Arizona republican., 1908-08-02
BIG SKYSCRAPERS
MAY SINK new YORK
Pressure of Giant Buildings May Be
Too Great For City's Foundations
Two Thousand Feet the Limit.

New York, July 26-Special CORES
pondence of The Republican.-New
York will never have an office build
ing a mile tall, in spite of all the re-
cent talk to that effect. Indeed it
will never have one half a mile high
for that matter, unless the present
building code is expanded instead of
contracted as the present architectural
policy demands. For the limit In
height of any building in New York
is now absolutely fixed at 1000 feet.
or about two-fifths of mile, and in
view of the present outcry against the
latest skyscrappers it seems certain
that that limit will not only never be
increased but will shortly be diminish
ed. The reason that New York VIII
never have any of the mile high build
ings predicted for it is not only ar
chitectural but geological. The city
does not rest on a basis any too firm
as it is. Beyond a certain point it
viii be absolutely impossible to rest
additional weight on the underpinning
of the city. The limit of this weight
it has just been figured out amounts
to a foundation pressure of the enor-
nous amount of fifteen tons to the
square foot. On a building lot 200
feet square, which is about the limit
in the already crowded downtown dis
trict this will mean a maximum
height of 1000 feet. Beyond this the
very nature of the city's base will cali
a halt. Other factors, however. are
likely to step in before such limit Is
reached. for on a 200 square foot plot
this 1000 foot high edifice would cost
$50, 100000. 1t would weigh according
to present estimates $4,000 tons, or
more than twice the tonnage of the
present navy. Moreover the wind
pressure on any one of its walls would
be more than 5000 tons. Altogether
such a mOnstrosity is made almost
impossible by its physical limitation
and il hardly seems possible that any
New York skyscrapper will ever ex-
coed 1000 feet, provided of course that
the present building laws are not so
restricted as to make the toothpiclx
office building out of the question.
The police department Is still trying
to discover whether it is the subject
of practical joke, or whether 1t has
been metamorphosed into a bureau for
answering conundrums in connection
with the new anti-noise ordinance.
The most battling problem which has
ever been put up to this department
has just developed in the question as
1t necessary for a rooster to crow"
This is looked on by some members of
the force as akin to the old inquiry
as to why chicken crosses the road.
AS matter of fact, however, It is a
serious problem for the new anti-noise
ordinance prohibits all unnecessary
noises, and the question naturally
arises as to the difference between
those which are necessary and those
which are not Complaints having
heen lodged against various Growing
ROSTERS the police department has
been forced to call upon biologists to
find out whether it is really necessary
for rooster to crow. The biologists.
however, give no help as they merely
rendered the opinion that it was as
necessary as it is for a man to sing.
AS result the police further compli-
Gated by persons who have announced
that If 1t is not necessary for ROSTERS
to crow 1t isn't necessary for lions to
roar and that if this question is de-
cided against the barnyard fowl they
will proceed to put the Zoo out of
business. Already Chief Bingham's
men have been deluged with COM
plants from flats and apartment
houses against crying babies, pianos.
coughing invalids and the like. all of
which are alleged to be the cause of
unnecessary noises and therefore pun
ishable under the new ordinance.
Meanwhile the police are wondering
whether it is possible to differentiate
between necessary and unnecessary
noises and chiefly as to whether a
rooster renders himself liable to ar
rest by Growing at night.
According to the views held on the
Bowery no funnier statement was ever