USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > Discovery and conquests of the Northwest, with the history of Chicago, Vol. II > Part 28
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The discovery of Cabot, far to the north, was called the second division.
That of Cortereal, a hardy Portuguese mariner, made still farther to the north in 1500, in which he discovered the entrance to Hudson Bay; and supposed it to be an inlet leading to Cathay, China, was called the third division.
The fourth division was the discovery of Americus Vespucius, on the South American coast, just alluded to, which, although known to have been later than that of Columbus on the same coast, or, as some historians aver, was not made at all; nevertheless, it was hon-
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ored with the appellation of the fourth quarter of the New World, and believed to be genuine by many.
Up to this time none of the discoverers had given names which included all the lands they had visited, but designations of them had been descriptive.
The St. Die Pamphlet .- The first publication to give a general name to any of the different discoveries was a small tract, first published in 1507, at the college of St. Die in Lorraine, a province on the Rhine, ceded to Germany by France in 1870. It was a work on geog- raphy, claiming to keep up with the rapid accessions to its extended field in those days. In this pamphlet was the first published account of the voyages of Americus ; but whether it appeared in the first edition of it, or in one or two years later, is a question. The writer pre- faces the account by saying : "But now that those parts have been more extensively examined, and another fourth part has been discovered by Americus (as will be seen in the sequel), I do not see why we should rightly refuse to name it America, namely, the land of Americus or America, after its discoverer, Americus, a man of sagacious mind."
Here was the fatal spark that kindled the burning flame of injustice to the memory of Columbus. The very obscurity of the source whence it came, perhaps, was what prevented a protest against it in time to stop the progress of its stealthy appearance on maps, and the use of it until too late to make a change.
Ptolemy's Geography .- Improvements on Ptolemy's geography, especially in his maps, multiplied at this time.
In one of these, by Stobniza, of Cracow, of 1512, he says :
" And lest I had expended labor on Ptolemy alone, I took care also to make known certain parts of the earth that were unknown to Ptolemy himself, and to other of the more ancient writers, which, by the wanderings of Ameri- cus Vespucius, were brought to our notice. Likewise
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towards the west, beyond Africa and Europe, is a great part of the earth which they call America, from Americus, its discoverer."
AMERICA.
Americus claimed to have made four voyages to the New World, and there is abundant evidence that he wrote an account of them, and sent it to the College of St. Die, one or more of whose professors were old time friends of his. That this college should feel grateful for such a contribution to their pamphlet from the graphic pen of Americus, was quite natural, and it is but fair to suppose that the professors really believed that Americus saw terra firma before Columbus, his account coming first in his claim, as to his four voyages.
That Columbus saw the coast before he did has clearly been proven, and whosoever else was ignorant of this fact at the time, Americus could not have been. But this false claim being made by others without his protest, is the limit of his impeachment, there being no proof that he connived at placing his name on maps, nor was it foreseen by any one, at first, that the whole of these new discoveries would ultimately be designated by one general name.
Ferdinand, the son of Columbus, who was always tenacious in the defense of his father's reputation, was aware of the contents of the St. Die pamphlet, and made no objections to it, although Las Casas, whose sense of justice was always keen, wondered that he did not.
That Americus had ever been on good terms with Columbus (his father), is to be presumed by their cor- respondence, at least as no contravailing evidence has come to light.
But the strangest part of this fatal misnomer is yet to be told, or rather speculated upon, which is, how the name thus locally applied at first, and even as such unjustly, was ultimately made to cover the two conti- nents of the western world.
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The name America first appeared on Schoner's globe of 1520, fac-similes of which have been repro- duced in several works on American history. The North American locality of this map is a conjectural drawing, and named Cuba, which shows that its projector was
CLAUDIUS PTOLEMY.
behind the record, Cuba having been sailed around, and proven to be an island in 1508. The name America appeared on several other maps soon afterward, some of whose projectors protested against this injustice.
The name of Columbus had been clouded by a lack
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of official patronage. He had died in comparative obscurity. Americus stood high in popular favor, not
INS CORTE REALIS
BACCALEARUM RECIO:
A ME
HISPANIA MAJOR CAPTA ANNO
HEPTAPOLIS
HISPANIA
SANTO
FLORID.
GIJĀNAD DaINSUL
INS. FORTUNATE
CUBA
HAYTI
NUNC CANARIE
UMA
ICA
CAMERCANE INSULE
TRINITATIS®
PARIA
C. S. CROCIS
PERU
C. S.AUGUSTINE
NOVA CASTILIA
COSCO.
RICA
MARE PACIFICULUM
A MULTIS HODIE NOVA INDIA DICTA
M PATIGONICUM
SIVE
NAGELIANILUNI
MERCATOR'S MAP.
OBERMUDA or
SIVE CARCA!
NOVA
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NUNC HISPANIOLA
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only on account of his literary associations, but of his connection with a commercial house in Seville of great
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wealth and influence, that furnished outfits for explor- ing expeditions. Under these time serving influences his name received a momentum that sent it beyond the limits whence justice could recall it.
In 1541, the first globular map of the celebrated Mercator came out, the western part of which is here- with produced. It was the first radical change from the old (but grand for its time) system of Ptolemy. On his, Mercator's, map, the name America appeared, half on North and the balance on South America.
Mercator's map was the first that showed the two continents connected together without intervening inlets. It delineated the general contour of both, with a reasonable approximate to correctness.
Ptolemy was one of the greatest of all geographers of ancient date. He was born at Pelusium, on the Nile, in the first century. His name would indicate that he was of Macedonian origin. He said: "The whole of the globe which the earth and the water comprises is divided into 360 degrees." In his book entitled "Great Construction," he gave the position of 1,022 fixed stars, placing the earth in the center of them. His system of astronomy was the accepted one, till that of Coper- nicus had substituted it in the sixteenth century.
The four centuries since Columbus' discovery have been marked with evolutions among European nations, both painful and humiliating for them to look back upon. In vain they tried to transfer their governments, their religion and their social status to the new world, but only one of them has been successful in doing this, and she only in proportion as she toned down and hewed off the tangent points of her home system to meet the requirements of the American aim. By this policy she retained British America, which even in its loyalty to Brit- ish rule is, nevertheless, a living monument of ob- ligation to the United States for having taught her a lesson on the rights of man, which has been the guiding
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star of England's ship of state over the great ocean of her dominions ever since. Her ingenuousness in ac- knowledging this not only fraternizes the two nations, but adds force and power to each. The French revo- lution of 1789 and Napoleon's career, that grew out of it, were directly traceable to the American revolution, and likewise the Mexican revolution of 1810 to 1821, as well as the exploits of Bolivar, the Washington of South America, whose genius inspired the continent with ambition to be free at about the same time. If our celebration of an event that wrought all these changes had been attempted at the expiration of the third century, it would have been a failure, for we were then in childhood's growing pains, an unfledged eagle. Chicago was an unknown wild, and where else could such a celebration have been made a success than at this metropolis, in the pathway of western empire, as soon as the schoolmaster of time had given it a brief training ? Here the pioneer spirit lived and grew till it created a peerage that challenged respect, and here an unwritten law declared that the Columbian Exposi- tion should be located.
This law was our voucher for success from the be- ginning to the end, and Chicago possessed the spirit of this law. Her very existence was due to it, and the foundation of her future growth was allied to it, con- jointly with her central position. The great issues of national policy, sprung upon the world by Columbus' discoveries, had been practically solved by an object lesson in the great west. The hour had come for its celebration, and the place to celebrate it.
Pending the discussion that newspapers in every section of the country took part in, the claims of Chi- cago, New York, St. Louis and Washington were con- sidered by their respective advocates. But while these cities were considering, Chicago not only advocated her claims at the earliest opening of the issue, but was the first to take official action to make them effective.
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The credit of first conceiving the project of the Columbian Exposition belongs to the late J. W. Scott, then editor of the Chicago Herald, who submitted his views to Mayor Cregier. They called in E. F. Cragin, well known as an efficient organizer, and sent him to Thomas B. Bryan for consultation and co-operation. This consultation in Mr. Bryan's office resulted in his drafting, on request, the resolutions adopted by the citizens' meeting, August 1, 1889; and, as an initial step to the great undertaking, these resolutions were telegraphed throughout the United States. This meet- ing was held in pursuance of a resolution of the city council, adopted July 22, the preceding month, instruct- ing the mayor, De Witt C. Cregier, to appoint a citizens' committee of 100 (which was subsequently increased to the number of 250) to impress upon the public mind the advantages of holding the Exposition in Chicago, and present to the country Chicago's supe- riority as a location over other places in competition.
At that meeting an executive committee was appointed, consisting of the following persons :
De Witt C. Cregier, Chairman.
William Penn Nixon.
Samuel W. Allerton.
Frank Lawler.
George M. Pullman. Ferdinand W. Peck.
Lambert Tree.
Robert W. Patterson, Jr.
Otto Young.
Andrew McNally
Edwin Walker.
William J. Onahan.
Victor F. Lawson.
John B. Carson.
Franklin H. Head.
John Q. Adams.
Edward F. Cullerton.
Abner Taylor.
Charles B. Farwell.
J. Irving Pearce.
Charles H. Schwab.
Harlow N. Higinbotham.
Rollin A. Keyes.
Jesse Spalding.
Frederick S. Winston.
Samuel S. Gregory.
George M. Bogue.
Richard Prendergast.
Everitte St. John.
Solomon Thatcher, Jr.
George E. Adams.
Arthur Dixon.
John McGillen.
Edward F. Cragin. Charles L. Hutchinson.
William C. Seipp.
Lyman J. Gage.
Robert Lindblom.
John R. Walsh.
James W. Scott.
George R. Davis.
George O'Neill.
Marshall M. Kirkman.
William D. Kerfoot. Shelby M. Cullom.
Joseph Medill.
Thomas B. Bryan.
Joseph W. Fifer.
Edward T. Jeffery.
Robert A. Waller.
Leroy D. Thoman.
William E. Mason.
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The first step taken by this committee was to form a company with a capital of $5,000,000, divided into 500,000 shares of $10 each. August 14, 1889, commis- sioners were authorized by the secretary of the state of Illinois to take subscriptions to the stock of this com- pany, which was officially named World's Exposition of 1892. De Witt C. Cregier, Ferdinand W. Peck, George Schneider, Anthony F. Seeberger, William C. Seipp, John R. Walsh, and E. Nelson Blake were these com- missioners.
What had been done thus far was only planting the seed, to be cultivated into a vigorous growth sufficient to outrival the efforts of other cities contend- ing for the prize, especially New York. This under- taking might have seemed impossible to any one but a Chicagoan, whose towering ambition soared above the impossible, as New Yorkers thought. In vain they pleaded that foreign visitors would hesitate to travel far into the interior to visit the Exposition, the suc- cess of which would be doubtful for want of means.
Chicago answered these arguments by energetic measures to influence public sentiment throughout the middle and western states in her favor; and in this labor the commercial interests of these states worked in alliance with such a hypothesis, owing to her central location. Although states to the eastward were in favor of New York, yet, after a careful consensus of public opinion, it was manifest that the contest was narrowed down, and was close between New York and Chicago.
Four cities were championed before a large com- mittee of the United States senate, on January 12, 1890, the hall and corridor crowded with congress- men and citizens to hear the debate, which elicited intense interest, and was reported in the press of the entire country.
New York was represented by over one hundred of her chief citizens, men of greatest political prominence
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and of enormous wealth, counting hundreds of millions of dollars of individual ownership. Several of her famous orators advocated her claims, chief among them being Chauncey M. Depew. Mayor Cregier in- troduced Thomas B. Bryan and E. T. Jeffery as Chicago's champions, the former replying directly to the argument of Mr. Depew at the same session of the committee, and the latter, Mr. Jeffery, following with an admirable presentation of pertinent statistics. From the government's publication of Mr. Bryan's speech, a few passages are here given:
"The proceedings here remind me of an anecdote that is told of a southern community where there were two colored churches, and both were about to have a fair-just as we are competing for a fair-and finally there was an. agreement entered into between the representatives of the rival churches that if one gave up to the other the holding of the fair the party releasing its claim should be entitled to a pew in their own church, to be cushioned at the other's expense. When the white people attended their baptisms and weddings they wanted to provide a special place for their entertainment, and one pew to be set aside was the acme of their ambition. That agreement was cordially entered into and carried out. After the pew had been set aside and the congregation had assem- bled, the colored clergyman ascended the pulpit and said:
"'Bredren, on dis occasion dere will be no hymns, no sermon, but de whole congregation will jine me in the de little lines I has wrote for dis occasion :
Glory hallelu-yoo; We's got de pew- We's got de pew.'
"When a certain Atlantic steamer arrived at its dock in New York recently, that great city joined- aye, the whole of Manhattan island joined - in the grand acclaim, 'We has got Depew; we has got Depew!'
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"Up to that instant there had been apathy, and indifference and languor and inertia, but from that in- stant the inspiration came, and the wonderful assem- blage here is the greatest evidence of the result. But, sir, carrying out the analogy, they ought to give us the fair, and keep Depew. [Laughter.]
"The selected site in New York has physical obstructions, avenues cut through it in all directions. It has difficulties of unevenness. It requires a vast expenditure of money to purchase and tear down build- ings, and it requires the expenditure of a vaster sum to blast out its rocks.
"It needs professional dynamite to blow up the constitution of the state, to occupy the site legally for an exposition. I know that I reflect some legal minds of New York city when I say this. I know it requires an act of condemnation to occupy some of that land, and by the right of eminent domain for individual enterprises. I know more, that one gentleman in this room, in this distinguished body from New York, followed the announcement of the selection of that site with a deliberate and true report, and to what effect ? That it was utterly unsuited; that it was, physically, almost an impossibility to use it for the purposes indicated; and he gave figures to show that throughout the entire domain, so selected, there was not room enough for the erection of a machinery hall of adequate proportions and capacity. But how the blandishments of the distinguished orator of New York could change the physical conditions of that ground is more than I am able to say. The New York Times gave, at length, the article of the then critic of the site, and pronounced him as skilled an expert in real estate matters as any other man within that municipality.
"Grounds to the extent of one or two or six or ten hundred acres, on our broad plains, in and around Chicago are at our service. There is not a house to
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buy, and not a rock to blast. Not $1 of rent to pay out of this guarantee fund. Throughout the length and breadth of this land there can be found no city of ade- quate population and adequate resources that can pre- sent to the congress of the United States such plans and such adaptability of ground to the purposes of the great Exposition as can Chicago. [Applause.]
"And here again I listened with intense interest to the speech on that subject by the gentleman who ad- dressed you in reference to the agricultural advan- tages of location at New York, led by that distin- guished 'friend of the grangers,' of whom I can only say Chicago is very proud, and whom she would have been willing to have elected to preside over all the granges of the United States.
"Now, what are the facts in regard to the farmer ? It was my privilege a short time ago, as delegate to the St. Joseph convention, to talk among the farmers of the west. They had assembled there from several states. What did they say ? I will tell you what they said: 'We have been treated most abominably at every great fair held in this country.'
" And I would like to ask that gentleman how long has it been since there has been an agricultural exposi- tion in New York ? Some gentleman said, 'Two cen- turies and a half ago,' but that is beyond my time. That wonderful agricultural state (New York) has per- mitted centuries to pass without a single suitable rep- resentation of that interest. Does Chicago act likewise ? Chicago and St. Louis circles were handled delicately by Mr. Depew this morning. He has a very happy faculty of insinuating and driving in the needle so dex- terously that no man complains, but it stings just the same. [Laughter.] I saw a smile playing on his coun- tenance as he drove in his points. I know he is very adroit in handling these matters.
"Mental adroitness sporting over disjointed facts and fallacies reminds me of the squirrel sporting over the
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top of a ramshackle fence; the agility we admire, but not the fence.
" What is the truth ? The farmers of this country overwhelmingly want Chicago, and I speak advisedly, for I have watched the agricultural journals of the coun- try on that subject, and they want the fair at Chicago; and why ? Simply because in the magnificence of New York's appropriation for the agricultural exhibit, as I had occasion lately to say, they devote to it ten acres, and any strong, spirited, high mettled animal of the west would paw the earth and snort his contempt for such a pitiful appropriation.
"Ten acres for this magnificent agricultural site ! What for ? New York ? No! What for ? For the vast domain of America ? Oh, yes; South America and Mexico as well. 'Ten acres ! !
"Answering this suggestion for making ample pro- vision for the most extensive farm and stock exhibits, the New York official circular of the world's fair com- mittee attempts to turn it into ridicule. Chicago, while projecting an exposition on the grandest scale possible for this country, embracing the fine arts and the most delicate products in every department of human skill, is not unmindful of the most ancient and the most use- ful of all the vocations of man. Nor does she propose to stint such rural exhibitors, as at the New York ex- hibition of 1851, and, indeed, at all exhibitions hitherto; but, on the contrary, offers hundreds of acres for those exhibits alone. Doubtless there may be some dainty souls who dread to encounter 'country bumpkins and mammoth pumpkins,' and yet who are partial only to live stock such as snub-nosed pugs, with ribboned necks and heads pillowed in their masters' laps in frescoed chambers.
"But the people prefer to see the live stock such as Webster loved, and Clay loved, and Grant loved; su- perb horses, with arched necks, flashing eyes and fault- less forms, sniffing the morning air and neighing, as if
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in consciousness of nobility of blood, and flying like the wind over broad fields under the canopy of heaven.
"And yet, even he (Webster) as well as ninety-nine hundredths of plain, sensible people of this country, came within the scathing of the New York World's committee, for he was wont, to my certain knowledge, 'to sit upon his front steps,' and the Healy portrait shows his wife 'opening the door for him.'
' He knew whose gentle hand was at the latch Before the door had given her to his eyes.'
"As I passed a moment since through yon Supreme court room, the bust of John Marshall recalled the his- toric fact that he was noted for 'primitive simplicity.' He, doubtless, sat on his front steps; and then sat on the bench of that great tribunal, first made illustrious by his unerring and luminous decisions.
"Who of us does not recall the misgivings expressed as to Grant's rapid promotion because he had once 'driven his own wood cart in the west?' Granted, and he mounted a chariot of glory worthy of a Cæsar. He commanded the mightiest host that ever trod the earth; and still more, he commanded himself. When roaming over the world as a private citizen, he pre- served his imperturbable self-possession, and received in quiet dignity the willing homage of the peoples and potentates of the earth.
"And yet another son of the west occasioned doubt; for I well remember the gloom of the New Yorkers in the Chicago wigwam at the defeat there of their can- didate by 'a western backwoods lawyer,' Abraham Lincoln. He, too, had 'large hands and large feet,' but also a large heart and a large brain, whence issued words of surpassing eloquence, of tender pathos, of patriotic warning, that rank among the sublimest of all human utterances. Having emancipated a race, and saved the Union, he fell a martyr to liberty, and went among the stars.
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"Mr. Depew admits that whatever else New York has, she has not civic pride. And precisely her want, and Chicago's possession in an eminent degree, of that citizen virtue emphasizes the merits of the latter's candidacy for the fair, and furnishes an assurance, if in her charge, of its magnificent success. When listen- ing to him just now, and realizing that when he opens his mouth he opens a casket rich in jewels of rhetoric and wit, it occurred to me that if the blocks of wit quar- ried from his brain could be converted into blocks of marble, the feet of New York's Goddess of Liberty would not have so long wearied for the want of a ped- estal, nor her eyes so long strained for a glimpse of the Memorial Arch and the Grant Monument."
While this decision of congress was pending, a million ambitious spirits held their breath. George R. Davis and Edwin Walker, with other distinguished Chicagoans, remained in active charge of the cam- paign. Under these influences congress gave a verdict in favor of Chicago; which act was approved by the president of the United States April 25, 1890, entitled, "An act providing for celebrating the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America by Chris- topher Columbus, by holding an international exhibi- tion of arts, industries, manufactures and the products of the soil, mine and sea, in the city of Chicago, in the state of Illinois."
It grew to be a landmark in Chicago's growth. The whole city became a beehive of industry, -strange faces and costumes appeared in our streets. Archi- tects, contractors and decorators multiplied, and. speculation was at flood tide. A single voice seemed to inspire everybody. The Exposition must excel any ever tried before, was the motto. The pioneer spirit was aroused, and pride was stimulated. Eastern conservatism had called us upstarts; now was a chance for recoil. But with all this excitement prudence took the reins, and able men gave direction to the
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