The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-07-22
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM ALTON
BURE AU
FREDERIC J. HAaKIS. Da-Sstse.
wAzhinstsa. d C
THE DREAM OF A CITY.
WAzhinst@. d c.

fifth birthday. That this city OF mill
lions should have grown up in a hui
man lifetime is one Of the most aston
ishing facts in the story of America.
Never before has q great metropolis
sprung into being in anything like so
short Q time. And the most formida-
BILE phase Of the matter is the evident
fact that Chicago is still an infant II
has all the characteristics of youth.
1t is active. crude. naive, enthusiastic,
undaunted. And 1t is still growing
like a milk-fed chicken.
The present Chicago has its prob
lens. Its downtown section Is roar
ing confusion of traffic. and it al
ready faces the necessity of building
two-story streets. South Water street,
its market place, which was a country
lane not long ago, is now engulfed in
the midst Of the city, and produce Of
ten 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 be-
coming constantly more serious.
But IL the Chicago of today faces
these stupendous and vexing prob
lens, what may it expect with the on
rush OF the decades? Try to imagine
Chicago three times its present size,
with its suburbs flung three times as
far up and down the lake shore, and
its business section three times as
crowded. noisy and smoky as it is at
present.
Perhaps aircraft will solve the
transportation problem, and all the
smoke will be done away with by
identification, and all the streets will
be three stories high. The giant city
which seems sure to come will present
no problems for which science and
engineering have not suggested a solu-
ton. But that solution must be
planned and worked out gradually.
Chicago realizes this It has a plan
for its future which is as complete
as human foresight can arrange. 1t
is proper to personify the city in this
connection. for. to most unusual ex-
tent, the Chicago plan belongs to the
whole of Chicago This plan has
been preached on all occasions, it has
filled thousands of columns in the
newspapers. sixty-three thousand
copies OF a text book about it have
pictures of this future dream city
have been widely displayed. And al
ways the fact has been emphasized
that this is a plan for the whole city,
one which will benefit all the people,
and not merely a class or a section.
Every Chicagoan with a mite Of imag-
inatiOn carries a picture of the future
Chicago in his mind. He sees the now
barren and ragged lake front con-
verted into an enormous park with
miles and miles of beach and pro-
tected waterway where he and his
family will battle and picnic, en-
joying all the advantages of a lake
shore summer resort within sight of
the factories and office buildings that
give them a living. He sees many
miles of narrow and congested thoro-
fares, where he now adroitIy lodges
traffic, converted into spacious boule-
Yards. 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
slades, set aside for his pleasure.
These beauties and delights of the
future Chicago have been preached to
all the people all the time. Anybody
in Chicago can tell you about them.
and almost anyone will register en-
thusiasm in doing So The Chicago
plan is really the dream of a city
great unifying ideal and purpose
The Chicago plan had it's beginning
a good many years ago when the great
architect, Burnham. presented the city
with 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 extending 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 play
ground 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 a 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
m. ., -
city has already spent about fifty-five
millions on public works and in so
| doing reached the limit OF it's bonded
| Indebtedness. Then the assessed value
| of its property was raised from one
| third to one-half. making it now pos
sible to borrow an additional twenty
seven million dollars. The city Is to
vote in November as to whether this
| amount shall be used in carrying out
the program of the Chicago plan COM
mission, and the indications for this
authorization are favorable.
! The honorary head of the Chicago
plan commission IS the permanent
chairman, Charles H. Wacker. He is
a 6S-year-old millionaire who has de-
voted a good part OF his time to the
! plan commission for some ten years
and who possesses a quiet determine
ton in going ahead which is valuable
to the city. But the chief evangelist
| of the future Chicago is Walter d
Moody. managing director of the plan
commission. He is a young looking
but gray-headed man, He has lin
| guistic capacities which for endurance
and fluency have never been equa1ed
in ancient or modern times. And
nearly all of his eoquence is on onG
subject-city-plan He firmly be.
lieves that city planning is the saliva.
ton of the modern world. He believe.
it will cure everything from ricketts, t.
al oh rrf1S h. Ia rNA
| gument to that effect. He has facti
by the ton. He has studied almost
every city on the face of the earth
with an eye single to charging hi.
knowledge of city planning. He
knows not only all the cities that are
but all the cities that ever were. II
his recent voluminous book What Of
the City," he writes with charming
familiarity about how Belshazzal
wrestled with the sewage problem il