BETTER DAYS: OR, A Millionaire of To-morrow. BY THOMAS FITCH AND ANNA M. FITCH. “Philosophy consists not In airy schemes, or idle speculations; The rule and conduct of all social life Is her great province. Not in lonely cells Obscure she lurks, but holds her heavenly light To Senates and to Kings, to guide their counsels, And teach them to reform and bless mankind.” SAN FRANCISCO, CAL.: BETTER DAYS PUBLISHING CO. 1891. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1891, BY THOMAS FITCH, In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, D. C. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. =PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING COMPANY, OAKLAND, CAL. PRINTERS, ELECTROTYPERS, BINDERS.= [Illustration] TO THE EIGHT THOUSAND MILLIONAIRES OF AMERICA THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED. IF, THROUGH A PERUSAL OF ITS CONTENTS, ONE AMONG THEM ALL SHALL BE LED TO SO DISPOSE OF A PORTION OF HIS FORTUNE AS TO HELP THE WAGE-WORKERS OF OUR LAND TO HELP THEMSELVES, THEN THESE PAGES WILL NOT HAVE BEEN WRITTEN IN VAIN. [Illustration] CHAPTER I. “The earth trembled underneath their feet.” “Chicago,” said Professor John Thornton, “Chicago, my dear doctor, is the typical American city. New York and San Francisco may be classed as metropolitan. Philadelphia, St. Louis, and New Orleans are local to their surroundings; Boston is—Boston, but Chicago is _sui generis_. Notwithstanding its large permanent foreign population, and the presence of the throngs of strangers attracted by the Columbian Exposition, Chicago remains intensely and distinctively an American city.” “I quite believe you, professor,” said Dr. Eustace. “Certainly in all the world elsewhere there is no race track for locomotives, no place where iron horses are speeded, and purses of gold and diamond badges awarded to the winners.”