New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-04-05
THE IDEAL CITY.
PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS BY AN EX-
PERT ENGINEER.

ton By NJ \. Baker. G: E. Associate
Editor OF "Engineering News" Emo PIP BIZ
The Macmillan Company.
In spite of its somewhat formidable title, this
is popular. not technical book 1t is writ
ten for the wideawake citizen rather than the
engineer. although it will stand the latter's
scrutiny. An att~mpt is here made-and very
successful attempt il is. toto show what sort
of place a city would be under a highly en-
lightened (and correspondingly virtuous) munich
pal government A great variety of topics is
dealt with One group of seven chapters is
devoted to paving. street railways ferries,
bridges and the telegraph and telephone;
ond series discusses water ice milk and food
supplies. and light heat and power; third
embraces sewerage sewage and garbage
disposal, street cleaning and burial; fourth
covers protection of life. health and property,
while the fifth and last enters into questions of
administration and finance. The scope of the
work il will be seen. is not restricted
Mr. Baker shows that wood pavements
going out Of favor in this country, owing their
unsanitary character, while brick for paving IS
gaining in popularity. One of the best ways to
prevent the continual tearing up of streets to
lay gaspipes and wires is to put the latter in
a special conduit. Another possible improve
ment is to all cars on an elevated structure
and reserve the ordinary street level for pc
destrians and teams No question is Of greater
vital Importance to the residents of city than
a pure water supply. A good deal of space is
devoted to the several methods of filtration, and
also 10 the treatment of sewage which might
contamnate the water of another city. In this
country the use of sewage for farming has made
little Roadway. and Mr. Baker thinks that it
never will be popular here. although it has been
successful in Europe City filth be made
innocuous however, by sand filtration, although
time and space would be saved by letting ii
flow through what are called septic tanks,
in which two entirely different classes of bac-
terra perform wholesome function. A modern
idea regarding sewers is to have two indepen-
dent systems in every city, to carry off sur
face water after storms and the other to take
the liquid waste of houses.
In the near future there is reason to expect
a wider of gas for lighting and heating, and
OF electricity for the former purpose, owing to
their reduced cost. Another advance will be
effected when the need of health boards is more
generally recognized. The duties of these
CARNATIONS have recently been increased by the
necessity for fighting flies and mosquitoes,
which sad propagators of disease. Burning
and cooking the two methods of garbage
disposal which best meet the sanitary require
ments Of the day, but it is not yet clear which is
the cheaper. Mr.. Baker favors long contracts
for this class Of service. as likely to give the
best results He also notes that cremation of
the dead is rapidly increasing in popularity.
Both morals and health would be promoted by
giving the children more public Fairgrounds
and esta blishing many public lavatories. Pro-
vision Of the latter conveniences is much more
common in Europe than in America.
Better homes for the poor of big city are an
other crying need OF the times. Private initia-
tive has done little to relieve II, but does not
go far enough Mr.. Baker believes that the mu-
nicpality ought to interfere. at least by adopting
stricter regulation of tenements. and per-
maps becoming a landlord itself. as is done here
and there in EuronA