The Washington herald., 1907-12-22
THE CITY BEAUTIFUL
FREDERIC j. HASKN
By FREDERIC J. HAsKIN.

are. in their varying degrees Of. connie
ton, further realizatiOns OF the dream OF
Washington 20 make herself the leading
city beautiful. She has prettier statues
and monuments than any other American
city, so the artists say. but they also
claim that she has no continuity OF pur-
pose In their placing. and that there is
no harmony In the arrangement Of these
memorials on the circles and squares that
L Enfant's plans left for them. So the
commission proposed % augment them
with great memorial arch across Six
teenth street on the crest Of the hill: an
other memorial 10 the Constitution near
the river front; another 20 Lincoln to-
ward the west. beyond the Monument,
and q great memorial bridge TO Grant
that would span the Potomac al Ar
lington, the whole % be a series that
would have the Washington Monu-
ment and the White House as eenters- All
Of these. except the memorial bridge.
have been practically set aside for the
present, and the time Of the commission
given 70 more immediate details.
The earlier Americans had many good
plans for the Identification Of other
cities. Many Of the first settlers brought
remembrances Of the civic beauty of the
Old World places they had known. An
napolis was laid out after the plan that
Christopher Wren suggested for London
after the great Ere Of 1900. L'Enfaut laid
out Buffalo ia radiaI streets. and BIan-
Vile planned a systematic idea for the
growth or New Orleans. but these were
all soon forgotten. The present revival.
however. has swept these cities into line,
as it has Cleveland. Kansas City. New
York. Philadelphia, Seattle. Los Angeles,
ST. Paul. Denver. Chicago. Cincinnati,
/ and dozens of others. Foreign cities.
with centuries of art back Of them. have
felt the effects Of this civic Renaissance
Paris, under the HausSman plans, spent
$500 098, and has planned 30 spend S235.-
05e00J more. Old buildings have been
swept away 20 make room for new ones
and for bOulevards, and because the city
is more beautiful. greater tourist travel
I has been turned that way. and in few
( years the city VIII have more than paid
herself for the expenditure. London has
I in the past few years cut Shaftesbury
avenue through the most notorious part
/ OF her congestcd districts from Charing
I Cross 20 oxford street. and il h2s already
/ paid ia the decrease Of crime and the re-
/ ductioa Of the police force
I city that has missed. her opportunity
/ is San Francisco. Just prior 10 the earth
quake D. r. Burnham had completed. az
/ the request Of progressive citizens. a plan
I for the rejuyenation of the city a plan
iNijh series Of wide b0ulevards. streets
that radiated from a civic center in
which were grouped the leading muni-
| c.paI buildings. and with the principal
I heights OF the zone hundred hills" pre-
served as parks and crowned with play
/ grounds II would have taken a hundred
/ years. according q estimates. 70 effect
I all these changes. The cartlqua ke
and the dre made il seem an i'm
I mediate possibility But tie calamity
I had Ieveled the people as il had the
I bUuGings-all were on the one common
ground Of self-preservation-aud with the
common ambition Of business restoration.
and the BurnLam plan WAS set aside IS
/ inadequate. Nec had The old city been
/ laid out win The wide streets that this
plan oGsrs. th- 6re would never have
spread so disasJrcusly
Civic associations find ready root in the
lowest slums of the city. and If evidenced
pa 4Ar DAAN- way --4AA DF n y kAL40h DlA
or "A new garbage can. the spirit IS there
When there was talk Of making a great
unsightly station AT the New York ter
minus Of the new East River bridge il
was New 1Orks East Side that arose in
protest No matter II IL De the women
Of e little Southern town actually sweep
ing their streets Detroit folk making a
war on grade crossings. Los Angeles
Municipal League wsgin- war on teIe-
phone poles. John Mitchell sending out
letters 10 all miners urging that they keep
their houses and villages clean. the Mas
Fsachusetts women. with the first civic inn
prOvement sOcieties in the United States
! Western women urging the abolition Of
signbOards. Cr Che American League for
/ Civic Improvement operating as "a clear
ing house for civic dihcuIties-the work
is good and the object is the same-the
Irealizaton Of the City Beautiful
To-mO-roVv-The Smok keIesS, Noise
L