The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-04-30
IMPROVEMENT OF
 AMERICAN CITIES Progress Is Being Made
 Very Rapidly IN LEADING TOWNS More Than Sixty Municipalities Catch the Contagion For Re- modelling Along Useful
 and Artistic Lines

A city built like a home-with every provision for comfort, convenience, beauty, happiness-did your mind ever dwell on such city as this?
 A city designed by architects, engi- neers. educators, artists. by experts em- ployed by the city and thinking of the city-a city for the people. for all the people-did your dreams ever finger on such a municipal vision? asks Frederic c. Howe in the coure of an article, The American City, of Tomorrow" in the May Hamptons. And he goes on to an- swer his question.
 This new idea that the city should be built as men build homes received its inspiration from the Worlds fair in Chi cago in 1S93 Then men began to say to themselves: Why cannot we live in cities as beautiful as this play city, which will disappear at the end of the summer? Why cannot our cities be built for com- fort, for convenience, for beauty, for joy and be planned by experts and archi- tects trained for the purpose?
 That was 17 years ago. During the
 
 planned the fair and the artists and land scape gardeners who beautifed 1t have longed to translate their fleeting plaster casts into stone and marble, to express for democracy what the kings and prn- ces of Europe are doing for their cities. Conferences have been held, a. substan- | tal literature has made its appearance. municipal bodies as well as chambers | of commerce and civic associations have | taken up the idea of building cities along intelligent lines and with a far-visioned outlook for the future. A love of beauty has been forming as well as convic- ton that the city Is something more than an aggregation of mills, factories and sweatshops.
 l More than 60 cities have caught the contagion of the movement and have employed experts to prepare plans for grouping public buildings about which the life of the community will center, for opening up commanding thoroughfares, for parks and open spaces, for the planning of suburban residence districts, for the development l of water fronts, for docks and harbors and the encouragement of business dis tricts. These cities Include Washing ton, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Cleveland. Milwaukee, Baltimore, Co., lumbus, Cincinnati, Buffalo, Denver. l Il. troit, Rochester, St. Louis, Hartford.
 Indianapolis Los Angeles, San Diego, Chattanooga Seattle, Reading, Harris
 burg, Memphis and more than 30 | others.'
 The congestion of our cities MT. Howe points out Is vital evil, for
 which he has this remedy:
 Surely cities could be spread over . thousands square miles as easily a1 over 50 If we but seriously set our minds to the problem Every one should
 have cottage and a piece of land In a healthy suburban village, even though he travels daily to his work No new discoveries are needed. nor any great genius to work this out.
 We can carry passengers on street railways at three cents instead Of hve as is being done in Cleveland. h Glasgow S5 per cent of the passengeri | ride for one cent and Glasgow makes so much money from her municipal railways that she hardly knows wha' to do with 1t. In Belgium the govern ment owns the steam railroads ant
 runs them for the people. And Belgium distributes her working population fal out into the country. Railway fares
 are ridiculously cheap. A man can liv'
 31 miles from Brussels and travel t' and from his work six days week fol A cents a week, which is less than man pays for street railway fare In thi' ! country He can live six miles Iron the city and pay but centS a day. , '1n the city of the future we snai have done away with many of our pres snt Wasteful,I inconvenient practices ? One of the worst extravagances Il every city today Is the coal bin Il each house. Before many years tn city dweller will no more think of hay