El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-02-06
Rr MRs. FRANk sEWARD.
(Written for the Art Department Of
the Woman's Club

the Woman's Club
TN the plating of a town much more
is involved than at first thought,
"A maybe, one would suppose. We are
living in day Of civic renaissance.
The movement for the improvement of
municipal conditions is widespread and
we are all awakening to the fact that
the places where man lives are worthy
Of love and care.
Consideration Of the width and ar
rangement of streets far from being
a by-path OF investigation. proves a
broad highway All the currents of
life all the grades Of society. are in
timately affected by the problems it
includes. 1t has been asserted that the
relation existing between the develop
ment Of streets end the lives Of people
living upon them is exceptionally close
and intimate. The street is more than
a passageway, it is the channel of the
common life. it makes the boundary Of
our homes, it gives US an outlook upon
the world; in fact, the streets make the
cities what they are, and the cities
make the world.
Streets Represent Large Investment.
A city has no financial investment
so large as that represented in its
streets, usually 25 to 40 percent of the
whole land area-no item in its ex-
penses reaches a larger total than those
for the construction and maintenance
OF streets. As a rule, cities are not
planned, they just grow, and undOubt-
eddy there are many happy accidents
in the arrangement Of streets, but very
often a town does offer opportunity for
scientific planning and the benefits to
be gained by scientific arrangements
-
whole but to the individuals who make
up the community.
These benefits are broadly threefoId
the best in circulating problems nee
essary to prevent possible congestion Of
traffic, the improvement of social con-
ditions and in increasing the visible
beauty.
In the early days the street plan of a
town consisted Of a few broad spaces
united by narrow lanes and network
Of connecting alleys. There was sell
dom any division in Wheelways and
fOOtways but they served fairly well
the traffic which made use of them.
As transportation grew, both in vol
ume and in the means by which 1t was
carried on, the city fathers Widened
and Strengthened streets. but made
them all alike both in dimensions and
character The present plan is for less
standardization, for wider main streets
and for the narrowing of those which
have little traffic value.
Reason for Occasional Failure.
The failure Of street standardization
10 meet street needs is largely due 20
the fact that a citys streets and sec
lions are not all alike in their require
ments, since not alike in their c0ndi-
tions. As a result of the operation So
clal laws and the attraction of like for
like, cities have divided into business
sections and residence sections, these
again subdividing-the business sec
uions into wholesale. retail. financial
center. automobile rows, etc. and the
residence sections into high class, mid
die class and working men's homes. the
tenement district making a section OF
its own.
Sidewalk and permanent improve
ments are vastly dirrerent in these
various districts. even on streets of like
width On a tenement lined street, or
among tall office buildings, there are !