Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-11-25
TWENTIETH CENTURY CITY.
Growth of Idea That Cities Should
Be Beautiful and Comfortable.
~ B. F. mcfarland. in American City.

Penny 3. +. Mcfarland. In American City.
A city. like man, is body. mind and
| spirit. 1t is more than the individual
| citizens, for it lives on. and is not only
q legal but an actual entity separate from
| them.
Now that the whole world has been
| made a neighborhood by the marvellous
| facilities for INSTRUMENTATION, and
measurably brotherhood by the mar
velous development of fraternal interest,
every city learns from all others, and we
compare notes, discuss failures, plan sue
| cesseS and hearten one another to new
| endeavors.
| Naturally Nhen we We're first Weakened
up by our more progressive citizens we
| first thought of the body of the city. The
| city beautiful became the natural object
of thoSe-On our side Of the line at least
who suddenly opened their eyes for the
| first time to see that they lived in smoke,
amid ugly and incongruous buildings with
! unattractive highways. often poor and al
| most always Inadequate. and without
suitable parks, PARK space, trees and
other esthetic essentials.
Many United States cities caught the
idea OF city planning. as it was called. en-
| gagged as advisers those or other experts,
and now over fifty cities have adopted
plans for developing a civic center of
principal public buildings. and from that
parks, avenues, boulevards which shall
IN the course OF years avail Of every nat
ural opportunity for making the city
beautiful Over one-half million dollar
have been expended in such plans in the
| United States and they call for the expen-
diture of at least five hundred times as
much money in the course of the next
| fifty years. No such program of city
Establishment was ever dreamed of. or a
all possible before. 1t is the united en-
deavo:. as ii were. of our modern NUM-
| cipal civilization even though each city
! has acted separately. All our other cities
| will follow the example and many of
| them have already taken steps toward 1t.
At the end of this century cities Of in
| comparable beauty will be found in all the
| states and provinces of America.
But as no thinking being can be content
ed simply with physical development our
cities have now also noble discomfort
with the Improvement of their mind The
educational system. including public
city colleges. the public libraries and mu-
| seums and public Fairgrounds. all the
| forms Of public education. show the evil
| dence of this new feeling. Public play
| created in the past decade They have
| not entirely passed the stage Of ridicule
| by the ignorant. including persons of gen.
| eral intelligence and education, Of whom
many oppose every step forward. The
need for them had to be shown first by
public-sprited citizens who provided
| them until the municipality took them w
| officially. as was the case with the kinder
garten and other modern improvements
| in public education. But now they are
on municipal programs and municipal
budgets and millions have been spent
| upon them already. often by vote of enor-
nous majorities of the taxpayers. thus
proving their popularity. Public schools
and public libraries which we admired
for their buildings, their equipment, their
training in the nineteenth century would
not content us in the twentieth century.
Il As in the man. SO in the city. the sp:ri
is the most Important AS city think