Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 October 1899 — CORNER STONE LAID. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

CORNER STONE LAID.

M’KINLEY PERFORMS IMPOSING CEREMONY AT CHICAGO. Wield* a Silver Trowel ill the Kxercise* at the New b ederal BuildingGreat Parade Follows—Soldier* of Three Wars in Line. Under a bright sky. in nn .atmosphere of Indian summer, with bags waving and the strains of the national anthem pealing forth and viewed by throngs at windows and on roofs, the corner stone of the new Chicago Federal building was laid by the President of the United States Monday morning. President McKinley spread u trowelful of gray mortar upon the foundation stone of the great Federal structure. He received it from a shovel handed him by a hod carrier. Workmen more experienced in the art of rearing mighty buildings spread other mortar upon the base. The -comer stone, white and massive in the sunlight, was lowered from a flag-entwined derrick upon the foundation stone, dropping upon and hermetically sealing the copper box containing documents and coins which may not see light for another century. Secretary of the Treasury Gage waved his hands to the multitude. Then, as a band played “The Star-Spangled Banner" and a battery on the lake front boomed the national salute 10,000 persons, standing with uncovered heads, cheered the uation's ruler and the nation’s anthem.

Thousands from the windows and tops of the high buildings about—from the flag-bedecked turret of the Union League Club, the dizzy cornices of the Great Northern, the massive heights of the Mouadnock building—took up the mighty refrain. These persons numbered fully 15.000. Following the example of those who had points of vantage, the tens of thousands who could not see, and had not heard a word, but held back from the proximity to the Federal building by lines of bluecoats, had patiently held their ground for hours, sent up a hoarse cheer. .Vs the stone was falling to its bed, and inch by inch closing the sunlight from the precious box, a member of the First artillery. 1. N. G., signal service, who stood in the presidential stand, wig-wagged his flag thrive. A man on a sky scraper in the vicinity wig-wagged another flag, ami a third man, farther east, waved his flag. And two seconds by the stop watch after the corner stone of the new Federal building was laid the deep-toned salute of the cruiser Michigan and Battery D echoed from the lake front and mingled with the acclamations of the populace. When silence reigned again Secretary Gage, white-haired and distinguished, stood over the huge block of Illinois limestone and said, with dignified emphasis:

“I now pronounce the laying of the corner stone complete. and ask Itev. Frank Gunsaulus to ask God’s blessing.” And the thousands and the tens of thousands bowed their heads as Rev. Gunsaulus called upoii the Supreme being to hold the great structure-to-be in his keeping. The trowel was an insignia of holiday Chicago. With the deft turn of the President’s wrist and the falling of the wet mortar upon the stone was completed that little act about which all other acts, great or small, of the fall festival centered. With the laying of the corner stone at the northeast corner of the structure which is to be Chicago’s magnificent postofflee —the most imposing building in all this city of giant structures—the clt-

max of a week’s festivities bad been reached. Eloquence from jurists, statesmen and divines, the presence of the premiers of three great governments, and the representatives of a dozen other nations made the occasion one calculated to clinch the memory of every spectator. Without a hitch, without a blemish of faj sort, the ceremonies were performed

GOVERNMENT BUILDING AND POSTOFFICE AT CHICAGO.

LAYING OF THE POST OFFICE CORNER STONE.