Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • 12

Chicago Tribune, Friday, October 8, 1971 12- Section 1 (Qucano (Tribune tin If oir to Keep Well Woes with Oldsters Fact or Just Myth? FOUNDED JUNE 10. 1MT -f by fu.p. Szf Nbo H. F. Grumhai'S, Chairman and Publisher F.

A. Nichols, President and Treasurer Clayton Kirkpatrick, Editor Harold Hutchings, Executive Editor Rcsseia Frekbcko, Managing Editor Walter Simmons, Sunday Editor John McCtjtcheon, Editorial i Page Editor 8. R. COOK, Executive Vice President and General Manager Friday, October 19U THE NEWSPAPER is ai institution developed by modern civilization to present the news of the day, to foster commerce and industry, to inform and lead public opinion, and to furnish that check upon jovernmenc wnicn no constitution uu cyci it uis By T. R.

Van Dellen, M. D. Much has been written about the problems we have with our aging population. I wonder to what degree these reports are based on fact. Since the turn of the century there has been a dramatic increase in the aging population, but this does not mean that the 20 million persons over 65 are creating problems.

Nor can we condemn all adult children as neglectful of their elderly parents. It has been estimated that only 4' per cent of the aged are institutionalized. And over half of these men and women are past 80. Many of this age are mentally incompetent and the majority suffer from multiple physical ailments. It is reasonable to assume that others live at home with their children.

In all probability, they do not do this by choice because most oldsters prefer to live near and not with their children. There is a time and place for everything, including institutional care. The older people that most physicians 100 Years After the Fire When You Order in a Chinese Restaurant You Never Know What You're Gonna' Get it 3 Washington Report South Viet Election Convincing see could not pass an Army physical but do very well, all things considered. They may continue for a decade or two various ailments which are not necessarily caused by the advancing years. The problems of the elderly begin when a serious sickness, such as a stroke, bladder condition, injury or cancer, strikes.

The oldster may linger or vegetate for some time thereafter. But his children must admit that the father or mother lived a good life for many of the years after 65. And let us not forget that many incapacitated oldsters are not complaining as much about their infirmities as are their children. This is the inevitable that they hoped to avoid. Most elderly people thrive on affection.

Their energies are directed toward living, not in avoiding death. Life continues to be a series of challenges. TOMORROW: Systemic Mycoses. Questions on medical topics will bo answered by moil if stamped, self-ad-dressed envelope accompanies request. Restricted Diet Mr.

T. V. writes: If a man of 66 is underweight and has low blood pressure, is it all right for him to eat butter and animal fats? REPL Yes, and the same applies if the, weight and blood pressure are normal. There is no need to use less butter and. animal fats unless your blood cholesterol is high and the physician wants the level lowered.

'Frozen' Shoulder C. B. B. writes: Can a frozen shoulder be unfrozen? REPLY Yes, via physical therapy, employing heat, massage and exercise. In some instances, manipulation while the individual is anesthetized is needed.

Injections of procaine or hydrocortisone also are used. Candy and Nerves Miss D. writes: Whenever I get nervous or worried, I eat candy. Is this a mental problem? REPLY Not necessarily. Eating consoles some people when they are emotionally upset.

This spares the nerves, but does not help the figure. There are better ways to overcome the jitters. Protection from Viruses D. D. writes: Can viral Infections be prevented? REPLY Some can.

For example, polio, measles and yellow fever can be prevented. Hepatitis may be prevented temporarily with gamma globulin, and the flu vaccine protects against certain strains of the causative virus. 1971: Br Tht Chicaw Tribune or since, that the great Chicago fire was one of the most spectacular urban disasters in modern times. Paradoxically, it was not even the most lethal disaster of the day in the Midwest. More than a thousand persons lost their lives during Uie same days in a forest fire that swept Peshtigo, and millions of wooded acres near that small lumbering town on the west shore of Green Bay.

The generous outpouring of relief supplies and contributions, some even from overseas, that helped Chicago had no counterpart for Peshtigo, its bad news overshadowed by the calamity of a large city which the world had heard of before its fire. Except for memories of what a few grandparents used to say, the Chicago fire of 1871 is now a matter of printed record rather than oral tradition. Our Centennial Section today gives evidence of many aspects of the great fire, including a full-page reprinting of a privately issued account written in 1925 by Frank J. Loesch. This sustained account of one young man's experiences concludes with "high hopes for the new and greater Chicago which every ambitious young man was convinced would surely rise out of the ashes of the old one." Many Chicagoans like the two quoted above, Medill and Loesch, acted effectively together to make those hopes come true, and quickly.

The pre-fire city of 335,000 was as populous as ever within a matter of months, and within 20 years had tripled in size. The great fire did not destroy the "I will" spirit of Chicago. Rather, it provided the superlative occasion for demonstrating the strength of Chicago's will. Would we Chicagoans of 1971 do as well as our predecessors, if we faced a similarly stern necessity? We hope that we would prove worthy of our heritage, and that the answer would be, "Yes, and even better." One does not celebrate the centennial of a great disaster such as the Chicago fire of October, 1871. But such a centennial is an occasion to be observed with awe at the sudden destruction of so many lives and so much property, and with respect for the indomitable spirit of the Chicagoans of that day.

As Joseph Medill, editor of Thb Tribune, wrote, "Chicago still exists. She was not a mere collection of stones and bricks and lumber. We have lost money, but we have saved life, health, vigor and Industry. Let the watchword henceforth be: Chicago Shall Rise Again." Rise it did. The drastic clearing of about five square miles of highly inflammable city, with sidewalks and paving blocks as well as most buildings made of wood, provided an opportunity for better building with more durable materials.

Included in the sweep of the fire was the central business district, which without the disaster no doubt would have evolved more slowly and raggedly into a modern downtown area. Without the fire, the modern skyscraper might have first emerged elsewhere than in Chicago's Loop. Scholarly historians now doubt the guilt of Mrs. O'Leary's cow for starting the great Chicago fire. Mrs.

O'Leary said at the time that there was "not a word of truth" in "that kerosene lamp story." Leading contenders for the blame of starting the whole thing are spontaneous combustion or some man's resort to the barn for a nip of whisky. The former is favored by Fred Marcon, chairman of Chicago's fire centennial observance. No one will ever know the precise number of fatalities figures range from 300 to 500, the exact extent of property loss somewhere around $200 million, or the precise number of persons burned out almost if not quite 100,000, a third of the city's population. But there was no doubt, either in 1871 cause it was dangerous to vote otherwise. In Russia the Kremlin doesn't concede the existence of any opposition fringe, lunatic or sane.

However, it does not trust the electorate either. The ballots are so arranged that one can only vote yes, and the results are known in a matter of hours where it takes weeks to compile the vote total in this country with all its speed of communications. Such elections are the rule in Communist countries. In the slave states leaders may be replaced bnt not by the voters; the masters of the Kremlin can move them as tho they were pawns on a chessboard, which is the fact. Before the election in South Viet Nam, many observers reported seeing interest at a low ebb.

A turnout of about 88 per cent is hardly low, even with shepherding. The big question remaining is: How will Thieu perform now that he is no longer a minority president but holds the confidence of his people? Line o' Type By the time I'm ready for my next trip to Europe it looks like the airlines will be paying me to go. The Red Baron You might call hot pants breeches of promise. Friar Duck Was Minnehaha's mother Maxihaha? G. W.

Franzen the United States could have prevented his death by prompt and firm action. Neither Vice President Nguyen Cao Ky nor retired Gen. Duong Van Big Minh voted. In the general's home village of Pjumy, 95 per cent of the eligible voters turned out to vote, largely for Thieu. Some observers professed to see a lack of enthusiasm on the part of the voters.

It was said they went to the polls out of a sense of obligation, rather than because of enthusiasm or joy. Very often observers see what they want to see. American elections are hardly galas. Many voters find it difficult to get enthusiastic about contests when they can't explain the difference between the two parties, Democratic and Republican. In fact, there always seems to be more difference between wings of the parties than there is between the two parties themselves.

Very often candidates view with alarm the operations of the party in power. Yet, when they win election, the candidates very often go right on doing what they had deplored during the campaign. There is frequently more difference in campaign oratory and promises than there is in party performance and pledges. In the days of Adolf Hitler, elections were generally carried by 98 per cent of the electorate, the methodical Nazis allowing a 2 per cent objection on the part of a lunatic fringe. This fooled no one, but it was a fact that the elections were strong in their approval of Der Fuehrer and his policies, no doubt be- By Walter Trohan WASHINGTON, Oct.

7 President Nguyen Van Thieu of South Viet Nam overwhelmingly won reelection in uncontested balloting last Sunday. This fact has made some liberal Americans distinctly unhappy, altho they have never seemed to complain about uncontested elections behind the Iron Curtain. Almost 88 per cent of the electorate, about 6.3 million voters, cast their ballots in the election. This is a much higher percentage of voter participation than in American Presidential elections. Only a small proportion of the voters chose to express their displeasure with the Thieu regime by mutilating their ballots.

At least 90 per cent of the voters, according to estimates, marked their ballots for Thieu, who had urged a good turnout as a means of establishing "national prestige" in the eyes of the world. It may not have been the best of all possible elections, but Thieu had said that he would resign if be did not receive more than 50 per cent of the vote and that he might even consider resignation if he captured only 60 per cent of the vote. Whether he would have resigned is now merely an academic question. The fact is he won handsomely where the last time around he was elected by only 30 per cent of the vote in a field of 11 candidates. The fact is that the election brought the largest national turnout since the days of President Ngo Dinh Diem, who was assassinated in 1903.

Many believe And Speaking of Fives- which buildings can be made no more fireproof than they are? It's hard to say. About all the record tells us for sure is that we can't afford to be complacent. One result of the Chicago fire was to stimulate new laws and regulations designed to reduce the likelihood and destructiveness of future fires. Most of them involve construction, but they also touch on such related matters as water supplies, fire departments, and the storage of combustible materials. How well have they worked? Well, the answer isn't clear.

The fairest measure Ghetto Victims Voice of the People Writers should be as concise as possible. Give full names and addresses. Manuscripts are not returned. Space is limited: the right to condense letters is reserved. Address letters to Voice of the People.

THE TRIBUNE, Chicago, 60612. FIRE LOSSES AND THE GNP IHLION MHJJON DOLLARS DOLLARS poc 800 I Gross I -j2000 National Product 600 1 IUftSc.i.1 i5oo 400 1 200 yf-- Losses 500 might scii a Bob Wiedrich's Tower Ticker column yesterday recounted the sad story of Mrs. Irene Wells, who in 1952 came to Chicago from Mississippi. She recently left Chicago, a refugee from young hoodlums who broke into her apartment at the Cabrini-Green public housing project under the naive impression that the $800,000 just awarded Mrs. Wells in damages for a disabling industrial accident would be there for them to steal.

Fortunately, Mrs. Wells' four children were sleeping elsewhere. We are glad that Mr. Wiedrich shared this moving story with Thk Tribune's readers. It reflects no credit on Chicago, to be sure, but a city which well remembers the gratuitous murder of two policemen at Cabrini-Green last year can do with a reminder that the most frequent victims of ghetto crime are ghetto residents.

The problems of policing densely populated, high-rise public bousing projects such as Cabrini-Green show what a sociological error it was ever to erect such projects. The decent poor who live in such places do so for just one reason: They see no way out that they can afford. The criminals who prey on their neighbors are, as Mr. Wiedrich said, as vicious as any Mafia gangsters. Mrs.

Wells can now afford to leave Cabrini-Green and Chicago, and she and her children have left. The many who still live in constant terror in Chicago Housing Authority apartments and those who terrorize them pose a problem for this city that is as yet unsolved. mo 1935 1940 I94S 1950 l5S I960 1 964 1970 The Fire and Grandma CHICAGO The Chicago fire centennial brings to mind my mother's story of that time and what it meant to her family. The morning of the great fire my grandfather put grandmother and my mother on a train for Milwaukee while he stayed on with other volunteers to do what they could. Mother was then a year old.

Three older brothers were sent to a South Side convent, away from the burning area, where the nuns took care of them. Grandfather with the other men, of course slept in makeshift shelters, barns, and the like with very little protection from the cold October winds. He came down with pneumonia and later developed tuberculosis. Grandmother came home to find their home and belongings destroyed also a sick husband to be cared for. She had been a practical nurse, so she went back to school to brush up on her nurse's training and also took lessons in midwifery.

Many fire sufferers received aid thru the various charities, but grandmother did not apply, because she felt that with her training she could support her own family. She said she put them into the world so she felt responsible for them. It was a hard life and they lived very frugally. Babies have a way of coming into the world at their own will so she was called out at all hours to deliver the newcomers. Many times she did not get paid for her services.

After eight years of illness, grandfather passed away. By that time the boys were old enough to do odd jobs to help out. They all grew up to be responsible, respectable citizens. They were taught to be self-reliant. I am very proud of my American heritage.

Josephine Pfeiffer is probably to compare the increase in fire losses with the increase in gross national product, which, like fire losses, reflects the increase in building and in prices. Fire losses presumably declined, relative to the GNP, during the early years, when figures on these losses are inadequate. They continued slowly to decline, relatively speaking, until the early 1960s. But in the last few years, as the graph shows, they have spurted upward. Is this the result of urban riots, or arson? Or have we reached a point at Architectural Treasures CHICAGO When will our public officials wake up to the fact that Chicago's world-famous architecture is big business for the city? The Chicago School of Architecture Foundation, located in historic Glessner House, sponsors architectural walking tours of the Loop four times a week.

Over the summer, our guides took more than 1,400 people on our two-hour walk where they saw the Stock Exchange, the Monad-nock, the Reliance and the Rookery among many others and learned why these great structures are revered and studied all over the world. Of this number, about half were tourists, many from overseas. The Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau says that Chicago, unlike New York and New Orleans, has not had a downturn in tourism this year. The bureau reports that viewing Chicago's architecture is one of the three favorite things tourists enjoy doing. Saving our architectural treasury is imperative to our role as architectural center of the world.

Destruction of our landmarks, such as Sullivan's Stock Exchange, is tantamount to destroying the Pantheon in Paris. How shortsighted to destroy monuments that are culturally significant as well as tourist magnets! Mrs. Jeanctte Fields EjkuIIv secretary, Chicago School of Architecture Foundation Grandfather Shared CHICAGO On Friday, Oct. 8, it will be 100 years since the great Chicago fire, an experience my grandfather shared. He was a poor man, with a large family, who lived at Clybourn and Fullerton Avenues, a neighborhood then called Nickersonville.

After the fire, grandfather walked about a mile to a grocery which had set its merchandise outside for safety. There he purchased a large open barrel of broken crackers. He returned to the cooperage shop where he worked as a cooper to get a barrel head, capped the barrel of crackers and rolled it all the way home. There he shared the crackers and milk grandfather also kept a cow with everyone who stopped on their way from the city. Every night a different family slept on the straw-covered floor upon which grandfather had stretched a sheet.

A Dr. White spent one night there and upon leaving the next morning rewarded my grandfather with two chairs he took from his wagonload of belongings that he was saving. I loved my grandfather. Edna II. Naegel passengers for firearms? Why not have bus marshals? Passengers and their baggage should be checked so that a gun could not be smuggled onto the bus and used to endanger life.

It would be a wise investment to have a plain clothes security guard on all interstate bus trips. R. S. What Grandfather Saved PARK RIDGE My grandfather, Adolph J. Duever, was married July 8, 4871, in Chicago.

He was an architect and had his own business, making fancy ironwork and grills. He made quite a number of grills for Mrs. Potter Palmer. The night of the Chicago Fire, Oct. 8, 1871, my grandmother had on her brown taffeta wedding dress and my grandfather wore his wedding suit and his high silk hat.

They attended Crosby's Opera House. During the performance they were told to leave as the building was afire. They went home, not too far from Mrs. O'Leary's house. Their home was half burned, but my grandfather insisted upon going in to see if he could save something.

He pulled out a trunk which he thought contained their winter clothing, but, upon opening it, found it to contain quilt patches. They saved only what they wore. My grandfather built a little house for my grandmother and he went to work in his wedding suit. It took them quite a while to replace all they had lost. I heard this story from my grandfather many times.

Evelyn L. Gill Suburban Zoning CHICAGO John D. Twiname, the federal welfare administrator, says there are two alternatives: Let all kinds of people live in suburbs where the jobs are or support them on welfare. But isn't there a third alternative? Suburbs which enjoy large green lawns with expensive houses can zone not only against low-cost housing but against the factories that bring the demand for such housing. These suburbs have encouraged factories to get the tax money, but don't want the people who come with the factories.

Factories wouldn't have moved out of the cities if the suburbs hadn't made it attractive for them to do so; then there wouldn't have been this problem. Helen Biigbce Still'Feeding the Hungry CHICAGO Earlier this month I made a pilgrimage to the neighborhood around 18th andHalsted Streets where 100 years ago my mother, Elizabeth Harkness Anderson, lived with her parents before, during and after the great Chicago fire of October, 1871. The fire did not strike that section, but residents were on the alert 24 hours a day to extinguish any sparks that fell from the fire when the wind blew them in that direction. Mother often told us children about the fire and what happened. For two days there were no nights, so bright was the light from the flames.

It was so bright at midnight that one could read a book or see clearly enough to pick up a pin from the wooden paving blocks or sidewalks. Mother was very proud of her father, William Harkness, because he went to the courthouse and suggested to the authorities and the fire fighters that they use dynamite to halt the spread of the fire. Refugees from the fire poured into the area where mother lived and had to be housed and fed. She attended the old Walsh elementary school, then atHalsted and 20th Streets. People were also fed and clothed in the Halsted Street Methodist Church, at 1935 S.

Halsted which was designated as an official supply station. People sent supplies in from all over the nation. My pilgrimage found the cornerstone of the old church, with the dates of 1866, 1875 and 1926, for earlier churches on the site. Mother said the first church on that location was built on what once was an Indian burial ground. By October, 1971, 1935 S.

Halsted St. was no longer a church, but it was still serving the people of the community, under the name of the Urban Progress Center, Chicago Committee on Urban Opportunity. As they were 100 years ago in the great fire, hungry people were still being fed at the same address, this time under the Family Food Program. Agnes Harkness Anderson Bus Marshals? CHICAGO It is about time we started worrying about interstate passenger buses being robbed. So far, we have taken measures to stop airplane hijackings, subway robberies, and cab holdups.

Why not start checking bus Our Forgetful Pols Laughing Matter HORffTlO similar investments he made, some of them acting on the advice of that sage investment counselor and horse fancier, Paul Powell. A full income disclosure law may not make saints out of scoundrels, but it would make it harder for politicians to forget things they might like to forget. It therefore might make them think twice before engaging in dubious deals. That is what Gov. Ogilvie and others have in mind by supporting a strong ethics bill now pending before a committee of the Illinois House, which, as the governor said, would put public officials in a "goldfish bowl." John Elmer, chief of The Tribune's Springfield bureau, reports that ethics will probably be the major issue before the legislature when it reconvenes next Tuesday, and that it may occasion a real donnybrook before the session is done.

We hope the opposition to the bill will not be all that fierce. The public will be watching, and the public has a way of reminding politicians that it is watching every election time. Aside from their apparent fondness for the sport of kings, the most common attribute of Illinois politicians these days seems to be a lapse of memory. Secretary of State John W. Lewis, a Republican, let several days and reporters' accusations go by before a check of his records prompted him to recall that his wife, Mahalia, purchased $3,000 of racetrack stock in 1964 and sold it less than three years later for $18,000, a profit of $15,000.

United States Rep. Daniel Rostenkow-ski, one of Mayor Daley's favorite Democratic chums, "forgot" that he owned 2,500 shares of trotting stock until he checked his records, which showed that this little investment had earned him a tidy profit of $32,000. Politicians are a peculiar lot. Few indeed are the people of our acquaintance who can overlook things like Sadly, Mr. Lewis and Mr.

Rostenkow-ski are by no means unique. Prompted by newspaper investigations and other reminders, pol after pol has recalled "They tell me he has a great pair of hands.".