Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-02-05
London Needs a Haussmann
to Solve Its Problems
Il dol do love you"
Copyright, f9rS
Special Correspondence Of The star.

LONDON, January II. 1910
A usual, London wants TO keep is
~ cake and eat il. In other words
the continued preservation Of Lon
dons park system-or. rather, London
park ehaos-precludes IA much needed
traffic reform. London is Uttered wItn
parks; parks laid ont from q point al
view that no one takes, parks pltrouizeo
only by wastres. parks for elderly ana
fashionable people to whom public con
veyance Is d revolving sight, parks that
are inclosed and unused, rarks-but Why
enumerate,
The most significant fact about ttl'
London parks is the inconvcn4ent wa
they sprawl IN ones road AuyGouy WIN
lives anywhere and is trying to be SOM
body from somewhere-there are a few
such people, even III Londou-when en-
route for the opera is forced n noun
an omnibus before taking taXicdb IL
order to circumvent the parks; Il tan,
the whole way would spell financial rum
ana parks are inevitable
w nat London wants is q Haussmabu.
SAYS a well known engineer. ~ bold
Baron Haussmann will nave li.tle gud
for the ancient fiction that a park like
the Green park is res TT for dJwagarS
With 4 firm hand he will treat St James
Park. Blrdcage walk will be an open
boulevard, wideued for tramway cars
with three roads and rows Of tees, and
the path across the lake will become
ano her fine thorlughfare, leading in ore
line from St James Palace u que.
AnneS GAZE.
In that way Hyde Park will no O pr
throttle the traffic of London. Park .Aue
and The adjoining drive in the Ialk viii
be merged into enc fine boulevard di-
vided into three roads, with intervening
grass, flowers and trees. \ similar eat
artery Will cross the miGd e Of Hy1,.
park, passing over the Serpentine at lis
widest part, giving the traveller a bril-
liant impression IF that s.seet Of water.
There Is no doubt thay only a Hauss-
mann could rec instruct London Occa-
sionally the traffic branch Of the beard OF
trade meets t decide that there's lots
Of things that oughter be- blu. amt
Nothing can be done because L, nd N is
divided into two cities and about thirty
boroughs, each of which peri RIM it's own
improvements; the county council has not
the power to recons ruct London as
whole.
Very different has been tie history Of
the reconstruction cf Paris. As far b ok
as 1893 a commission Of artists drew up
plan of Improvements some of which
We're carried out. and in 1854 Baron
Haussmann. project OF the Seine ampi-
fled the original scheme He drew up
large and bold Improvement project,
and from 1853 forwa. d he labored dill
ton. The W. rk has been continued with
out a break down to the present day a
great and increasing ST. The result is
visible In the spacious streets which
make Paris the most attractive and in
many respects the most convenient cap
ital in the world
Paris has now 102 miles OF streets
ninety-eight feet six inches or more in
width. London has no more than eight
and one-half miles OF such streets. and
few OF the streets are more than 100
feet wide, whereas some Of the avenues
in Paris are more than 200 feet wide, and
the width OF ore is as much as $40 feet.
Paris has forty-two roads rad ating into
the surrounding country. London. with
Il population twice as large, has twenty.
and these, with few exceptions. are less
wide.
have not been ascertained in detail; all
that is known is that the streets are
too narrow, that the arteriai reads are
Inadequate in number and width. that
tramWay accommr d ation is insufficient
and that traffic condi ions generally are
unsatisfactory. Railway enterprise is al
most at a standstill, and the time is APP
preaching when the increase OF travel
ing and the outward movement Of the
population will be checked, unless
Haussman comes forward.
1t is interesting TO note that the popu-
lation of the central parts of London is
decreasing steadily. The diminution from
1851 to 1891 of the district within radius
of three miles from st. Pauls Ca he @ral
was 69,631; from 1891 to 1901 i was
40, 592 while ii is estimated that the de-
crease from 1901 to 1879 will reach 51,032.
A royal commission estimates that the
population of London in 1881 may not
be much short OF eleven millions. Mi.
Harper of the London county council
puts the figures at more than 9,a5O.o'n.