The sun., 1916-12-17
By MILO HASTINGS.

"HE two most malignant diseases
of modern civilization are wal
and cities. For both numerous
eurss are prescribed. None Of these
cures has worked yet. That Ia not
prooe $Ast none Of them will.
Modem cities are a modern evil be-
casse they are both larger and more
nIyaerous than the cities Of tho past.
A Babylon or Rome could only exist "a
the centre OF a world OF barbaric and
rural life. For every luxurious loafer.
for each fiunky and slave living
within the city a score or 10 Of hunters
and farmers and boatmen and carriers
we're needed To keep alive the artificial
crust OF life In the non-food bearing
town.
But now the city has grown till half
a man In field and forest al feed q
man In the city. This change has been
brought about by the increased ca
pacity Of al industrial processes. but
chiefly hy the Improvement In trans
portation.
The evils of city life--and city life
Is but an intcIsification and
trstion of civilized life-are due to the
fact that man is an animal bearing GER
tain inherited limitations that adapt
him TO the life OF the great outdoors.
But certain others of his inherent
needs fare better In the city environ
msnt. artificial though IL lie. Only re.
Gently the dogmas Of the health re-
former have been severely shaken BY
the announcement that the death rate
In the much abused metropolis ID now
less than hat ot the rural section Of
New York state.
II is because the city Is n concentra-
ton and maSsing OF effects. because the
poverty. misery. dirt and sordidncss Of
the million arc crowded into ones
afternoon walk instead OF being spread
out over a hundred thousand square
miles Of rolling prairie that the evils
Of city life are more impressive and i'm
pulses to reform and rebuild the city
or 10 scatter populations back into the
country seize the reformer much more
frequently than does the desire to bet
ter the conditions Of rural life.
City reformers vary In their ambi-
tons from those striving for petty
changes within the city walls to those
who would destroy the city utterly BY
attracting its population to rival struc-
lures to be planned wholly anew and
built with conscious effort.
The city planner is a generic term
applied to all those who would con.
sdously aid in the evolution Of the
cities growth In A far us the mechan.
ism Of streets and trafic ways and
buildings can determine It. The city
planner is usually a city official or
aspiring to be one. In his effort TO
be practical he would work closely
with the street committees and build.
Ing law commissioners. and make him.
self generally useful by telling people
what to do and what not to do In ar
ranging and r~earranging the ordinary
affairs OF change and growth. But &C.
casionally the city planner becomes
ambitious and would plough a path for
. straightaway venue right through
a maze OF house cluttered alleys.
The evolution OF city planning made
It's grand step forward with the dis
covery of the gridiron or checker
board type of survey al distinct from
the cowpath tangle as seen In London
or Boston. The modern city planner
would now cut diagona!s through the
checkerboard. rs did those early MEM
bers Of his craft who laid out the
capital city OF the United States. Or
taking n complete turn In the twisting
spiral Of history he would come back
Ia cowpa,hs. lay them out with rhom-
bold curves and elliptical contours and
call Il landscape gardening.
An especial delight for the city
planncr is the civic centre. for there Is
no more impressive way Of getting
an effect in cities than by pulling
down a lot of little buildings in the
ell centre Of a town and putting up
something vastly new and grandly
whitc-and all ranged round "A beauti-
full fountain with Atlas holding up the
world and little brass angels taking
shower baths.
The serious work Of the city planner
Is to be "a student of city evolution
and 10 attempt to find those principles
Of growth revealed In that which exists
with an intent that they shall be
recognized and utilized as q track Into
the future upon which the creative en-
lines Of the mind may run.
one such effort consciously to follow
n lead shown us by the blind forces of
evolution is In the reshaping Of the
city into a group of self-contained In
~dustrial villages. Such a solution has
been proposed for the present garment
trade situation OF New York BY II. F. j.
Porter, an industrial engineer. who Is
much interested in civic questions.
Mr.. Porter would prepare for a
movement OF the garment trades back
10 the section Of New York bounded on
the north by a line bordering on WASH
ington and Tompkins squares and on
inc south by Canal street. There are
many loft buildings in this section
which with a little improvement could
be made TO comply with the present re-
quirements for safety and sanitation as
laid down by new laws. whereas still
Older buildings could DO replaced by
modern buildings.
Tho function OF those who would
guide city evolution. as seen by Mr..
Porter, Is TO crystalline into coming laws
those natural tendencies OF industries
10 locate in given sections. The DIFF
ference between Mr.. Porter's concep-
uon OF such growth and the notion Of
the average New Yorker who recog-
Mes the unguided tendency toward
Industrial groupings is that Mr.. Porter
would plan that each industrial village
within tho greater city should contain
not only it's manufacturing and Office
centres but It's residential districts for
me workers In it's particular trades.