New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1902-02-05
BEA UT BY N G CITIES

SOMETHING MORE NEEDED THAN
THE USUAL lMPRo MOVEMENTS.
i ~ Number Of InterestinE and Prac-i
teal Points eEardinE This Prob
s1em The Individual Mnst Take q
Hand In the Work.
Should we wish our cities to be beau
fifnl as well as prospe If so, ia
what way ma they be beautifed and
BY whom? These questions aresasked
] by Charles "a. Cafln in The World s.
Work, and they are answered in a way
that brings out the essential points in
the problem and makes them practical
and interesting
Mr.. CaMn makes comparisons OF the
growing beauty Of the world munich
5palities and analyses the impulses that
are making for Improvement There is
scarcely a city in the country of which
its own citizens are not proud. In:
what does their pride consist? Prima-
rily, no doubt, in the fact that their.
city offers them an portunity of sue
cessful work and investment. heir
pride lis a personal one in their own
achievements as we'll as the impersonal
one Of attachment to the city. But in
the bigger cities whole hearted eager
ness for the common welfare is likely
to be weakened by selfish individual
ism. In some Of our biggest cities
where there should be the biggest
scope for pride and loyalty, the indi-
vidualism seems to be most rampant
A large number Of people, the ma
1 jority in fact, have no consciousness Of
the desirability Of beauty in a city.
|. When they make comparisons between
( their own municipality and others, it's
the conveniences and comforts or the
, lack Of them upon which they harp.
The dignity or beauty Of Paris, while
it cannot have escaped their notice at
the time, has not been brought home
to their hearts as thing that it would
be desirable to emulate in, say. New
York. Yet if they had learned from
the foreigner any wrinkle that would
improve their own business they would
be quick to adopt it. n
Yet may not this same beauty be
just such wrinkle? think it is worth
to the Parisians about $2OO,O0OO0O a
year. But hate to dwell upon this sor-
did part Of the question. There is an
other and higher one in the better
ment of our own lives, a worthier
memorial to the energy and enterprise
of the community. In many directions
our lives are being bettered Libraries
are being built or enlarged; finer court
houses. statehouses, banks and public
buildings attest the desire for better
ment and for fuller expression of the
wealth and ambition of our communi-
ties. Only in the wider, more compre-
hensive matter of the city's beauty as
a whole is there marked apathy; in
those matters, in fact, which primarily
come within the purview Of the mu-
nicipal authorities. ~ #&g .5.z.-
Something more is necessary in a
city than the improvement which en-
sues from the Investments of individu-
and open spaces, the identifying Of
those already in existence and the va
! rious public utilities, layatories, drink
ing fountains, aampposts, street signs
and, the like, all Of which are properly
the concern of the community and
come within the control Of the munich
pal authorities. In a word, while the
desire to beautify the city must have
its origin in the individual, the individ-
ualism must act to secure the wider
possibilities of beauty. "A sentiment in
favor of beauty must be aroused. Such
sentiment in a democratic city will
| have 10 be widespread in order to be
| effective; equally, it must represent
| the prevailing conditions by having as
it's leaders men of standing in the com
munity. - s5s:%< Vi
In two fundamental facts, the uni
versal seeking after beauty and the
tendency Of the rich to make others
| share in their objects Of beauty, we
| have the rudimentary causes that
! should conduce to the &beautifying of
the city. =>xs d
The city stands to the community as
his home does to the Individual by
their streets We shall know them" It is
| in the builded records Of our cities that
an intelligent foreigner could read the
strength and weakness Of our own civ
ilization. And what would this foreign
Ser see when he visits any of our larger
cities-the largest Of them for in
stance? Ez.& s55s%E .5 s5 81. s$ssi
He would be struck by the tall office
buildings, would have noticed as he
sailed into the. harbor how impressive
" they group themselves and rear like
bastions against the sky and would
I see in them most eloquent testimony
4 to the aspiring energy Of the people
and to the dignity Of their commerce.
But as he came to study the subject at
close range he would find that no or
ganic arrangement of the city accom-
4 panied these great structures. that
i they start up here and there according
II lon nor, !,