Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-01-11
SEATTLENLAST
WORD in REARING
OF MODERN CITY
Both Business and Residential
Sections Are Marked With
Distinction

! am tempted to characterize.
Seattle as a metropolis de luxe, but
at any rate it stands for the last
word in city building. In both its
business and residential sections it
bears distinction that 1 find hard
to hit in words. The bigness of its
city ideals, the scope of it's harbor
achievements and it's industrial aims,
fill one with amazement-especia
when contrasted with the want of
these things which one finds in many
lackadaisical communities.
There are only a few cities IN the
world that have such a wealth of
native trees and vegetation, and here
in Seattle the skilful hand of the
landscape engineer has added a
charm that is irresistible. For miles
and miles the parkway streets wind
around the slopes of the hills over
looking, in places, both Puget Sound
and the lakes.
A resident of Seattle said to me
on my recent trip that the people OF
that city were obsessed with home
building. The settings were SO beau-
tifuI that even the men with the
smaller incomes were continually
tempted to invest more money than
such man in the average city usually
put into homes. But he added that
this idealism of itself had paid out
financially. Very few home build
ers in Seattle failed to see the thing
through, and the enhanced Valae OF
property far more than offsets the
original cost.
l. of 1in1En1 for
ever with r. II. Thomson. steep
as the hills are to-day, they are all
accessible by motor and street car
although in places the trolley gives
way to the cable. But in my years
in Seattle there were hills so pre-
cipitous that to get up them one
had almost to climb like an ape.
Thomson was city engineer. lie
was more than an engineer; he was
a dreamer of city dreams. L sup
pose he might have gone on merely
digging sewers and laying out streets
as most city engineers do; but he mad
the dream habit, and his visions OF
the future Seattle were so incredibly
big that he was not taken seriously.
But he kept on dreaming and Kept
kept on submitting his Impossible
plans to the city council, until fin
ally those city fathers themselves
began 10 dream. Then they turned
Thomson loose upon those inacces-
sible hills that stood in the way OF
city development. He took great
streams of water up there ana putt
long sluiceways through the air
over Seattle, and he washed those
hills into Puget Sound. This was
the famous Seattle regrade, which
was done between 1906 and l9O9.
1t was the most daring job any city
ever undertook. Yet when 1t was
finished and the streets graded and
paved, it was worth millions ana
millions of dollars to Seattle.
The Seattle Chamber of Commerce
and Commercial CLUB is a consolo-
alton of civic bodies, and typlfes
a concentration of effort Each |
member, and there are thousands,
afiliates with some particular pu-
reau, and this personal service Is
furthered through a system or spe-
cial committees. Some of the bu-
reaus are those designated as Alas |
ka, foreign trade, washington state
development, industrial convention
and tourist transportation, civic, |
research and statistics, retail trade,
national affairs and taxation. Then
there is a members council, made
up of men from every branch of the
work.
The industrial bureau has made a
complete analysis of existing indus
tries, and a thorough inquiry into
the elements of possible industrial
growth. 1t must be manifest TO
anyone who studies city development
that cities do not just happen. 1t is
a fine piece of Industrial and civic
engineering to build a well rounded |
and beautiful community, and the |
skilful conduct of this work is de- |
veloping a new profession in Amer |
ica-that of civic organization and |
a coordination of the powers that !
make a modern city. In fact, city !
building is a great new business in !
which some of the best brains in the |
world are engaged.
l doubt If there is one man m |
Seattle who would want the town to |
so back to liquor. Up to the time |
when the present war law went into |
effect, individuals could ship in spec |
flied quantities.; but to-day Seattle Is
bone dry, and has in it's pockets |
million dollars month that it for
merly spent for alcoholic drinks.
1t is curious that many of the |
former saloons have been turned |
into candy and ice cream establish |
ments, using the identical fixtures |
One place visited was run by the
same owners, who had quite forgot
ten their opposition to the Prohibi- |
ton Law.
Seattle seems to have neglected no
branch of municipal thinking. II
found some of the largest and most |
attractive city owned markets I |
have ever seen. One night 1 had a
dinner on the glass inclosed veran-
da of a public market, high on a |
bluff, overlooking Puget Sound. This
restaurant, 1 presume, is a conces-
sion, but the choicest of all foods
were available and the prices were
astonishingly low. 1t is interesting
to study the advanced ideas you see
out there in such profusion.-Ed-