977.311041
L512*
THE LAKE FRONT STEAL
INVOLVED IN
THE ILLINOIS CENTRAL-
SOUTH PARK CONTRACT
Address of Henry W. Lee, C. E., consulting engineer
Greater Chicago Federation, before U. S.
Engineers, January 13, 1913.
SYNOPSIS.
Chicago's Need of Harbor Facilities.
The Best Uses of the Lake Front.
Opinion of Gen. W. H. Bixby, Chief U. S. Engineers.
Message of Mayor Busse.
Report of Chicago Harbor Commission.
Harbor District No. 3 Chosen By. City Council.
"Chicago Plan" Impractical, Dangerous and a Collusion.
Proposed Misuse of Small Parks Funds.
U. S. Supreme Court Decisions Against Illinois Central Title.
Park Act Drawn By Illinois Central Attorney.
Contract Condemned By City Council.
Cases That Contract and Permit Will Settle Out of Court.
One Hundred Years to Construct Proposed Park.
Probability of Voters Refusing Bond Issue.
Organizations Opposed to Lake Front Contract.
Plans to Increase Railroad Nuisance.
Parks Would Seriously Impede Navigation.
Lake Front Should Be Conserved for Best Uses.
LOCAL SMALL
87 ACRES
"Chicago Plan," a Scheme Devised for Benefit of
Illinois Central to Rob the City of the Lake
Front for Ever Proceedings Be-
fore U. S. Engineer.
(From the Calumet Record, Jan. 16, 1913.)
Before Col. Zinn Tuesday a hearing
was held relative to a permit re-
quested by the South Park board to
fill in the entire lake front from Ran-
dolph street to 67th street. Arend
Van Vlissingen, on behalf of the Cook
County Real Estate board, protested
against Col. Zinn presiding over the
hearing, as sworn testimony is on rec-
ord that Zinn had already agreed to
favor the permit, therefore the hear-
ing before him was as much of a farce
as a trial before a judge who had al-
ready decided the case.
Representatives of the Chicago Plan
commission, the Chicago Association
of Commerce and the Chicago Real
Estate board favored the project.
As $2,000,000 local small parks
funds are about to be spent to build
a breakwater for the I. C. and save
the road thousands annually in shore
protection and millions of dollars'
worth of public land is also to be given
to the railroad in exchange for noth-
ing, The Calumet Record and its editor
have fought the steal ever since it
first became public in the fall of 1911.
The following is the address of Henry
W. Lee in fall:
Address of Henry W. Lee, consulting
engineer Greater Chicago Federa-
tion, at Hearing Held Before Col.
Geo. A. Zinn, Jan. 14, 1913, On Ob-
jections to Granting Permit to the
South Park Commissioners to Fill
in Lake Michigan from Randolph to
67th Streets for Park Purposes.
Lake Michigan is the greatest geo-
graphical asset of Chicago. Nearly
every great city in the world is lo-
cated at the end of deep water navi-
gation. Indeed, it can be readily seen
that this stragetic commercial loca-
tion is the chief reason for the exist-
ence of most of the world's great cities
at these points. The necessary and
most important uses of Lake Michi-
gan and the lake shore may be stated
as follows in the relative order of
their importance, according to many-
decisions of the Supreme court of the
United States, the Supreme court of
the state of Illinois and various ex-
pert authorities: domestic uses, navi-
gation, fisheries, sanitation (sewage
dilution), bathing beaches, excursion
boats and other pleasure boats, ice,
skating, ice boating, and as a piece of
scenery.
The situation at Chicago, America's
"Great Central Market," the world's
greatest railroad center, the end of
the Great Lakes deep water navigation
and the terminus of the Lakes to the
Gulf waterway, all these conditions
make it necessary to provide at Chi-
cago ample dockage, harbor and ter-
minal facilities to take care of not
only Chicago's own city trade but also
the great commerce of the country,
exchanging between rail and water,
or between large and small vessels
from West to East and vice versa,
from South to North and from all
these points via the Illinois and Mis-
sissippi rivers and the Gulf through
the Panama canal to the ports of the
world; and by way of the Great Lakes
and the proposed Georgian Bay canal,
or other route for deep draft vessels,
are even greater possibilities leading
direct to Europe and the world's great-
est commercial centers, or via the en-
larged Erie barge canal to New York
City and other eastern cities. Other
canals are contemplated between
Lakes Michigan and Erie and from
Lake Michigan via the Calumet, Tip-
pecanoe, Wabash and Ohio rivers for
another Lakes to the Gulf route. The
Calumet-Sag channel is now under
construction, making another connec-
tion between Lake Michigan and the
Drainage Canal. These make Chicago
the focus of the greatest waterway
development in all history.
Thus it is seen that by reason of its
natural waterways the city was lo-
cated here and. soon became the
world's greatest railroad center. Its
position at almost the exact center of
population of the United States, its
unequalled facilities for factories in
the matter of transportation by rail
and water, convenience of assembling
raw materials and distributing the
finished product to all parts of the
country and the world, and its unex-
celled labor market all these things
make it the duty of Chicago to con-
serve all its necessary terminal trans-
fer, dockage and harbor facilities not
only because it is good business, but
because Chicago owes this duty to the
nation as America's "Great Central
Market." The Chicago Daily News
last Saturday in an editorial said:
"Better harbor facilities are urgently
I required not only to bring back to
Chicago some of its lost lake com-
merce, but to preserve the lake com-
merce that is left to us."
No one spot in Chicago can be
called Chicago's harbor. This North
Side proposition is just one unimpor-
tant item. The harbor of a city is
the aggregate of all its water terminal
facilities, lake, river, bay, etc.
New York City has over three hun-
dred docks. The city itself owns 76
docks and they are worth in earning
power over $200,000,000. Baltimore,
Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco,
New Orleans, all these and many oth-
er cities have municipal docks which
are of incalculable value to the cities
themselves and to the country at
large.
Chicago's Harbor.
Chicago's harbor properly includes
all branches of the Chicago and Calu-
met rivers, the lake front, the Drain-
age Canal, Lake Calumet and a part
of Wolf Lake in fact, all the water-
ways within or adjoining the city that
are adaptable to practical use for
docks and terminal facilities. The
federal engineer has approved a sug-
gestion of mine to the council harbor
committee that municipal docks
should be built and maintained by
the city on all of these waterways
with additional docks as the city's
growth requires at intervals of three
to five miles so that the boat loads
of coal, building material or miscella-
neous cargoes can be brought as near
the final consumer as possible, elim-
inating a long teaming haul (the most
expensive of all transportation) and
obviating excessive congestion at any
one point or at a few points.
For this reason municipal docks
were advised on the rivers, interior
lakes and channels and the lake front.
Take the single item of coal alone
it costs $3.50 a ton by rail from east-
ern points to Chicago. By boat it
costs 40 cents. Coal can be brought
by boat a thousand miles almost as
cheaply as it can be teamed a mile
in Chicago. This will give some idea
of the necessity of harbor facilities
and the criminal folly of any act that
would destroy forever a great portion
of Chicago's harbor facilities.
The Best Uses of the Lake Front.
The highest and best uses of the
lake front are municipal docks located
at convenient intervals for commerce,
fisheries and the excursion business;
recreation piers, bathing beaches and
a promenade like the famous board
walk at Atlantic City, where all the
people in throngs of tens of thousands
can walk along the shore and enjoy
the lake, where the children can play
in the sand a most necessary feature
of all bathing beaches, the sand con-
stitutes almost as much of a charm
as the water. No expensive automo-
bile speedway is needed here, but
such development as I have described,
where all the people can enjoy this
splendid and inspiring recreation
which has been niched from them,
stolen and trespassed upon for sixty
years by the Illinois Central railroad,
that "old man of the sea" astride the
neck of Chicago that has not only
robbed this city of its chief asset for
more than half a century, but that by
means of a legislative enactment
drafted by the railroad's own attor-
ney, and now with the assistance of
the StocK Yards South Park board,
and the accommodating acquiescence
of the mayor of Chicago, and the pend-
ing consent of the war department of
the United States the plan now
is to grant the railroad upwards of
67 acres additional land, to confirm
its holdings which are illegal, and to
increase and perpetuate the barrier of
railroad tracks, smoke and noise that
now senarptes the people from the
health and life-giving lake. This plan
would destroy the lake front for all
its higheet and bst us^s and reduce
it merelv to a piece of scenery for
fv,-, <->hi'pf benefit of automobile speed-
ers.
There will be no place in Chicago
for lake front municipal wharves any-
where near the center of the city if
this permit is granted. Beginning at
the Indiana state line, Calumet park,
the E. J. & E. R. R., the American
Smelting & Refining Co., and the Iro-
quois Iron Co. occupy the lake front
to the Calumet river. North of this
the Illinois Steel Co.'s plant extends
to 79th street. From here to 75th
street is the only stretch on the South
Side where the people have free ac-
cess to the lake. A municipal bath-
ing beach and several private beaches
are here. From 75th street to 71st
street is private ownership dwell-
ings. From 71st street to 67th street
the South Shore Country club is lo-
cated.
The permit requested covers the
lake front from 67th street to Ran-
dolph street. It seems that the first
permit did not cover a wide enough
stretch so that more is now required
even there. Perhaps the 4,000-foot
strip will also be increased lakeward
by future permits if the one now pend-
ing be granted, which Heaven forbid.
The Illinois Central terminal occupies
the space between Randolph street
and the Chicago river. North of the
river the ownership is uncertain. Chi-
cago Harbor District No. 1 is located
here, but no progress is being made.
An alleged joker has been tardily
found in the bill after a ye.ar's scru-
tiny. It has been charged that even
here the park authorities threaten to
take possession. North of Ohio street
the lake front is entirely taken up
with boulevards and parks with pow-
er of extensions to a point far north
of harbor availability.
This it is seen that the granting
of this permit would destroy forever
the highest and best uses of the lake
front for Chicago. Navigation with-
out proper landing places and ter-
minal facilities is possible.
Highest Authority in United States.
The truth is always the truth, no
matter by whom spoken. But as great
names seem to be able to gild the lily
and paint the rose, I will quote the
highest possible authority in the
United States on this point. I will
first quote from an address made by
neneral W. H. Bixby, now chief of
IT. S. engineers, before the Chicago
Harbor commission and appearing in
,the report of said commission, dated
1909. on pages 309 to 320:
"The main duty of the war depart-
ment in such matters is to safeguard
naturally useful waterways from be-
ing abandoned or destroyed or used
for some other purpose. . . .
"It is not specially the business of
the war department to show how a
harbor can be built. . . but . . .
to see specially that the areas useful
for such purposes are preserved, so
as to retain their navigable uses, to
retain their potentiality so that they
can be used in such a way later on.
"The act of March 3, 1899, under
which the war department now acts
. . . gives the Secretary of War
the power to stop the construction of
anything which interferes with navi-
gation or is liable to interfere with
navigation.
"When they (the federal govern-
ment) put the breakwater in front of
Grant Park originally it was with the
expectation that the piers and docks
of the Illinois Central railroad would
be gradually extended down south-
ward, and just as fast as boats wanted
docks they would build them' and they
would all be under the protection of
the breakwater, and after all the
ground behind the original breakwater
had been used up, they expected to
extend the breakwater south, but they
didn't exactly know how the condi-
tions that obtained in the deed of
donation of Grant Park to the public
held."
"But just because the park occupies
a portion of the lake front, because
it is there and because it is useful
for other purposes, because it is pleas-
ant as a park is no reason why they
(Chicago) should necessarily sacrifice
all the rest of the lake front harbor.
"Every engineering officer who has
been in the district since 1867 and
who came to it from other districts
where they have had other boats and
other harbors in front of them has
sided with that original board, and
has felt that if * * * there ever
was to be a good harbor in Chicago
one that could expand with the city
it would have to go out into the
lake. * * *
"The interests of all other harbors
on the Great Lakes are entitled to a
great deal of consideration in any-
thing that is done in Chicago. So
long as the only action in progress
is that of using Lake Michigan's nav-
igable 'waters for purposes of naviga-
tion and commerce, I don't have much
to do in my office except look on.
* * * But when any one com-
mences to destroy navigation possi-
bilities it is my business to protest
and to make reports to Washington
and take any other action as seems
proper. * * *
"The War Department holds every
engineer in charge of districts re-
sponsible for protecting and safe-
guarding navigation needs of the gen-
eral public. That includes the com-
merce of the Great Lakes that wants
to come to Chicago. * * * And
that department holds him responsi-
ble for protecting all these navigation
interests in the individual cases actu-
ally in progress and in safeguarding
them from matters not actually com-
menced but liable to come up. When
I came to look around I found there
was not a foot of frontage on the lake
from Wisconsin down to Indiana
where a man could erect a legal
wharf. He could put it up at his own
risk and take his chances on taking
it down. * * * But I found that
the Park Commission, under the act
of May 14, 1903, could occupy the
shores to the exclusion of any one
else from the Indiana state line to
about 95th street; then skip the Calu-
met River front and the Illinois Steel
Company's property, and they could
then go from north of the Illinois
Steel Company's property, about 79th
street, up to Jackson Park. You see,
they were already occupying Jackson
Park. Then from Jackson Park up to
Grant Park there was a place that
no one was doing anything, and the
Park Commissioners did not have any
special act authorizing them to step
in there. But Grant Park, of course,
was occupied and has been for fifty
or sixty years. Then came the Mich-
igan Central Railroad piers, which
have been there from olden days, but
they could not spread them out any-
where or do anything else with them.
And then when you get north of that
and get to Indiana avenue, from there
to Lincoln Park is a boulevard, that
the park controls. Then comes Lin-
coln Park, and beyond that they have
state authority under an old law to
go from Lincoln Park to Lawrence
avenue, and to that extent they have
had the authority and permission of
the Secretary of War. Then their,
6
:state authority authorized them to ex-
tend all the way up to Devon avenue.
* * * Now, this present law comes
in and, of course, allows them to go
anywhere.
"This gives over thirteen miles of
the city front dedicated to park pur-
poses and practically the only length
that is left available for. lake harbor is
five or six miles between Grant Park
and Jackson Park. That is every-
thing that is left. Now, if this were
to be used, that is the only thing that
is left for your next fifty or sixty
years.
"Now, if there were to be a harbor
if that place from Grant Park down
were ever to be used for a harbor
it would be natural to expect the gen-
eral government to build a break-
water out there * * * about a
mile from shore, so that it would be
practical to put in anything that was
wanted: slips and docks, and make
any arrangements so that boats could
pass behind that into the Chicago
River. It would be practical to allow
one thousand feet width of strip along
the shcre next to the Illinois Central
to be used for track accommodation
of all the railroads in the city that
might desire to reach these piers and
slips. There would be room enough
in this 'area for nearly every railroad
in the city to build its own piers and
docks enough to take care of its share
of the general commerce, or for a cor-
poration, a docks corporation, to go in
there and do it, or even the city it-
self could go in and establish a dock
organization that would be available
for all railroads and other transpor-
tation companies. * * * Now,
boats of all sizes could run right in
there, the biggest on the lakes, no
matter how big, if they get to be
eight or nine hundred feet long, they
could get in there. * * * There
would be a chance to do something.
* * *
"Chicago needs some kind of a har-
bor equipped to handle goods, so that
it will attract shipping instead of do-
ing some of the things we have done
to drive it away; and if that is done,
I think we will be astonished at the
results. We have no such place now
and we cannot possibly have on the
Chicago River. I can name at least
four reasons-, any one of which is suf-
ficient to dispose of the subject. * * *
"The question is, where should the
harbor be placed, if it cannot be
placed in these (Calumet & Chicago)
rivers? The Illinois shore is limited.
In fact, we have no place to put the
harbor that wilF do the work entirely
except in the center of the city, as
near as possible, with approaches for
all railroads."
I will next quote from Part I of the
Commission's report (page 1) : "The
Harbor Commission created primarily
to consider the question as to whether
any part of the Chicago lake front
should be reserved for possible future
harbor uses, was not limited to the
consideration of that one question.
The resolution creating it called for
a comprehensive study and detailed
report on Chicago's -harbors and their
relation to railway terminals and
park plans. * * *
"In 1903 and 1907 the General As-
sembly of Illinois enacted laws au-
thorizing the Board of South Park
Commissioners to take possession for
park purposes of that portion of the
lake front lying between Grant Park
and Jackson Park. Under these laws
that Commission was proceeding to
acquire by agreement the riparian
rights of land owners, chief among
them the Illinois Central Railroad
Company.
"These riparian rights secured, the
Park Commission planned the devel-
opment of park areas and lagoons.
"Apparently the only thing needed
to complete the dedication for park
purposes, to the exclusion of naviga-
tion uses, was the consent of the War
Department.
"January 6, 1908, Mayor Busse sent
to the city council a special message
calling attention to the legislation re-
ferred to and the plans of the South
Park Commissioners. In this message
the mayor indicated that nearly all
of Chicago's lake front was already
dedicated to park purposes, to the ex-
clusion of navigation which may re-"
quire harbor accommodation in por-
tions of the lake front in the develop-
ment of the city as a port. Accom-
panying the message was a copy of a
letter from the mayor to the Secre-
tary of War asking a hearing before
permission to complete the park plan
should be granted. * * *
"Appended are copies of Mayor
Busse's message to the city coun-
cil. * * *
Message of Mayor Busse.
"It is a notorious fact that the lake
commerce of Chicago, once the pride
and boast of this city, has been stead-
ily decreasing. * * * The one and
only reason for Chicago's decline in
this respect is the inconvenience and
inadequacy of its harbor facilities.
* * * The time has come when
Chicago must decide whether it will
depend for the future entirely upon
the harborage afforded by the Chicago
River and the Calumet River or
whether it should not take steps to
utilize at least some portion of its
lake front for shipping purposes. Leg-
islation was enacted at the last ses-
sion of the General Assembly, which
contemplates turning over to the vari-
ous park boards, practically all of our
lake front for development and beau-
tification as adjuncts to our park sys-
tems. We are all proud of our splen-
did system of parks and boulevards.
We all want to see them grow, but
no city, and particularly no strictly
industrial and commercial city, such
as Chicago is, can thrive on beautifi-
cation alone. Lake commerce played
a large part in making Chicago what
it is. I do not believe it wise to ig-
nore entirely that advantage which
Chicago has by reason of its location,
and it is only a question of time when
that advantage will be lost, unless we
secure other harborage facilities than
those afforded by the Chicago and
Calumet rivers. If lake commerce
cannot find convenient accommodation
at Chicago, it will go to the harbors
being developed just over the state
line in Indiana, just as certainly as
water runs down hill.
"Practically all of our lake front
that has not been already dedicated
to park purposes is that comparative-
ly short stretch of shore line between
Twelfth street and Jackson Park. Un-
der the legislation enacted last spring,
this will also be turned over to the
South Park Board as soon as the War
Department gives its consent. * * *"
From copy of Mayor Busse's letter
to the Secretary of War (page 7), I
quote:
* * * I desire particularly,
however, to call your attention to one
portion of this plan of which I do not
approve; that is, the filling in of the
lake on the lake front from Twelfth
street to Jackson Park, a distance of
five and one-half miles in length, for
some little distance from the shore
line, for park purposes, then lagoons,
and beyond more park land, out to the
navigable water. This would forever
prevent the city, should it wish to do
so, from using this portion of its lake
front for docks and wharves for com-
mercial purposes, as at Duluth, Cleve-
land, Buffalo and other ports. * * *
There is no other portion of our lake
front that could be used for this pur-
pose which would be adequate. * * *
"The Park Commissioners can, at
the present time, ignore the commer-
cial interests of the city of Chicago
in this matter unless the city be as-
sisted by the Federal Government,
acting in the interests of general com-
merce and navigation, to prevent the
loss of this lake frontage and for com-
mercial purposes to the city forever.
"Chicago has developed its wonder-
ful prosperity from its commerce and
manufactures. Its future growth, both
artistic and practical, depends upon
its commerce, and I feel that its
growth and prosperity will be checked
very largely forever if our lake com-
merce Is retarded by the proposed
plan of the Commercial Club and the
Park Commissioners in respect to the
lake front from Twelfth street to
Jackson Park. * * * The Lake
Carriers' Association, representing the
interests of the entire system of the
Great Lakes, is strongly of my opin-
ion."
Harbor Commission Report.
Returning now to the report of the
Chicago Harbor Commission, I quote
from page 41:
"The question now presented to this
community is whether the lake front,
from Grant Park to Jackson Park,
shall be permanently dedicated to
park purposes, to the entire exclusion
of harbor development and of naviga-
tion.
"While the Harbor Commission is
not prepared to make an affirmative
8
recommendation as to the extent and
nature of any possible harbor develop-
ment in the area between Grant Park
and Jackson Park, it does believe
most strongly that no park develop-
ment should be favored which will for-
ever prevent the possibility of utiliz-
ing a portion of this area for harbor
purposes. * * *
"It has been pointed out by advo-
cates of lake front harbor develop-
ment that at Sixteenth street seven-
teen trunk lines are located within a
mile of the lake front. Connections
between these railroads and the lake
front could be secured by possible sub-
way development, or by the existing
overhead rail lines running to the lake
front at Sixteenth and Forty-first
streets, which lines could be widened,
if necessary, to afford adequate track
accommodations.
"It has also been suggested to the
Commission that utilization of the
lake front for navigation purposes
would not impose upon the public the
necessity of condemning the rights of
riparian owners or compensating
them, either by money payments or
by cessions of land. * * *"
On November 20, 1911, the City
Council of the City of Chicago, by
unanimous vote, passed five ordi-
nances creating certain harbor dis-
tricts. (Council proceedings pages
1787 to 1792.)
Harbor District No. 1 included all of
the Chicago River and the lake front
from the south side of the river to
Chicago avenue and extended lake-
ward one mile.
Harbor District No. 2 included the
lake front from the south side of the
river to the south side of Randolph
street and extended lakeward one
mile.
Harbor District No. 3 included the
lake front from the south side of
Grant Park to the south side of 31st
street and extended lakeward one
mile.
Harbor Districts Nos. 4 and 5 in-
cluded lands and waters in the Calu-
met District of Chicago.
Section 3 of the ordinance creating
Harbor District No. 3 provided (page
1790):
"Section 3. The aforesaid lands and
submerged lands shall be acquired,
owned, used, occupied and reclaimed
by the City of Chicago as soon as may
be for the future construction, main-
tenance and operation thereon of har-
bors, canals, wharves, docks, piers,
slips, levees and all other appropriate
harbor facilities and improvements
and operation of all elevators, vaults
and warehouses (including cold stor-
age warehouses), as may be a neces-
sary adjunct or incidental to trans-
portation, and all other necessary and
appropriate harbor and terminal facil-
ities, as authorized and provided by
the aforesaid Act of the General As-
sembly of the State of Illinois."
The creation of Harbor District No.
3 was an expression by the agency of
the State of Illinois, the City Council
of the City of Chicago, of the need of
a harbor along the lake front from
12th to 31st streets, and, so far as it
went, was in harmony with General
Bixby's recommendation above quoted,
even to the extent of fixing the east-
ern harbor limit at one mile from
shore the location proposed by Gen-
eral Bixby for the protecting govern-
ment breakwater.
The Act of the Assembly last re-
ferred to provides that the grant to
the city of the submerged lands shall
take precedence over any grant of the
same lands to the park authorities,
provided the city elects to use such
lands for harbor purposes before the
park authorities elects to use them for
park purposes. At date of passage of
ordinance the Park Commissioners
had not taken action with respect to
the submerged lands embraced in said
Harbor District No. 3 and the City of
Chicago and the public harbor had
precedence.
"Chicago Plan" an Impractical Dream.
The Chicago Plan has been looked
upon as a divinely inspired document
handed down from on high with about
the same degree of authenticity as the
Book of Psalms, or Deuteronomy, or
the Revelations of St. John the Divine.
It is a copyrighted, patented, ready-
made scheme, a purple dream of land-
scape and waterscape gardening that
was not made by any official govern-
ment body, but that was prepared at
great expense and carefully promoted
and foisted upon the public by a body
of self-appointed guardian angels of
9
Chicago's destiny. These gentlemen
were never known before to be guilty
of such reckless generosity and public
spirit and at the time the so-called
Chicago Plan was first promulgated it
was a matter of general wonder why
these gentlemen were so suddenly and
tremendously solicitous for the wel-
fare of the dear people. The real pur-
pose of the Chicago Plan and its pub-
lic-spirited promoters did not become
known until this Illinois Central-South
Park contract was smoked out of its
hiding place by the ordinance for Har-
bor District No. 3. Thus the Chicago
Plan, with its purple tinted dreams is
seen to be but a ruse and a means of
bringing about a great steal of public
lands, and our idol's feet are made of
clay.
Personally, I should like to see the
$2,000,000 cash of our small parks
money that the South Park Board has
been playing with for five years I
would like to see this spent for the
purpose for which the bonds were is-
sued, instead of building a breakwater
to protect the I. C. tracks that will
cost more than that sum.
The Supreme Court has decided in
the Grant Park case, to which Mont-
gomery Ward was a party, that land
once dedicated for park purposes can-
not be used for other purposes. The
contracts between the Illinois Central
and the South Park Board have al-
ways been careful to state "for park
purposes," instead of "for public pur-
poses." So that, no matter what
promises are made, once the lake
front is given up to the South Park
Board its uses for harbor purposes are
gone forever.
The city and state authorities and
the people place great confidence in
the War Department. It cannot be
used as a convenient tool for wealthy
interests, as can most of our other
governing bodies. Therefore it is with
confidence and hope that we appeal to
the War Department to refuse the
permit for this scheme that will not
only destroy the lake front for its
highest and best uses navigation,
fisheries, bathing beaches, etc., but
that will consummate the biggest steal
of public lands and public rights in
the history of this state. While the
department's chief concern is with
navigation, the permit is requested for
a certain alleged purpose. The park
plans are sketched out on the plat
accompanying the request, and as
such these plans are included legiti-
mately in this discussion.
Park Act Drawn by R. R. Attorney.
The legislative act empowering the
South Park Board to make these lake
front contracts was drawn by Mr.
John G. Drennan, attorney for the Illi-
nois Central Railroad.
The Illinois Central has always
taken a lively interest in legislative
proceedings, but never before in such
a humanitarian manner. And it is
difficult to picture the railroad at-
torney sweating and laboring and
burning the midnight oil in framing
up this legislation for the benefit of
the dear public and the South Park
board. Why this sudden generosity?
Yet we must believe it, for we find
on page 1161 of the Chicago City
Council Proceedings of September 27,
1909, an opinion of Howard M. Hayes,
assistant corporation counsel, on the
South Park Act. He says, among other
things: "My conclusion on this sub-
ject is concurred in by Mr. R. C. Hol-
lett, who was attorney for the South
Park Commissioners at the time the
Act of 1907 was introduced in the leg-
islature as well as by Mr. John G.
Drennan, who assisted in the drafting
of the bill." This was in 1909, when
Mr. Hayes was young and guileless.
But his testimony is unimpeachable,
for since that time his ability has been
so conspicuous that it has won him a
place in the firm of Redfield, Sexton
& Tolman, expert municipal and park
attorneys, with side lines for secur-
ing favorable ordinances for sub-
j sidewalk users and the notorious Mar-
; shall Field Washington Street base-
ment grab. Thus are we hoist upon
our own petard.
After the Illinois Central had se-
cured the passage of the desired park
legislation, it waited for a few years
until the right kind of accommodat-
ing gentlemen were appointed upon
the park board. They are there now,
mostly stock yards financiers, stock'
yards bankers, stock yards lawyers,
and other stock yards hangers-on.
The stock yards railroad, the Chicago
Junction Railroad, connects with the
Illinois Central at about 41st Street.
10
The contract, which is under discus-
sion, became known only when the
creation of Harbor District No. 3
threatened to thwart the lake front
steal. Then pictures of the Chicago
plan were published, and the Mayor
was induced to veto the measure.
Scheme Repudiated by City Council.
It was my privilege and pleasure to
show up the steal to the City Council
Committee who thereupon repudiated
an ordinance confirming the contract.
Then Judge Honore heard the ca~e.
You see the legislation was carefully
drawn, and allowed several different
ways to confirm the contracts. The
judge confirmed the contracts in spite
of the protests of the objecting tax
payers. I am pleased to state that 49
per cent of this judge's decisions are
reversed on appeal, according to Chi-
cago Tribune statistics.
The City Council had passed a reso-
lution condemning the contract, which
the mayor also kindly vetoed, and then
the council passed an order requesting
the Secretary of War and Chief of
Engineers not to grant any permits
for filling the lake front without a
public hearing. The city beautiful ag-
gregation found this order awaiting
them in Washington last summer, and
the Secretary of War also told them
that he had no authority under the
law to grant the permit. (This was
the first permit recently granted.) The
"city beautiful" planners then found
a congressman sufficiently accommo-
dating who had a bill passed in jig
time. Then the public hearing was
held and the permit granted. The
principal gain under the first permit
was the location of the Field Museum
at 12th Street. This chief piece of
scenery gained, there remains now no
good reason for spoiling the rest of
the south side lake front. I was at
first greatly disappointed but now it
seems that the federal engineers are
going to take all that is good in the
scheme and reject all that is bad.
Supreme Court Decisions.
In Vol. 146 U. S. Supreme Court
Reports, pages 376-476, covering cases
Illinois Central v. The People, City of
Chicago v. The Illinois Central and
the State of Illinois v. The Illinois
Central we find the following deci-
sions:
"The bed or soil of navigable waters
is held by the people of the state in
their character as sovereign in trust
for public uses for which they are
adapted. * * * It is a title held in
trust for the people of the state that
they may enjoy the navigation of the
waters, carry on commerce over them,
and have liberty of fishing therein.
* * *
Parcels of land may be granted for
docks, wharves, etc.," but that is a
very different doctrine from the one
which would sanction the abdication
of the general control of the state
over lands under the navigable waters
of an entire harbor or bay, or of a sea
or lake. Such abdication is not con-
sistent with the exercise of that trust
which requires the government of the
state to preserve 'such waters for the
use of the public." * * *
Here is a section that applies par-
ticularly to this case:
"In the administration of govern-
ment the use of such powers may for
a limited period be delegated to a
municipality or other body, but there
always remains with the state the
right to revoke such powers and exer-
cise them in a more direct manner,
and one more conformable to its
wishes." * * *
State Given Water Front in 1818.
In 1818 when Illinois was admitted
to the Union as a state it was at
first intended that the northern
boundary line should be on a line
with the south end of Lake Michigan.
This city would then be in Wisconsin.
Congressman Nathaniel Pope saw the
necessity of a water front for Illinois.
In 1816 the treaty of Black Partridge
had given Uncle Sam a strip of land
twenty miles wide including both the
Chicago and Calumet Rivers, and ex-
tending from Lake Michigan to the
junction of the Kankakee River and
Des Plaines River. In 1818 Congress-
man Pope had the present boundary
fixed and thus won over sixty miles
of water front for Illinois in order
that the Lakes to the Gulf waterway*
and its lake termini should be largely
in this state, and that each of the
I states near the lake might have water
frontage, Illinois, as well as Michigan,
Indiana and Wisconsin.
11
In 1852 the Illinois Central stole its
present right-of-way most of the dis-
tance from 51st Street to the Chicago
River. Except for a few points that
ran out in the lake, across which the
railroad had to buy its right of way,
the road was built on piles in the lake
from 300 to 600 feet from the shore.
The intervening space has been filled
in since with debris, ashes, etc. The
ruins of the great Chicago fire fur-
nished a great part of the material.
I. C. Has No Shore Title.
The Supreme Court has repeatedly
decided against the railroad in suits
as to its title. The suit in which my
friends and I are parties will soon be
taken to the Supreme Court. The City
and State are also suing the road and
deny its title to a great part of its
right-of-way. Honorable Theodore K.
Long has signed an opinion that the
railroad is a trespasser, therefore 1
am inclined to believe that the Su-
preme Court is right in the matter.
It is manifestly improper to settle
these cases out of court while they
are still pending and thus help this
steal.
Now, it is proposed by this contract
and this permit that will consummate
it, not only to confirm the Illinois Cen-
tral in its present illegal holdings, but
to give to the road upwards of 67
acres more land worth millions of
dollars in exchange for alleged ripa-
rian rights which Alderman Long and
the Supreme Court say do not exist.
Therefore this entire deal is a tre-
mendous steal planned by and for the
Illinois Central, and everyone, know-
ing this, who assists in it is not only
a common criminal, but is disloyal to
his city, an enemy of the state, and a
traitor to his country.
100 Years to Complete Plan.
It is proposed to build parkways,
boulevards, lagoons, etc., and to plant
and maintain trees and shrubbery
along the five-mile stretch between
Grant Park and Jackson Park. The
Illinois Central-Grant Park scheme
was perpetrated in 1895, eighteen
years ago. Grant Park, which should
be docks, wharves and slips, has for
eighteen years been the city dump, a
mecca for tramps and a place of as-
signation for abandoned women. The
park board is now building a disposal
station there shades of John Barton
Payne, a disposal station in a park!
The Lord only knows how many more
years it will take to make it a park. It
may be for years and it may be for-
ever.
The same body proposes to park the
lake front for five miles south to Jack-
son Park. Assuming the same con-
spicuous success in park making as
has been the case at Grant Park it is
conservatively estimated that the city
beautiful dream cannot come true
within a hundred years, five times
twenty, or some time along about A.
D. 2015 or 2020.
Then again, all the cost of this
dream park must be borne by the
South Side. It is planned to move the
shore line about 4,000 feet east. This
is nearly a mile. The cost will mount
into the hundreds of millions, and tre-
mendous maintenance cost for up-
keep and protection for the long shore
line, which item will also be saved to
the Illinois Central in addition to the
67-acre land gift. But there is no as-
surance the people will ratify a bond
issue to pay for this nightmare of a
scheme. The entire plan is conceived
in corruption, its progress has been
through a maze of secret meetings,
underhand agreements, disregard for
public rights, and insolence in the face
of the expressed harbor plans of the
City Council and the Federal engi-
neers. If the people of the South Park
district refuse to ratify a bond issue
to pay for this idiotic outer park, the
net result will be 67 acres additional
to the Illinois Central nuisance, a per-
petual and legalized barrier between
Chicago and the lake, and the people
will get nothing.
Threatens Malfeasance Suit.
I desire at this time to make a few
remarks directly to every public offi-
cial connected with this steal. Here-
tofore my friends and I have confined
ourselves to fighting this steal at
every turn in the City Council, in the
Circuit Court, at Washington, and here
before the engineers. We have laid
bare all the facts, they have not been
denied, they cannot. Everyone who
has followed this matter must know
by this time that this plan is a shame-
ful attempt to steal public property
and to present it to the Illinois Cen-
12
tral Railroad, who will doubtless di-
vide the spoils proportionately. A
part of the lake front may legitimately
be used for park purposes, but not
all of it. I, for one, am getting tired
of giving my time and energy and
money to fight a combination of rail-
road thieves and public officials, who
should safeguard the public rights in-
stead of betraying their trust. Mr.
Van Vlissingen and I and our lawyer,
Mr. Levering, are preparing to take
this matter to the Supreme Court of
Illinois. We will do this as soon as
the lapse of time shall forfeit all
grants to the Field museum under the
will, while the Illinois Central fails to
deed the site free of all encumbrance.
Our next move will be to sue the
South Park Commissioners for mal-
feasance in office. Personally, I can-
not imagine these gentlemen of the
stock yards presenting 67 acres to the
Illinois Central unless there is a quid
pro quo. A good size switch yard for
cattle cars on the lake front near 41st
street seems to me to be the most
likely perquisite.
Every organization in Chicago that
has considered this matter in meet-
ings attended by the general member-
ship, has protested against it. The
Chicago Association of Commerce and
the Chicago Real Estate Board, noto-
riously representative of the wealthy
interests only, are the only bodies
that have approved it. Even this, I
understand, was a star chamber pro-
ceeding, merely the action of the
board of directors.
Organizations Opposing Lake Front
Steal.
In open meetings after full discus-
sion and consideration the following
bodies have protested against the
project for which a permit is now
sought from your department: The
Greater Chicago Federation (com-
posed of delegates from upwards of
40 civic and business men's clubs in
Chicago), the Cook County Press Club
(representing over 80 local editors
and publishers), the Cook County Real
Estate Board (whose representative is
here), the South Chicago Business
Men's Association, the South End
Business Men's Association, the Chi-
cago Federation of Labor, other civic
bodies that I do not recall, and a host
of private citizens. I represent sev-
eral of these organizations. They do
not all have time to follow around
these lake front thieves in various
courts, offices and other parts of the
country, but they are all on record
against this project.
Most of the people of Chicago have
never had a chance to know what they
have been cheated out of by the Illi-
nois Central. Those of you who have
been to Atlantic City, or in a smaller
way as may be seen at Windsor Park,
can understand the possibilities. Fam-
ilies go to the beach and spend the
day in the sand, on the piers, under
the trees, boating, bathing and enjoy-
ing the magnificent health-giving, life-
saving lake. Between 51st street and
the river the railroad has stolen the
entire lake front. They have fooled
the Legislature, conspired with the
park board, evaded the City Council
and cheated the public.
I. C. Plans Described.
The Chicago Examiner of June 28,
1912, describes a great terminal for
13 railroads contingent upon the con-
summation of the Illinois Central-
South Park contract. These include,
we are informed, the present roads
using the Illinois Central station: The
Illinois Central, Minneapolis, St. Paul
& Sault Ste. Marie; Cleveland, Cincin-
nati, Chicago & St. Louis; the Mich-
igan Central; South Shore Interurban
and nine other railroads now using
"two great railroad stations in the
heart of Chicago, to be abandoned."
This gives us an idea of how our lake
front will look with 67 more acres of
trains, soot, smoke, switch tracks and
puffing engines between us and the
proposed parkway, which will further
remove the lake a distance of over
4,000 feet from the nearest existing
roadway.
Parks Now Kill Navigation.
Railroads used to run along water-
ways with their own tracks to shut off
the people from possible access to
navigation. Nowadays they get park
boards to assist a fool public to cut
itself off from navigation by building
cement walled automobile speedways
along the water fronts while children
cry for the sand and tired mothers
view the lake through a vista of rail-
road tracks and smoke or speeding
13
automobiles and the sacred odor of
gasoline. Parks can be built any-
where, navigation and harbors only
where the deep water is.
The crime of 1912-13 is almost ac-
complished to take its place in history
with the crime of " "52," the crime of
" "69," and the crime of " "95."
A doctor tending a patient would
not let a thief steal a watch from un-
der the pillow. So the War Depart-
ment, although considering only navi-
gation, should not permit this gigantic
theft, this grand larceny, to proceed
unchecked. Do not allow this old man
of the sea to throttle the port of Chi-
cago. Do not let us lose our grandest
and best asset. Let us not commit
commercial suicide for insincere
dreams that will never come true.
Let us not cut off our own good right
arm. t
Suggestion.
The city council should at once con-
demn desired streets across the I. C.
tracks to the lake shore and compel
the I. C. to elevate, like every other
railroad in Chicago.
Then the people would have free
access to the lake shore, which could
be improved at will.
14
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