The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-06-03
MR. S4 YMo UE,S EARNING.


 warning" rather than as a sugges- tion He realizes that if steps are to be taken to carry on and out, any de- finite plan for the improvement of the city, they must be taken now. It is in that sense that his words are those of a prophet. He doubtless recalls the mistake in Judgment pr, Noah Porter made, when he was president of Yale college. who was urged to adopt building plan to meet the new Yale, which was forming in the generosity of friends and graduates Had he been possessed of the enthusiasm which now moves the pen of MT. Soy mour. the Yale of to-day would easily be the most beautiful group of build ings 10 be found anywhere in the country New Haven cah well afford to take advantage of the mistake pr. Porter made
 The Journal and Courier will have to mildly dissent from Mir. ascYmour's contention that tie city of New Ha- ven is asleep It is true that New Haven must be aroused to an apprecl- atlon of the practical benefits to be de- rived from q carefully planned physi- cal organization, but its failure to have appreciated them in the past has been due tn the common Indifference of tho country at largo to the artistic side of upbuilding. The sudden inter- est in the subject proceeds not from an awakening, but from the fact that un- til now the cities of the country have not been ripe for the consideration of physical beauty as an economic asset. Hartford antedates New Haven, it is true, and is to-day more alive to the importance of this movement, but this may be explained on the ground that the city of Hartford is the capital of the state, and therefore the beneficiary of the bounty of tho state treasury. Government buildings arc invariably more imposing than those erected by private capital. The beautiful husi- ness and residential buildings which make the city of Washington the most beautiful In the country, and one of the most beautiful in the world, owc their origin to the influence of the stately government buildings. The more beautiful buildings which Yale university has recently erected havo in all likelihood stimulated the interest of MT. Seymour, and will through him stimulate the interest of the commuu- ity at large.
 Fortunately MT. Seymour is sufFlcl- ently definite in his warning to make 1t possible for us to comment intelli- gently upon 1t. The community Is not asked to consider an intangible and il- lusory scheme of identification. Nor, on the other hand, Is It asked to con- slider too much of scheme, Ills starting point is necessarily I the beautiful New Haven Green, bounded on the west by the group of college buildings, and on the east by the city and county buildings, with the inevitable improvement of the Tontine property in sight, in accordance with a well considered plan. The southern boundary of the Green is destined to further development at the hands of enterprslng business men, who will be quick to see the commercial advantage of completing the square beautiful, If the clty takes seriously Mr. Seymour s warning. Plans are already more or less complete for the Identification of the northern boundary of the Green by the utilization of the Bristol and Trow- bridge home sites. Should Mir. Sey- mours ideas find acceptance,and the Edwards property and that of Mir Sar- gent be included in the building plans of tho city and county, it is not at all inconceivable, as he points out, thai the old Ingersoll place may in the fu- lure become the property of the city given by some public spirited cltizer of wealth to be used as an art museum The property between the Yale Law School and the Ingersoll place would then of very necessity transform its outward appearance to harmonlze witt the general scheme. The more read. fly then would the entrance into tht heart of the city from the new railroad station, itself to have artistic propor tions lend itself to further treatmen at the hands of the heautifers.
 There will not be lacking those wht will regard this warning of ATr. Sey mour as ultra enthusiastic, and more of dream than practical scheme o. improvement, but their opposition vii only the more clearly bring out tn, feasibility of 1t and the economic valu, it represents. Anyone who knows hi city realizes that New Haven is abou
 to enter upon a new lease and meth
 cd of life. We have gone from the sim plicities of town life to the complicated conditions of a more metropolitan life Whether We have lost or gained bN