Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-01-14
WANTS FINEST CITY
German Kaiser Ambitious for
Berlin to Excel.
ORDERS PLANS TO BE MADE
Stirred by Designs for Beautifca-
ton Of Chicago.
GERMANS URBAN JEWELLERS
0ne-Half the Population Lives in
Towns-obligation Of the Cities
for Self-Improvement.
ORDERS PLANS TO BE MADE
GERMANS URBAN JEWELLERS
BY WILLIAM E. CRIT

BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS
Written for The Star and the Chicago Record
Herald.
The German kaiser is ambitious to
make his capital the finest city in the
world, and seiZes every suggestion and
every opportunity to promote it's grand
eur and perfection. Last summer he
was thoroughly stirred up by the plans
for the improvement and Identification
of Chicago which We're prepared sew
eral years ago by Daniel H. Burnham
and Edward II. Bennett of his office,
under the direction of the Commercial
Club, and. inspired by them. he has ap-
pointed commission to prepare a SINH
lar plan for the city of Berlin based upon
a future population of 1O,OGO,000 in the
year 1000.
In his enthusiastic and impulsive way
the kaiser declared several times that
the Burnham plans were the most per-
feet and satisfactory he had ever seen,
and expressed a profound regret that
This capital is SO solidly built up and lacks
the lake frontage Of Chicago, so that
they cannot be applied more closely In
the improvements he contemplates.
We, Of course, can learn a great deal
from European cities. We send artists,
architects. medical students. musicians
and multitudes OF others, young and old,
to study conditions, past and present,
and developments In every field of activ-
ity, and as nation We are better for
the lessons they learn. Hence, 1t is
gratifying to know that one of our
youngest and crudest municipalities has
been able to offer the old world sug-
gestions of value. Berlin. however, is
not the only place where the Burnham
plans attracted attention. They have
since been exhibited at Dusseldorf and
at London, and at both places have ex-
cited the same admiration and enthusi-
asm.
The town planning conference has be-
come an important factor In municipal
development, particularly in Germany, and
the emperor is one of it's active and ar
dent promoters, and there are good rea-
sons why he should be. At the begin
ming of the nineteenth century only ~
per cent Of the inhabitants of Germany
lived In towns.
City and County Conditions.
Ninety per cent lived in the country
and escaped what were considered peris
to health and life inseparably connected
with towns. Sociologists declared that
town life and habits Slapped the vitality
OF the nation. 1t was an accepted prin-
ciple that country families which moved
into cities and devoted themselves to
mechanical industries and commercial
occupations, instead OF agriculture, be-
came extinct in the course of three gene
rations. chiefly because of bad water,
1~I ct, L.
tary evils.
This theory is not entirely discarded.
It is still the popular belief that the
farms of Germany are an inexhaustibfe
reservoir Of national energy and health,
although, as a matter of fact, the sur
army declare that those who come from
the cities and large towns are invariably
in better condition OF body and mind
than those who come from the farms.
This is also true of other countries.
The city boy is better fed, better clothed,
posed to infectious diseases as often as
the country boy. The sewerage and
water supply Of cities, as a rule. are
much better than those of farms
and villages; the ventilation OF city
houses. even tenements, is usually just
as good and often better than that Of
village cottages and farmhouses. Never
theless everybody comedies that there is
a tremendous task confronting those who
are responsible for the public health. in
securing better conditions for the poor,
not alone In Germany, but in every city
of the world.
Urban Population in Germany.
Today one-half Of the German popula-
ton lives In towns and one-third in large
cities. The urban population is increas-
ing almost as fast as that of the United
States. while the farming population is
slowly decreasing. 1t is predicted that
within the next quarter of a century two
thirds of the population of Germany will
be housed in cities of 5000 and mere
Assuming this to be the fact, the we'll
with the well-being of the entire nation;
their health and physical condition is
therefore considered of supreme import
ance, and the rebuilding of ancient towns
and the formation OF new towns has be-
come a vital national question.
The Germans take such subjects much
more seriously than the people of the
United States. and they are beginning to
realize the gravity Of their situation. In
order to preserve and protect postertty ii
Is necessary for them to provide healthy,
pleasant and convenient abodes in the
great cities, and the expansion of the CEN
tiers OF population must be regulated on
scientific principles or Germany cannot
slider the greatest nation In the world.
AS one of the newspapers asserts: THE
German nation has awakened to the fact
that its future cities must be so built as
to insure comfort and health in the
homes. dignity and room in the streets,
less noise, less smoke, better Transports
ton facilities, more accommodations for
pleasure and exercise and greater con-
sideration for the physical welfare Of
their inhabitants"
The Berlin Exposition.
These were the reasons which actuated
the officials of Berlin to hold "a town
planning conference and exhibition last
spring, and 1t was expected that, as has
proven to be the case, universal interest
would be excited in the subject. that mu-
nicipal officials, architects. engineers and
the public generally would thereby be
inspired to study the question and de-
velop ideas and plans Of improvement.
In order to stimulate interest and inspire
were offered for the best plans for the
Improvement Of Berlin and many valu-
able suggestions were received. The inn
perial commission will take them into
consideration, and in due time will SUBJ
NIT q report to the emperor with plans
for extending the present city SO as to
accommodate a possible population of
ten million. and for the Improvement and
Identification of the existing Berlin.
The success Of the exhibition was so
great. and the degree of interest excited
was so general. that several other cities
have taken up the same subject. and
town-planning conferences and EXPOSE
lions will be in order from this time on
The popularity Of the idea and the pub