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THE "GANGLAND CAPITAL OF THE USA"
In its bustling growth, Chicago survived the political machinations of mayors like "Big Bill" Thompson,16 the speculations of Samuel Tnsull17 and the gang wars of Al Capone's days.18 The one thing for which Chicago is known around the world is crime. In January 1919, the sale of whiskey was prohibited in the USA. Prohibition gave rise to the. illegal liquor trade with big profits for the powerful criminal gangs who shared the money with the police and politicians in order to buy immunity from arrest. The gangs competed with each other in the illicit liquor trade ("bootlegging"), gambling, the operation Or "protection" of night-clubs and illicit bars ("speakeasies"). They also supplied strike-breakers to employers and the trade-union chieftains who used them against the militant left-wing. Murder, arson and vandalism were engaged in as business enterprise on a practical basis. The combination of war profits, polyglot political structure, building boom and prohibition turned Chicago, figuratively, overnight in the crime centre of the USA, the "gangland capital of the USA". • And even now, thanks to countless film and television shows depicting that era of ^Chicago's history, some visitors expect to see black limousines filled with scarfaced gangsters roaring about the streets. Organized crime is still a part of Chicago's life—as it is in most US cities.
Crime has become an integral part of the American way of life. As Americans themselves put it, "in the US you feel very afraid to walk the streets at night. Even in the daytime it is sometimes dangerous but especially so at night."* 
1 "Chicago" seems to have a clearly established than usual. A French explorer who visited the region in 1688 said the natives called it "Chicagou" because of the abundance of wild onions growing there. Scholars have thought it was the disagreeable odour Of the little wild onions that inspired the Indian name, and that "place of the bad smell" might be more accurate interpretation of the name.
2 Among Chicago's numerous nicknames are the "Lake City" and the "Queen City of the (Upper) Lakes".
3 Similar to other US cities, Chicago has a dual city and county government. Chicago and its suburbs comprise Cook County which exercises certain governmental functions over the entire area. Other functions are retained individually by the City of Chicago and the suburbs in a municipal form. This political structure, based on a capitalist economy, provides fat profits for bankers, bondholders, real-estate dealers, public utility; interests, politicians, the police and criminals.
4 The American Peace Crusade—an American organization embrac/ ing peace supporters of all walks of life.
5 The Young Workers Liberation League—a progressive youth organization of the United States. It fights against militarism and racism, for democracy and socialism, for all young people's demands for work and education. Its main aim is a democratic government and full civil rights *' for all.
6 "King Daley"—Richard J. Daley, former mayor of Chicago, "boss" of the Democratic political machine fbr Cook County. Got notoriety in 1968 when he brutally dispersed the peaceful demonstration of students during the Democratic Party nominating convention in Chicago.
7 Today new process and techniques have made it unnecessary to move America's meat to Chicago for processing (the butchers have gone to the prairies) and the memories of those moutains of flesh, that pervasive scent of the stockyards, are like many other things of Chicago's past, just a terrible ghost-story.
8 In 1942, at the University of Chicago, Enrico Fermi and other scientists set off the world's first controlled atomic reaction.
9 The Chicago fire (October 8—9, 1871) devastated an area three and one-half miles square, left almost 100,000 persons homeless. By 1871 Chicago was a city built of wood. Even the side-walks were of pine and a dry season preceding the fire made the city a virtual tinder-box.
Реферат опубликован: 18/03/2006