Rensselaer Republican, Volume 26, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 August 1894 — CITY OF HAMMOND. [ARTICLE]

CITY OF HAMMOND.

The Character of Its Population—linpossible VoJJb SJ>rve_ State ai _ ;ii- , Lines. Chicago Inter Ocean. The city of Hammond is peculiar. It as much an offshoot of Chicago as is South Chicago? Even more so, for South Chicago has a harbor of its own; not very much of a one, still something, while Hammond owes its existence to this city. It came into being as an annex to the stockyards. but has since developed other industries. Its is almost wholly over the Indiana line, but not quite. Four years ago. when the United States was.taking the census of pop Nation and manufactures, no little difficulty was experienced in folio ving the State line. Some manufacturing plants were partly in one Stat? and partly in the other, and neighbors who could sit on their own respective front steps and talk easily in a conversational tone were in some cases citizens of different States. It would be simply impossible to observe State lines in the suppression of a riot in such a city and absurd to try it. Hammond has much the same class of people as Packingtown. No doubt a large majority of the people are law abiding, but there is a very considerable element of the foreignborn laborers who are steeped in the gall of anarchy. They can hardly speak a word of English. They come from those portions of central and southern Europe where despotism has prevailed for centuries. They have an inherited hatred for government, and the moment something occurs to call out that spirit of hatred they all, men, women and children, are aflame with the fire that has come down from one generation to another for centuries. In the old countries they were accustomed to seeing great standing armies constantly watching them and they seem to have an idea that because this country has almost none at all they can indulge their anarchistic tendencies. It is this class of people, in Hammond and Chicago, who are doing the looting, and no small part of the burning.