Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-04
FAVORABLE FOR
BEAUTIFUL CITY
SCENERY AND SURROUNDINGS
ADVANTAGEOUS
CHARLES F. EDISON ADDRESSES
ROTARY CLUB
Calls Los Angeles First Free Metrop.
oils in World with Power to Make
Laws and Handle 5usi-
ness Properly

we are Ine uTSt ITee CITY III amer .
lea and in the world" said Charles
Farwell Edison to the Rotary club yes
terday. I'VE have the power to make
our own laws through the initiative
provision and we can recall our hired
men if they fail to handle our busi-
ness properly. We are in fact a free
city, and the first of it's kind.
THAT means that it is up to US.
that if we have a bad or an unlovely
city, it is our own fault. The oppor-
tunity is here to make the most beau
tiful city in the world if we will only
go about it, The climate, the noun
tains, the ocean, the situation are here.
We have the people, and the plan is
fully prepared and presented. 1t needs
only the initiative to take hold and
put through the things that will make
this the city beautiful
First in Importance is the placing
of the administrative center as planned
by Charles Mulford Robinson for the
Municipal Art commission. In any
Identification we must first consider
the business of a city, because if there
were no business there could be no
art. In this plan for civic center the
city hall should go down by the court
house to bring together for convenience
all the business offices of city and
county government. just as a business
firm collects it's offices. There is no
good reason against this, and every
reason why it should prevail.
Art Center Suggested
Next to the business center is the
establishment of the art center. For
this it is proposed to acquire from the
state the present site of the normal
school and to buy through from Cen
trail park past the pro-cathedral. On
the school site is planned the building
Of the public library and art gallery.
Art, after ALL is the only thing that
lives. In your study of ancient history
how much did you find about the busi-
ness firms of the Greeks or the
Romans? There have come down to
us, not the business transactions, but
the literature and the sculpture. 1t is
worth while for us to encourage and
to perpetuate as we can the art eX-
preston of our own community. The
city beautiful plan takes this into ac-
count.
"Then there comes the provision for
caring for the increasing traffic on our
business streets. That is an important
matter to business men, because traf-
fic cannot go where it is crowded out.
At present our four principal streets
are narraw, and to allow for the ad-
ditional travel certain to come if per
mitted, something must be done to
widen them that is within reason as to
cost. The only practical suggestion
that has been made is to arcade the
first stories for a sidewalk fifteen feet
wide under the fronts of the buildings
and to make what is now the slde-
walk a part of the street itself This
is feasible and it will be worth more
than it's cost.
Calls Objections Foolish
FI have had the objection urged that
the first stories of the business build
ings are not of the same height and
that the arcade would look toollsh on
that account. They are not of the
same height now, and if they would
look foolish after making the arcade
they must look foolish now.
Next in the city beautiful plan is
a provision for widening Fifth street
as the approach from a union station
to the business and hotel center of the
city At present this is possible be-
cause no high buildings stand in the
way of a widening on the north SIDE
of the street.
should make a city of 10000 ashamed
of itself-a narrow, unsightly street
leading away from the railroad sta
ton and giving visitors a poor first
impression. You hear tourists say,
You have nothing here except what
the Lord has given you,' because they
gain a poor idea when they step from
the train. Imagine a street 100 feet
wide with the street car lines in the
middle with a parkway on either side
then the streets and then the side
walks in another parkway, and you
can imagine the people saying when
they get off the trains, Here is city
that means business
Education Important Part
"The city beautiful must have an
educated voting population. Do you
know that of every 100 children in
California who should attend school
twenty-six never go to school at all
and forty-four only get through the
primary grades? That is 70 per cent
which means that 70 per cent of the
children of this state get no real edu-
cation. OF the remainder "a stop with
the grammar grades and go through
the high school.
Business conditions of today de-
mand that our children must be bet
ter prepared to fight the battle of life
than we were. We should. see to 1t
that every practical thing to advance
the influence of education should be
done"