Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 September 1907 — STEEL TRUST’S CITY, [ARTICLE]

STEEL TRUST’S CITY,

GARY, IND., WILL. BE THE PARA* DISE OF CAPITALISTS. Wonderful Town Which Hu Sprung Up on tke Shore of I.akc Michigan Will Be Corporation Owned and Baled. The town of Gary, Ind., which is being -built at the behest of the magnates of the steel trust, is practically completed. The gigantic steel plant which is to dwarf every industrial plant4haL has ever existed is raising its tall chimneys against the sky, and the great furnaces in whose flow thousands of toilers will find a living are standing with greedy mouths waiting for their food. Down on the sand dunes of Indiana. on a little neck of land stretching into the southern end of Lake Michigan, the new town is rising. Only the qther day there was nothing there but the dreary mounds of sand with a sparse and hungry vegetation accentuating the dreariness. Even the drowsy Calumet, which river flows through the new- city, had a forlorn and lifeless aspect. All that is now changed. The sand dunes have been leveled. The reedy marshes of the river have been filled in, and In place of the few scattered trees modern buildings have arisen, and thousands of laborers have turned the desolate place into a great camp of industry where pick and shovel, mason's ‘ trowel and architect’s measure are busy all day long. Broadway, the principal street, is 3% miles long and 100 feet wide, with 20-foot sidewalks. On every side stores, banks, hotels and office buildings are rising to completion. Two hotels, at a cost of over $50,000, are under way, while a bank building is completed and a, new'spaper office.. Is even now busy publishing a weekly paper, which will soon be a daily. -■ - --- Unique Living Condition*. Twelve thousand men will gain a living in the mills. They will form A great homogeneous majority of the new city’s population, and with the end already in sight the question arises as to (how this great army with their wives and families will live. The place where these men will work will be owned by the United States Steel Corporation, the houses that they will live In will be owned by the same body, they will pay their taxes and receive their light and water at the will of their employers. Such Is the plan, at least, at present, and those who ar# Interested in the great experiment are now inquiring curiously as to what these unique conditions of living will mean.

There are persistent rumors that the packing houses in Chicago will move to Gary and interests allied to the Steel Trust are already beginning to flock to the new city. Fouudries, ship yards, manufactories of bridges, sheet steel* structural iron, tinplate, wire and wire products, and other concerns Into whose business steel enters largely, have already acquired or are seeking sites on which to erect factories. The initial population of Gary will certainly not be below 20,000 and may be more. Guarding Agrainst Strikes. Gary is intended to fulfill the dream of many corporations and the particular dream of the Steel Trust —a town where labor agitation will be unknown and where capital will have full swing. The United States Steel Corporation is leaving no stone unturned to have in Its hands sufficient power to quell Instantly any attempt at a strike. The steel plant is located on one side of the Calumet river, which divides the town Into two parts. Fronted by the river and backed by the lake, it will be almost impregnable to rioting strikers. Swinging bridges across the Calumet will turn it into a mediaeval fortress about which the drawbridges may be swung upwai*d and the enemy cut off while the castle can obtain fresh supplies of defenders and ammunition from the lake steamers. Then, again, when the striker faces raised rates for his light, fuel and transportation, he will probably think twice before striking, or at least such is the hope of his employers. Worker! Nearly All Poles. An Interesting feature of the whole project is that almost the entire population will be Polish. In the’ new town English will be at a discount, and the Pole, with his habitual dislike for departing from his native tongutjpand customs, will have a unique opportunity to find In the English-speaking country to which he is flocking In thousands a city where he will meet only his own countrymen, where the natives of the country will be to all lntents'and purposes foreigners, and where he will be enabled to live his life under the traditions and customs of bis native land.