The Chattanooga news. [volume] (Chattanooga, Tenn.) 1891-1939, 1919-07-21

Chicago, ILL.,, July 1S.--A woman who
was born in Chicago when 1t boosted
population OF 1000 people recently
celebrated her eighty-first birthday.
That this city of millions should have
grown UP in q human lifetime is one
of the most astonishing acts in the,
story of America. Never before has
great metropolis sprung into being
in anything like SO short time. And
the most formidable phase of the mat
ter Ia the evident fact that Chicago is
still an infant. 1t has all the charac-
teristics of youth. 1t Is active, crude.
naive. enthusiastic. undaunted. And 1t
Is still growing like o milk-fed chicken.
The present Chicago has its prob
lens. Its downtown section is q roar
ing confusion of traffic, and 1t already
faces the necessity OF building two
story streets. South Water street, its
market place. which was q country
lane not long ago, 10 now engulfed In
the midst of the city. and produce oft
en- rots because congestion prevents
it from reaching the stalls. The prob
lem of getting Chicagoans to and
from the working center OF the city is
becoming constantly more serious.
But II the Chicago OF today faces
these stupendous and vexing problems
what may 1t expect with the onrush
OF the decades? Try TO imagine Chica-
81 tiECC tihiSS lie piCSCnt bi6pt WIN
its suburbs flung three times as far
UP and down the lake shore. and It's
business section three times as crowd
ed, noisy and smoky as it is at pres
ent.
Perhaps aircraft will solve the trars-
poriat'or. problem. and al, the smoke
will be done away with by tlectrifi-
cation, and all the streets will 10
three stories high. The giant city
which seems sure to come Will present
no problems for which science and en-
cheering have not suggested a solu-
ton. But that solution must be
planned and worked out gradually.
Plans for future,
Chicago realizes this. 1t has a plan
for its future which Is as complete
as human foresight can arrange, 1t
connection, for, to a most unusual cx
tent the Chicago plan belongs to the
whole OF Chicago. This plan has been
preached on all occasions; 1t has filled
thousands of columns in the news
papers; $1,000 copies of textbook
about 1t have been used in the public
schools. and pictures of this future
dream city have been widely displayed,
And always the fact has been em-
phaszed that this is plan for the
whole city, one which viii benefit all
the people, and not merely a class or
a section. Every Chicagoan with a
mite. of imagination carries a picture
sees the now barren and ragged lake
front converted into an enormous park
with miles and miles of beach and
protected waterway, where he and his
family will battle and picnic, enjoying
all the advantages of lake shore
summer resort within sight of the fac
tories and office buildings that give
"a nv anvil IN
of narrow and congested thorough
fares, where he now adroitly lodges
traffic, converted into spacious boule
wards. He sees swift and commodious
traction lines, which will whisk him
to and from his home. and will carry
him in a few minutes from the heart
of the business district to cool forest
glades, set aside for his pleasure.
These beauties and delights of the
future Chicago, have been preached to
all the lGouAt -: TIE time. Anybody
in Chicago can tell you about them.
and almost anyone will register enthu-
siasm in doing SO. The Chicago plan
is really the dream of a city--asgreat
unifying ideal and purpose.
Parking Lake Front.
The Chicago plan had its beginning
a good many years ago when the great
architect. Burnham, presented the city
with a set of plans for parking the
lake front. From this nucleus has
grown a comprehensive plan which
comprises, in addition to the lake
front project, the widening and ex-
tending of hundreds of miles of
streets, the double decking of two
streets at once and of more later and
the creation OF many square miles of
forest playground on the very edge of
the city.
Chicago's finances are badly mud
died. but this does not seem to cause
any hesitation about carrying out the
city plans. Chicago is like young
and vigorous business man who is
heavily in debt, but is so confident of
his energy and earning capacity that
he does not let his debts put any check
on his constructive operations The
city has already spent about $4,000, 900
en- public works and in so doing reached
the limit of its bonded indebtedness
Then the assessed value of its property
was raised from one-third to one-half,
making it now possible to borrow an
additional S72O00, 600. The city is to
vote in November as to whether this
amount shall he used in carrying out
the program Of the Chicago plan COM
mission, and the indications for this
authorization are favorable.
The honorary head oil, the Chicago