arfield (1880), Cleveland (1884 and
1892). Harrison (1888), Roosevelt (1904), Taft (1908) and Harding
(1920); and in addition a number of candidates who were unsuccessful
including Blaine (1884), Harrison (1892), Bryan (1896), Taft (1912),
Roosevelt (1912), and Hughes (1916).

To most foreign visitors and even to many Americans the growth of
Chicago is its most impressive feature. Within a little more than 100
years Chicago has grown from a settlement of 14 houses, a frontier
military post among the Indians to a great metropolis, the second city
in America and fourth in size among the cities of the world. In 1829
what is now the business centre was fenced in as a pasture; in 1831 the
Chicago mail was deposited in a dry goods box; the tax levy of 1834 was
$48.90, and a well that constituted the city's water-system was sunk at
a cost of $95.50. In 1843 hogs were by ordinance barred from the
streets.

There are residents of Chicago still living who can remember the
early days when the first village school stood on the ground now
occupied by the Boston Store at Dearborn and Madison Sts. Some
even insist they remember when wolves were trapped on the site of
the present Tribune building. In the early period the streets of
the little town were thick with mire in the rainy season, and it
is said that signs were placed at appropriate points with
inscriptions such as "No Bottom Here," "Stage Dropped Here," etc.
The first improvement of note in Chicago was an inclined plank
road in Lake St., arranged with a gutter in the center for
drainage. It was the only safe route over which stage coaches
from the west could enter the town.

In 1830 with a population of less than 100, in 1840 with 4,479, the
increase by percentages in succeeding decades was as follows: 507, 265,
174, 68, 119, 54, 29, and (1910 to 1920) 23. Approximately 75 per cent
of Chicago's population is of foreign birth or parentage. This foreign
population is made up principally of Germans, about 50 per cent, Irish
12, Austrian 13, Russian 10, Swedish 6, Italian 4, Canadian, including
French Canadians, 4, and English 4.

It has been said that Chicago is "the second largest Bohemian city in
the world, the third Swedish, the fourth Norwegian, the fifth Polish and
the fifth German (New York being the fourth)." This ought not to be
construed, however, as a reflection on the fundamental Americanism of
Chicago's citizens.