Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1881-01-07
The Great City of the Future.

The great city of the future should
be perfect association based on thu
equal rights of all citizens, combining
together voluntarily for their mutual
benefit, where each has his function &c
perform, each contributes according to
his ability, and each enjoys the advan
tages that association alone renders
possible.
Unconsciously, the progress Of mod.
ern invention is tending in this direc.
ton, and already there are numerous
striking evidences of it. It requires q
certain density of population to make
the use OF gas, or water brought from O
distance, from purer and better supply
than the immediate vicinity affords, an
economic undertaking. Already we
nave towns which do the same for their
heat, steam being contributed from a
central point, so that each household
has at command, at all times of the day
or night, such heat as it requires for
comfort or domestic purposes, without
the waste of labor and material that the
individual system requires.
The same system for the distribution
OF power will doubtless be eventually
put in practice, 90 that the dwellers in
town shall not be subject to the an
noyance inevitable from the presence
OF steam machine in the immediate
vicinity OF residence intended for
repose and quiet. The possibilities OF
national association promise eventually
to furnish the unlimited power nature
provides for men competent to the task
of making use of it.
Possibly one Of the first practical
steps to be taken in this direction, in
connection with the general welfare of
citizens, would be the institution in
cities of societies for the study Of this
subject, and the investigation of the
results reached elsewhere in certain de-
partments of the necessary business of
life, toward the attainment of the COM
fort, the cleanliness, the ease, and the
security from annoyance which are so
sadly wanting in city life at present.
No one, for example, can walk through
any street in New York without having
his sense of neatness offended by the
sight OF the garbage barrel on the side.
walk, while he is sure at some portion
of his journey to have the ashes collec-
tor, in the pursuit of his business, dis
tributing most literally in his eyes and
nostrils o considerable share of the
contents of the barrels he empties into
his cart, The only consolation to the
sufferer in such case lies in the knowl-
edge that he has, if he is himself q
resident of that city, of the utter nuis-
ance the disposal Of his own ashes and
garbage is to every individual house.
holder in the city.
It is said that Leech, the artist, who
in Punch has done so much to cheer,
amuse, instruct and enliven the entire
English-speaking population OF the
world, had his life shortened by the
annoyance the organ-grinders of Lon
don caused'him. He fed everywhere
to escape them, but they followed him
with their relentless attacks upon his
quiet.
It is not an uncommon thing in New
York for driver with load of iron
rods to pass for miles along the cobble-
paved streets, the ends Of his load Of
rods clashing together, and mxking An
outrageously discordant noise, to the
disturbance of the quiet Of thousands.
The noise is most easily prevented, by
simply tying the ends Of the rods -
gether with rore or o bag. Yet the
writer has repeatedly been driven out
Of y street he was walking in, or, when
that Was impossible, has folio wed such
cart half . mile or more, suffering
from the discordsnt pandemonium Of
sound it made, passing policeman after
policeman, not one of whom appeared
to conceive that it was q part of his
duty to prevent this infraction OF the
good order and quiet Of those he was
paid to protect.
If such society as is here proposed
should really enter with enthusiasm
and devotion upon the work suggested,
1t would be astonished to find out how
much has been done in isolated cases
to organize system for the prevention
Of the discomfort OF city life. There
is little town in Holland in the streets
of which no horse is ever allowed to
come. Its cleanliness may be imagined,
and its quiet repose. The keeping Of
horses in city renders necessary the
existence Of stables in confined quarters
where the ventilation and the disinfec.
ton which the atmosphere and the
ground offer abunaantly in the country
can be had only at an expense 30 great
as to be beyond the average means OF
the keepers. The results upon the
health Of the residents can not be
pecuniarily estimated. But there is no
doubt that the deterioration Of the
clothes Of the inhabitants Of towns
caused by the dirt resulting from the
presence OF horses bears no small pre-
portion to the value Of the horses.
Bad as has been the economic organi-
zation OF the system OF elevated rapid
transit, yet it's introduction shows that
horses are not needed in q city for pur.
poses of transportation. Some time
they will disappear, Is have the pigs in
the streets, by means of which New
York disposed of it's garbage only .
lifetime ago. With the removal OF the
horses there would be ample space in
the streets for rapid transit.
In it's researches our society would
find that the cleaning of the streets and
the use of gas are in Paris q source OF
revenue instead Of an expense. In
Philadelphia the city makes its own
t. Hotbachuro Svodan for tho Last