The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-01-03
SUNDAY, JANUARY 3, 1904.
IS THERE A LrM1ra

What Is the limit of altitude for build tnss. either dwelling. business or offices? 2 Many of us can remember when build ing of five or six stories was consid- cred tall. but they have continued to mount upwards. story after story. "ossa on Pelion," as it were. and still they grow. Now we read that in New York is to be built house of 45 stories, tow erinE more than 800 feet above the pave ment, and If that experiment is success !s2ss. ssasny stop there? The upper atmos-
 lis free, or. as the Dutchman OK
 q it when he was at work on the
 Of hts tall building, Der ground
 heap up here"
 zt is a vital point. In all the great
 6 congestion of population is fast
 sling the limit The ground is al-
 St invaluable, and even if that were
 so. there Is not enough ground space
 hold an the buildings needed for the
 Eat population now struggling for room
 Is difficulty becomes more perplexing eh year, and unless something should ecur to cause an exodus from the cities knp population is bound to become more # and more difiicult to handle. Even if the constant coming of outsiders could be stopped the natural increase of popula- ficn Is bound to i'll the cities beyond their ability to hold them.
 The remedy. then, is to grow upward. The facility with which houses can now he lighted by electricity, the ample ele- vators, and the ready telephone service. render life pleasant hundreds of feet from the earth. Time was when the only method of going up above the first story of a house was by climbing the fhe same way, and necessarily there was A limit to the height of dwellings and ofiiees. Now, those inconvenience are largely things of the past. A man in the gortfefh story is in almost as direct and immediate communication with the out aide world as are the denizens of the ground fioor Thus do human science and akill obviate difficulties once looked on as insurmountable.
 Where is the limit? There are but two obstacles. as we view it. in the way AT buiidIng houses to almost any height. ope is that there is a limit to the airength of material. ard although that has not been reached in house building it orebabiy exists. There must somewhere he a stopping place beyond which stone ana metal will not bear to be forced. where that limit is in the way of tall buildings no one knows as yet. but there must be one.
 Another limitation is in the foundation. That which would safely bear house of even twenty stories may give way if twenty more are added. Each story adds Immensely to the pressure on the foun- dation and that may be carried beyond what the underwood will bear. Then the whole structure must sink or topple over. We have more than once seen statements from apparently well-informed men that ihere is real danger of a sinking or breaking through of the apparently solid vmrth on which New York city stands and some day the limit of endurance may be passed and catastrophe result. Un- ,ii that occurs, however; buildings will sontinue to increase in height and no ane can predict the end.
 It will be argued that beneath the .arth of Manhattan there is founda- fon of solid stone which is safe and se- snre, but that is not so sure. The stone s there, and it is apparently as firm as Inc everlasting hills, but it's capacity for bearing burdens may not be beyond limit. There may come a time when this solid stone will give way and down will go part of the city. We admit that this may be idle speculation but we suppose none 8fIi deny that there is a possibility Of Eoubls.