property interest in life insurance-that is, more people were looking to the life insurance companies than the combined population of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, St. Paul, San Francisco, New Orleans, Brooklyn, and Minneapolis. WOULD PAY THE NATIONAL DEBT. This great army of insured hold policies to the amount of $1,649,484,953. 16, which would pay off the National debt. In the past there have been paid $823,897,319.37 to policy-holders, as losses have occurred. The assets of all the life insurance companies last year were $468,541,788.93, or more than all the railroads in New England cost, more than $100,000,000 in excess of the circulation of all the National banks, and almost equal to the capital stock of all the National banks in this country. As said before, the amount of insurance in force would pay the National debt, and exceed by $108,000,000 the individual deposits in all the National banks. It is generally supposed that the banks of the country control the financial business, but here it will be seen that the life insurance companies owe their patrons $100,000,000 more than do all the banks. And to go further in comparison, the amounts paid in by the policy-holders in premiums in a year was $60,444,996, and the amount paid to policy-holders in the same time, $58,388,283; so it will be seen that the difference is not so great as some suppose. Estimating the population of the United States at 50,000,000, it will be seen that those interested in life insurance equal onetenth of the entire number of people. ESTATES LEFT BY INSURANCE. Some of the largest policies ever paid in life insurance are as follows: Sir Robert Clifton, England, $1,250,000; Abbott Lawrence, Massachusetts, $40,000; W. H. Langley, Galliopolis, Ohio, $300,000; John J. Roe, St. Louis, $200,000; Andrew Johnson, Tennessee, $100,000; Reverdy Johnson, Baltimore, $100,000; C. C. Wait, New York, $100,000; Francis Whittaker, St. Louis, $100,000; W. H. Seward, New York, $100,000; Horace Greeley, New York, $100, 000; W. H. Ferry, Lake Forest, Ill., $50,000Geo. R. Chittenden, Chicago, $76,000; Chas; E. Norwood, Chicago, $75,000; Mahlon D. Ogden, Chicago, $60,000; Wm. F. Coolbaugh. Chicago, $100,000; J. M. Dake, Chicago, $140,000; Sextus N. Wilcox, Chicago, $60,, 000; W. W. Switzer, St. Louis, $310,000Daniel Drew, New York, $150,000; J. M; Beebe, Boston, $100,000; W. H. Ovington. Chicago, $45,000; James A. Garfield, Ohio, $35,000; H. T. Blow, St. Louis, $117,000; J, W. Crafts, Boston, $110,000; Dean Richmond, New York, $106,000; D. S. Voorhes. New York, $50,000. foot, W. H. Chappell, H. D. Colvin, W. B. Phillips, J. L. Norton, Harlow Higgenbotham, Carter H. Harrison, Anson Stager, Erastus N. Bates, A. N. Eddy, Marshall Field, H. A. Rust, William A. Fuller, P. C. Hanford, E. P. Griswold, Frank Parmelee, Ira Holmes, Francis B. Peabody, E. G. Asay, Leander J. McCormick, L. Z. Leiter, Henry Field, Levi L. Atwood, Horace White, David H. Hills, Morris Barbe, A. M. Wright, J. M. Daggett, J. Russell Jones, Robert Law, A. Booth, J. Y. Scammon, H. H. Shufeldt, Lyman Baird, Alfred Cowles, B. Lowenthal, Elbridge G. Keith, Redmond Prindiville, Charles Fargo, Hiram Wheeler, E. G. Mason, Samuel J. Walker, F. A. Bryan, C. F. Gates, David Stettauer, C. B. Nelson, Burch, H. C. Nutt, Potter Palmer, T. M. Morris Einstein, Bernhard Roessing, I. H. Avery, Lewis Morganthau, H. V. Bemis, William H. Bradley, C. J. Hull, L. L. Bond, Charles Gilman Smith, J. Edward Fay, Edward Ely, C. P. Kimball, A. C. Badger, F. A. Stevens, William Sturges, George H. Wheeler, George W. Hart, Charles Schwab, John S. Gould, W. E. Burlock, A. E. Neeley, Robert D. Fowler. THE MUTUAL RESERVE FUND was established in 1881 in New York, in obedience to an imperative demand on the part of the public for a cheap and reliable system of life insurance, which would be within the means of the million, and at the same time prove a perfectly safe way of investing small savings for the benefit of the loved ones. The association is purely mutual in character, but differs from ordinary mutual benefit companies in the possession of a reserve fund, designed to guard against increasing assessments, as its members grow older, and to make the last man" insured as well as the first, equally secure. It also provides against excessive loss through epidemics, etc. This association does not purpose to accumulate large surpluses in excess of what is required to protect its policy-holders; any surplus is immediately placed to the credit of the insured and is employed to pay assessments. The result is, its policies are nearly or quite self-sustaining after about fifteen years. The cost of insurance in this excellent association, which has received the unqualified indorsement of the best insurance experts and actuaries, is best explained by an illustration. The writer, 50 years old, is insured in it for $10,000 at the following cost: Admission fee, $30; medical examination, $3; annual dues, $20; six possible assessments per year (the average has been less than four), $20 each, $120; total, $173. Deducting admission and medical examination fees-which are not required a second time-it costs the man of 50 about $140 a year to carry $10,000 insurance in the Mutual Reserve Fund. The same insurance in the high-rate companies would cost about $475 per year, leaving a difference in favor of the Mutual Reserve Fund Association of An idea of who are some of the large policy holders may be had from the following list: Each man in the appended list carries at least $50,000 life insurance, and most of them considerably more, some of them being insured for over $100,000: S. M. Nickerson, Elisha Eldred, C. I. Peck, N. K. Fairbank, L J. Gage, Nelson Ludington, William Bross, J. O. Rutter, H. Z. Culver, S. D. Kimbark, Ferd W. Peck, C. M. Henderson, J. H. McVicker, Charles Vergho, J. V. Farwell, J. Sherman Hale, Edson Keith, Ebenezer Buckingham, George M. Pullman, T. W. Harvey, Perry H. Smith, W. C. Grant, A. B. Meeker, L. D. Norton, E. W. Blatchford, Albert A. Munger, Frank D. Gray, S. K. Dow, S. H. Ker-,000,000. $335 annually. This is worth considering. The association is entirely reliable, and has promptly paid every loss sustained. The office of its Western Department, at No. 113 Adams street, Chicago, is under the supervision of its Vice-President, Dr. D. M. Caldwell, an accomplished gentleman and physician. Within less than three years this association has placed 17,000 members upon its books, and issued policies covering $75, MERCANTILE. CHAPTER IX. THE WHOLESALE TRADE. WHEN AND BY WHOM IT WAS BEGUN. The first wholesale trader in Chicago is hard to locate, since all the retail stores made a point of fitting out inland camps and stores. As early as 1836 Stiles Burton was in the wholesale grocery and liquor business, and was located at the corner of Lake and State streets. He did a large and lucrative business, as he fitted out many of the smacks and luggers that plied the lakes. L. M. Boyce did a wholesale drug business at No. 121 Lake street, and W. H. & A. F. Clarke did a wholesale drug business at No. 128 Lake street; George Delicker carried on a wholesale grocery at No. 163 Lake street, in 1839, and Harman, Loomis & Co. were also in this line in that year. William Lill was running his brewery on the north lake shore in that year. Nicholson & Co. had a large general wholesale and retail store on North Water street in 1839; G. F. Randolph carried on a wholesale dry goods business at No. 109 Lake street; Robert and James Woodworth were also in the wholesale dry goods business at No. 103 Lake street; George White had a general store and was city crier about this time. BUSINESS BEGINS. In 1850 the wholesale trade had become a definite and separate business. In the dry goods line Cooley, Wadsworth & Co. were the leading house and carried on a large business at No. 205 South Water street; Mills, Bowen, Dillenbeck & Co. were the only other large dry goods house here then, and were located at No. 100 Lake street. The business was not remarkable in the light of the present day, and altogether did not reach five million dollars; still it was great for those days. Barrett, King & Co. were a large gents' furnishing house at No. 189 and 191 South Water street. They did a large business from the fact that they had a partial monopoly of their line. The wholesale grocers were numerous about this date, there being no less than twenty-two firms engaged in that line exclusively. Chicago has always been the second city in the Union, since the war, in the wholesale grocery line, and in 1850 was not far behind Boston or Philadelphia The leading firms at that time were Gould Brothers, No. 135 South Water street; Flanders & Wadsworth, No. 173 South Water street; J. H. Dunham & Co., Nos. 92, 94, and 96 South Water street; Saterlee, Cook & Co., No. 64 Lake street; Warner & Clark, No. 107 South Water street. The wholesale druggists were Barclay Brothers, No. 218 South Water street; Bay & Baldwin, No. 139 Lake street; Brinkerhoff & Penton, No. 94 Lake street. AS THE CITY GREW the wholesale trade advance. In 1865, after and the railroad facilities improved, so did the war, the wholesale houses were more plentiful in Chicago than in any other city except New York. The wholesale grocers were thirty in number, and Day, Allen & Co., J. W. Doane & Co., D. J. Ely & Co., Boynton & Smith, Hinsdale, Sibley & Endicott are some of the prominent firms of that date. They did a business of from $500,000 to $2,000,000, and were shipping goods all through the Northwest. The wholesale dry goods trade was represented in those days by what was then considered large concerns, American & Smith, Bowen Brothers, Carson, Pirie & Co., Cooley, Farwell & Co., Field, Palmer & Leiter, Richards, Crumbaugh & Shaw were some of the merchant princes of those busy times. The wholesale drug men were also noticeable then, for the fat contracts for medicines were letin Chicago. J. H. Reed & Co., Fuller, Finch & Fuller, Smith & Dwyer, Burnhams & Van Schaack are some of the leading wholesalers of that date. The business of the years preceding the fire of 1871 gradually increased. After that date the increase was marvelous, and so great was the expanse of the trade in this city that several smaller cities which had drawn upon CHICAGO AS A BASE OF SUPPLIES turned about and took up the wholesale trade, cutting into Chicago's business considerably. But the natural increase of population in the Northwest has more than doubled the wholesale traffic of this city since the fire, and it is admitted on all hands that capital invested in business here pays a better interest than in any other city. The magnitude of the trade to-day is marvelous, reaching as it does to a business of $30,000,000 for one firm, and overtopping the trade of any other city in the Union in many lines. Chicago to-day stands at the head of certain lines of business, and is second only to New York in any line whatso ever. The importing of tea is a specialty with this city, aud this year the imports promise to be 25 per cent greater than ever before. Ever since 1881 Chicago has imported more tea than any city in the world. The first dry goods house in the country is here, the first millinery establishment, and in the wholesale grocery line but one house' in the country exceeds some of the Chicago establishments, and that is in New York. The half century sees Chicago next to the head. The century will see her, at the same rate of progress, at the head of every commercial city in the world. MARSHALL FIELD & CO. To thousands of people scattered from Maine to California and from Hong Kong to London, Chicago and Marshall Field & Co. are synonymous terms. They are not the same, as any one living in this city can testify, but there are many people in distant parts of the world who hear of the former only because of something sold to or bought from the latter's great dry goods house that the mistake is not so unnatural as might be supposed, for Marshall Field's store is as distinct in its position as an unrivaled dry goods house as the city is in its as the only Chicago. HISTORY OF THE ENTERPRISE. The history of this great commercial enterprise does not date back half a century for its beginning, and it is not a quarter century since the name of Field had any connection with it. Potter Palmer was the founder. He came to Chicago in 1852 and opened a dry goods store in a small, unpretentious store on Lake street, between Clark and Dearborn, which was then in the very heart of trade in the city. The enterprise was a success, and from that small beginning came the great unrivaled Marshall Fieid & Co. In the fall of 1864 Mr. Palmer retired, disposing_of_his interests to Messrs. Marshall Field, L. Z. Leiter and Milton J. Palmer, and the name was changed to Field, Leiter & Palmer. In 1866 Mr. Milton J, Palmer retired and the firm was Field & Leiter, a name that was familiar all over the country, for under that name was achieved some of the greatest triumphs of the establishment. THE FIRST FIRE. In October, 1868, the firm first occupied its present site. The great fire of October 9, 1871, swept away all its wealth of beautiful goods gathered from the four points of the compass, along with the building, but the men at the head were like Chicago and not to be discouraged by a total loss, began at once the rebuilding and in a short time the site of the ruins was reoccupied by a fine building. Again, in 1877, this beautiful trade palace was visited by fire and all was swept away. But the Exposition Building was rented and Field & Leiter occupied that until 1879 when the new marble palace, the best arranged retail store on the continent, was opened. It has been occupied ever since, and the perfect fire-proof structure bids defiance to any more such disasters as have been experienced in the past. WHO MARSHALL FIELD IS. In January, 1881, Mr. Leiter retired from the business, and the firm became "Marshall Field & Company," with Marshall Field at the head. This gentleman is yet in the prime of life, being 48 year old, and a resident of Chiengo since 1868. Of few words, quiet de meanor, unblemished moral character and habits, pleasant manner, liberal, thoroughly public-spirited and sympathetic in nature, is this handsome man, who is to be seen at his desk every day in the wholesale department, managing this great enterprise as though it were a machine with his hand on the lever. The business is dual in its operations-a wholesale house, with its own establishment, management and commercial ramifications, and a retial trade, with its management and special features; each absolutely distinct in every particular. The managers and superintendents of the various departments in the retail store daily visit the wholesale house and make such purchases as they need in their stock, discounting their bills for the cash down, thus buying their goods precisely as do other customers. The cost for all such purchases are regularly paid over by the retail to the wholesale house each day promptly, before the close of banking hours, and no credit whatever is allowed between the houses. IN THE RETAIL STORE, the division is into departments-dress and fancy goods, carpets, upholstery, and two manufacturing departments. The dress and fancy goods department оссируing the first floor, is subdivided into thirty-nine divisions, each under the supervision of a competent man who looks after his stock as though he had a store entirely distinct from all the rest. The whole retail store is under the management of J. M. Flemming, the carpet department is managed by Albert H. Dainty, H. Ward. Each of these gentlemen effect and the upholstery department by Charles their own purchases from all parts of the world. There are over 1,500 men, women, boys, and girls in this store to look after the welfare of the customers who often number 5,000 at once. J. V. FARWELL & CO. THE LARGEST BUILDING IN THE COUNTRY. Perhaps no firm in the United States is better and more favorably known in this country than J. V. Farwell & Co., importers and jobbers of foreign and domestic dry goods. Within the past year they have moved into their new building, the largest, most extensive, and best arranged for their business in the East or West. It is the general verdiot of merchants who have been in every similar institution in the land that this is the case, and the extent and completeness of this house has become so universally known that thousands of people consider their visit to Chicago only half made without going through the Farwell Building. Regarding the architectural beauty of this building, it can be truthfully said to rival any building in Chicago. It is constructed of Philadelphia pressed brick, with stone trimmings, and the architects and contractors were evidently given all the latitude they desired in planning and construction. Its mas siveness makes it, in fact, the most attractive building on Market street, and other buildings that were once considered to be giants of stone and brick now sink into insignificance when compared with the great Farwell Block, that looms above everything, and can be seen at a great distance from almost every direction. DIMENSIONS OF THE BUILDING. The dimensions of this building are 280x 400 feet, it is six floors above ground and two below, i. e., a basement and sub-basement, besides immense storage-rooms under Market street. The building itself cost $1,000,000 and stands on ground worth $500,000 more. The boiler and engine-rooms front on Adams street and extend across the entire building trom east to west. The boiler-room is 70x90 feet, 20 feet high, and is said to be the best boiler-room in Chicago. The engine is an improved Corliss, 250-horse power, with a 20-foot fly wheel; there are eight boilers 84 inches and 16 feet in length; 12 elevators are used in the building; two large-sized Worthington pumps for feeding boilers; one 8-nose pump for fiire purposes; one 5-nose pump for pumping water to a tank of 40,000 tons capacity, located on the roof; 250,000 feet of steam pipe is employed to heat the building. Electricity is used in lighting the building. The Schroll smokeless furnace has recently been attached to the boilers, and gives perfect satisfaction. The WHAT CLASS OF GOODS ARE CARRIED. The first floor contains the offices, salesmen's desks, and a general line of prints and other domestic goods. On the second floor is found an immense stock of imported and domestic dress goods, velvets, silks, shawls. etc., and in this specialty Farwell & Co. are second to no firm in the United States. third floor is devoted to upholstery, woolens, and flannels; the fourth to white and knit goods, hosiery, yarns, gloves, etc. The fifth floor is filled entirely with as complete a line of notions, ribbons, threads. jewelry, clocks, watches, etc., as can be found in this or any other country. Reaching the sixth floor, the largest stock of carpets and oil cloths in the West is displayed. The light throughout the entire building, one of the essentials to the proper display of goods. is so distributed as to be perfect in every respect. TERRITORY REACHED AND ANNUAL SALES. In response to the question as to the territory reached by Farwell & Co., they replied that they went east as far as Detroit, south and southeast to Cincinnati, and beyond St. Louis, west to the Pacific coast, and north to the British possessions-embracing a scope of country the extent of which will hardly be recognized by the casual reader at first glance. Within this radius are included seventeen States and every 1erritory in the Union. The sales of this house reached the enormous figures of $20,000,000 the past year, an increase of 20 per cent over those for 1882, and 50 per cent over those of a few years ago, a fact that will astonish the commercial world, and cause competitors to be surprised at the marvelous growth of J. V. Farwell & Co.'s business. It is questionable if there is another institution of the kind in this country that can make as good an exhibit or show a healthier growth, and is only one more illustration of the grand possibilities of Chicago's future. The fact that this is an exclusively wholesale establishment must not be excluded from the mind of the reader, the proprietors resisting the temptation of reaping the profits of an extensive retail store in this city, and giving thereby their custom ers the opportunities that rightfully belong to them, and at the same time being enabled to throw their entire energy and time into the wholesale business. by 000, THE STOCK OF GOODS CARRIED this house, amounting to $5,000.is, of course, in accord with other immense proportions, and its the force required to move and control this enormous business is 500 em ployes. Twice each year a large corps of general salesmen are sent throughout the entire territory controlled by this house to visit the trade and introduce the many novelties they are constantly securing for their customers. For the past thirty years J. V. Farwell has been actively engaged in mercantile life in Chicago, and otherwise identified with its interest, and the house of which these lines have spoken may very properly be classed as the pioneer. A remarkable fact which, by the way, speaks well for employer and employe, in this connection, is that some of them have been together for the space of a quarter of a century-having grown gray in the service, with the bonds of good fellowship still, doubtless, as lasting as life. C. M. HENDERSON. BOOTS AND SHOES. The annual sales in this line of goods at Chicago have reached such dimensions that this city now ranks first in importance as a producing and distributing point. Everything from the finest ladies' shoe to the stoga of the cattle ranch is manufactured here, and the brands of the Chicago manufacturers have become more widely known and familiar to the country than any other make. The goods bear a high reputatien for style and finish, and the shoe buyer finds that no other market offers such inducements for purchase as this city, not only as regards prices but in the variety of selection and unequalled facilities for shipment. Among the men who have by their persevering efforts given to Chicago this proud position C. M. HENDERSON & CO. ARE ALWAYS NAMED AS THE LEADERS. They are the largest and among the oldest boot and shoe manufacturers in the West. Beginning years ago (1851) in a small way, they have reached in 1884 the pinnacle in the boot and shoe trade. This position has been secured in the face of many difficulties. The great boot and shoe manufacturers of the East were a few years ago firmly seated on the throne of trade, but this firm has overcome the competition and the influence of the plutocracy of the seaboard, by persisting in manufacturing superior goods and selling them at small profits. The manufacture and sale of boots and shoes requires perhaps a greater variety of talents and versatility to win popularity than any other line, and these qualities are evidently possessed by this firm to an unusual degree. They have two immense factories," and their facilities for producing goods cheaply are unsurpassed. The most popular and durable children's shoe ever made was created not long since by this firm, to meet a special and long-felt want. A stylish, tough, and everlasting piece of pedal architecture, just the thing for boisterous school children. Our readers will recognize the brand under the name of the Henderson "Red School House" shoe, a name |