The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-08-31
rs THERE A Lrmrrs


 cusslng the problem of the height of buildings and whether there is or should be any limit. They have been increasing in height. as one builder after another has endea sored to get higher than a preceding one. until now plans have been perfected and filed for the erection of an office building of sixty-two stories and total height of little more than nine hundred feet in the air. There are some who con- tend that this should be the limit. but The Scientific American. which Is pretty good authority. says there Is no foundation for such contention. and We notice that an architect there who has the reputation of being an expert. gives 1t as his opinion that there is no reason why building of l5o stories. 2,ooo feet high. may not be erected.
 And thus the discussion proceeds. and we see no way of settling the matter otherwise than by experience. That experience may be disastrous. but nothing else will be conclusive. There are just two points, as we view the matter. that govern the question of safety. and they relate to the foun- daion on which tall buildings are erected and the method of huiIdlng. So far as we are informed thero is nothing to indicate that safe founda- ton may not be found foe structure of any altitude. They have some large and tall buildings there already and we have heard no authoritative statement going to show that there Is danger of the foundation giving way and allowing tho building to sink or careen. Nobody knows. We presume. what Is far below the surface of New York and for anything we know 1t may be firm and solid down to tho center of the earth.
 If there is no defect in foundations. and no danger of a giving way there. the only other source of danger will lie in a faulty construction. IL is true that some violent convuision of nature. an earthquake for example. would be more likely to destroy a very tall building than a low one. but there are already structures there which would stand little show against an earthquake. The foundation being safe. the next danger lies in faulty construction. On several occasions of late the news dispatches have brought reports of buildings collapsing while in course of construction, and they were not skyscrapers. either, but were simply badly built or of inferior ma teriai. This is the second source of danger that will attend the erection and occupancy of immensely tall build. ings of all sorts. If there is no dan ger to be apprehended from either of these sources an oflce of one hundred stories may be as safe as one of ten stories. Of course persons occupying floor one thousand or more feet from the earth would be in more danger in case of fire than they would De in low building, but that is a danger to be apprehended and guarded against in any house of any height.
 With foundation and construction secure, is it practicable to fix a limit to the height of buildings especially for office purposes? One thing we may feel sure of. and that is that capital will send buildings upward as .ong as it is profitable, There is no limit to the air space and no price to pay for penetrating it. and as long as it pays the owner to go skyward he will do 1t. If he finds 1t a paying venture to go upward one thousand or two thousand feet he will do so. and. as we have said, nothing but experience will fix the limit. At present the ttn- dency is to keep building taller and taller.