The Ocala evening star., 1915-02-08
AN ENTIRE CITY
UNDER ONE ROOF
Buildings Must Continue to Grow
Larger as Long as Mans Mind
Continues tc Grow Broader
(By Alfred ". Lawson)


which go to make up human life, there
is none more noticeable, perhaps, than
that of progress and retrogress.
One set Of men strike out fearless
ly into the untrodden field of pro-
gress, and produce ideas and appIi-
ances that eventually prove Of tre-
mendous value to the rest Of man
kind, while another set of men Of the
retrogressive type jump on their backs
and clinging to their-coattails, adopt
demoniac tactics in their foolish eff
forts to hinder them from going for
ward.
The progressive type of man is al
ways looking forward, while the retro
gressive type is forever looking back
ward.
In the city Of New York is to be
found both types of these men just
as they are to be found in every other
city, town and village upon the face Of
the earth.
Remarkable men of extraordinary
architectural and engineering ability
have succeeded during the past few
years of carrying forward the con-
struction of buildings from five or six
stories up to more than forty stories
high.
Wonderful development has been
made in the construction of these
buildings until they now compare with
the old time squatty, unsanitary fire
traps in about the same ratio as sun
light compares with moonlight, or the
electric light does to the candle stick
These buildings are absolutely fire
/ proof and should perchance careless
clerk throw lighted match or cigar
cite into a pile of papers and set fire
to the furniture, all one has to do is
to close the door of the room and let
the furniture burn up if necessary,
and that is as far as the fire goes.
These buildings contain transpor-
tation service, which carries passen-
gers and freight from the lowest to
the highest floors with remarkable
speed and efficiency. There are local
cars which stop at every floor, and
there are express cars which make no
stops below the twentieth floor.
The lighting and heating and sani-
tary efficiency of these buildings are
surprising in every detail.
With all these and many other su-
perior qualities to delight the modern
man and make him feel pleased that
he is living in such an enlightened and
progressive age, still are found in the
city of New York, a sufficiently large
number of the retrogressive type to
not only hamper further expansion
along these lines, but who actually
want to force builders to the old low
building variety again.
1t does not seem possible that such
thing can be brought about, al
though the retrogressives appear to be
meeting with considerable success in
their efforts lately.
But whether they temporarily sue.
ceed in stopping the wheels of pro-
gress or not, there is one thing Ger.
tain and that is they cannot do sc
permanently.
Expansion in buildings must con
tinue to go forward just as expan
. sion must continue to go forward
along all other human lines, as long
as the human race continues to grow
We have not yet reached the stop
!: ping point in development by thou
! sands of years at least.
The forty story buildings of toda.
will be the pigmy buildings of fit.
!: years from now. Furthermore, no
only will the buildings grow highe
|. and higher, but they will also groy
wider and longer until they not onl
{ cover areas of whole squares, but o
n whole sections through which street
will merely run as tunnels.
This continued enlargement Q
buildings will go on until finally
whole city is brought under one roo
and as far as height is concerned
likely to be anywhere from two hur
dred to a thousand stories high.
While the average reader may cor
slider this statement good size
dream, base it entirely upon SCUM
economic rules, which will require wit
ever increasing population almost e.
cry foot of soil obtainable for pr,
ductive purposes instead of allowir
the people to continue to spread ol