The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1902-06-19
"OUR PUBLIC UNTIDINESS."

The writer is a son OF the late kew. Dr
CYRUS Hamlin, graduate from AM
herst College, a student of architecture
in the Massachusetts Institute of Tech
nology Boston, and the Ecole DIES Beaux
Arts. Paris, and since 1883 connected
with Columbia University. He says:
Amid the varied shocks which our
national dissatisfaction is bound to
receive in the process of our gradua
ton from insularity to World-poWer,
there is one III preparation which may
come as a surprise even to Well-educat-
ed Americans, although Its cause has
long been a matter of painful con
seriousness to individuals, especially TO
Americans who have travelled abroad.
We are slowly learning that we are the
most untidy among all the great Ma
lions of the world. We are gradually
awaking to the humiliating embarrasS-
ment of one who, entering company
OF his fellow men, discovers that he
alone among them is shabby and I'M
kempt and that he has entirely failed
to apprehend the ideas of dress and the
standards of personal appearance that
prevail among those whose company he
is to frequent.
The discovery that there is more of
filth sQualor, and general slovenlinesS
in public places and works, i'll streets.
squares, riyer-sldeS, docks, quays, roads,
and bridges in the United States than
i'll any other country of the first or
even second rank is a humbilng but
sanitary experience. In what may be
called our public Housekeeping, III the
outward appearance and maintenance
,,I4t ,t-a1lyc a Il ct pTaI Inv
public OF semi-puEiie enterprise. we
rank with Turkey rather than with
England or Germany Oriental Japan
riny switzerland. and sloW-going lIol-
laIil stand far ahead Of the Mted
States IN this respect. Our national
sIuyruliness is seen il dirty streets and
msIg ltiy water fronts; i'll ill-kept
SQUARES ragged sidewalks, and abOm-
jnahlt payements: in shabby railway
stations and embankment walls built
mp of rottmg sleepers: and in a thou
sand - ittiess substitutes for solid per
u3urlr works. The unspeakable
country roads which abound in SO many
lpeiuI5 NOT only Illustrate the eXis-
teIre. INT also demonstrate the folly
Of this ~fmI-JaIlarous slackness of
admin .stIatiVN. for they constitute the
most costly means OF transportation
possible impose q heavy tax on every
Tanner lG other resident, and are a
clog upon the general prosperity OF the
regions they traverse. Tidlness and
the efficient maintenance of public
works cost more in the first outlay
than negligence: Inst they save this eX-
cess many times over III the end
Then. attel portrayal OF the condi-
tLan- along the water front Of New
Work. city lie says:
This Wtldine4s along the shore is not
1pculiaI to New York. There is hardly
am American seaport whose Waterfront
is not a disgrace to 0Uu civilization. In
some cities there is more of this untidi-
ness than in others; but few among
them can boast of WatertIOnts that re
tlpet credit on our tastes and habits.
The first draft of this paper was writ
ten in Portland, Maine. a city famed
for the beauty of its residential streets
and Of its admirable Eastern and West
prn Promenades, as we'll as for the
charm and culture OF its society. Yet
i'll spite OF the taste and prosperity
these reveal. the city's WharveS and the
adjacent streets are not merely untidy
but positively filthy. The massive
granite Custom House and the truly
htaNtlIUI lnalDle GoSl-' '1lIct ip0k down
upon uHSNeII @nu il5-I'aNt,' Slfetts'
+o,,'.,l Ia.,dim, +o rot1i,,o .,,,J ,ln,,!i,,t
ed wooden fsh-hOuses. sail-l0fts and
felrE-AouSes nnTedeemed by even a
.otel. D,te lii"s
1.....,l,-ss IN, any of our la10e maritime
cities it is not peculiar to New Eng
lal4u. itfd9o- IMAGE PIMA. -. LOUIS,
49,. +aI ~ l,a,1,,,,r l.sltl .,,,d eiIa a,',i
wealth make no difference ter Sc in the
refrain. FloYlncetoWn and New Bed
"'l'l "h, I'IouGeS'ei anu MN 'IleahS
nsnn.,, lut tL4v ali lave 1ntidv v,ata,
fronts and dirty streets. Norfolk, Vii
GINA and It's nelgl'bor Portsmouth ex-
Hloll ,1Ill, "ilI s4u"'"' UllSul passed. III
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