IV

THE MASS MEETINGS

The popular interest in the centennial celebration was particularly manifested in the mass meetings. The committee had contemplated a public gathering in one of the city's large halls, but long before any definite plan had been decided upon it became evident that one meeting would be entirely inadequate to the demands of the occasion. Two meetings were accordingly decided upon. But the public interest kept growing. The two meetings were abandoned in favor of three; the three became four; grew to five and six. Still the barometer of public sentiment continued to reveal the increasing pressure of an atmosphere surcharged with patriotic zeal. It soon became evident that the committee could not make its arrangements on too large a scale. Finally, to relieve the pressure which must inevitably come upon a few meetings, no matter how large and commodious the halls in which they were held, it was decided to issue a call for eight mass meetings, one in each of the big auditoriums afforded by the Exposition Building, Central Music Hall, the Cavalry Armory, Battery D Armory, Farwell Hall and the Board of Trade, and one in each of two mammoth tents to be erected on the Lake Front. As it afterward turned out, even these accommodations were not up to the requirements of the occasion. Of the great crowds gathered at each of the appointed meeting-places, thousands were turned away, unable to get even within sight of the entrance doors.

In order to further divide public interest and to prevent undue crowding at any one of the conventions, information as to where the different speakers of the day would hold forth was kept secret. The names of all the orators were published, but

no one in the great audiences assembled on the day of the celebration knew which of the speakers he was to hear. The wisdom of this manœuvre was subsequently demonstrated by the impartial manner in which the public patronage was distributed among the different gatherings.

At 3 o'clock-the hour set for the opening of the doors-each of the appointed meeting-places presented a scene of wild enthusiasm. The enormous crowds which began to gather as early as I o'clock were under the contagious spell of the general excitement. Every slight incident which could be made the pretext was greeted with applause and cheers. When the doors were finally thrown open, the huge throngs surged in with the irresistible rush of so many tidal waves and took instant possession of all available space. Even then those who were forced to remain outside did not go away, but hung around the entrances, seemingly quite as ardent and cheerful as their luckier fellows within. Finding themselves barred from participation in any other way, the majority of them stood the proceedings through, reëchoing every cheer and joining in every song. At Dearborn Park an "overflow meeting," formed largely of those unable to gain admission to the other gatherings, was organized. The crowds which clustered around the entrance to the Exposition Building were summoned by a bugle call to the park. Here ex-Mayor Carter H. Harrison, acting as chairman of the meeting, Prof. A. C. Geyer of Indiana, the Rev. Jenkin Lloyd Jones, and Mr. C. W. Martin of New York, delivered eloquent addresses to as appreciative an audience as assembled anywhere during the day. After listening to speeches for over two hours it was still unsatisfied, and in response to repeated demands Mr. Harrison arose and delivered a second speech, to the great apparent satisfaction of his auditors.

At the Exposition Building, where a throng of over ten thousand people had assembled, the spectacle was truly magnificent. The immense interior was packed to its utmost capacity, and when a stir of applause grew out of those near the platform and swept swiftly over the big concourse with increasing strength, the very walls seemed to vibrate. At the Board of Trade every inch of standing room was occupied, and the graduated "pits" where

bidding is carried on could only be located by the little turrets and cones of humanity which surmounted them. The effect was that of a fantastic architectural design worked out in human forms, with a rococo ornamentation of bunting and flags. The crowds which gathered at Central Music Hall and Farwell Hall were the largest ever assembled in those buildings, and at all the meetings every block of space into which a human figure could be squeezed was occupied.

In all the different halls the decorations had been made a unique feature of the occasion. The national flag and the tricolored buntings were displayed in profusion. The speakers' platforms were lavishly decorated. Flowers, plants, wreaths and festoons were used in abundance and in every manner which ingenuity could suggest. These floral thrones were surmounted by large portraits of Washington. Placards bearing the profoundly democratic motto, "Government of the People, for the People, by the People," were imbedded in masses of flowers and flags. The two tents on the Lake Front were ablaze with bunting and rows of little flags were strung between the tent-poles.

The programme of exercises was in the main the same for all the meetings. Care had been taken to provide the different conventions with good musical organizations, and the singing and playing of the national airs was a notable feature of the day's celebration. It was shortly after 3 o'clock when the meetings were called together by their respective secretaries, who at once introduced the chairmen appointed to preside. At Central Music Hall this office was filled by the Hon. Robert T. Lincoln, who was vigorously applauded from the moment of his entrance. Judge Walter Q. Gresham occupied the chair at Battery D, the Hon. Joseph Fifer, Governor of Illinois, presided at the Exposition Building, Senator Farwell at Tent B, Mr. E. Nelson Blake at the Board of Trade, Justice John M. Harlan at the Cavalry Armory, Judge Richard S. Tuthill at Farwell Hall and Mayor Cregier at Tent A. The introductory addresses delivered by the chairmen were very brief. Judge Gresham made no address, merely prefacing the exercises with a neat sentiment:

It is proper and natural that the national sentiment and love of country should find expression to-day. We never could have

become the great nation that we are under the Articles of Confederation. Our unexampled growth is due to the "more perfect union" which was formed by the adoption of the Constitution now one hundred years old, and our continued happiness, prosperity and safety depend upon the unselfish devotion of the people to the Union and its preservation at all hazards through all times.

The applause evoked by the addresses of the chairmen was hushed as the chaplains of the different meetings were introduced and with bowed heads raised their voices in prayer for the continued prosperity of the nation. The playing of national airs by the bands was in all the meetings the signal for a tumultuous outburst. The people arose, waved thousands of little flags, and united their voices in a grand and impressive chorus. When the enthusiasm had somewhat subsided, congratulatory messages exchanged between Chicago and the cities of Minneapolis, Pittsburgh and Springfield were then read.

The simple greeting sent out by Chicago was as follows:

Eight hundred thousand Chicago citizens send greeting to Minneapolis, with the wish that, guided by the experience of a century of our national life, our second century may show a record still more glorious.

Minneapolis sent the following reply:

Minneapolis, on this memorable occasion, sends fraternal greetings to her sister city, Chicago. Together our people return thanks to the Almighty God for the blessings embraced in a century's growth of civil and religious liberty, and earnestly pray that the reign of Presidents begun this day one hundred years ago, may only end with time. When Washington was inaugurated first President of the United States, the site of your city was an unknown morass. The spirit that plucked up half-drowned Chicago by the locks, filled her streets with the ceaseless tread of commerce, and poured the wealth of nations into her lap, had its twin virtue only in the patriotism of her people. Constitutional liberty has no braver defenders nor more watchful guardians than the sons of Illinois. When our grandchildren repeat this celebration may the same flag float above them, no star effaced; symbolizing then as now the broadest freedom and the greatest happiness to men; and may they be found still possessing and still transmitting the virtue of Washington, Lincoln, and Grant.