Los Angeles herald., 1907-03-23
CITY Affairs Not Political

! STATISTICS prove lildl lltlt - a
steady movement of the human race
toward the city. A hundred years ago
but 3 per cent of our population dwelt
| in cities now over 30 per cent, and
| this proportion is on the increase. From
| 1880 to 1890. while the population of the
rural portion of this country increased
only IA per cent the city population in
creased 81 per cent. What Is true of
the country at large seems especially
to be true of our own city. In fact.
| If the present rate of increase of our
population keeps on few years longer
the prospects are that the better por-
ton of the human race will locate here
in the vicinity of Los Angeles.
THE fact of the rapid growth of the
city in general and of our city i'm par
ticular, brings us all face to face with
one of the greatest problems ever met
by man-the problem of knowing how
great masses of humanity can live to-
gether in a way BETTING the needs,
opportunities and ideals of a modern
Christian civilization.
City Building Is an Art
I'm this age and in this world, where
art has done so much for the uplifting
of the race, we are coming to recog-
nize the supreme Importance of that
highest of all arts, the building of a
city. Into this great work the race
Will SOOlltI VI ldltl bt NOlHpClltu W
put it's brain and it's heart, as it has
never done in anything else that it has
undertaken, and when the work is
completed, If it ever is completed, the
product will be grander and will bring
greater blessing to humanity than any
thing else ever achieved.
THE thing that L fear most of all
is that we of Los Angeles will miss
our golden opportunity and that we
shall fail to achieve what might be
with such comparative ease achieved
today, and in the near future, as we
may never have the chance to achieve |
again with so little effort. If there is
a city on earth which has great future |
before it, a city which has been most |
marvelously endowed by the god of |
nature, a city which may certainly be !
one of the greatest and most beautiful !
cities ever built by man, then we have |
certainly seen the beginning of it right |
here in our own stalwaTt, growing, |
beautiful and beloved Los Angeles. Ly- |
ing here as she does midway between !
the sun-kissed Pacific and the tower
ing and snow-capped Sierras. wreathed |
about with orange groves and roses,
the queen of this most fertile, most |
beautiful and most favored corner of |
this globe, it certainly is for her sons
and daughters to make her the best !
and the most delightful city in this |
world.
breaches Sermon
'And now, asserting the prerogative |
of the preacher, am going to give you
some good advice. l shall preach and
you are to practice for you must not
expect me to do both. My first piece
is that we learn very soon to do things
right to begin with.
1T is so much better to do things
as they ought to be done at the outset
than to attempt to fix them right after |
ward. Almost all the great cities of
the world have been compelled to spend |
millions to undo what was done wrong |
at first, and even then the result has |
been far from what it might have been
had the mistake not been made at first |
One thing we need to look to with an |
eye to the future is the better arrange
ment of our streets.
LAS Boston is the stereotyped ar
rangement of the COW paths of the lit
tie village of 250 years ago, so is our
city today the crystallized embodiment, |
the innocent victim of the greed and |
utter lack of artistic spirit of real es-
tate agents and mOney-crazed Subdi- |
viders. And when it comes to perma-
nently designing the streets of a great |
city 1 would far rather trust to the |
instincts Of a we'll bred COW than to
that spirit of greed, which in innumer-
able cases has been so conspicuously |
displayed in the disorganizing and dis
figuring work accomplished by land |
and money grabbers in certain portions |
Of our fair city.
More Parks and Fairgrounds
"And, then, this city needs better
streets. The most expensive luxury
we maintain at the present time is
what for want of a better term we call
streets but which in too many in
stances are great bitches filled with
mud.
What glorious thing it would be
could we have two great parkways,
crossing at right angles somewhere
near the center of the city, one reach
ing from the mountains to the sea and
the other from the mountains out into
the open country beyond We ought
to have more parks and open spaces
in our city, not open spaces, growing
rank crop of weeds, while the nom
resident owner is away waiting for It to
increase in value, but parks and play
grounds which shall be a delight on
the one hand to the eye of the artistic.
and where, on the other, the small boy
may exercise his divine right to play
ball without danger of being arrested.
We should have more public places of
amusement more public concerts, more
! free baths, or rather some, for now
we have none.
Il will not say we need better schools
lest | shall be misunderstood We have
now schools among the best in the
! country, But there Is always room for
Improvement, and our municipal edu-
cational system has not yet been fully
/ wrought out, nor is it yet complete
Our high school arrangement is yet in
adequate and incomplete, but our dis
satisfaction with the present points to
something far better beyond.
IN education the Industrial idea
ought to be pushed to the front a great
deal more than at present, and the
department of ethics, now almost
wholly neglected ought to assume a
position of commanding importance.
While we endow the heads and hands
OF our young with knowledge and skill
we must If we are to do our duty Inv
them train their hearts and consciences
at the same time and in the same
measure. The time has more than
come when there should be a great
state university Of Southern California
situated in or near the city OF los
Angles, and this institution ought M
have the most complete agricultural
. nnna ~ ongotbIa - 4 N'' -