler. 
 
 Reception Committee 
 
 Arthur D. Wheeler, Chairman. 
 Edward F. Carry, Francis C. Farwell, 
 
 John F. Harris, John W. Scott. 
 
 Educational Committee 
 
 Theodore W. Robinson, Chairman, 
 Clayton Mark, Bernard E. Sunny, 
 
 John R. Morron, Frederic W. Upham. 
 
 John E. Wilder. 
 
 Committee on Visiting Chicago Industries 
 
 Edward F. Carry, Chairman. 
 Harold F. McCormick, W. Vernon Booth, 
 Samuel Insull, Hiram R. McCullough. 
 
 Waterways Committee 
 
 Clyde M. Carr, Chairman. 
 Walter B. Smith, Rensselaer W. Cox. 
 
 [77]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 City Plan Committee 
 
 Chairman Charles D. Norton 
 
 Vice-Chairman .... Charles H. Wacker 
 
 Treasurer David R. Forgan 
 
 Chairman Finance Committee . Walter H. Wilson 
 Edward B. Butler, Frederic A. Delano 
 
 Committee on Boulevard Link to Connect North 
 and South Sides 
 
 Charles H. Wacker, Chairman. 
 Frederic W. Upham, Albert A. Sprague II, 
 Clyde M. Carr, Louis A. Ferguson. 
 
 Lake Bluff Naval Training Station Committee 
 
 Walter H. Wilson, Chairman. 
 Frederic W. Upham, Harold F. McCormick, 
 John R. Morron, Alfred L. Baker. 
 
 78]
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 /t'ws/'e/. 
 
 . ^siorrorts,
 
 
 
 
 
 
 <7 
 
 
 j
 
 CATALOGUE OF MEETINGS
 
 THE activities of the Club are indicated, but 
 only indicated, by the list of subjects dis- 
 cussed at its meetings. The word activities is 
 used advisedly, for the Merchants was an active 
 club. Its members were in the heyday of youth 
 and energy, eager to undertake any enterprise 
 that would seem for the good of the community 
 and for the credit of their organization. Certain 
 of the subjects were discussed in many meetings, 
 open and private. A full list of the subjects before 
 the open meetings is here given, and a fairly com- 
 plete list of speakers, but there has been no attempt 
 to list the speakers at the closed meetings. 
 
 Following this are dissertations on some of the 
 more important things that stand to the credit of 
 the Merchants Club, prepared by men who were 
 most intimately connected with the movements 
 of which they write, and of course they speak 
 with authority.
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB 
 LIST OF MEETINGS AND SUBJECTS 
 
 1897-1898 
 
 JOHN V. FARWELL, Jr., President. 
 
 February 6, 1897, Auditorium Hotel. 
 Subject: The needs of a great city. 
 
 Speakers: Washington Hesing, D. H. Burnham, Mayor George B. 
 Swift, William Kent, Rev. S. J. McPherson, and John J. Glessner. 
 
 March 7, 1897, Auditorium Hotel. 
 
 Subject: The primary election law. 
 
 Speakers: Horace S. Oakley, Lawrence Y. Sherman, Chairman of 
 the Committee on Elections; Judge John Barton Payne; Alderman 
 John Maynard Harlan, and Rev. Frank M. Bristol. 
 
 April 3, 1897, Auditorium Hotel. 
 
 Subject: The improvement of the south shore. 
 
 Speakers: D. H. Burnham, Ferd W. Peck, Dunlap Smith, Harry 
 G. Selfridge, and Walter H. Wilson. 
 
 May 1, 1897. 
 
 Subject: Is a municipal party desirable? 
 
 Speakers: David B. Jones, A. D. Pbilpot, Samuel B. Raymond, 
 and Lawrence E. McGann. 
 
 November 6, 1897, Auditorium Hotel. 
 Subject: Postal savings banks. 
 
 Speakers: Henry Sherman Boutell and George E. Foss, members 
 of the House of Representatives from Illinois; E. S. Lacey, Presi- 
 dent of the Bankers' National Bank; Charles U. Gordon. Post- 
 master, and Rev. E. M. Stires. 
 
 December 4, 1897, Chicago Club. Attendance, 26 members, no guests. 
 Closed meeting. 
 
 [81]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 January 8, 1898, Auditorium Hotel. 
 
 Subject: The proposed new revenue law. 
 
 Speakers: Charles E. Selby and Isaac Miller Hamilton, members 
 Illinois Legislature; John P. Wilson, and Dunlap Smith. 
 
 February 5, 1898, Wellington Hotel. 
 
 Subject: The coming aldermanic elections. 
 
 Speakers: John V. Farwell, Jr., Judge Murray F. Tuley, Aldermen 
 
 Charles M. Walker, Henry S. Fitch, and Walter C. Nelson; 
 
 Ex-Alderman William Kent, and George E. Cole, President 
 
 Municipal Voters' League. 
 
 March 12, 1898, Auditorium Hotel. 
 Subject: The mayor's cabinet. 
 
 Speakers: President John V. Farwell, Jr., Josiah Quincy, mayor 
 of Boston; John C. Cobb, of Boston; Judge C. C. Kohlsaat, and 
 Edgar A. Bancroft. 
 
 April 8, 1898, Grand Pacific Hotel. 
 Annual closed meeting. 
 
 President John V. Farwell, Jr., submitted his report of the work of 
 the Club during the fiscal year. Election of officers. 
 
 [82
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 1898-1899 
 
 HARRY G. SELFRIDGE, President. 
 
 November 12, 1898, Grand Pacific Hotel. Attendance, 66 members and 
 
 guests. 
 Subject: Advantages to be gained by Chicago and the Northwest 
 
 from territorial expansion. 
 
 Speakers: Stuyvesant Fish, of New York; William E. Curtis, of 
 Washington; Henry S. Boutell, and H. P. Judson. 
 
 December 10, 1898, Grand Pacific Hotel. 
 
 Subject: A permanent exposition building in Chicago. 
 
 Speakers: H. N. Higinbotham, Otto Young, Charles Truax, Robert 
 A. Waller, City Comptroller; Charles L. Hutchinson, Frank H. 
 Cooper, Dr. N. D. Hillis, Volney W. Foster, Frank O. Lowden, 
 William J. Wilson, Professor Graham Taylor, A. J. Earling, 
 Dr. William R. Harper, John V. Farwell, Jr., and Thomas B. 
 Bryan. 
 
 January 14, 1899, Grand Pacific Hotel. 
 
 Subject: Provident Fawners' Societies. 
 
 Speakers: Joseph W. Errant, The situation in Chicago; N. A. Part- 
 ridge, European pawnshops; Charles E. Kremer, The legal phases; 
 R. M. Bissell, From a club member's point of view; Rev. C. M. 
 Morton, A personal experience in a pawnshop. 
 
 February 11, 1899, Grand Pacific Hotel. 
 
 Subject: Our trade relations with Canada. 
 
 Speakers: President Harry G. Selfridge, Hon. John Charlton, member 
 Canadian Parliament; and James H. Eckels. 
 
 March 11, 1899, Grand Pacific Hotel. Attendance, 62 members and guests. 
 Subject: Greater Chicago. 
 Speakers : John Barton Payne, Sigmund Zeisler, Judge C. C. Kohlsaat, 
 
 Judge Elbridge Hanecy, Charles S. Cutting, and Representative 
 
 John R. Newcomer. 
 
 April 8, 1899, Grand Pacific Hotel. 
 Annual closed meeting. 
 Revision of by-laws and election of officers. 
 
 [83]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 1899-1900 
 
 EDGAR A. BANCROFT, President. 
 
 November 11, 1899, Grand Pacific Hotel. Attendance, 115 members and 
 
 guests. 
 
 Subject: Small parks and playgrounds. 
 Speakers: Jacob A. Riis, of New York; Richard M. Bissell, Benjamin 
 
 S. Terry, and Alderman Robert K. Griffith. 
 
 December 9, 1899, Grand Pacific Hotel. Attendance, 60 members and 
 
 guests. 
 
 Subject: A Mills lodging house for Chicago. 
 
 Speakers: John Lloyd Thomas, superintendent of the Mills Hotels, 
 New York; and John H. Bogue, chairman of the lodging-house 
 committee of the Improved Housing Association of Chicago. 
 
 January 13, 1900, Grand Pacific Hotel. 
 Closed meeting. 
 
 Revised by-laws adopted. Addresses made by Rollin A. Keyes, Fred. 
 W. Upham, Graeme Stewart, and Alexander H. Revell. 
 
 February 10, 1900, Grand Pacific Hotel. Attendance, 39 members, 37 
 guests. 
 
 Subject: The national bankruptcy law. 
 
 Speakers: Hon. J. P. Dolliver, member of the House of Representa- 
 tives from Iowa, and W. A. Prendergast, of New York, secretary 
 of the National Association of Credit Men. 
 
 March 10, 1900, Grand Pacific Hotel. Attendance, 34 members, 46 guests. 
 Subject: The reorganization of the consular service. 
 Speakers: Hon. Robert Adams and Hon. E. W. S. Tingle. 
 
 April 14, 1900, University Club. Attendance, 37 members. 
 Annual closed meeting. 
 
 84
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 ^ 1900-1901 
 
 HERMON B. BUTLER, President. 
 
 November 10, 1900. Grand Pacific Hotel. 
 
 Subject: Municipal ownership of public utilities. 
 
 Speakers: Professor Edmund J. James and Colonel E. R. Bliss. 
 
 December 8, 1900, Grand Pacific Hotel. 
 
 Subject: Use of the streets of the city for the transportation of the 
 people: Conditions upon which franchises should be granted to 
 private corporations. 
 
 Speakers: G. E. Hooker, Hon. Milton J. Foreman, and George E. 
 Cole. 
 
 January 19, 1901, Grand Pacific Hotel. 
 
 Subject: The use of public school buildings as neighborhood social 
 
 centers. 
 Speakers: Rev. T. E. Sherman, S. J.; Rev. Frank W. Gunsaulus, 
 
 R. M. Bissell, and Hon. L. Y. Sherman. 
 
 February 9, 1901, Grand Pacific Hotel. 
 Subject: Commercial high schools. 
 Speakers: Professor J. W. Jenks, of Cornell University; Edwin G. 
 
 Cooley, superintendent Chicago public schools; John G. Shedd, 
 
 John V. Farwell, Jr., and Edgar G. Barratt. 
 
 March 9, 1901, Chicago Athletic Club. 
 
 Subject: The Negro problem in the South. 
 
 Speakers: Dr. P. B. Barringer, of the University of Virginia, and 
 Booker T. Washington, of Tuskegee Institute. 
 
 April 18, 1901, Kinsley's. Attendance, 45 members. 
 
 Annual closed meeting. 
 
 Reports of committees. Short addresses by H. B. Butler, A. T. Aldis, 
 E. A. Bancroft, William Kent, J. V. Farwell, Jr., Frederick Greeley 
 Dunlap Smith, A. A. McCormick, Robert Mather, Granger 
 Farwell, H. G. Selfridge, and B. E. Sunny. 
 
 Election of officers and appointment of committees. 
 
 [85
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 1901-1902 
 
 RICHARD M. BISSELL, President. 
 
 November 9, 1901, Auditorium Hotel. Attendance, 70 members and guests. 
 Subject: Financial and industrial combinations. 
 Speakers: Hon. Carroll D. Wright, U. S. Commissioner of Labor, 
 and Judge James B. Dill, of New York. 
 
 December 14, 1901, Kinsley's. Attendance, 75 members and guests. 
 
 Subject: Citizens' organizations for better government. 
 
 Speakers: Francis C. Huntington, of the Citizens' Union of New 
 York; Walter L. Fisher, secretary Municipal Voters' League of 
 Chicago; and George E. Cole, President Citizens' Association 
 of Chicago. 
 
 January 11, 1902, Kinsley's. Attendance, 89 members and guests. 
 Subject: The infallibility of the press. 
 
 Speakers: Melville E. Stone, president Associated Press; Roswell 
 M. Field, Slason Thompson, and John T. McCutcheon. 
 
 February 15, 1902, Kinsley's. Attendance, 75 members and guests. 
 Subject: Limitations of liberty. 
 
 Speakers: The Rt. Rev. John Ireland, Archbishop of Minnesota; 
 Professor George E. Vincent, of the University of Chicago. 
 
 March 8, 1902, Kinsley's. Attendance, 65 members and guests. 
 Subject: The reclaiming of criminals. 
 Speakers: Mrs. Maud Ballington Booth and Miss Jane Addams. 
 
 April 12, 1902, Kinsley's. Attendance, 45 members. 
 Annual closed meeting. 
 
 Reports of committees, election of officers, and appointment of com- 
 mittees. 
 
 [86]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 1902-1903 
 
 ALEXANDER A. McCORMICK, President. 
 
 November 8, 1902, Auditorium Hotel. Attendance, 41 members, 29 guests. 
 
 Subject: Labor unions in relation to modern industrial and com- 
 mercial progress. 
 
 Speakers: David B. Jones, president of Commercial Club, Chicago, 
 and Thomas I. Kidd, vice-president of the American Federation 
 of Labor. 
 
 December 13, 1902, Auditorium Hotel. Attendance, 45 members, 20 
 
 guests. 
 
 Subject: The necessity for a state civil service law. 
 Speakers: Joseph Powell, Henry G. Foreman, Frank H. Scott, and 
 Edgar A. Bancroft. 
 
 January 10, 1903, Auditorium Hotel. Attendance, 37 members. 
 Closed meeting. 
 
 February 14, 1903, Auditorium Hotel. Attendance, 41 members, 28 guests. 
 Subject: The Lake Front Park. 
 
 Speakers: Daniel H. Burnham, Dr. Frank W. Gunsaulus, John H. 
 Hamline, Bryan Lathrop, and Daniel F. Crilly. 
 
 March 14, 1903, Auditorium Hotel. Attendance, 33 members, 21 guests. 
 Subject: Some things Chicago has reason to be proud of. 
 Speakers: Emil G. Hirsch, Dr. Graham Taylor, C. Norman Fay, 
 
 William S. Jackson, E. G. Cooley, Frank H. Scott, Walter L. 
 
 Fisher, W. M. R. French, J. B. Riddle, and Allen B. Pond. 
 
 April 11, 1903, Auditorium Hotel. Attendance, 27 members. 
 Annual closed meeting. 
 
 Reports of officers and committees, election and installation of officers, 
 and appointment of committees. 
 
 June 17, 1903, Club guests of Mr. Alfred L. Baker at Onwentsia Club, 
 
 Lake Forest, 111. Attendance, 41 members. 
 Special meeting. 
 
 87
 
 1903-1904 
 
 WALTER H. WILSON, President. 
 
 December 12, 1903, Auditorium Hotel. Attendance, 50 members, 70 
 
 guests. 
 Subject: Chicago and our country. What shall it profit us if we gain 
 
 the whole world and lose our own souls? 
 Speaker: Judge Peter S. Grosscup. 
 
 January 9, 1904, Auditorium Hotel. Attendance, 62 members, 132 guests. 
 
 Subject: Police administration. 
 
 Speakers : Chicago police as seen by criminals, Frank Willard ("Josiah 
 Flint"); Police organization and discipline, Captain Alexander 
 R. Piper, of New York City; City courts, Common Justice for 
 all of us, William Travers Jerome, district attorney of New York 
 City. 
 
 February 18, 1904, Auditorium Hotel, and at Washington School, Erie 
 and Morgan streets. Attendance, 34 members, 34 guests. 
 
 After inspection of the Washington school the Club dined and heard 
 reports of educational committee. 
 
 Speakers: Edwin G. Cooley, superintendent of schools; W. J. Bogan, 
 principal of Washington school; Joseph T. Bo wen, chairman west 
 division educational committee of Merchants Club; Allan B. Pond, 
 chairman O'Toole school committee; Granger Farwell, chairman ed- 
 ucational committee; James Gamble Rogers, chairman Washington 
 school committee- 
 March 12, 1904, Auditorium Hotel. Attendance, 43 members, 101 guests. 
 
 Subject: Some problems and policies of the new department. 
 
 Speakers: Hon. George B. Cortelyou, Secretary of the Department 
 of Commerce and Labor; Brigadier-General Frederick Dent Grant. 
 
 April 8, 1904, Auditorium Hotel. Attendance, 42 members. 
 Annual closed meeting. 
 
 Reports of committees, election of officers, and appointment of com- 
 mittees. 
 
 June 14, 1904. Visit to Illinois Telephone and Telegraph Company's 
 tunnel. 
 
 88]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 July 14, 1904, Chicago Club. Attendance, 150 members and guests. 
 
 Special meeting in honor of Secretary Paul Morton, of the Navy 
 
 Department. 
 Subjects and Speakers: The President of the United States 
 
 Shelby M. Cullom, United States Senator. 
 The Navy George E. Foss, chairman committee on naval affairs, 
 
 House of Representatives. 
 As the Spirit Moves Joseph G. Cannon, Speaker of the House of 
 
 Representatives. 
 
 Our Guest Mr. Edward D. Kenna. 
 Response Secretary Paul Morton. 
 
 [89]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 1904-1905 
 
 ALFRED L. BAKER, President. 
 
 November 8, 1904, Auditorium Hotel. Attendance, 150 members and 
 
 guests. 
 
 Subject: American elections. 
 Speakers: Right Honorable John Morley, M. P.; John Wanamaker, 
 
 Edgar A. Bancroft, Frank H. Jones. 
 
 November 26, 1904. Joint meeting with the Commercial Club. 
 
 December 10, 1904, Auditorium. Attendance, 45 members. 
 Closed meeting. 
 Reports of committees on Merchants Club bill for regulation of "Loan 
 
 Sharks;" Citizens' street cleaning bureau; educational committee; 
 
 naval training station. 
 Speakers: John V. Farwell, Jr., Edgar A. Bancroft, Graeme Stewart, 
 
 David R. Forgan, Frank H. Armstrong, Joseph T. Bowen, Joseph 
 
 E. Otis. 
 
 January 14, 1905, Auditorium Hotel. Attendance, 140 members and guests. 
 
 Subjects and Speakers: The Chicago Commercial Association John 
 G. Shedd. 
 
 The great lakes as a factor in transportation facilities William L. 
 Brown. 
 
 Chicago as a financial center David R. Forgan. 
 
 Chicago as a manufacturing center John R. Morron. 
 
 The public schools E. G. Cooley. 
 
 Art and music Charles L. Hutchinson. 
 
 The spirit of progress and Chicago's new charter A. M. Compton, 
 chairman ways and means committee Chicago Commercial Asso- 
 ciation. 
 
 January 28, 1905. Visit to South Works. Illinois Steel Company. 
 
 February 18, 1905, Kinsley's. 
 
 Subjects and Speakers: Commercial and political integrity John 
 
 A. Johnson, Governor of Minnesota. 
 Competition or Socialism, Which? Albert B. Cummins, Governor of 
 
 Iowa. 
 
 [90]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 March 18, 1905, Auditorium Hotel. Attendance, 41 members, 25 Com- 
 mercial members, 17 guests. 
 
 Joint meeting with the Commercial Club. 
 
 Subject: Street Paving and Street Cleaning. 
 
 Speakers: John W. Alvord, C. E.; Richard T. Fox, Manager Citizens 
 Street Cleaning Bureau; Charles H. Wacker, Dr. Albion W. Small. 
 
 April 3, 1905. Closed meeting. Attendance 48 members. 
 
 April 22, 1905, Auditorium Hotel. Attendance, 48 members. 
 Annual closed meeting. 
 Reports of officers and committees, election of officers and committees. 
 
 May 10, 1905, Auditorium Hotel, at 1 o'clock p.m. Attendance, 160 mem- 
 bers and guests. 
 
 Special meeting. Luncheon in honor of Theodore Roosevelt, President 
 of the United States. 
 
 October 11, 1905. Attendance, 41 members. 
 
 Special meeting. Dinner at Onwentsia Club at Lake Forest as the 
 guests of Mr. Alfred L. Baker. 
 
 [91]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 1905-1906 
 
 CHARLES H. WACKER, President. 
 
 November 11, 1905, Auditorium Hotel. Attendance, 132 members and 
 
 guests. 
 
 Subject : Our trade relations with China. 
 Speaker: Sir Chentung Liang-Cheng, His Imperial Chinese Majesty's 
 
 Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary. 
 
 December 5, 1905. Visit to works of the Pullman Palace Car Company. 
 Attendance, 34 members. 
 
 December 9, 1905, Auditorium Hotel. Attendance, 166 members and guests. 
 Subject: The old navy and the new. 
 Speakers: General Horace Porter and Admiral Dewey. 
 
 January 13, 1906, Auditorium Hotel. Attendance, 100 members and 
 
 guests. 
 Subjects and Speakers: The national forest service Hon. Gifford 
 
 Pinchot, forester. 
 Is forestry practicable Mr. Nelson W. McLeod, president National 
 
 Lumber Manufacturers' Association. 
 
 February 18, 1906 (held in Caf6 de Chapultepec, City of Mexico). Attend- 
 ance, 48 members and guests, many of whom were from the City 
 of Mexico 
 
 Speakers: Mr. Alfred L. Baker, Sr. Senator Jose Castellot, Mr. Robert 
 Mather, Sr. Don Sebastian Camacho, and Mr. Arthur D. Wheeler. 
 
 February 27, 1906, Auditorium Hotel, Attendance, 56 members. Special 
 meeting. Dinner tendered by President Charles H. Wacker to 
 Mr. Robert Mather on return of the Mexican party. 
 
 March 10, 1906, Auditorium Hotel. Attendance, 132 members and guests. 
 Subject: The ethics of corporate management. 
 Speaker: Charles W. Eliot, LL.D., President of Harvard University. 
 
 May 5, 1906, Auditorium Hotel. 
 Annual closed meeting. 
 Reports of officers and committees, election of officers and committees. 
 
 [92]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 1906-1907 
 
 CHARLES D. NORTON, President. 
 
 November 10, 1906, Auditorium Hotel. 
 Subject: Canada and reciprocity. 
 Speaker: James J. Hill, president Great Northern Railway Company. 
 
 December 8, 1906, Auditorium Hotel. 
 
 Subject: Public schools and their administration. 
 
 Speakers: Theodore W. Robinson; Edward C. Eliot, ex-chairman 
 Board of Education of St. Louis, Mo.; James J. Storrow, president 
 Board of Education of Boston, Mass.; Nicholas Murray Butler, 
 president Columbia University, New York. 
 
 January 26, 1907, Auditorium Hotel. Attendance, 53 Merchants, 35 Com- 
 mercial members. No guests except speakers. 
 
 Closed joint meeting with Commercial Club. 
 
 Speakers: Theodore P. Shonts, chairman Isthmian Canal Commission; 
 William J. Calhoun, Envoy of the United States to Venezuela. 
 
 February 9, 1907, Auditorium Hotel. 
 
 Closed meeting. (Last meeting of the Merchants Club.) 
 Speakers: Charles D. Norton, John R. Morron, Arthur T. Aldis, 
 Alfred L. Baker, Edgar A. Bancroft, Richard M. Bissell, Frederic 
 A. Delano, John V. Farwell, Jr., David R. Forgan, Frederick 
 Greeley, Frank H. Jones, William Kent, Alexander A. McCormick, 
 Paul Morton, Edwin A. Potter, Theodore W. Robinson, John G. 
 Shedd, Charles H. Wacker, Arthur D. Wheeler, Walter H. Wilson. 
 
 Special and closed meetings were held in October 19, November 1, 
 December 13, and December 18, 1906, with 35 to 40 members 
 in attendance at each, and on January 26, 1907 with 41 members 
 present, all at Union League Club, principally for discussion 
 of the proposed union with the Commercial Club. 
 
 [93]
 
 The Merchants Club's first Committee on City Plan, 1906-07, 
 was Charles D. Norton, Chairman; Charles H. Wacker, Vice- 
 Chairman; David R. Forgan, Treasurer; Walter H. Wilson, Chair- 
 man Finance division; Edward B. Butler, Frederic A. Delano. 
 
 Daniel H. Burnham was Architect in Chief, Edward H. Bennett, 
 Assistant. 
 
 The original Chicago Plan Commission was appointed by Mayor 
 Busse in November, 1909, and consisted of more than three hundred 
 persons, aldermen and citizens, nearly twenty per cent of whom 
 were taken from the Commercial Club. Charles H. Wacker was 
 the first Chairman of the Commission and has continued its chair- 
 man ever since, serving with rare ability and devotion, doing 
 everything possible for an executive that the Commission's work 
 should be done wisely, economically, speedily and thoroughly.
 
 DANIEL HUDSON BURNHAM 
 
 Architect, dreamer, planner. 
 
 In art, a man of imagination and wide vision and enthusiasm. 
 In practical affairs, a man of intense force and sound judgment. 
 Died June, 1912, aged 66 years.
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB 
 
 AND 
 THE PLAN OF CHICAGO 
 
 By CHARLES D. NORTON 
 
 THE Plan of Chicago began when the first 
 cave man felled a tree across a stream. It 
 began in 1893, in the epoch-making World's Fair, 
 when Edward B. Butler's Committee of Chicago 
 business men and a national group of architects 
 and artists, led by Daniel H. Burnham and John 
 W. Root, for the first time in America learned 
 to work together as men of affairs and artists in a 
 great common effort, just as similar groups worked 
 together in ancient Greece and Rome, and in the 
 Italian cities of the Renaissance. It began in 1895, 
 when, as a direct result of the World's Fair, 
 Burnham developed his brilliant Lake Front Park 
 scheme, for Mr. James W. Ellsworth, President of 
 the South Park Board. Burnham tried to induce 
 first the Commercial Club, then the Merchants 
 Club, to develop this scheme, an effort that was 
 unsuccessful in those dark years of panic and 
 reaction that followed the World's Fair. 
 
 For myself the Plan of Chicago began in 1901, 
 one late summer afternoon, on the porch of 
 Augustus Saint Gaudens' house at Cornish, New 
 Hampshire, where my wife and I were paying a 
 
 [95]
 
 visit. Saint Gaudens came up from his studio for 
 tea after a hard day's work, and he entranced us 
 all by his glowing vision of what he and Burnham, 
 McKim and Olmsted hoped to accomplish in 
 restoring and developing L'Enfant's Plan of 
 Washington. He exacted a promise from me of 
 active effort with certain refractory Illinois Con- 
 gressmen, who, among others in Washington, were 
 threatening to place the new Agricultural Building 
 athwart the Mall in a way to ruin L'Enfant's Plan. 
 That was the beginning of my interest in City 
 Planning. In the effort to fulfil my promise to Saint 
 Gaudens I found a new and fascinating hobby. 
 
 Frederic A. Delano had long been at work on 
 his masterful analysis of Chicago's railway terminal 
 problem, which he published later (1904). As 
 intimate friends we developed our common interest 
 in City Planning together, and in September, 1902, 
 with Walter Wilson, we asked Mr. Burnham's 
 approval of a project to have the Merchants Club 
 give a dinner to the Washington commission 
 Burnham, McKim, Saint Gaudens and Olmsted 
 with a view to developing in Illinois possible 
 support for the revival of the L'Enfant Plan of 
 Washington, but, because of the delicate political 
 situation in Washington at the moment, Mr. 
 Burnham vetoed this proposed dinner as inex- 
 pedient, and the matter was dropped. I discussed 
 these matters a great deal with Edward B. Butler, 
 the valiant leader in the long fight to win back for 
 the people their lost Lake Front, and we were all 
 
 [96]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 gradually convincing ourselves that Chicago need- 
 ed a City Plan. In 1905, at a joint dinner of the 
 Commercial Club and the Merchants Club, Mr. 
 Butler made a brief but stirring plea for a great 
 City Plan. 
 
 It was our sense of responsibility as Merchants 
 Club men that finally brought action. The Mer- 
 chants Club exerted a unique and powerful influ- 
 ence over its sixty members, young men all, and 
 truly representative of all the varied business 
 interests of Chicago. When a man was asked to 
 join the Merchants Club he was asked quite blunt- 
 ly whether or not he would respond to any call for 
 public service at the Clubs' command whether 
 he would give not merely his money and his 
 influence, but himself. If he accepted election he 
 enlisted. It came as an honor, a much prized 
 distinction, a call and an opportunity for service 
 with a powerful, congenial, inspiriting group. As 
 a result presidents of railroads, of packing houses, 
 merchants and bankers found themselves on com- 
 mittees charged with responsibility for the opening 
 of schools at night to the public, for organizing 
 honest pawn shops, for cleaning the streets, for a 
 score of projects, to all of which they gave without 
 stint of their personal time and strength, as well as 
 money, and when a man found himself on the 
 Executive Committee, responsible for the work 
 program, he became one of a small but ambitious 
 group determined to make that particular year 
 a great year for the Merchants Club, and for 
 
 [97]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 Chicago. That militant spirit was the soul and 
 the life of the Merchants Club. 
 
 In 1905 and 1906 Delano and I were active on 
 Merchants Club Committees, and the Chicago Plan 
 scheme began to take definite shape. In 1906 we 
 definitely proposed the project to Mr. Burnham. 
 He felt certain scruples about enlisting with us 
 because in 1897 he had presented the Lake Front 
 improvement scheme to his own Club, the Com- 
 mercial Club, and having had enthusiastic support 
 for that project from a Committee of which 
 Franklin MacVeagh was chairman, he felt that 
 he must consult Mr. MacVeagh before enlisting 
 with the Merchants Club in a project for a City- 
 wide Plan of Chicago. After a considerable delay, 
 on July 6, 1906, he wrote me: 
 
 "Dear Mr. Norton: The enclosed copy of a letter 
 from Mr. MacVeagh to me removes the objection I 
 had to taking up the work you mentioned, and I am 
 now ready whenever you are. 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 DANIEL H. BURNHAM." 
 
 We promptly called a luncheon meeting of the 
 Merchants Club at the Union League Club, and 
 asked for pledges to a $20,000 fund, in happy 
 ignorance of the fact that we really needed $300,- 
 000. I made an incoherent but earnest effort to 
 expound the doctrine of comprehensive City 
 Planning, and I remember Charles Dawes* pun- 
 gent remark: "I don't understand what it is that 
 
 [98]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 Charlie Norton wants, but I'm for it and I'll 
 subscribe"; and so did everyone else. They 
 subscribed money, and they subscribed Merchants 
 Club spirit and encouragement. 
 
 We raced over to tell Burnham to begin, that 
 we were financed. He was sitting in that beautiful 
 office, high up in the Railway Exchange Building, 
 where for three years thereafter we were to meet 
 so often. He was gazing out over the lake front, 
 and he appeared to be in serious distress. "It is 
 wonderful, Charles," he said, "but I am afraid 
 it is no use. My doctor has just been here to tell 
 me that I have a mortal disease that I have at 
 most three years to live." 
 
 There was an embarrassed and painful silence, 
 and then I blurted out, "But, Mr. Burnham, 
 that is just time enough; it will take only three 
 years." 
 
 Burnham looked startled, then he broke into a 
 laugh and said: "You are right. I will do it." 
 And it did take three years, in which Burnham 
 contributed freely practically all of his time and 
 strength, and in addition made substantial con- 
 tributions to the necessary expenses of the work. 
 The Plan of Chicago was finished and published 
 July 4, 1909, and our great Planner did not suc- 
 cumb until June 1, 1912. I firmly believe that 
 his joy in his Plan work prolonged his life. 
 
 So much for the inception of our project. Our 
 first Committee consisted of Charles D. Norton, 
 Chairman, Charles H. Wacker, Vice-Chairman, 
 
 [99]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 Walter H. Wilson, Edward B. Butler, Frederic 
 A. Delano and David R. Forgan, Treasurer. We 
 gave Burnham a free hand, and he swiftly created 
 a staff that included such men as E. H. Bennett, 
 Jules Guerin, Fernand Janin. We met at Burn- 
 ham's office at luncheon weekly and in times of 
 stress daily. Frederic Delano was Secretary, and 
 his clerk, John Delamater, was our faithful scribe. 
 I do not know when Burnham found time to see 
 his partners on the business of his firm. They must 
 have lost his services when his private office 
 became the headquarters for innumerable City 
 Plan meetings. 
 
 Our first half year was practically wasted on a 
 scheme to develop La Salle street as an axis: 
 to make a square at La Salle and Washington 
 streets opposite the proposed new Court House and 
 City Hall. The scheme involved removing the 
 Board of Trade building, and other huge difficulties 
 like that, and we were speedily lost in details. 
 Burnham was the first to recognize the error of 
 beginning at an arbitrarily located centre, instead 
 of at the circumference of the whole area, and then 
 working in toward the true and logical civic 
 centre. Drawing on our office wall map the great 
 Waukegan, Elgin, Aurora, Gary, Michigan City 
 circle, he sounded this bugle blast: 
 
 "Make no little plans: they have no magic to stir 
 men's blood, and probably themselves will not be 
 realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, 
 remembering that a noble, logical diagram once record- 
 
 [100]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 ed will never die, but long after we are gone will be a 
 living thing, asserting itself with growing intensity." 
 
 This was for all of us the beginning of correct 
 thinking. 
 
 There is no way to interest the man in the street 
 in a City Plan for a community of millions of peo- 
 ple unless the Plan includes all of the area in which 
 the city workers live. Men and women are inter- 
 ested in Plans that include their homes, their gar- 
 dens, the environment in which they and their 
 children dwell. When we went out to that circum- 
 ference we found at once the eleven great existing 
 diagonals, the old trails and country roads that led 
 originally to Fort Dearborn: the Green Bay road, 
 Milwaukee avenue, Blue Island avenue, the 
 " Archey road," etc., and these diagonals, properly 
 extended to new encircling streets, with a broad- 
 ened and extended Michigan avenue as a solid 
 foundation, quickly became the framework of the 
 Chicago Plan. We found that we already possessed 
 much of what Haussman created in Paris, and 
 that we needed only to develop our assets to be 
 rich ! 
 
 We were fortunate in the choice of our first 
 specific project, the widening of Michigan avenue 
 and extending it over a new bridge to the Water 
 Tower at Chicago avenue, followed closely by 
 the Lake Front improvement, the Roosevelt road, 
 and the South Water street improvement. 
 
 The chief concern of Walter Wilson and myself 
 was finance, as our inadequate fund was melting. 
 
 [101]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 One day I had a telegram from Mr. H. H. Porter, 
 then living in retirement at Lake Geneva, asking 
 me to come and discuss with him the Chicago 
 Plan. I had never met Mr. Porter. He came to the 
 station in his yacht, and we spent three hours on 
 board while he poured forth words of encourage- 
 ment. He told me that the Plan project had 
 stirred his highest expectations and had cheered 
 his old age, that we must spend money boldly and 
 make it a big thing indeed. He promised to give 
 me $10,000, and undertook to get four others to 
 do the same. Mr. Porter's enthusiasm came as a 
 complete surprise at a critical moment, and had 
 much to do with the adoption of bold programs. 
 It greatly heartened Burnham. 
 
 Those were happy days. Burnham was an 
 inspiring leader, courageous, patient, wise and 
 strong. When in 1907 the Merchants Club merged 
 with the Commercial Club, as the Commercial 
 Club of Chicago, fresh and powerful forces joined 
 our committees for our second and third years 
 of work: Edgar A. Bancroft, Adolphus C. 
 Bartlett, William L. Brown, Benjamin Carpenter, 
 Clyde M. Carr, Edward F. Carry, Leslie Carter, 
 William J. Chalmers, Charles H. Conover, Charles 
 G. Dawes, Thomas E. Donnelley, John V. Farwell, 
 James L. Houghteling, Charles H. Hulburd, 
 Charles L. Hutchinson, Chauncey Keep, Rollin A. 
 Keyes, Victor F. Lawson, Franklin MacVeagh, 
 Cyrus H. McCormick, Harold F. McCormick, 
 John J. Mitchell, Joy Morton, Martin A. Ryerson, 
 
 [102]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 John G. Shedd, Albert A. Sprague, Homer A. 
 Stillwell, Charles L. Strobel, Charles H. Thorne 
 and Frederic W. Upham. We allocated each 
 project to a sub-committee; each sub-committee 
 fought its own battles, but all joined forces at the 
 inspiriting meetings at luncheon in Burnham's 
 office, where the gospel of City Planning was 
 expounded almost daily. 
 
 Finally, with the aid of Charles Moore as 
 Editor, on July 4, 1909, the Commercial Club 
 published the Plan of Chicago, that "noble, 
 logical diagram" which "long after we are gone 
 will be a living thing, exerting itself with growing 
 intensity. " 
 
 CHARLES D. NORTON 
 
 [103
 
 THE FAWNERS BANK was first discussed in the Merchants Club 
 in January, 1899, when a committee was appointed to prepare a 
 law permitting such Society. This law was drawn by Leslie Carter, 
 approved by the Legislature then in session, and the First State 
 Fawners Bank started in business November 6, 1899. After twenty- 
 two years, at close of the fiscal year, September 30, 1921, it had 
 made 961,177 separate loans, covering $27,562,384.50 in money 
 value, with total losses of less than $40,000.00, or not quite one 
 seventh of one per cent.
 
 LESLIE CARTER 
 
 Died September, 1908 
 Aged 57 years
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB 
 
 AND 
 THE STATE FAWNERS SOCIETY 
 
 By JOHN V. FARWELL 
 
 THE records of the Merchants Club have been 
 found to be so incomplete that much of what 
 I have to say about the formation and early history 
 of the State Fawners Society will have to come 
 from a memory dimmed somewhat by time. 
 
 The old Merchants Club from its very inception 
 was full of vitality and an irrepressible desire to do 
 something to promote public welfare. Its members 
 had not then learned by experience how the willing 
 horse is ridden to death. They were young and 
 enthusiastic. As a result, a number of its early 
 closed meetings were taken up with the discus- 
 sion of various projects, large and small, but 
 mostly large for those days. 
 
 At one of such meetings, held at the Chicago 
 Club, on December 4th, 1897, Harry G. Selfridge 
 recommended a number of propositions, one of 
 them being the organization of a Provident Loan 
 Association, like the one started a year or so before 
 by Otto T. Bannard, Jacob H. Schiff and others 
 in New York City. This seemed to take with the 
 members, because it was concrete, practical, 
 permanent and much needed. 
 
 [ 105 ]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 At a subsequent meeting, as I recollect it, a 
 committee was appointed, consisting of Harry G. 
 Selfridge, Richard M. Bissell, Leslie Carter, Edgar 
 A. Bancroft, and Clarence Buckingham, with the 
 president of the Club ex-officio, to investigate and 
 report. Later on, after discussion at a number of 
 meetings the Club approved the project on January 
 14th, 1899, and the Committee went on with its 
 work of organization, getting a law passed by the 
 Legislature providing for the organization of 
 State Fawners Societies, drafting by-laws and 
 soliciting stock subscriptions for a capital stock 
 of $50,000. The commissions to secure subscrip- 
 tions, as stated in the License, were John V. Far- 
 well Jr., Harold F. McCormick, Ernest A. Hamill, 
 Emerson B. Tuttle, Charles L. Bartlett and Harry 
 G. Selfridge. Graeme Stewart and F. W. Upham, 
 both members of the Club, were of great assistance 
 in getting the law passed in the Legislature where 
 there was much opposition from the regular pawn- 
 brokers. 
 
 I well remember how we carefully told sub- 
 scribers that they might never see their principal 
 again, to say nothing of dividends, but that we 
 were hopeful as well as conservative. 
 
 I recall, too, the pessimistic prophecies hurled 
 at us from many sources, that we could never find 
 an honest and efficient man to run the Society, that 
 they would load us up with all the fake jewelry 
 and watches in the city, and that even' if we seemed 
 to be prospering, we would find, when the first 
 
 [106]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 auction sale came around (this from Otto Young, 
 a stockholder, but not a member of the Club, 
 who was also in the jewelry business), that our 
 terrible mistakes would be laid bare. 
 
 Notwithstanding these gloomy forecasts, the 
 $50,000 capital stock was subscribed almost en- 
 tirely by members of the Merchants Club, and a 
 meeting of such subscribers was held at the Grand 
 Pacific hotel, on Monday, July 24th, 1899, the 
 minutes of which meeting show that 341 shares 
 were voted, that By-laws were adopted and 
 directors elected Edward B. Butler and John 
 Shedd for one year, Nelson P. Bigelow and Edwin 
 G. Foreman for two years, John V. Farwell, Jr., 
 Leslie Carter and Rollin A. Keyes for three years. 
 As provided by the State law, the Governor ap- 
 pointed William H. Bennett as State director, 
 and the Mayor appointed Dunlap Smith as City 
 director. 
 
 The Society opened for business on November 
 6th, 1899, at 72 East Washington street. A policy 
 of weekly meetings of the Board of Directors was 
 adopted and has been followed during the twenty- 
 two years since that date. 
 
 Every director was alert and interested in 
 making the experiment a success. We watched 
 every penny of expense, and I remember well, 
 having the awful prophecies in mind, how, at the 
 suggestion of Dunlap Smith, we sent men around 
 to the Society as borrowers with paste diamonds 
 and fake watches, to see whether our appraisers 
 
 [107]
 
 were going to fall a prey to the unscrupulous 
 competitors. One of these emissaries returned 
 stating that our appraiser after examining his 
 ring for about fifteen seconds had replied to his 
 request for a loan "You may not know it, but 
 that diamond is glass." Mr. Shedd even tried 
 them on a Patek-Phillipe watch, which he had 
 made for him in Switzerland, without the makers' 
 name. The appraiser, however, spotted it at once, 
 telling him it was a Patek-Phillipe, but that he 
 had never seen one without the name on it 
 before. Such reports were very reassuring to us. 
 
 There was some romance in the business in those 
 days, for we "took a journey into a far country." 
 Everything went so well, however, in the volume 
 of business offered us that we had to increase the 
 capital stock to $100,000 on February 6th, 1900, 
 less than three months after we had opened. The 
 Directors, as well as others, including the first 
 committee, went around soliciting subscriptions 
 to the additional $50,000. As this was before the 
 first annual meeting, we could not promise any- 
 thing but hopes. One careful investor had charged 
 his first subscription to profit and loss, and was 
 willing to sell that and his second at fifty cents on 
 the dollar, which proposition was accepted by 
 another stockholder, who had a larger stock of hope. 
 I think that is the lowest sale of stock on record. 
 
 At the first annual meeting on November 20th, 
 1900, the capital was increased to $200,000. 
 
 The first annual report may be of interest 
 
 [108]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 " To the Stockholders of the State Fawners Society 
 
 As provided by the by-laws, the President herewith 
 submits the Report of the Directors for the fiscal year, 
 ending October 31st, 1900, including Trial Balance, In- 
 come Account, and Statistical Statements taken from 
 the books of the Society. The present Board of Direct- 
 ors was elected at the first meeting of the Stockholders, 
 held July 24th, 1899. As some time was necessary for 
 preliminary work in a new field, the Society did not 
 open for business until November 6th, 1899. To make 
 a full year's operation before submitting a report, the 
 Directors, through the by-laws, changed the ending of 
 the fiscal year to October 31st, and the date of the 
 annual meeting to the third Tuesday in November. 
 
 In many respects the year has been experimental. 
 The results, however, have exceeded the highest expec- 
 tations of the Directors, not only in the profits shown, 
 but also in the number and amounts of loans made. 
 The experiment has proved that on the present basis 
 such a Society can be made a business success and that 
 a large number of independent, self-respecting people 
 in need of temporary financial assistance will gladly 
 patronize it. 
 
 In January, 1900, as it became evident to the Di- 
 rectors that the original capital of $50,000 would not 
 suffice for the first year, as originally anticipated, a 
 special meeting of the stockholders was held February 
 6th, 1900, at which the capital stock was increased to 
 $100,000. This was not all subscribed till the last of 
 September, but was sold as needed. 
 
 The business of the Society, however, has so rapidly 
 grown, especially during the last three months, that this 
 $100,000 has in turn proved insufficient. Not desiring 
 to issue any more stock until after an annual meeting, 
 and a full report of the condition and business of the 
 Society has been submitted to the stockholders, the 
 
 [109]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 Directors have temporarily borrowed $20,000. At a 
 meeting of the Directors, held on Tuesday, October 30th, 
 the President was instructed to submit to the stock- 
 holders at the annual meeting the question of increas- 
 ing the capital stock to $200,000, the same to be issued 
 at such time or times as the Directors might determine. 
 
 Believing such a course to be the only conservative 
 and feasible one at the present time, the President 
 herewith submits this plan for consideration, with the 
 earnest recommendation that it be adopted. More 
 money is needed at once, if the Society is to increase its 
 business and its usefulness in the community. The 
 Directors do not believe it to be a good permanent 
 business policy to borrow, and have urged this plan as 
 the only desirable one. Considering the first year's 
 results, the Directors have no hesitation in saying that 
 the stock will undoubtedly earn ten percent per annum, 
 and that semi-annual dividends at the rate of six per- 
 cent per annum (the maximum allowed by law) can be 
 regularly and safely declared. Although the required 
 year has not yet elapsed, on delinquent loans, before sale 
 by auction is allowed, such a large percentage of the 
 first loans have been redeemed, and so many expert 
 appraisements have been secured, the Directors feel 
 sure that all probable losses from such sales have been 
 more than provided for in the above statement. 
 
 From present experience, it is quite probable that 
 $500,000 will in a few years be needed to carry the idea 
 of the Society to its full and complete development 
 with its central office and branches in the various thick- 
 ly settled and needy districts of the city. 
 
 In closing this report, the President is glad to state 
 that the Directors have been most fortunate in securing 
 the services of the present force of employes. 
 
 By order of the Board, 
 JOHN V. FARWELL, JR., President." 
 
 [110]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 The loans for the first year numbered 17,161, 
 amounting to $257,790.75. The net profits were 
 $5,476.27. Although this does not seem like a 
 large amount compared with the $110,550.40 
 made last year, it produced much more satis- 
 faction to the Directors. 
 
 In 1909 it was decided to get as much of the stock 
 as possible in the hands of three voting trustees, 
 Edgar A. Bancroft, John G. Shedd and John V. 
 Farwell, so that the policy and purpose of the 
 Society could easily be kept in the original public 
 welfare channels. As a result, more than three- 
 quarters of the stock is now in the hands of these 
 Trustees. 
 
 Many of the original directors are still on the 
 Board, namely: Messrs. Butler, Keyes, Shedd and 
 Farwell. During the twenty-two years Mr. Dunlap 
 Smith, Mr. Hermon B. Butler, Mr. Leslie Carter 
 and Mr. Edwin G. Foreman have died, and Mr. 
 William H. Bennett (appointed by the Governor) 
 and Mr. Nelson P. Bigelow resigned on account 
 of moving away from Chicago. 
 
 We were fortunate during the early years in 
 securing as manager Mr. Samuel Wolfert, and as 
 assistant Mr. S. Lepunsky, whose ability and 
 loyalty have contributed so largely to making the 
 Society a success in both helping so many self- 
 respecting and deserving people and giving a fair 
 return to the investor. 
 
 In closing this brief sketch, which is supposed to 
 relate to the early history of the Society, it might 
 
 [mi
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 be interesting to note that the capital stock is 
 now $800,000 and surplus $674,832, that the 
 number of loans made for the fiscal year ending 
 September, 30, 1921 was 47,499 and the total 
 amount loaned for that period $2,739,826.50. 
 The present directors are John G. Shedd, Edward 
 B. Butler, Edgar A. Bancroft, Rollin A. Keyes, 
 Thomas E. Donnelley, David R. Forgan, John V. 
 Farwell, Frank H. Jones, City Director, and John 
 W. Scott, State Director. 
 
 Many consider the Society not simply a corpora- 
 tion but one of the City's institutions, which has 
 not only by its own loans helped many a needy 
 person over a hard place but also been the means 
 of reducing the rates on most of the loans made by 
 other pawnbrokers. The present directors trust 
 that it will continue to be a great city institution 
 keeping alive the name of the Merchants Club and 
 increasing in usefulness with the on-coming years. 
 For the Directors, 
 
 JOHN V. FARWELL, President 
 
 [112]
 
 THEODORE W. ROBINSON
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB 
 AND CHICAGO SCHOOLS 
 
 By THEODORE W. ROBINSON 
 
 OUR forefathers founded this government upon 
 basic principle of free and general educational 
 enlightenment, and no one can rightfully question 
 that we as a nation are primarily what we are be- 
 cause the common school has been in this country 
 the torch-bearer of civilization in every city, ham- 
 let and outpost. From the first our schools have 
 been America's greatest institution and her great- 
 est industry. It is the one obligation which our 
 people have recognized as fundamental, and which 
 has received their support ungrudgingly and with- 
 out stint. It is clear, therefore, that anything 
 adversely affecting the character of our school 
 system strikes at the very roots of our institutions 
 and is a matter of vital import to all. 
 
 This country, up to a comparatively few years 
 ago, was essentially one of rural existence and of 
 agricultural development. Now we are an indus- 
 trial nation and our life has rapidly become more 
 and more urban in its character. In the mode of 
 our material existence there has been a greater 
 change in the last generation than in all the years 
 that separate us from our political birth. Not 
 only have our cities increased phenomenally in 
 
 [113]
 
 number and in size but thanks mainly to electri- 
 city, the telephone and the automobile our rural 
 districts have become largely urban in their 
 thought and in their mode of living. 
 
 With the development of our cities it was in- 
 evitable that the means and methods of our edu- 
 cational facilities therein became more and more 
 impersonal in their character and involved changes 
 that were new and in many ways fraught with 
 danger. Life in the smaller communities and in 
 the rural districts, as compared with the city, is 
 more distinctly one of personal action and self 
 initiative. The people there are more literally 
 hewers of wood and drawers of water. Education 
 is more directly the concern of the parent and 
 there is a closer personal contact between the 
 school authorities, the teachers and the children. 
 Life of the city, on the other hand, is essentially 
 one of centralization and political control. Edu- 
 cation is around the corner, to be had with no 
 more thought or effort than the light and heat 
 which comes with the throwing of a switch or the 
 turning of a cock. To the average citizen the 
 character of the one is a matter of as little concern 
 and knowledge as the mechanics of the other. 
 
 These changing conditions were forcing their 
 attention upon the thinking public when, twenty- 
 five years ago, a little group of men, sixty in num- 
 ber, joined themselves together for the ennoble- 
 ment of Chicago and the glory of good fellowship, 
 under the name of The Merchants Club. Young 
 
 [114]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 in years though old in responsibility of affairs, 
 they brought to bear the virility and enthusiasm 
 of youth upon social and economic problems, and 
 soon became a distinctive factor in the civic life 
 of our city. Their meetings were a forum for the 
 highest, their activities in matters of city, state 
 and nation were catholic in their scope, and they 
 knew no race, creed or partisanship in their en- 
 deavor. As a result of their careful investigation 
 and study there was soon impressed upon them 
 the necessity for essential changes in the curricu- 
 lum and methods of administration in our city 
 schools. 
 
 A committee on education was appointed con- 
 sisting of eleven members of the Club, with John 
 R. Morron as the first chairman. That was in 
 1902, and for five years, until the merger with the 
 Commercial Club, much time and not a little 
 money was devoted to educational affairs. The 
 Club's work was at first largely initiatory in char- 
 acter. The opening of evening schools, the use of 
 school houses for social centers, the introduction 
 and development of domestic science and other 
 vocational activities, all came under the sphere of 
 its influence. 
 
 Contact with our school system showed many 
 statutory limitations as well as defects in equipment 
 and administration. The Chicago public school 
 system in its size and importance stood second 
 in this country, as it does today, but it was ham- 
 pered by laws made in its infancy which were predi- 
 
 [115]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 cated upon the requirements of a village instead 
 of a city. At that time more than a quarter of a 
 million men, women and children, native-born 
 and foreign-born, were in the educational process 
 of transformation and amalgamation. More than 
 five thousand teachers were employed in shaping 
 the destiny of these future citizens ; 240 elementary 
 schools, 17 high schools and one normal school, 
 each with its principal and corps of teachers, con- 
 stituted Chicago's educational plant, and over 
 eleven million dollars were annually paid by the 
 taxpayers for its maintenance and operation. 
 
 Political pull had been a material factor in the 
 administration of our schools. Political expedi- 
 ency was ofttimes a more important element in 
 the appointment of teachers than was the ques- 
 tion of fitness or merit. Social pressure and other 
 influences likewise impaired the vitality of the 
 school system. A substantial part of the teachers 
 belonged to the Teachers' Federation, a secret 
 organization affiliated with the Federation of 
 Labor. The Chicago school system was not cor- 
 rupt, but it was permeated with school politics 
 and, depending upon the character of the different 
 city administrations, was subject to partisan in- 
 fluence. 
 
 During the Merchants Club's educational ac- 
 tivities the Chicago public school system achieved 
 an unpleasant notoriety through the ill-advised 
 attempts of the School Board to make drastic and 
 uncalled-for changes in the schools' administra- 
 
 [116]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 tion and operation. As a result of the various 
 destructive influences then existing, our schools 
 were permeated with strife and discord. The 
 School Trustees were fighting among themselves; 
 the Federation of Teachers were fighting the 
 School Trustees; the Superintendent of Schools 
 had to fight with some of the Trustees in order to 
 maintain his authority; the teachers belonging 
 to the Federation were fighting with those who 
 did not belong to the Federation. Even the 
 children in several instances were resisting the 
 carrying out of school orders by injunctions at the 
 hands of the courts. It was a Kilkenny cat regime, 
 and the school question became an important 
 issue during the Dunne and Busse administrations. 
 The influence of the Merchants Club helped 
 towards the final amelioration of the situation. 
 
 We are prone to think of our school system in 
 terms of higher education, and it is true that as 
 between cultural and vocational accomplishment 
 the curriculum of our elementary schools has been 
 unduly influenced by the thought of their being 
 preparatory to the high school and the college. The 
 facts are that only six per cent of our pupils reach 
 the high school, and less than two per cent attain 
 the college. 
 
 The investigations of the Club showed that 
 slightly over twenty per cent of our entire popula- 
 tion, aggregating at that time over twenty million 
 people, wefe pupils in our public schools and other 
 institutions of learning, and that of these, ninety- 
 
 [117]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 two per cent were in the elementary schools. 
 They also found that nearly eighty per cent of all 
 our children never got beyond the eighth grade of 
 our grammar schools, and finished their education 
 at fourteen years of age or younger. This impres- 
 sive educational mortality, as measured by the 
 college clientele, emphasized the need of shaping 
 the elementary courses with a view of their being 
 the ultimate in the child's preparation for his 
 life's work. Realization of this caused the Club to 
 participate actively in strengthening the voca- 
 tional activities in our schools. 
 
 But back of cultural and vocational opportunity 
 lies the deeper, graver necessity of our schools in- 
 stilling in the minds of our youth patriotism, 
 loyalty and good citizenship. To be able to read 
 and write is a vital advance over illiteracy, and at 
 the time in question there were over five million 
 of our inhabitants who could neither read nor 
 write. True education, however, means much 
 more than the three R's, and any training that 
 does not inculcate proper ethical and economic 
 standards falls far short of its proper objective. 
 This is a phase where institutional teaching, es- 
 pecially when subject to political control, is apt 
 to be seriously deficient. It was a problem to 
 which the Club's Educational Committee gave 
 no little attention. 
 
 The character of the work that the Club was 
 doing in the schools gradually brought public 
 recognition, and at the time of the Charter Con- 
 
 [118]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 vention the Club was asked to assist in drawing a 
 new school law for the City of Chicago. A vast 
 amount of research work was done and the educa- 
 tional section of the first charter bill as it was 
 passed at Springfield was drawn largely by the 
 Club. The charter bill failed on referendum, but 
 the Merchants Club's endeavor resulted in an im- 
 portant piece of legislation. Formerly it was the 
 law that while attendance at school was compul- 
 sory up to the age of fourteen years, it was also 
 the law that children could only be employed until 
 over sixteen years of age under such restrictions 
 as to practically preclude opportunities for main- 
 taining permanent employment. 
 
 As a result three or four thousand boys and girls 
 between the ages of fourteen and sixteen were 
 annually thrown upon our streets without school 
 restriction and without steady work. The contri- 
 bution to our reformatories was eloquent evidence 
 of the demoralizing conditions thus presented. 
 Thanks to the Merchants Club, the compulsory 
 school age was extended from fourteen to sixteen 
 years unless between those ages legitimate employ- 
 ment could be shown. The result of this legisla- 
 tion has been increasingly beneficent during the 
 years that have elapsed since its enactment. 
 
 In looking back it is but frank to say that as 
 compared with its other activities the Club's edu- 
 cational efforts were not too popular among its 
 members, and the reason is not far to seek. The 
 work was hard to visualize and difficult to measure. 
 
 [119]
 
 It involved nothing that was dramatic or spectacu- 
 lar. Unlike current problems that could be com- 
 paratively quickly grappled and quickly settled, 
 it largely concerned matters of the tomorrow and 
 not of today. Casually considered, it was for the 
 coming generation rather than the present genera- 
 tion; it was a problem apparently for the peda- 
 gogue rather than for the business man; yet as 
 measured by a perspective of the greatest good 
 for the greatest number, there has been no work 
 in which the Club has been involved that has been 
 farther reaching or more important. It promoted 
 the possibilities and use of the evening school; it 
 demonstrated the practical application of voca- 
 tional training; it was influential in the enactment 
 of better school laws; and finally, it initiated the 
 subsequent educational work done by the Commer- 
 cial Club. 
 
 Vocational training had become an important 
 element in promoting foreign industrial efficiency. 
 Germany in particular through the vision and 
 statesmanship of Bismarck had profited in a 
 striking manner by this educational innovation. 
 This country had done comparatively nothing to 
 thus better adapt our schools to the needs of the 
 vast majority of our people. The work of the 
 Merchants Club pointed the way, and Mr. E. G. 
 Cooley, formerly Superintendent of Chicago Pub- 
 lic Schools, was engaged by the Commercial Club 
 to investigate the possibilities of vocational train- 
 ing for our conditions and needs. His investiga- 
 
 [120]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 tion of European conditions was the most compre- 
 hensive survey ever made by an American body or 
 individual. His report advanced the cause of voca- 
 tional training in this country to a marked degree, 
 and the work done by the Commercial Club 
 through him both materially influenced the char- 
 acter of our national and state educational legis- 
 lation, and literally made the name of the Club 
 known in every state of the Union and in every 
 country of Europe. That this work of the Com- 
 mercial Club was in line with its former activities, 
 and that its interest in educational matters had 
 almost from the Club's inception been much more 
 than an academic one, is substantiated by the fol- 
 lowing record. 
 
 The Commercial Club founded and for many 
 years supported one of the first manual training 
 schools in this country, viz., the Chicago Manual 
 Training School at Twelfth Street and Michigan 
 Avenue. It raised endowment funds for the 
 Illinois Manual Training School at Glenwood 
 and for the St. Charles School for Boys. It gave 
 to the city of Chicago the site for one of Chicago's 
 earliest playgrounds, and it presented to the United 
 States Government the site for the Naval Training 
 School at Lake Bluff. 
 
 It is thus clear that in carrying out the educa- 
 tional work started by the Merchants Club the 
 Commercial Club was but following its old tra- 
 ditions for public service in this most important 
 field. 
 
 [121]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 In .re viewing the work of the Merchants Club 
 among our schools it is interesting to note that 
 there are in this country about two million chil- 
 dren every year who reach the age of fourteen. 
 Any man worthy of the name devotes his time and 
 money to the welfare of his children, but the chil- 
 dren of the multitude and their welfare should like- 
 wise be to him a matter of the deepest concern. 
 They are the coming generation, and in their hands 
 lies not only the tranquillity or stress of his old 
 age but also the destiny of his children and his 
 children's children. This is a government of the 
 people, and the character of our government of to- 
 morrow will be largely determined by the charac- 
 ter of the school children of today. This is trite; 
 it is certainly obvious; but it is a truth that too 
 often passes unheeded. We are prone to forget 
 that the fundamental difference between anarchy 
 and law and order is proper educational training, 
 and that the essential difference between Russia 
 and America today is the common school. The 
 Merchants Club is now history, but the work that 
 it did for the improvement of our schools will en- 
 dure and is a striking monument to its unselfish 
 devotion to the public good. 
 
 THEODORE W. ROBINSON 
 
 122]
 
 ALLEN B. POND
 
 CHICAGO NIGHT SCHOOLS 
 
 By ALLEN B. POND 
 
 SOME of the members of the Merchants Club 
 had taken notice of the fact that many chil- 
 dren, and more particularly the boys, were quitting 
 school as soon as they passed the fifth grade and 
 the compulsory age whether because of real or 
 claimed economic stress in the home, or because of 
 lack of interest in school work, or for both reasons 
 and that in the great majority of cases the 
 children came from homes in which the scanty 
 cultural background made a longer period of 
 school life all the more important. Added to this 
 situation was the presence in Chicago of large 
 numbers of immigrants, many with a slender edu- 
 cation in their old-world home, who were in need 
 of educational opportunities to fit them for suc- 
 cessful and self-respecting careers in America. 
 These observant and thoughtful Club members 
 realized that increased educational opportunity 
 for these groups was not less a protection to a 
 democratic state than a humane obligation to the 
 immigrants and to the under-educated and per- 
 manently handicapped children. 
 
 Not unnaturally the first thought of the inter- 
 ested members, when casting about for an educa- 
 tional remedy, was that the way out was to be 
 
 [123]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 found in strengthening and extending the night- 
 school system. It so happened that, at the very 
 time when the seriousness of this situation was im- 
 pressing itself on the minds of these Club members, 
 the school authorities, pressed for lack of suffi- 
 cient funds to maintain the public schools even at 
 their former efficiency, had discontinued the eve- 
 ning schools altogether. 
 
 The subject was formally brought before the 
 Club during the presidency of Mr. Richard Bissell; 
 and from that time forward the strengthening of 
 the public school system more adequately to meet 
 the needs of the community became one of the 
 permanent and chief policies of the Merchants 
 Club and, at the merger, was carried over to 
 the Commercial Club, which, indeed, had al- 
 ready concerned itself with the need of greater 
 educational facilities, more particularly on the 
 technical side. 
 
 Representatives of the Club sought an interview 
 with the school authorities and urged the resump- 
 tion of the night schools. The Board of Educa- 
 tion not only flatly affirmed the impossibility of 
 resuming the night schools because of the crippled 
 financial condition of the schools, but intimated 
 that, as a matter of fact, night schools were of no 
 great and immediate importance, that there had 
 been no demand for them, that the attendance had 
 been too small to justify the expense of operation; 
 in short, that they had been, take it all in all, a 
 failure. To these statements the Club representa- 
 
 [124]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 lives replied that the failure of a response on the 
 part of young people and adults was due not to 
 the lack of a conscious need, but to the inferior 
 quality of the schools themselves both as to kind 
 and extent of curriculum and as to quality of teach- 
 ing; and that, if the Board would turn over to the 
 Club a suitably located school building for evening 
 use, the Club would itself plan the program, pro- 
 vide teachers and incidental equipment, and dem- 
 onstrate beyond cavil both the fact of the de- 
 mand and the possibility of meeting it. 
 
 The Board demurred at incurring even the 
 expense of heat, light, janitor service and ordinary 
 wear and tear; and the Club met the objection by 
 offering to pay rent for the school premises as well 
 as all the operating expenses. This offer was ac- 
 cepted by the Board, and in the year 1901-02 the 
 John Spry School building, a new plant in the 
 vicinity of the McCormick Works, was turned 
 over to the Merchants Club to make its experi- 
 ment. 
 
 The Club curriculum included not only such 
 routine academic work as English, mathematics, 
 history and the like, but typewriting, domestic 
 science, dressmaking, millinery, manual training, 
 choral singing, instruction of mothers in nursing 
 and home making, neighborhood men's clubs and 
 popular lectures. The Club provided the type- 
 writers and installed the domestic science equip- 
 ment and manual training outfit. Every nook 
 and cranny of the building were filled to overflow- 
 
 [125]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 ing, classes even being held in the stub ends of 
 corridors. 
 
 The school was so obviously and so triumphant- 
 ly successful that there was no possibility of re- 
 affirming the lack of demand. The following 
 year the Club inaugurated similar work in the 
 O'Toole (now the John Hamline) School near the 
 :< Yards" and in the old Washington School on the 
 near northwest side. The John Spry School was 
 operated by the Club for three successive years 
 and the other two schools for two successive years; 
 and at the end of that time, the demonstration 
 being regarded as complete, the schools were 
 turned over to the Board of Education to carry 
 on the work. 
 
 It must be recorded to the credit of the Board 
 of Education that, once the demonstration had 
 been made, the Board took up the work that the 
 Club laid down and maintained and extended it. 
 The Club, having had its thought sharply turned 
 to public school problems, did not abandon the 
 field. It had become convinced, however, that 
 something more was necessary than the establish- 
 ment of evening classes for children, often too 
 weary to avail themselves of such opportunities, 
 and that there were required additional daytime 
 facilities for children who, for reasons of family 
 finance or other causes, had left school with far 
 too scant an education to equip them either for 
 competent wage-earning or for citizenship. The 
 investigations set on foot in this field, and the 
 
 [126]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 efforts to obtain legislation that should inaugurate 
 public continuation schools and more adequate 
 technical training fall, however, in the period 
 subsequent to the merger of the Merchants and 
 the Commercial Clubs; and the story of these 
 efforts has its proper place in the history of the 
 Commercial Club. 
 
 There can be no question that the immediate 
 and sweeping success of the Merchants Club 
 evening schools was due not merely to the quality 
 of the teaching, but also to the fact that the cur- 
 riculum with its emphasis on craftsmanship and 
 home economics brought to the students a clear 
 realization that schooling, to be real schooling, 
 need not be divorced from reality that a school 
 could be made a part of life and a means of putting 
 one on the road to living more abundantly. The 
 Chicago schools, whatever their shortcomings may 
 still be, have made great strides in this direction, 
 and the credit for the impetus belongs in no 
 small part to the Merchants Club's evening school 
 experiment. 
 
 ALLEN B. POND 
 
 [127]
 
 Educational matters had deep and continuing interest for the 
 Merchants Club. Many meetings, executive and open, were given 
 to this subject, where the discussions were on manual and voca- 
 tional and commercial training, domestic science, use of school 
 buildings for community centers, night schools, etc. 
 
 Since 1902 more than half of the total membership of the Club 
 served at some time on one or more of these educational com- 
 mittees.
 
 GRAEME STEWART 
 
 Born 1853. Died 1905
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB 
 
 AND THE 
 
 UNITED STATES NAVAL TRAINING 
 STATION AT GREAT LAKES 
 
 ONE of the most interesting and important un- 
 dertakings by the Merchants Club was the 
 location of the Naval Training Station at Lake 
 Bluff just above Chicago. There was little time 
 for deliberation upon this : it was a case for action, 
 quick and decisive. When it was learned that 
 the national government contemplated founding 
 such a station in the middle west, the Merchants 
 Club, on July 19, 1904, appointed a committee 
 with Graeme Stewart at its head and including 
 Frederic W. Upham, John R. Morron, Harold 
 F. McCormick, and Alfred L. Baker in its member- 
 ship, to investigate, and, if the interests of the gov- 
 ernment and of Chicago should coincide, endeavor 
 to secure the location. This committee looked the 
 ground over promptly, selected the site, obtained 
 options on 172 acres of ground at approximately 
 one thousand dollars per acre. This price was made 
 so low by the owners, Joseph Downey and William 
 H. Murphy, because of the use that was to be 
 made of the ground. Lake Bluff was an ideal spot, 
 opening the wide field of the Middle West, filled 
 with eager young manhood from which the Navy 
 Department might draw enlistments for its service. 
 
 [129]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 With the approval of his committee and of the 
 Executive Committee, Mr. Stewart went before 
 the Naval Commission then sitting in Chicago 
 to hear advocates of other localities, explained 
 briefly the advantages of the Great Lakes, and 
 ended by offering this fine property as a free will 
 gift to the government from the people of this 
 community. This was just one month after the 
 appointment of the committee. The offer was 
 accepted, the Merchants Club raised the money 
 by contributions, none of which was large, the 
 Navy Department at once began construction 
 plans, and thus came into existence the Great Lakes 
 Naval Training Station, with scores of buildings 
 officers quarters, administration offices, barracks, 
 mess rooms, store house, parade grounds, training 
 fields, hospitals, fine drainage, unlimited water, 
 and the whole of Lake Michigan before them. 
 
 The Navy drew only the best human material, 
 for all were volunteers: there were no selective 
 draft men. Of course the salt-water experience 
 must be gained on wider seas, but the training 
 at Great Lakes was complete preparation for it. 
 
 This station had already turned out many 
 highly trained and competent men, but when the 
 United States entered the world war, large in- 
 creases of facilities were required, more ground, 
 more buildings, some permanent, some temporary. 
 Through these gates a seemingly endless stream 
 of vigorous young men passed in for enlistment 
 and training, out for active service for their 
 
 [130]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 country, and when no longer needed, returned, 
 crowned with laurels of devoted service, and then 
 out into the world again with the homage and 
 heartfelt gratitude of fellow citizens. 
 
 In 1904 both the Club and the Government 
 thought 172 acres sufficient for the station. An 
 idea of its growth and accomplishment since then 
 may be gained from these figures, obtained by the 
 courtesy of D. W. Wurtsbaugh, Captain U. S. 
 Navy, Commandant at Great Lakes: 
 
 The total number of acres at present included 
 in the Naval Reservation at Great Lakes is 
 1,105.57. Of this 54.75 acres are in the Hospital 
 Reservation. 
 
 The total number of buildings on the reserva- 
 tion is 726. Of these 126 are in the Hospital 
 Reservation. 
 
 The total floor area of the buildings is 4,050,000 
 square feet. Of this 370,000 square feet are in 
 the Hospital buildings. 
 
 The records show that since January 1, 1916, 
 191,552 enlisted men have been trained at this 
 station. The records prior to January 1, 1916, are 
 incomplete, but it is estimated that since the 
 opening of the station in 1911 and prior to January 
 1, 1916, about 9,000 men had passed through the 
 training station. Therefore, a conservative esti- 
 mate of the number of men that have passed 
 through this station since it opened in 1911 may be 
 stated as 200,000. 
 
 [131]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 The records further show that the largest 
 number of men in training at this station occurred 
 in August, 1918, when the population of the station 
 was 44,746 men. 
 
 The Navy of the United States is a complex 
 organization. It is composed of many ocean- 
 going vessels, and the training a man must receive 
 to fit him for duty on them is highly technical. 
 The capital battleship is a world in itself. Its 
 complement of men is enough to found a city, and 
 these must be not only men of strong physique, 
 but quick of hands and sight, agile of limb, alert of 
 mind. The rank and file must be trained as sailors, 
 marines, gunners, radio operators: there are as 
 many and as varied occupations as in the city. 
 However cruel, brutal, bloody and destructive war 
 may be, the army and navy training do produce 
 upstanding, sturdy men, erect, trained to obedi- 
 ence to law and duty, and to team work, a kind of 
 training which the modern civilian often lacks. All 
 of this it is the province of the Great Lakes Naval 
 Training Station to provide. 
 
 The connection of the Merchants Club with the 
 station has been a source of honorable pride to its 
 members. The connection of Graeme Stewart, its 
 spokesman in this matter, was this and more: it 
 was dramatic at the beginning in his presentation 
 of the site: it was more than dramatic, it was 
 tragic at its close. The same day that the Execu- 
 tive Committee met to arrange that the Club 
 might be present at the laying of the corner stone 
 
 [132]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 of the first important building, it had also to 
 appoint a meeting place that the Club in a body 
 might attend the funeral of Graeme Stewart. 
 Whether his early death was hastened by intensive 
 work for this enterprise we know not. It may have 
 been. The Club honors and holds him in affec- 
 tionate regard for his wise judgment, energy, 
 persistence and devotion, and for his friendly co- 
 operation in all its affairs. 
 
 This account is offered by an outsider, never a 
 member of the Merchants Club, but always an 
 admirer of Graeme Stewart, the man, its rep- 
 resentative in this transaction. 
 
 [133]
 
 LAKE BLUFF NAVAL TRAINING STATION 
 COMMITTEES 
 
 From the Merchants Club Graeme Stewart, Chairman. 
 Frederic W. Upham, Harold F. McCormick, John R. Morron, 
 Alfred L. Baker. 
 
 From the Commercial Club J. Harley Bradley, William L. 
 Brown, James H. Eckels, Louis F. Swift, Charles H. Wacker. 
 
 Total number of men trained about 200,000.
 
 MAIN ENTRANCE GATE, U. S. NAVAL TRAINING STATION 
 GREAT LAKES
 
 THE GREAT LAKES NAVAL 
 TRAINING STATION 
 
 FROM THE POINT OP VIEW OF THE 
 ENLISTED MAN 
 
 IT is rather difficult to give a composite opinion 
 of the Great Lakes Naval Training from the 
 viewpoint of the enlisted men who trained there, 
 for viewpoints differ. What would be a hardship 
 to one might seem quite different to another. 
 Orders and discipline thought autocratic and 
 needlessly severe by one might be only a matter of 
 course to his neighbor. When the sailor had been 
 transferred to other training stations, however, or 
 to sea duty, where he came in contact with less 
 fortunate sailors or soldiers, a Great Lakes man 
 could realize the efficiency of this training station 
 and how well he had been cared for there. 
 
 The quarters were well constructed, adequately 
 heated and ventilated. Cleanliness and neatness 
 being the first commandments in the Navy, every- 
 thing was always spotless. Usually thirty to 
 forty men were quartered in one barracks. When- 
 ever possible, the rules and regulations aboard 
 ships were followed out. The men slept in ham- 
 mocks, stood watches, and even carried on con- 
 versations in the manner of seasoned salts. 
 
 The first weeks at the station is called the de- 
 tention period, and a disheartening one it is. 
 
 [135]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 During this time the men are under strict quaran- 
 tine, and are closely observed daily for any indica- 
 tion of disease or physical defect. During this 
 time, too, they are inoculated against typhoid, 
 smallpox, etc. Psychopathic tests also are given to 
 eliminate the mentally defective. And during this 
 time the new man comes in contact with other 
 newly enlisted men only, he can go nowhere, he 
 can see no friends. The gates are closed, he is 
 surrounded by armed guards, he feels as if in 
 prison a discouraging experience it must be 
 admitted for the beginner. While in detention 
 camp he has his meals in the detention barracks, 
 after that in the general mess room, where he is 
 served by a detail from some company, which 
 detail is rotated week by week. 
 
 The Station is divided into camps, each one 
 devoted to some particular purpose. After the 
 detention period is over the men are transferred 
 to those different camps, depending upon their 
 ratings and the training to be given them. The 
 period of training varied from a few weeks of in- 
 tensive training for the ordinary seamen, to six 
 or eight months for wireless operators, aviators 
 and other specialized branches of the service. 
 
 The day usually consisted of so many hours of 
 drilling, say four to six for seamen, less for aviators, 
 two hours for radio operators. There were certain 
 hours of study, and ample time for recreation. 
 The routine compared favorably with that of an 
 ordinary military school. The trades were almost 
 
 [136]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 as numerous as those of civilian life. Hospital 
 apprentices, seamen, firemen, engineers, electri- 
 cians, carpenters, clerks, bookkeepers, aviators, 
 were just a few of them. 
 
 The marines are soldiers of the Navy, with duty 
 mostly at naval bases and on land as guards, and 
 have no sailor duties. Yeomen are the accountants 
 and do other clerical work. 
 
 The rated man is one with his first promotion, 
 which really means a certificate of attention and 
 progress in his training. His next advancement 
 would be to Petty Officer, then Chief Petty Officer 
 C. P. O., he is styled then warrant officer, and 
 after that comes Ensign, who is the least of the 
 commissioned officers. The Naval Lieutenant 
 ranks with the Army Captain, the Captain with the 
 Army Colonel or Brigadier. 
 
 With proficiency, an enlisted man may become 
 a P. O. or a warrant officer; from that he would be 
 promoted to Annapolis, where he could graduate 
 to a commission. 
 
 All men are given some military training in 
 squad formation, in marching, in the manual of 
 arms, and there is a special service of Armed 
 Guards, men to be placed on merchant ships. 
 
 For recreation there were singing, theatricals, 
 baseball, football, boxing, and all of the ordinary 
 school sports. Each camp usually was represented 
 by a picked team in the various competitive sports, 
 and the rivalry was often as keen as that between 
 college teams. The sports were under super- 
 
 [137]
 
 vision of petty officers detailed for that purpose. 
 Each camp had a sick bay or dispensary where 
 the sailor would go to obtain simple medical 
 treatment. Any case more serious was sent to the 
 main hospital, where the patient would receive the 
 same treatment afforded by the best equipped 
 institutions in civil life. During the influenza 
 epidemic, however, the hospitals were crowded, 
 and it was impossible to give treatment or the 
 necessary care to the thousands suddenly stricken. 
 
 The Great Lakes sailor was dubbed a dry land 
 sailor by the seasoned salt of the navy. While this 
 was true in one sense of the word, yet it was possi- 
 ble to turn out a very satisfactory sailor from this 
 land ship. The first few weeks' training was the same 
 on land or sea, and by observing sea routine and 
 customs it was possible to accomplish results as sat- 
 isfactory as those obtained on the ships of the fleet. 
 
 The sailor in training is usually allowed twelve 
 hours a week of liberty, from Saturday noon until 
 midnight, or the same period of time on Sunday. 
 Shore leave, it was called. Before this each man of 
 us was inspected, and if not found in perfect order, 
 both in person and in uniform, was sent back and 
 forfeited shore leave. Mostly we went to Chicago 
 when on leave. We would go out on the road, and 
 when a motor car was passing, hold up our hands, 
 and almost invariably the owner would stop and 
 take us to town. There there were many places we 
 could go many private houses were open to us. 
 In one such, where I was privileged to enter, a 
 
 [138]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 charming home of a cultivated family, its mistress 
 would take six or more Great Lakes men every 
 Sunday to dinner, getting as many different men 
 on succeeding Sundays as possible, but any worthy 
 man who had been there once was welcome to 
 come again. Often there would be twelve or more 
 there during the afternoon. After dinner we would 
 sit in her library, around her cheerful fire, some on 
 chairs, some on the floor, and talk and read. One 
 by one we would pour our troubles into her patient, 
 sympathetic ears and get her good advice. And 
 there we would cook supper for the family and 
 ourselves, wash the dishes and put the kitchen to 
 rights again. We hated this work at the Great 
 Lakes : we loved it in this cultivated home. And at 
 the end of the evening this lady would send us in her 
 automobile to the station just in time to catch 
 the last train, that we might not be tempted to 
 stop at some wayside inn on the way back to duty. 
 
 During the week there was always something to 
 do or see in leisure time. The Y. M. C. A., Knights 
 of Columbus, and A. L. A. (American Library 
 Association) huts were usually crowded with men 
 reading, writing or listening to some form of 
 entertainment. 
 
 Perhaps the most difficult task was that of 
 supplying food for such a large body of men, and 
 complaints were naturally quite frequent on this 
 subject. Everything being cooked in such quan- 
 tities, it was not possible to make things exactly 
 appetizing. After detention was over the men ate 
 
 [139]
 
 in large mess halls supplied from a central kitchen, 
 and the various companies of men took turns as 
 kitchen help, waiters, etc. We liked the brown 
 bread that our friends on the outside were con- 
 demned to eat while we perforce must eat the 
 better white bread, and we were glad those out- 
 side friends couldn't give us beans. Within the 
 gates we had too many beans. 
 
 The men could not well read or write in their 
 barracks there were no tables or chairs. The 
 A. L. A. was almost a club, where were books and 
 papers and men could meet to talk and read. 
 The Y. M. C. A. and Knights of Columbus 
 furnished writing materials and facilities. But the 
 Y. W. C. A. was best of all, for they established 
 two hostess* houses at Great Lakes where men 
 could read and write and talk and meet their 
 friends, and that without fee. They could have 
 luncheon, too, if they had the price. There were 
 several bedrooms where relatives of sick men could 
 be cared for if the men were sick enough. Wednes- 
 days and Saturdays and Sundays were visiting 
 days, and civilian friends could go to a hostess' 
 house and call us to go there to receive their visits. 
 
 Petty offenders were sent to "brig" and had a 
 red star sewed upon their uniforms as a designa- 
 tion, and men who were often in brig were after- 
 wards given the most menial tasks about the 
 station. 
 
 Men have to be doing something to be happy. 
 When they were put to work at the station they 
 
 [140]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 wore white uniforms so their officers might know 
 if they were shirking. With so many men and so 
 little to be done, officers found difficulty in pro- 
 viding the work, and so would have materials 
 moved from one place to another today, and back 
 tomorrow. Naturally men didn't want to work, 
 and so sometimes one would keep his blue uniform 
 under the white, and if favorable opportunity 
 offered would strip off the white, roll it into a 
 small bundle and stroll around watching other 
 men, as they were permitted to do when not on 
 duty. Shoveling coal was the hardest and dirtiest 
 work. When detailed we were led to our tasks by 
 a chief petty officer. Once when on my way to 
 coal service we passed carpenters at work. I slipped 
 out of line, got among the carpenters and was 
 busily sawing by the time the next P. O. came by 
 at the head of his squad, and thus avoided coal 
 shoveling that day. 
 
 Sleeping in hammocks was about the hardest 
 thing to get used to. They were slung about five 
 feet from the floor. There was no way to get in one 
 but to climb the pole at its head or foot, the floor 
 was hard, the hammock was treacherous and 
 wouldn't stay put, and often would turn over, 
 spill the bedding out and drop the man, to the 
 detriment of his bones and the bruising of his 
 body. Many a man got a broken arm this way. 
 And after the night if one didn't get out promptly 
 in the morning along came the guard, shook the 
 hammock vigorously and spilled the occupant. 
 
 [141]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 An honest opinion of the treatment by the 
 officers is rather hard to give from the viewpoint 
 of the enlisted man. Requiring a great many 
 officers in a very short time, unfortunately some 
 unqualified men were chosen. While these were a 
 small minority of the whole, yet one poor officer 
 made more of an impression upon the men than a 
 dozen good ones. It quite naturally was the custom 
 to blame every hardship on the kaiser, and he 
 failing, the more material officer came next in line 
 of condemnation. 
 
 A true appreciation of the Great Lakes as a 
 training station was not possible until after a man 
 was transferred to sea or other training stations. 
 For the first time the complaining sailor then real- 
 ized that at the Great Lakes he was well com- 
 manded by competent officers who were as con- 
 siderate of him as they could be under the cir- 
 cumstances, that he was well trained and well 
 cared for. There would be few ex-Great Lakes 
 men who would not say one was properly trained 
 and equipped at Great Lakes for whatever service 
 he was called upon to perform in the war. It was 
 an experience that no one could regret and that, 
 in most instances, better equipped the man for 
 civilian duties when his service was over. Most 
 of us look back with pleasure to the life and train- 
 ing at Great Lakes. 
 
 A RATED MAN IN RADIO SERVICE 
 
 142]
 
 
 RADIO SCHOOL, U. S. N. TRAINING STATION 
 GREAT LAKES
 
 NOTES FROM NON-RESIDENTS 
 
 And we'll tak' a cup 6 > kindness yet 
 For auld lang syne
 
 Section 7, of Article I., of the By-laws of the Mer- 
 chants Club provided that "Any active or associate 
 member who has changed his residence from Chicago 
 . . . may become a non-resident member .... 
 
 Perhaps one lauds more loudly the persons and 
 things of far away and long ago than those of 
 today. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder." 
 At any rate, the Committee on History felt 
 impelled to go from home in search of personal 
 reminiscences of the Merchants Club and asked 
 its chairman to get some expressions from non- 
 resident members. The appended letters from a 
 few of them, from their widely scattered domiciles, 
 show the pride they had in the Club, their joy in 
 doing its service, and the loving memories they 
 still hold for their old associates. 
 
 Extracts. 
 
 "I have a mandate from the Commercial Club to 
 prepare a history of the Merchants Club, 1897-1907 
 ... I come to you for aid . . . Pray write me what 
 impressed you most in connection with the Club when 
 you were living in Chicago."
 
 RICHARD M. BISSELL 
 Hartford 
 
 CHARLES D. NORTON 
 New York
 
 FROM RICHARD M. BISSELL, PRESIDENT HARTFORD 
 
 FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY, TO CHARLES D. 
 
 NORTON, 2 WALL STREET, NEW YORK 
 
 August 18, 1921. 
 My Dear Charles: 
 
 I agree as to what you say about the Merchants Club. 
 It was a splendid institution, made splendid by the 
 devotion and somewhat youthful enthusiasm of its 
 members, and it was unique in that its constitution 
 contained an automatic provision for constantly re- 
 newing the youthfulness of its members. . . The 
 contagious spirit of self-sacrifice and enthusiasm for 
 the public good not only was extremely useful to the 
 city of Chicago, but did wonders for the members of the 
 Club. 
 
 I shall never forget the eagerness, the earnestness 
 and satisfaction with which we worked over the State 
 Fawners' Society, the problem of making the public 
 schools more useful, the public parks and playgrounds, 
 the Chicago Plan, and various other activities . Active 
 membership in the Merchants Club certainly con- 
 stituted a liberal education. 
 
 You may recall another thing we did, namely to 
 entirely revamp the accounting system of the city, and 
 actually to make money for Chicago by so doing. The 
 first meeting at which I presided as President was one 
 to which the entire City Council was invited, and 
 Haskins & Sells, public accountants, made a report on 
 the city's accounting methods and the condition of 
 its affairs (after the long investigation which they had 
 made at the charges of the Merchants Club). The 
 meeting was to convince the city fathers that an entire 
 
 [145]
 
 new system should be introduced, and that it would 
 be highly profitable to the city to introduce it. After 
 forcibly presenting the conditions which existed and 
 the proposed remedies, the meeting closed with a 
 rattling and very able appeal to the members of the 
 Council by Edgar Bancroft, who spoke extemporan- 
 eously. When our suggestions were adopted, the 
 accountants succeeded in bringing to light and col- 
 lecting enough money from back taxes, which the 
 city had abandoned as hopeless, to more than pay 
 for the investigations and for the adoption of the new 
 accounting system, and leave a substantial balance 
 of income for the city in addition. Furthermore, 
 very valuable savings, better collections of taxes, 
 and stoppage of leaks all around resulted. A by- 
 product was that Walter Wilson was appointed City 
 Comptroller, . . . 
 
 The platform on which the Club started was rather 
 prosaic and materialistic perhaps, but the Club grew 
 in ideas and ideals as it worked, and the ultimate re- 
 sult of its existence as reflected in the changed point of 
 view and lives of some of its members can never be 
 accurately appraised. I think back upon the earnest 
 meetings we had when we were getting up the Fawners' 
 Society, and at my own chagrin because I could not 
 become a director in it, having been appointed on a 
 committee to prepare the constitution and by-laws 
 and to select the board of directors; and then when 
 I think about the days that I spent making a survey 
 of the housing conditions in the congested districts 
 of the city, in order to prepare the paper delivered 
 at the meeting which Jacob Riis addressed, and also 
 the work which led up to the appointment of the Edu- 
 cational Committee, including the fine meeting where 
 we had President Harper of the Chicago University 
 address us, surprising the Club and especially Presi- 
 
 [146]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 dent Harper by the singing of a splendid chorus from 
 one of the schools where we had been working, I 
 cannot help wishing that some sufficient record may 
 be preserved. 
 
 The city planning scheme was largely carried into 
 effect after I left Chicago. 
 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 RICHARD M. BISSELL 
 
 [147]
 
 From Connecticut to California Across the Continent.
 
 WILLIAM KENT 
 
 Kentfield
 
 WILLIAM KENT'S CHEERFUL YESTERDAYS OF THE 
 
 MERCHANTS CLUB AND CONFIDENT 
 
 TOMORROWS 
 
 Kentfield, Marin Co., California, 
 January 19, 1922. 
 My Dear Mr. Glessner: 
 
 I remember the Merchants Club with peculiar affec- 
 tion. I do not believe there was ever an organization 
 of equal size made up of equally efficient and public- 
 spirited men. 
 
 As I look back at it, we all felt like putting in the best 
 we had for the benefit of Chicago; and our relation- 
 ships, based on mutual respect and unusual intimacy, 
 represented one of the highest phases of living. 
 
 I recall with pride the work which led to the Fawners 
 Association to the cleaning up of the city bookkeeping 
 to the use of the schools for neighborhood centers 
 and one of the perennial and abortive attempts to 
 clean up the Chicago police force. There comes to my 
 mind the closed meetings, so filled up with delight- 
 ful personalities the give and take of good-natured 
 raillery especially the occasions that marked the 
 majority of John G. Shedd, and the meeting given to 
 "hobbies." 
 
 It was a great and lasting benefit to Chicago that 
 such a company of men should associate together to meet 
 Chicago's problems, and I know the education that 
 came from the associations. 
 
 The members were young enough not to be petrified 
 into the self-satisfaction of successful old age, nor 
 made cynical and bitter by reversals of fortune. It 
 was a body that was inherently optimistic that felt 
 
 [149]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 a corporate spirit opposed to the loathsome query: 
 "What's the use?" 
 
 I cannot but believe that the spirit engendered has 
 persisted in the lives of the members and in an attitude 
 toward society that has kept up courage and usefulness 
 in the endeavor to better things in this good, though 
 not "best of all possible worlds." 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 WILLIAM KENT 
 
 150]
 
 FREDERIC A. DELANO 
 
 Washington
 
 FROM FREDERIC A. DELANO, REGARDING SOME OF 
 
 THE ACTIVITIES OF THE MERCHANTS 
 
 CLUB TWENTY YEARS AGO 
 
 At Washington, February 7th, 1922. 
 My Dear Mr. Glessner: 
 
 I duly received your courteous letter of January 
 25th, and I note that you are preparing a History of 
 the Merchants Club for the ten-year period from '97 
 to 1907. I do not know that I can add anything to 
 what has been said by others, particularly on the 
 subject of the "Chicago Plan" work, in which I was 
 interested, for Mr. Norton has sent me a draft of his 
 letter, which agrees with my recollection and seems 
 to cover the case pretty fully. 
 
 My recollection is that I was taken into the Mer- 
 chants Club about Christmas time, 1902, during the 
 administration of Alexander McCormick. Early in the 
 administration of Walter Wilson he sent out a circular 
 letter asking for suggestions of topics for consideration. 
 Having, previous to that time, given a good deal of 
 thought to the matter of coordinating the railway 
 terminals of the City, the more I studied the subject 
 the more I realized that it had a bearing on the whole 
 question of City Planning. I talked to Norton about it 
 and found that he, too, had been interested in City 
 Planning on account of his relations with Mr. St. Gaudens 
 and Mr. McKim, at that time both members of the 
 Washington Commission of 1901 . It then happened that 
 in the Fall of 1903, I should say, he and I went to 
 Walter Wilson's office and suggested that a good topic 
 for discussion and consideration would be the plan of 
 Chicago, or at least the railway terminal question, 
 
 [151]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 in relation to the City. It may be a fact that I gained 
 inspiration from Mr. Burnham's discussion of his 
 "Lake Front Park Project," during the Winter of 
 1902 or '03. 
 
 Be that as it may, Mr. Wilson, who was that year the 
 President of the Club, decided and told Norton and 
 me that he was afraid the subject was too big a one to 
 tackle and that the time was not quite opportune, so 
 he recommended deferring the topic. Nothing more 
 was done about it that Fall and Winter; but my 
 interest in the subject continued and I decided on my 
 "own hook" to prepare a brochure on the subject of 
 "The Railway Terminals and their relation to the 
 City of Chicago." I did this during the Spring and 
 Summer of 1904 and the book, which was printed and 
 published in September, 1904, was sent to every mem- 
 ber of the Merchants and Commercial Clubs. That 
 book contained plans and sketches prepared in Mr. 
 Burnham's office, with the assistance of his staff, on 
 which I indicated the proposed location of the terminals 
 on a widened 12th street, with certain new diagonals 
 connecting with 12th street at Canal street. That 
 same year, Alfred Baker was elected President, Norton 
 Secretary, and I appointed a member of one of the 
 Club's committees. The subject of City Planning in 
 general and in connection with railway terminals was 
 again taken up, and Mr. Baker and the Board deter- 
 mined to present it if we could get Mr. Burnham to 
 take hold. It was during that Summer that Norton 
 and I called upon Mr. Burnham . . . and as to the 
 rest of the story it has been well and graphically de- 
 scribed by Norton. 
 
 I agree with Norton that subsequent events have 
 proved that it would have been better for the Mer- 
 chants Club and for Chicago if the Merchants Club 
 and the Commercial Club had not been merged. 
 
 [152]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 There was room for a young men's organization, 
 an organization of men who still had their "spurs to 
 win, " and although I was one of the men honored by 
 election on the Commercial Club, as I look back at 
 it I agree that it would have been better for men so 
 elected and accepting that election, to retire from 
 active membership in the Merchants Club. Indeed, 
 even now might it not be better to revive the Mer- 
 chants Club, keeping it as a Club of men, say, not over 
 forty-five but who are doing things? Many mem- 
 bers have demonstrated that magnificent work can 
 be done by men who are well beyond fifty; and I hope 
 I may also be so fortunate. But younger men work in 
 a different way, and they can work better if they are 
 in a group by themselves and not hampered by the 
 more conservative but effective methods of their elders. 
 Thanking you sincerely for this opportunity and 
 wishing you and the Club every success, I am 
 
 Very cordially yours, 
 
 FREDERIC A. DELANO 
 
 [153]
 
 From Washington to London Across the Waters.
 
 As THE CARTOONIST OF THE MANCHESTER GUARDIAN PORTRAYS 
 
 AN AMERICAN MERCHANT TRANSPORTED TO THE 
 
 BRITISH METROPOLIS
 
 H. GORDON SELFRIDGE SENDS A MESSAGE OF 
 GOOD WILL FROM OVER SEAS 
 
 London, W.I., 25th January, 1922. 
 My Dear Mr. Glessner: 
 
 I have your letter of January 10th, and its query 
 sends my mind back to 16 or 18 years ago when the 
 Merchants Club was trying to do its share in giving 
 to Chicago some of those things which the city appeared 
 to need. And especially does it take me back to the 
 year in which I was President of that virile Club, 
 made up of 50 or 60 of the younger business men of 
 Chicago. 
 
 The chief effort made by the Club's committee dur- 
 ing the year of my presidency was directed toward the 
 establishment of a Municipal Pawnshop which should 
 assist the needy people of Chicago over an occasional 
 bump in the road at a reasonable cost to the borrower. 
 
 At that time pawnbrokers were getting anything 
 from 10 percent a month upwards, and when our pro- 
 posal was launched, we discovered at once a great 
 opposition on the part of these pawnbrokers, and 
 furthermore we learned that in Illinois a company was 
 not permitted to loan money except after having been 
 given such authority by the Legislature. To obtain this 
 privilege was difficult because of the strength of the 
 pawnbrokers in Springfield, but every member of the 
 Merchants Club during that interesting session used 
 his efforts, and so strong was the demand, that the 
 majority favoured our bill and it only waited the 
 Governor's signature. 
 
 Governor Tanner, who occupied the executive chair 
 at that moment, appeared disinclined to sign the bill, 
 
 [155]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 but the Club had in one of its members, our dear old 
 friend Graeme Stewart, a man who knew the political 
 game about as well, and much more agreeably than did 
 Governor Tanner. 
 
 Tanner, waiting to be approached or urged, or what 
 not, refrained from adding his signature, until finally 
 Graeme Stewart and I went to Springfield, and after 
 the usual amount of unpleasant, but apparently neces- 
 sary coaxing and urging and I was going to say 
 threatening Governor Tanner at last put his name 
 to the paper, and it became an act in fact. 
 
 The next effort was to raise sufficient capital to 
 start with, and this was done without much difficulty, 
 and an able committee, under Mr. John V. Farwell 
 as Chairman or President, took over the affairs of the 
 Society which, up to the time that I left Chicago, was 
 in a very prosperous condition, and I have no doubt it 
 is still so, although I am not informed as to its present 
 position. 
 
 This Society, under careful management, must 
 eventually become a very large affair, because the act 
 under which it is established limits the dividends to 
 6 per cent per annum, and the charges which it is per- 
 mitted to make are, as I remember, 1 per cent per 
 month for the loan of money, and ^ per cent per month 
 for insurance. 
 
 The Municipal Pawnshop, or First State Pawners 
 Society as I remember the name is now, stands, there- 
 fore, to the credit of the Merchants Club and its earnest 
 members and workers of, perhaps, 20 years ago. 
 
 Another interesting evening was given to the dis- 
 cussion of whether or not the City should have an 
 Exposition Building the old building on the Lake 
 front having become entirely out of date. 
 
 A dozen or twenty gentlemen had been asked to 
 express their opinions, and each had been requested 
 
 [156]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 to limit his remarks to five minutes. We had, at the 
 Speaker's table, a clock electrically prepared so that 
 at the end of five minutes the alarm would go off and 
 interrupt the speaker. It was an interesting occasion, 
 and while the Club favoured the Exhibition as a whole, 
 it was found, on trying to work it out, to be hardly a 
 workable proposition. 
 
 I remember well the very important place which these 
 younger men took in Chicago civic affairs as well as 
 in commercial matters in those days. 
 
 The young men not only were keen business men 
 who had brought themselves up in that commerical 
 school in which experience is the chief teacher, but 
 they were as well tremendous workers, and the fact 
 that they were so willing to work, and always do their 
 share, gave them prominent positions in the great 
 community. 
 
 One thing which this did, which is not often done, 
 was that it united these men in bonds of friendship 
 that time does not weaken, and which will last as long 
 as the men themselves continue to live. The delightful 
 feeling of camaraderie which did prevail, and I hope 
 still prevails among the progressive, active workers of 
 Chicago's great business community, is, I believe, 
 unique, and even I, who have been absent from that 
 city .for about 16 years, find myself each year planning 
 to go back to see those dear old friends. My trip is only 
 given to the joy of embracing them, talking with them 
 for a little while, and bidding them good-bye for another 
 twelve months. 
 
 I am afraid, dear Mr. Glessner, that my letter in 
 response to yours is not of much importance, but such 
 as it is please receive it with my best wishes. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 H. GORDON SELFRIDGE 
 
 [157]
 
 From the old world metropolis to the new Hands across the Sea.
 
 EDWARD D. KENNA 
 
 New York
 
 MR. E. D. KENNA'S WORDS OF APPRECIATION 
 FOR THE MERCHANTS CLUB 
 
 New York, January 27, 1922. 
 Dear Mr. Glessner: 
 
 That which interested me most at the time of my 
 association with members of the Merchants Club, and 
 which remains as a delightful recollection, was the 
 unusual quality of the loyalty of the members to the 
 Club. They were not satisfied with doing what they 
 could for the Club, individually, but sought to strength- 
 en their collective efforts by, in every possible way, in- 
 creasing the influence and power of every member. This 
 solidarity was doubtless due in part to the fact that we 
 were all pretty much of the same age, and in sympathy 
 with each other's aims and ambitions, but chiefly, 
 I shall always believe, it was because my associates 
 were unusual men for any age or place. 
 
 With regards, I am 
 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 E. D. KENNA 
 
 [159
 
 From Wall Street to the Lumber District.
 
 NELSON P. BIGELOW 
 
 Bigelow, Arkansas
 
 NELSON P. BIGELOW'S RECOLLECTIONS 
 "WHEN WE WERE LADS THEGITHER" 
 
 January 17th, 1922. 
 Dear Mr. Glessner: 
 
 In these days the word mandate carries great weight 
 and I bow to yours, as you do to the Commercial 
 Club's. 
 
 Why may I not follow the Tribune's illustrious 
 column "In the Wake of the News" and say, Help! 
 Help! 
 
 Do you remember way back in the good old days 
 when John Farwell was the first presiding officer of the 
 Merchants Club? When $1.50 was the assessment 
 for a fine beefsteak dinner at the Grand Pacific, and 
 when the Club's treasury was almost put out of busi- 
 ness by an item in the expense account of one of the 
 illustrious and handsomely tailored speakers from 
 Philadelphia, 
 
 To pressing Trousers, $10.00 
 
 Do you remember way back when Alfred Baker was 
 President, i.e., after he was a lawyer but before he 
 gave up riding to the hounds? When Walter Wilson's 
 voice was still a rumbling basso? When he was for 
 three years the Club's first really efficient Secretary? 
 
 Do you remember way back when Billy Kent and 
 Alex McCormick were, in effect if not in fact, the 
 Village Cut Ups? or at least when the presiding officer 
 was in mortal terror of them? Can you not remember 
 this without special effort? or Mr. John Shedd's twenty- 
 first birthday dinner at which young Alex McCormick 
 learned for the first time how dry he was? 
 
 [161]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 Way back when America produced the greatest 
 Swedish orator and raconteur in Edgar Bancroft? 
 
 Do you remember way back when each year you 
 were given the opportunity of taking more stock in 
 the thriving First State Fawners Society? Do you 
 remember all the weary annual meetings when the 
 President read to you the report of the Society's 
 financial growth and the results of its auction sales? 
 
 These questions, dear Mr. Glessner, when answered 
 truthfully in the affirmative, will identify the pioneer 
 men of the Merchants Club, and they indicate a few of 
 the high spots in tlie early history of the Club that 
 created a lasting impression upon one of its least de- 
 serving members. 
 
 Faithfully yours, 
 
 N. P. BIGELOW 
 
 [162]
 
 JAMES GAMBLE ROGERS 
 
 New York
 
 FROM JAMES GAMBLE ROGERS 
 THE WILL TO DO 
 
 New York City, March 8, 1922. 
 My Dear Mr. Glessner: 
 
 I think I can answer your question by repeating 
 what I have often said to others; namely, that the 
 best club I ever belonged to was the Merchants Club 
 of Chicago, because of the quality of the membership 
 and attitude of accomplishing, without any talk of 
 up-lift or duty, many good works that were of great 
 benefit to the community. 
 
 It was more their attitude of doing all the good work 
 they could without any boasting, merely because it 
 was something the city needed and they wanted to 
 help in bringing it about. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 JAS. GAMBLE ROGERS 
 
 [163]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 FROM JOHN F. HARRIS, 15 WALL STREET, 
 NEW YORK 
 
 Off Palm Beach, Florida. 
 
 March 29, 1922. 
 Dear Mr. Glessner: 
 
 Your letter about the Merchants Club reaches me 
 here . . . Shortly after my election as a member, 
 my residence was changed from Chicago to New York. 
 ... I have always been impressed with the earnest- 
 ness of those who spoke at the meetings, the attention 
 that the members gave, the willingness to do real work; 
 and in consequence I have always felt that the Club 
 was a factor for good in Chicago life. 
 
 It is a great privilege and honor to be numbered 
 among its members, and I regret exceedingly that my 
 absence from Chicago precludes my participation in 
 a more regular way. Very sincerely yours, 
 
 JOHN F. HARRIS 
 
 FROM CHARLES H. HODGES, DETROIT 
 
 April 10, 1922. 
 My Dear Mr. Glessner: 
 
 Replying to the letter in which you asked for an 
 expression of what particularly impressed me in con- 
 nection with the Merchants Club during my sojourn 
 in Chicago: I think this was, first, the public spirit 
 displayed by the members of the Club; and, second, 
 this spirit specifically translated into the work of 
 starting the night schools of Chicago. Mr. Granger 
 Farwell, as I recall it, was chairman of the committee 
 and I believe very generously contributed to the fund 
 necessary to carry on this work. I am, 
 
 Very sincerely yours, 
 
 C. H. HODGES 
 
 [164]
 
 JOHN F. HARRIS 
 New York 
 
 CHARLES H. HODGES 
 Detroit 
 
 CHARLES R. CRANE 
 Citizen of the World 
 
 JOHN R. MORRON 
 New York 
 
 FRANK B. NOTES 
 Washington
 
 MEMBERSHIP
 
 AT the time of the union of the Merchants 
 xV with the Commercial Club, in February, 
 1907, the former had 88 members, of whom 58 
 were on the Active list, 26 were Associates, and 
 4 Non-resident. Their names, business connections 
 and the year of admission to the Club member- 
 ship, are listed in the following pages.
 
 Active Members 
 1899 Arthur T. Aldis, 
 
 Aldis & Co., Real Estate 
 
 1899 Frank H. Armstrong, 
 
 Secretary, Reid, Murdoch & Company, Grocers 
 
 1899 Alfred L. Baker, 
 
 Alfred L. Baker & Company, Stocks, Bonds and Grains 
 
 1898 Edgar A. Bancroft, 
 
 Scott, Bancroft, Martin & Stephens, Lawyers 
 
 1896 Nelson P. Bigelow, 
 
 President, Bigelow Brothers & Walker Co., Lumber 
 
 1899 W. Vernon Booth, 
 
 1315 Monadnock Building, A. Booth & Co., Fish 
 
 1902 Eugene J. Buffington, 
 
 President, Illinois Steel Co. 
 
 1896 Benjamin Carpenter, 
 
 George B. Carpenter & Co., Ship Chandlers 
 
 1906 Clyde M. Carr, 
 
 Vice-President, Joseph T. Ryerson & Son, Iron and Steel 
 
 1904 Edward F. Carry, 
 
 Vice-President & General Manager, Am. Car & Foundry Co. 
 
 1901 William E. Clow, 
 
 President, James B. Clow & Sons, Plumbers' Supplies 
 
 1896 Charles R. Corwith, 
 
 Real Estate 
 
 1899 Alfred Cowles, 
 
 President, Rial to Co., Capitalist 
 
 1899 Rensselaer W. Cox, 
 
 President, Pioneer Cooperage Co. 
 
 1902 Charles R. Crane, 
 
 First Vice-President, Crane Co. 
 
 [167]
 
 1902 Charles G. Dawes, 
 
 President, Central Trust Company of Illinois 
 
 1902 Frederic A. Delano, 
 
 President, Wabash R. R. Co. 
 
 1902 Thomas E. Donnelley, 
 
 President, R. R. Donnelley & Sons Co., Printers 
 
 1897 Albert J. Earling, 
 
 President, C. M. & St. P. Railway 
 
 1898 Bernard A. Eckhart, 
 
 President, B. A. Eckhart Milling Co. 
 
 1902 Francis C. Farwell, 
 
 Secretary, John V. Farwell & Co., Dry Goods 
 
 1900 Granger Farwell, 
 
 President, Farwell Trust Co. 
 
 1899 Louis A. Ferguson, 
 
 Vice-President, Commonwealth Edison Co. . 
 
 1896 Edwin G. Foreman, 
 
 President, Foreman Brothers Banking Co. 
 
 1902 David R. Forgan, 
 
 President, National City Bank of Chicago 
 
 1896 Frederick Greeley, 
 
 Treasurer, Greeley-Howard Co., Surveyors 
 
 1902 John F. Harris, 
 
 Harris, Winthrop & Co., New York, Stocks, Bonds, etc. 
 
 1897 Samuel Insull, 
 
 President, Commonwealth Edison Co. 
 
 1902 Edward D. Kenna, 
 
 New York, Capitalist 
 
 1896 William Kent, 
 
 Capitalist, Kentfield, Calif. 
 
 1897 Hugh J. McBirney, 
 
 Manager, National Lead Co. 
 
 1898 Harold F. McCormick, 
 
 President, International Harvester Co. 
 
 1904 Medill McCormick, 
 
 Vice-President, The Chicago Tribune 
 
 [168]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 1899 Hiram R. McCullough, 
 
 Vice-President, C. & N. W. Ry. 
 
 1901 Clayton Mark, 
 
 Vice-President, National Malleable Castings Co. 
 
 1896 Arthur Meeker, 
 
 Director and General Manager, Armour & Co., Packers 
 
 1899 John R. Morron, 
 
 President, Peter Cooper's Glue Factory 
 
 1906 Mark Morton, 
 
 President, Western Cold Storage Co. 
 
 1902 Charles D. Norton, 
 
 Washington, D. C., Secretary to President Taft 
 
 1902 Frank B. Noyes, 
 
 Editor & Publisher, Chicago Record-Herald 
 
 1904 Joseph E. Otis, 
 
 President, Western Trust & Savings Bank 
 
 1901 Allen B. Pond, 
 
 Pond & Pond, Architects 
 
 1896 Alexander H. Revell, 
 
 President, Alexander H. Revell & Co., Furnishings 
 
 1903 Theodore W. Robinson, 
 
 First Vice-President, Illinois Steel Co. 
 
 1905 John W. Scott, 
 
 Carson, Pirie, Scott & Co., Dry Goods 
 
 1896 Louis A. Seeberger, 
 
 Louis A. Seeberger & Co., Real Estate 
 
 1904 Walter B. Smith, 
 
 John H. Wrenn & Co., Bankers and Brokers 
 
 1903 Albert A. Sprague II, 
 
 Sprague, Warner & Co., Grocers 
 
 1906 Homer A. Stillwell, 
 
 Vice-President, Butler Brothers, General Merchandise 
 
 1900 Bernard E. Sunny, 
 
 President, Chicago Telephone Company 
 
 1906 Edward F. Swift, 
 
 Vice-President, Swift & Company, Packers 
 
 [169]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 1902 Charles H. Thorne, 
 
 Treasurer, Montgomery Ward & Co., General Merchandise 
 
 1897 Emerson B. Tuttle, 
 
 Real Estate 
 
 1899 Frederic W. Upham, 
 
 President, City Fuel Co. 
 
 1897 Charles H. Wacker, 
 
 Real Estate 
 
 1896 Walter H. Wilson, 
 
 Walter H. Wilson & Co., Real Estate 
 
 1904 Arthur D. Wheeler, 
 
 Holt, Wheeler & Sidley, Lawyers 
 
 1905 John E. Wilder, 
 
 Wilder & Co., Leather 
 
 [170]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 Associate Members 
 1896 Charles L. Bartlett, 
 
 President, Orangeine Chemical Co. 
 
 1898 Joseph T. Bowen, 
 
 Vice-President, Metropolitan Surety Co. 
 
 1896 Clarence Buckingham, 
 
 John H. Wrenn & Co., Bankers and Brokers 
 
 1896 Edward B. Butler, 
 
 President, Butler Brothers, General Merchandise 
 
 1897 Leslie Carter, 
 
 Chairman, South Side Elevated Ry. Co. 
 
 1901 Charles H. Conover, 
 
 Vice-President, Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co., Hardware 
 
 1904 J. J. Dau, 
 
 Vice-President, Reid, Murdoch & Co., Grocers 
 
 1898 James H. Eckels, 
 
 President, Commercial National Bank 
 
 1896 John V. Farwell, 
 
 President, John V. Farwell Co., Dry Goods 
 
 1904 James T. Harahan, 
 
 President, Illinois Central R. R. Co. 
 
 1897 Ernest A. Hamill, 
 
 President, Corn Exchange National Bank 
 
 1901 Frank H. Jones, 
 
 Secretary, American Trust & Savings Bank 
 
 1896 Rollin A. Keyes, 
 
 President, Franklin MacVeagh & Co., Grocers 
 
 1896 C. Frederick Kimball, 
 
 President, C. P. Kimball & Co., Carriages 
 
 1897 Herman H. Kohlsaat, 
 
 Record-Herald Building, Publisher 
 
 1897 Alexander A. McCormick, 
 
 Indianapolis Star, Publisher 
 
 1899 Robert Mather, 
 
 President, C. & R. I. R. R. Co. 
 
 [171]
 
 1901 George Merryweather, 
 
 President, Railway Exchange Bank 
 
 1896 John J. Mitchell, 
 
 President, Illinois Trust & Savings Bank 
 
 1903 Paul Morton, 
 
 President, Equitable Life Insurance Co., New York 
 
 1901 La Verne W. Noyes, 
 
 President, Aermotor Co. 
 
 1902 Edwin A. Potter, 
 
 President, American Trust & Savings Bank 
 
 1897 John G. Shedd, 
 
 President, Marshall Field & Company, Dry Goods 
 
 1896 Byron L. Smith, 
 
 President, The Northern Trust Co. 
 
 1896 Charles L. Strobel, 
 
 President, Strobel Steel Construction Co. 
 
 1904 Edward A. Turner, 
 
 President, Ewart Manufacturing Co. 
 
 [172]
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB OF CHICAGO 
 
 Non-Resident Members 
 1896 Richard M. Bissell, 
 
 President, Hartford Fire Insurance Co., Hartford 
 
 1898 Charles H. Hodges, 
 
 Detroit Lubricating Co., Detroit 
 
 1899 James Gamble Rogers, 
 
 Architect, New York 
 
 1896 Harry Gordon Self ridge, 
 
 Selfridge & Co., Ltd., London, Dry Goods 
 
 To the list of Non Resident Members several names have 
 been added since February, 1907 transferred from other 
 lists. 
 
 Nelson P. Bigelow 
 
 Bigelow, Ark. 
 
 Charles R. Crane 
 
 New York City 
 
 Frederic A. Delano 
 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 John F. Harris 
 
 New York City 
 
 Edward D. Kenna 
 
 New York City 
 
 William Kent 
 
 Kentfield, Calif. 
 
 John R. Morron 
 
 New York City 
 
 Charles D. Norton 
 
 New York City 
 
 Frank B. Noyes 
 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 [173
 
 NECROLOGY
 
 "In Their Tombs Lie Our Affections" 
 
 THE necrology of the Merchants Club in the ten 
 years of its busy life was small in numbers but 
 rich in quality. No obituaries nor appreciations 
 are attempted here. George Walker Meeker in 
 April, 1899, Dunlap Smith in December, 1901, 
 Hermon Butler in February, 1904, Graeme Stewart 
 in June and Rockwell King in July, 1905, and 
 William R. Harper in January, 1906 merely to 
 catalogue the names of these men is enough to 
 recall their value and to show the Club's grievous 
 loss. The memory of what they did abides. It 
 is trite to say that they had done their work. 
 How much more might not they have done had 
 they been spared! 
 
 George Walker Meeker, aged 42 years, April, 1899 
 Dunlap Smith, " 38 December, 1901 
 
 Hermon B. Butler, " 49 February, 1904 
 
 Graeme Stewart, 52 June, 1905 
 
 Rockwell King, " 52 July, 1905 
 
 William R. Harper, 48 January, 1906
 
 IN the fifteen years since its union with the Com- 
 mercial Club of Chicago, February 9, 1907, 
 until now, February 9, 1922, eighteen of the former 
 Merchants Club members have passed from earth, 
 "A common night awaiteth every man, and 
 Death's path must be trodden once by all." 
 
 Leslie Carter, at age of 57 
 
 C. Frederick Kimball, 55 
 
 Charles L. Bartlett, 56 
 
 Paul Morton, 54 
 
 Joseph Tilton Bowen, 57 
 
 Robert Mather, 52 
 
 Frederick Greeley, 56 
 
 James T. Harahan, 69 
 
 Arthur D. Wheeler, 51 
 
 Clarence Buckingham, 59 
 
 Byron L. Smith, 61 
 
 Edwin G. Foreman, 53 
 
 Charles H. Conover, 68 
 
 Charles R. Corwith, 55 
 
 Edward A. Turner, 68 
 
 Granger Farwell, 62 
 
 La Verne W. Noyes, 70 
 
 Frank H. Armstrong, 67 
 
 September, 1908 
 
 January, 1909 
 
 March, 1909 
 
 January, 1911 
 
 March, 1911 
 
 October, 1911 
 
 January, 1912 
 
 January, 1912 
 
 August, 1912 
 
 August, 1913 
 
 March, 1914 
 
 August, 1915 
 
 November, 1915 
 
 December, 1915 
 
 June, 1917 
 
 May, 1919 
 
 July, 1919 
 
 February, 1920 
 
 [177
 
 THE COMMERCIAL CLUB 
 
 THE COMMERCIAL CLUB organized 1877 
 
 THE MERCHANTS CLUB, organized 1896 
 
 United 1907
 
 II
 
 Note 
 
 While this is in no way a history of the 
 Commercial Club of Chicago, it may not be amiss 
 to speak a few words of it here. This Club 
 was founded in December 1877, and therefore was 
 nineteen years old at the formation of the Mer- 
 chants Club, and now has had continuous exist- 
 ence for more than forty-four years. It had its 
 inspiration and model in the Commercial Club 
 of Boston, founded in 1869, and was followed in 
 its turn and taken as a model by similar clubs of 
 Cincinnati in July, 1880, and of St. Louis in Febru- 
 ary, 1881. Toward the older club of Boston and 
 the younger of Cincinnati and St. Louis there has 
 existed always in this club a spirit, not of rivalry, 
 but of generous emulation. 
 
 The Commercial Club has cherished high ideals. 
 This is not the place to record its efforts or ap- 
 praise its value to the community. These efforts 
 were not for material advantage alone: they were 
 for spiritual welfare also. Its founders and charter 
 members all are dead. It is for us to show that 
 the spirit that animated them lives still in their 
 successors, and that that spirit shall make the 
 Commercial Club of Chicago potent for good 
 works for many years to come. 
 
 February 9, 1922 
 
 [181]
 
 APPENDIX
 
 To THE READER: IN CONFIDENCE: 
 
 This appendix is a copy of a Merchants Club pamphlet 
 of 1900, not quite in facsimile. The original had gray 
 paper covers with red title, was handsomely printed; but 
 the size of page, style of type and quality of paper do not 
 make for exact reproduction in this book. 
 
 The author is at present unknown. Some good guessers 
 have said A, others B or E, F, H or J; but those who have 
 been charged with it deny or are evasive. Reader, it is up 
 to you. One man's guess is as good as another's until it 
 has been proved right or wrong. 
 
 And finally, brethren about the Appendix this sugges- 
 tion: Many a man has had his removed when he ceased 
 to care for it.
 
 G 'he Merchant* 9 Club 
 of Chicago
 
 THE MERCHANTS' CLUB 
 OF CHICAGO 
 
 EXCURSION ON CHICAGO RIVER 
 AND SANITARY CANAL 
 
 TUESDAY, JUNE 19, 1900 
 
 HERMON B. BUTLER, PRESIDENT 
 GRAEME STEWART, VICE-PRESIDENT 
 HUGH J. McBIRNEY, SECRETARY 
 EDWARD G. FOREMAN, TREASURER 
 
 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 
 
 RICHARD M. BISSELL ALBERT J. EARLING 
 
 ALEX. A. McCORMICK EDGAR A. BANCROFT 
 
 RECEPTION COMMITTEE 
 
 ROLLIN A. KEYES BENJAMIN CARPENTER 
 
 CHARLES L. BARTLETT FREDERICK GREELEY 
 
 CHARLES L. STROBEL
 
 INTRODUCTORY AND SALUTATORY. 
 
 The Merchants' Club, having completed its explora- 
 tions of the Waldorf-Astoria region, the Bois de Boulogne, 
 and the Auditorium, have determined to make discoveries 
 in the hitherto unexplored portions of the continent 
 adjacent to Chicago. 
 
 And with this end in view have invited their wives 
 and other best girls to share with them the perils and 
 hardships of a trip through the waters of the South 
 Branch and the Sanitary Canal to the end that these 
 portions may be opened up for settlement by people 
 in the best society. And in pursuance thereof they 
 offer their wives, their fortunes and their sacred honor. 
 
 [189]
 
 ACTIVE MEMBERS. 
 
 ALOIS, ARTHUR T. 
 
 ARMSTRONG, F. H. 
 
 BAKER, ALFRED L. 
 
 BANCROFT, EDGAR A. 
 *BARTLETT, CHARLES L. 
 
 BARRATT, EDGAR G. 
 *BIGELOW, NELSON P. 
 *BISSELL, RICHARD M. 
 
 BOOTH, W. VERNON. 
 
 BOWEN, JOSEPH T. 
 *BUCKINGHAM, CLARENCE. 
 *BUTLER, EDWARD B. 
 *BUTLER, HERMON B. 
 *CARPENTER, BENJAMIN. 
 
 CARTER, LESLIE. 
 *COOLIDGE, CHARLES A. 
 *CORWITH, CHARLES R. 
 
 COWLES, ALFRED. 
 
 COX, RENSSELAER W. 
 
 DRAKE, TRACY C. 
 
 EARLING, A. J. 
 
 ECKLES, JAMES H. 
 
 ECKHART, BERNARD A. 
 *EWEN, JOHN M. 
 
 FARWELL, GRANGER. 
 *FARWELL, JOHN V., JR. 
 
 FERGUSON, L. A. 
 *FOREMAN, E. G. 
 
 GARTZ, A. F. 
 *GREELEY, FREDERICK. 
 
 HAMILL, ERNEST. 
 
 HARPER, WILLIAM R. 
 
 HODGES, CHARLES H. 
 
 INSULL, SAMUEL. 
 *KENT, WILLIAM. 
 *KEYE8, ROLLIN A. 
 *KIMBALL, C. FREDERICK. 
 
 KING, ROCKWELL. 
 *KNOTT, HENRY A. 
 
 MC BIRNEY, HUGH J. 
 
 MC CORMICK, ALEXANDER 
 A. 
 
 MC CORMICK, HAROLD F. 
 
 MC CULLOUGH, HIRAM R. 
 
 MATHER, ROBERT. 
 *MEEKER, ARTHUR. 
 
 MORRON, JOHN R. 
 *REVELL, ALEXANDER H. 
 
 ROGERS, JAS. GAMBLE. 
 *8EEBERGER, LOUIS A. 
 *SELFRIDGE, HARRY G. 
 
 SHEDD, JOHN G. 
 *8MITH, DUNLAP. 
 *STEWART, GRAEME. 
 
 SUNNY, B. E. 
 *8TROBEL, C. L. 
 
 TUTTLE, EMERSON B. 
 
 UPHAM, FRED W. 
 
 WACKER, CHARLES H. 
 *WIL8ON, WALTER H. 
 
 ASSOCIATE MEMBERS. 
 
 KOHLSAAT, H. H. 
 *MITCHELL, JOHN J. 
 
 *8MITH, BYRON L. 
 
 *CHARTER MEMBER.
 
 HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL. 
 
 The Chicago River, which has just been discovered 
 by the Merchants' Club, is one of the great watercourses 
 of the world, uniting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans 
 and the Gulf of Mexico, and dividing the North, South 
 and West sides, which are the three parts into which all 
 Gall is divided. 
 
 The waters of the Chicago River have long been 
 celebrated for their health-giving properties, as is shown 
 by the well-known saying of the Indian Medicine Man: 
 "Drink one drink anything." The exuberant growth 
 of its microbes has never been questioned even by the 
 oldest inhabitant. It has been a matter of scientific 
 interest as to which had the greater longevity, the oldest 
 inhabitant or the microbe. The people of the various 
 tribes inhabiting its banks are extremely rugged and 
 warlike, and unite in the belief that one who takes Chicago 
 River microbes needs no other food. 
 
 Analyses of the water made before and after the 
 opening of the Sanitary District channel show the fol- 
 lowing component parts to the cubic centimeter. 
 
 BEFORE. 
 
 "That tired feeling" microbe 127493658 
 
 Free silver germs 339067724 
 
 Mud Lots 
 
 H2O pure A trace 
 
 Things in dreams Good and plenty 
 
 [191]
 
 AFTER. 
 
 Bacilli, microbes, germs and such 00000003 
 
 Complaints 0000000 
 
 Nice fish Several 
 
 Ozone No end 
 
 Liquid air and condensed wind 7738590 
 
 Suckers Numerous 
 
 The water is now of an excellent quality when used 
 as scenery or for aquatic sports, or as a commercial 
 highway, but for internal use should be taken sparingly, 
 and copiously diluted with whisky, carbolic acid, orange- 
 ine, or some other antiseptic preservative. It is said to 
 make an excellent foundation for cocktails, highballs and 
 other gentle stimulants. 
 
 It is stated on good authority that a coal-heaver 
 recently fell into the stream in the vicinity of Lumber 
 Street, and emerged perceptibly whiter, so much so that 
 he was not recognized by the family dog upon his return 
 home, and in consequence had a valuable pair of blue 
 jeans overalls severely injured in the region of the epi- 
 gastrium. 
 
 [192]
 
 ITINERARY. 
 
 Starting from the picturesque dock of the Anchor 
 Line Transportation Co., which is so ably managed by 
 the distinguished poloist Mr. James Gary Evans, we see 
 upon the other bank the magnificent ruins of the Geo. 
 B. Carpenter cordage and twine emporium, which also 
 sells a very fine line of summer awnings. The awnings 
 on this boat, had there been any, would have been supplied 
 by Geo. B. Carpenter & Co. (Adv.) 
 
 On the Rive Gauche, autre cote, stands the fruit 
 and peanut warehouse of Michael Angelo Piazzaforte, 
 who is justly celebrated for his love of Dante and the 
 sterling quality of his bananas. (Adv.) 
 
 Both of these houses should be visited before em- 
 barking. 
 
 We make our course E. by N. J^ N., proceeding 
 cautiously over the La Salle Street tunnel and passing 
 directly under Wells Street bridge, over which thou- 
 sands of hurrying golfers pass on then* way to the C. & 
 N. W. Ry. depot, the great Putting Green line. (Adv.) It 
 has been estimated that if all the golfers patronizing 
 this fine line of choo choo cars were placed end to end 
 they would form a chain reaching from the corner of 
 Kinzie Street to the planet Mars. 
 
 A few knots beyond Wells Street bridge and on 
 the star-boarder tack, is the limpid and purling North 
 Branch, which limps and purls before the North Side 
 
 7 
 
 193]
 
 swine ever thought of limping or purling, having its rise 
 in the fertile meadows of the Skokie and Onwentsia Golf 
 Links. 
 
 We now alter our course to Sou' West by Sou' half 
 Sou' and under reefed t' gallant s'ls and a bight in the 
 binnacle we "shake a day day" to Wells Street bridge, 
 and sail boldly forth down (or up as it used to be) the 
 waters of the South Branch. 
 
 There are many charming and picturesque bits of 
 scenery and places of historical interest that invite our 
 attention, but our craft is engaged by the hour and 
 we must not linger. 
 
 One of the most charming and romantic spots along 
 the entire stream is the retired and bosky dell occupied 
 by the attractive little home of J. V. Farwell & Co. (Adv.) 
 This is a favorite resort for picnics and fete champeets 
 of the inhabitants of the first ward, many of whom may 
 be seen enjoying the bright sunshine as they sit on the 
 grassy banks playing national airs and arranging primar- 
 ies. It was here that J. V. Farwell concluded the cele- 
 brated treaty with the Pottawattamie tribe of Indians 
 which resulted in Mr. FarwelPs acquiring Cook County, 
 the consideration being a pair of boots which the vendor 
 had found did not fit him. 
 
 Mr. Farwell's life was saved upon this occasion by 
 an Indian maiden of great piety and fine appearance 
 who threw herself upon the flames as they were greed- 
 ily about to encircle Mr. Farwell's limbs, thus causing 
 the cruel and haughty chiefs to quit fueling and sign 
 the treaty by which Mr. Farwell afterward became a 
 rich and prominent citizen. 
 
 Mr. Farwell later married a Presbyterian lady of 
 8 
 
 [194]
 
 rare social qualities, and their son, Mr. J. V. Farwell, 
 Jr., was the first president of the Merchants' Club, 
 and one of the first white children born in Cook County. 
 
 We now pass in rapid succession the far-famed Van 
 Buren Street rapids, Eckhart's whirlpool and the Sanitary 
 By-Pass, the Cattegat and Skagerack of the Chicago 
 River. These points, as well as the Grand Canon of the 
 nineteenth ward, must be believed in to be seen. 
 
 Luncheon may be partaken of while passing the 
 Bad Lands of the West Side. It is well to keep under 
 cover while passing this sterile and unproductive region, 
 as the inhabitants are extremely voracious and loquacious, 
 their only means of support being politics. 
 
 Before lunching heartily, it is well to take a dose of 
 Orangeine (adv.), the great preventive of sea-sickness, 
 heresy, and schism, and all uncharitableness. While 
 we are lunching, the Man at the Wheel gets in his work, 
 and under forced and protested drafts, with all sail 
 set and a nigger on the safety-valve, we spin merrily 
 along through the South Branch, Healy's Slough, Canal- 
 port, the Sanitary Canal, Romeo, Lockport, Juliet, the 
 Bear Trap Dam, the Illinois River, Hennepin Canal, 
 Mississippi River, North and South America, the Paris 
 Exposition, and other attractions too numerous to 
 mention. 
 
 Marco Polo, Marquette, Hobart Chatfield Chatfield- 
 Taylor (adv.), and other explorers have stated that for 
 all-around grandeur and general picturesqueness there 
 are few places in the West Side to equal the banks of 
 the Sanitary Canal, where in most places nothing inter- 
 feres with the view for miles and miles except blades of 
 grass and saloons. 
 
 9 
 
 [195]
 
 The inhabitants of this delightful region were formerly 
 a nomadic and pastoral race, raising stocks and bonds. 
 Since the opening of the Sanitary Canal they have become 
 quite maritime in character, subsisting upon hard tack, 
 terrapin, and oysters, and dancing sailor's hornpipes. 
 
 We return to civilization by the Santa Fe" route. 
 (Adv.) This world-famous line is justly celebrated for 
 its magnificent service and appointments hot and cold 
 water and steam heat in every car, while every train has 
 a bishop and a professional golfer with portable tees and 
 putting greens in attendance. 
 
 10 
 
 [196]
 
 ENVOI. 
 
 Herminius of the Lake Shore Drive, 
 
 By the nine gods he swore 
 
 That the members of the Merchants' Club 
 
 Should loaf around no more. 
 
 By the nine gods he swore it, 
 
 And named a trysting-day 
 
 And bade his messengers ride forth, 
 
 East and West and South and North 
 
 To summon his array. 
 
 East and West and South and North 
 The district messengers ride forth, 
 Each on a trolley car. 
 And Astor Street and Cottage Grove 
 Van Buren Street and Tyler's Cove, 
 And eke where golfers forth do rove 
 In sweet Onwentsia. 
 
 They summon forth the lordly clan 
 Of princely merchants to a man, 
 And each responds as best he can, 
 And brings his gentle dame. 
 Then Rollin from his grocer store, 
 And Dunlap of the sweet North Shore, 
 Who missed his ball and cursed and swore, 
 But ne'er got on his game. 
 11 
 
 [197]
 
 Then Aldis of the golden beard, 
 
 And Barratt, Edgar G., 
 
 And Buckingham, who never queered 
 
 The biggest deal that e'er was steered, 
 
 And Eckels, in Peoria reared, 
 
 A banker for to be, 
 
 With Vernon Booth, the oyster-man, 
 
 And Harper, who strikes oil in can 
 
 From Rockefeller's veins. 
 
 And Bancroft of the silver tongue, 
 
 And many others still unsung, 
 
 Came from their vine-clad fanes. 
 
 When Hermon came with all this crew 
 
 To Wells Street Bridge a whistle blew, 
 
 It pierced their poor heads through and through, 
 
 So loud and shrill it rang. 
 
 The bridge it slowly swung and turned, 
 
 The keeper all their offers spurned. 
 
 Meanwhile the great propeller churned 
 
 The water thick and slab. 
 
 Then out spake Hermon Butler, 
 
 ' 'Alas ! alackaday ! 
 
 Now who will stand on either hand 
 
 And shut this right away?" 
 
 Then up spake Graeme Stewart, 
 
 A grocer bold was he, 
 
 ' 'I cannot fight, I would I might, 
 
 I never was to sea." 
 
 Then forth came Samuel Insull, 
 Of Edisonian fame, 
 
 12 
 
 [198]
 
 And with him Harry Selfridge, 
 Who bears up Field's great name, 
 And these with Leslie Carter 
 Went forth to join the fray, 
 When a dreadful shout 
 From all the rout 
 
 Turned these puissant knights about 
 With not a word to say. 
 
 Oh Farwell, Granger Farwell, 
 
 To whom Lake Forest prays, 
 
 Where Farwells rule both church and school, 
 
 And no one but a perfect fool 
 
 Their sovereignty gainsays; 
 
 Now gird thee on thy brassie 
 
 And buckle on thy helm, 
 
 A golfer's name, a golfer's fame, 
 
 Are in thy keep to-day. 
 
 Then out spake Shedd, the ribbon man, 
 
 WTiom every one would be, 
 
 And waved his hand with manner bland 
 
 And said, " I think it would be grand 
 
 To keep the bridge with thee." 
 
 But oh, alas ! a ribbon man 
 
 Whom every one would be, 
 
 Must tend to biz 
 
 Where'er he is 
 
 And may not have a spree. 
 
 But Joseph Tilton Bowen, 
 The finest of the knights, 
 13 
 
 [199]
 
 Allowed that he would raise a crowd 
 And fight, if he could be allowed 
 To dress himself in tights. 
 So each one was invited, 
 And every one declined, 
 And even Herm began to squirm 
 And turned as does the humble worm, 
 Vowing he'd changed his mind. 
 
 But see! the bridge is turning, 
 
 The steamer passes through, 
 
 While every man is yearning 
 
 Some doughty deed to do. 
 
 And so the fight is finished 
 
 Before it has begun, 
 
 And the Wise Men's Club sails in its tub 
 
 Until the set of sun. 
 
 14 
 
 200]
 
 RULES. 
 
 1. Do not speak to the man at the wheel; he is not 
 engaged for his conversational abilities. 
 
 2. Speak freely to all members of the Merchants' 
 Club; they are all conversationalists of a high order. 
 
 3. All timbers shivered by nautical persons, or 
 readers of Fenimore Cooper must be replaced. 
 
 4. Beware of pickpockets, thunderstorms, and demo- 
 crats; do not lend toothbrushes to strangers. 
 
 5. All persons having dutiable articles or personal 
 effects, or other goods or chattels subject to taxation 
 under Section 37, Article 4936, of the Revised Statutes, 
 shall, almost immediately if not sooner, prepare schedules, 
 under oath, stating and setting forth accordingly: a, 
 their age, sex, and previous condition of impecuniosity; 
 b, their position in society; c, the number of strokes for 
 eighteen holes; d, any other information requisite or 
 necessary for the enlightenment or entertainment of 
 the Board of Local Improvements, the Board of Review, 
 or any other board whatever, be the same more or less; 
 and it is further stipulated and agreed, by and between 
 the said party of the first part, and his heirs and assigns 
 forever, that failure to comply with the provisions of the 
 statute as hereinabove provided shall in no case release 
 the trustee or trustor from the penalties as aforesaid, to 
 wit, one stroke per hole, then shall the party of the 
 second part drop a new ball, losing stroke and distance. 
 
 15 
 
 201]
 
 6. Persons subject to mal de mer, megrims, foozling, 
 insomnia, or somnambulism will find the Orangeine 
 bunkers in the hold. One drop placed upon the tongue 
 of a dog will kill a man. 
 
 16 
 
 [202]
 
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 LAKESIDE PRESS, CHICAGO, ILL.
 
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