THE FUTURE OF LONDON.
It will now be interesting to consider some of the more striking
effects which will be produced on our now over-crowded cities by
the opening-up in new districts of such a vast field of employment
as the reader’s mind will, it is hoped, be now able to realise with
some degree of clearness. New towns and groups of towns are springing
up in parts of our islands hitherto well-nigh deserted; new means of
communication, the most scientific the world has yet seen, are being
constructed; new means of distribution are bringing the producer and
the consumer into closer relations, and thus (by reducing railway rates
and charges, and the number of profits) are at once raising prices to
the producer and diminishing them to the consumer; parks and gardens,
orchards and woods, are being planted in the midst of the busy life of
the people, so that they may be enjoyed in the fullest measure; homes
are being erected for those who have long lived in slums; work is found
for the workless, land for the landless, and opportunities for the
expenditure of long pent-up energy are presenting themselves at every
turn. A new sense of freedom and joy is pervading the hearts of the
people as their individual faculties are awakened, and they discover,
in a social life which permits alike of the completest concerted action
and of the fullest individual liberty, the long-sought-for means of
reconciliation between order and freedom--between the well-being of the
individual and of society.
The effects produced on our over-crowded cities, whose forms are at
once, by the light of a new contrast, seen to be old-fashioned and
effete, will be so far-reaching in their character that, in order to
study them effectively, it will be well to confine our attention to
London, which, as the largest and most unwieldy of our cities, is
likely to exhibit those effects in the most marked degree.
There is, as I said at the outset, a well-nigh universal current of
opinion that a remedy for the depopulation of our country districts and
for the overcrowding of our large cities is urgently needed. But though
every one recommends that a remedy should be diligently sought for,
few appear to believe that such a remedy will ever be found, and the
calculations of our statesmen and reformers proceed upon the assumption
that not only will the tide of population never actually turn from the
large cities countryward, but that it will continue to flow in its
present direction at a scarcely diminished rate for a long time to
come.[30] Now it can hardly be supposed that any search made in the
full belief that the remedy sought for will not be discovered is likely
to be carried on with great zeal or thoroughness; and, therefore, it
is perhaps not surprising to find that though the late chairman of
the London County Council (Lord Rosebery) declared that the growth of
this huge city was fitly comparable to the growth of a tumour (_see_
p. 11)--few venturing to deny the correctness of the analogy--yet the
various members of that body, instead of bending their energies to
reforming London by means of a reduction of its population, are boldly
advocating a policy which involves the purchase of vast undertakings on
behalf of the municipality, at prices which must prove far higher than
they will be worth if only the long-sought-for remedy is found.
Let us now assume (simply as an hypothesis, if the reader is still
sceptical) that the remedy advocated in this work is effective; that
new garden-cities are springing up all over the country on sites owned
by the municipalities--the rate-rents of such corporate property
forming a fund ample for the carrying on of municipal undertakings
representing the highest skill of the modern engineer and the best
aspirations of the enlightened reformer; and that in these cities,
healthier, wholesomer, cleaner and more just and sound economic
conditions prevail. What, then, must in the nature of things be the
more noticeable effects upon London and the population of London; upon
its land values; upon its municipal debt, and its municipal assets;
upon London as a labour market; upon the homes of its people; upon its
open spaces, and upon the great undertakings which our socialistic and
municipal reformers are at the present moment so anxious to secure?
First, notice that ground values will fall enormously! Of course, so
long as the 121 square miles out of the 58,000 square miles of England
exercise a magnetic attraction so great as to draw to it one-fifth of
the whole population, who compete fiercely with each other for the
right to occupy the land within that small area, so long will that land
have a monopoly price. But de-magnetise that people, convince large
numbers of them that they can better their condition in every way by
migrating elsewhere, and what becomes of that monopoly value? Its spell
is broken, and the great bubble bursts.
But the life and earnings of Londoners are not only in pawn to the
owners of its soil, who kindly permit them to live upon it at enormous
rents--£16,000,000 per annum, representing the present ground value of
London, which is yearly increasing; but they are also in pawn to the
extent of about £40,000,000, representing London’s municipal debts.
But notice this. A municipal debtor is quite different from an ordinary
debtor in one most important respect. _He can escape payment by
migration._ He has but to move away from a given municipal area, and he
at once, _ipso facto_, shakes off not only all his obligations to his
landlord, but also all his obligations to his municipal creditors. It
is true, when he migrates he must assume the burden of a new municipal
rent, and of a new municipal debt; but these in our new cities will
represent an extremely small and diminishing fraction of the burden
now borne, and the temptation to migrate will, for this and many other
reasons, be extremely strong.
But now let us notice how each person in migrating from London, while
making the burden of _ground-rents_ less heavy for those who remain,
will (unless there be some change in the law), make the burden of
_rates_ on the ratepayers of London yet heavier. For, though each
person in migrating will enable those who remain to make better and yet
better terms with their landlords; on the other hand, the municipal
debt remaining the same, the interest on it will have to be borne
by fewer and yet fewer people, and thus the relief to the working
population which comes from _reduced rent_ will be largely discounted
by _increased rates_, and in this way the temptation to migrate will
continue, and yet further population will remove, making the debt ever
a larger and larger burden, till at length, though accompanied by a
still further reduction of rent, it may become intolerable. Of course
this huge debt need never have been incurred. Had London been built on
municipally-owned land, its rents would not only have easily provided
for all current expenditure, without any need for a levy of rates or
for incurring loans for long periods, but it would have been enabled
to own its own water-supply and many other useful and profit-bearing
undertakings, instead of being in its present position with vast debts
and small assets. But a vicious and immoral system is bound ultimately
to snap, and when the breaking-point is reached, the owners of London’s
bonds will, like the owners of London’s land, have to make terms with
a people who can apply the simple remedy of migrating and building a
better and brighter civilisation elsewhere, if they are not allowed to
rebuild on a just and reasonable basis on the site of their ancient
city.
We may next notice, very briefly, the bearing of this migration of
population upon two great problems--the problem of the housing of the
people of London, and the problem of finding employment for those who
remain. The rents now paid by the working population of London, for
accommodation most miserable and insufficient, represents each year a
larger and larger proportion of income, while the cost of moving to and
from work, continually increasing, often represents in time and money
a very considerable tax. But imagine the population of London falling,
and falling rapidly; the migrating people establishing themselves where
rents are extremely low, and where their work is within easy-walking
distance of their homes! Obviously, house-property in London will fall
in rental value, and fall enormously. Slum property will sink to zero,
and the whole working population will move into houses of a class quite
above those which they can now afford to occupy. Families which are now
compelled to huddle together in one room will be able to rent five or
six, and thus will the housing problem temporarily solve itself by the
simple process of a diminution in the numbers of the tenants.
But what will become of this slum property? Its power to extort a large
proportion of the hard earnings of the London poor gone for ever,
will it yet remain an eye-sore and a blot, though no longer a danger
to health and an outrage on decency? No. These wretched slums will be
pulled down, and their sites occupied by parks, recreation grounds,
and allotment gardens. And this change, as well as many others, will
be effected, not at the expense of the ratepayers, but almost entirely
at the expense of the landlord class: in this sense, at least, that
such ground rents as are still paid by the people of London in respect
of those classes of property which retain some rental value will have
to bear the burden of improving the city. Nor will, I think, the
compulsion of any Act of Parliament be necessary to effect this result:
it will probably be achieved by the voluntary action of the landowners,
compelled, by a Nemesis from whom there is no escape, to make some
restitution for the great injustice which they have so long committed.
For observe what must inevitably happen. A vast field of employment
being opened outside London, unless a corresponding field of employment
is opened within it, London must die,--when the landowners will be in
a sorry plight. Elsewhere new cities are being built: London then must
be transformed. Elsewhere the town is invading the country: here the
country must invade the town. Elsewhere cities are being built on the
terms of paying low prices for land, and of then vesting such land in
the new municipalities: in London corresponding arrangements must be
made or no one will consent to build. Elsewhere, owing to the fact that
there are but few interests to buy out, improvements of all kinds can
go forward rapidly and scientifically: in London similar improvements
can only be carried out if vested interests recognise the inevitable
and accept terms which may seem ridiculous, but are no more so than
those which a manufacturer often finds himself compelled to submit
to, who sells for a ridiculously low price the machine which has cost
a very large sum, for the simple reason that there is a far better
one in the market, and that it no longer _pays_, in the face of keen
competition, to work the inferior machine. The displacement of capital
will, no doubt, be enormous, but the implacement of labour will be
yet greater. A few may be made comparatively poor, but the many will
be made comparatively rich--a very healthy change, the slight evils
attending which society will be well able to mitigate.
There are already visible symptoms of the coming change--rumblings
which precede the earthquake. London at this very moment may be said to
be on strike against its landowners. Long-desired London improvements
are awaiting such a change in the law as will throw some of the cost
of making them upon the landowners of London. Railways are projected,
but in some cases are not built--for instance, The Epping Forest
Railway--because the London County Council, most properly anxious to
keep down the fares by workmen’s trains, press for and secure, at the
hands of a Parliamentary Committee, the imposition of terms upon the
promoters which seem to them extremely onerous and unremunerative,
but which would pay the company extremely well were it not for the
prohibitive price asked for land and other property along the line
of its projected route. These checks upon enterprise must affect the
growth of London even now, and make it less rapid than it otherwise
would be; but when the untold treasures of our land are unlocked,
and when the people now living in London discover how easily vested
interests, without being attacked, may be circumvented, then the
landowners of London and those who represent other vested interests
had better quickly make terms, or London, besides being what Mr. Grant
Allen termed “a squalid village,” will also become a deserted one.
But better counsels, let us hope, will prevail, and a new city
rise on the ashes of the old. The task will indeed be difficult.
Easy, comparatively, is it to lay out on virgin soil the plan of
a magnificent city, such as represented on our Diagram 5. Of far
greater difficulty is the problem--even if all vested interests
freely effaced themselves--of rebuilding a new city on an old site,
and that site occupied by a huge population. But this, at least, is
certain, that the present area of the London County Council ought not
(if health and beauty, and that which is too frequently put in the
front rank--rapid production of wealth forms--are to be considered) to
contain more than, say, one-fifth of its present population; and that
new systems of railways, sewerage, drainage, lighting, parks, etc.,
must be constructed if London is to be saved, while the whole system
of production and of distribution must undergo changes as complete and
as remarkable as was the change from a system of barter to our present
complicated commercial system.
Proposals for the reconstruction of London have already been projected.
In 1883 the late Mr. William Westgarth offered the Society of Arts the
sum of £1,200 to be awarded in prizes for essays on the best means of
providing dwellings for the London poor, and on the reconstruction of
Central London--an offer which brought forward several schemes of some
boldness.[31] More recently a book by Mr. Arthur Cawston, entitled “A
Comprehensive Scheme for Street Improvements in London,” was published
by Stanford, which contains in its introduction the following striking
passage:--“The literature relating to London, extensive as it is,
contains no work which aims at the solution of one problem of vast
interest to Londoners. They are beginning to realise, partly by their
more and more extensive travels, and partly through their American and
foreign critics, that the gigantic growth of their capital, without
the controlling guidance of a municipality, has resulted in not only
the biggest, but in probably the most irregular, inconvenient, and
unmethodical collection of houses in the world. A comprehensive plan
for the transformation of Paris has been gradually developed since
1848; slums have disappeared from Berlin since 1870; eighty-eight
acres in the centre of Glasgow have been remodelled; Birmingham has
transformed ninety-three acres of squalid slums into magnificent
streets flanked by architectural buildings; Vienna, having completed
her stately outer ring, is about to remodel her inner city: and the
aim of the writer is to show, by example and illustration, in what way
the means successfully employed for improving these cities can be best
adapted to the needs of London.”
The time for the complete reconstruction of London--which will
eventually take place on a far more comprehensive scale than that
now exhibited in Paris, Berlin, Glasgow, Birmingham, or Vienna--has,
however, not yet come. A simpler problem must first be solved. One
small Garden City must be built as a working model, and then a group of
cities such as that dealt with in the last chapter. These tasks done,
and done well, the reconstruction of London must inevitably follow, and
the power of vested interests to block the way will have been almost,
if not entirely, removed.
Let us, therefore, first bend all our energies to the smaller of
these tasks, thinking only of the larger tasks which lie beyond as
incentives to a determined line of immediate action, and as a means of
realising the great value of little things if done in the right manner
and in the right spirit.
THE END.
FOOTNOTES:
[30] It is scarcely necessary to give instances of what is meant; but
one that occurs to my mind is that this assumption of the continued
growth of London forms one of the fundamental premises of the Report
of the Royal Commission on Metropolitan Water Supply, 1893. On the
contrary, it is satisfactory to note that Mr. H. G. Wells has recently
entirely changed his views as to the future growth of London (_see_
“Anticipations,” chap. ii. ). Read also “The Distribution of Industry,”
by P. W. Wilson, in “the Heart of the Empire” (Fisher Unwin), and Paper
by Mr. W. L. Madgen, M.I.E.E., on “Industrial Redistribution,” _Society
of Arts Journal_, February, 1902. _See_ also note on page 31.
[31] _See_ “Reconstruction of Central London” (George Bell and Sons).
INDEX
A
Act of Parliament for enforcement of rates unnecessary, 66
(_See_ Parliament.)
Adelaide, 129
Administration, Chapters vi., vii., viii.;
effects of dissatisfaction with, not greater than in any other
municipality, 99
Agricultural Land, its low value compared with city land, 28;
its probable future rise in value, 136
Allen’s, Mr. Grant, Description of London, 148
Allotments, their favourable situations, 33
Appropriation of wealth-forms advocated by Socialists, 117;
a new creation of urged as a counter programme, 122
B
Bakeries, 82
Balfour, Right Hon. A. J., real question for working classes is one of
production, not of division, 116
Baker, Sir Benj., Sewerage of London, 32;
London Railways, 131
Banks, Penny, precursors of Post Office Banks, 88;
Pro-Municipal, 88
Barwise, Dr., Water famine in Derbyshire, 17
Binnie, Sir Alexander, Sewerage of London, 32
Birmingham, profits on gas, 67
Blake’s resolve, 20
Boffin, Mr. and Mrs., 70
Bruce, Lord, Liquor Traffic, 10
Buckingham, J. S., his scheme combined with others, 110
Building lots, number and size, 39;
estimated rents, 41
-- Societies, a field for, 89
Burns, Mr. J., M.P., L.C.C., 89
C
Cadbury, George, and temperance, 85
Capital, How raised, 20, 43;
security for, 63, 64
(_See_ “Wealth Forms and Vested Interests.”)
Cawston, Arthur, Scheme for London improvement, 149
Central Council, Its Rights, powers, and duties, 71;
delegation of its powers, 72;
how constituted, 74
Chamberlain, Right Hon. Joseph, Limits of Municipal activity, 68
Charitable Institutions, 27, 65
Chester, Bishop of, Temperance, 85
Children and water famine, 17;
nearness to schools, 48
China, Alleged effects of opium, 10
Churches, 24, 39
Circle Railway, 25;
cost of, 58, 60;
Railway and Canal Traffic Act (1894), 60
Cities, Alarming growth of, 11;
true mode of growth, 51, 128
Clifford, on growth of railways, 127
Cobbett, on London, 11
Common ownership of land, how brought about, 21, 124
Communism, Difficulties of, 95-6
Compensation for improvements, 34
Competition, Rents fixed by, 21;
as test of systems, 26, 74;
effect on prices, 80
Consumers’ League, 83
Co-operative farms, 25
-- kitchens, 24
-- organisation and disorganisation, 90
-- stores, 82
-- principle, ample scope for growth of, 27, 70, 84
Country, depopulation of, 11
Country life and town life contrasted and combined, 15, 19
County Councils, Larger powers for, 134
Cow pastures, 25
Cricket fields, 63
Crystal Palace, 23, 77
D
_Daily Chronicle._ Cost of re-housing, 53
_Daily News._ Life in our villages, 12
Debentures A, Rate of interest and how secured, 20, 21
-- B, Rate of interest and how secured, 43, 63
Departments, The, 73
Distribution, A more just, of wealth, combined with greater
production, 117
E
Electricity, profit on, in Manchester, 67
Electric light, 25, 31
Estimates, 58
F
Factories, 25;
diagram, 3;
estimated rents, 41
Failures foundation of success, 94;
causes of former considered, chap. ix.
Fairman, Frank, Poor cannot be raised without depressing rich, 116
Farquharson, Dr., on rings of middlemen, 32
Farrar, Dean, Growth of cities, 11
Fields, farms, and workshops, Krapotkin, 31
Floods and water famine, 17
Force without, compared with impulse within, 138
Freedom. (_See_ Liberty.)
G
George, Henry, All blame on landlords, 124
Gorst, Sir John, on growth of cities, 11, 19
Grand Arcade. (_See_ Crystal Palace and Local Option.)
-- Avenue, 24, 39, 40
Green, J. R., on sudden changes, 9
Ground rents 1s. 1d. per head, 39;
how applied, 40
H
Hawthorne. Human nature, like a potato, requires transplanting, 126
Hobson. Physiology of industry, 91
Hyndman, Mr., Views of, 119
I
Increment of land value secured by migrants, 29
Individual taste encouraged, 24
Individualism, an excellent principle, but should be associated
with co-operation, 96;
thus carrying out principle advocated by Lord Rosebery, 117;
society may become more Individualistic and more Socialistic, 116
Industry, Redistribution of, 142
Inspection, 24
Insurance against accident or sickness, 28
Interest. (_See_ Debentures.)
Isolated efforts, necessity for, 95
Issues, distinct, raised at election times, 75
J
Jerusalem, Blake’s Resolution, 20
K
Kidd, Mr. Benj., on antagonism between interests of society
and of individual, 117
Krapotkin, Prince, Fields, farms, and workshops, 31
L
Labour leaders, a programme for, 90
-- saving machinery, object lesson in, 55
Land compared with other wealth forms, 118, 122
Landlord, Average man a potential, 124;
landlords will become divided into two camps, 135, 136;
their Nemesis, 147
Landlord’s rent, meaning of term, 35;
insignificant amount in Garden City, 39
Land system may be attacked without attacking individuals, 28,
124, 135
Large farms, 25
Laundries, 82
Lawn tennis courts, 63
Leases contain favourable covenants, 40
Liberty, Principles of, fully observed, 26, 87, 96, 112, 141
Library Public, 22;
diagram, 3;
cost, 58, 62
Lighting, 25, 26, 66
Local option and shopping, 77;
its effects on prices, quality, and wages, 80;
it diminishes risks, 80;
reduces working expenses, 82;
checks sweating, 83;
application to liquor traffic, 84
Local Self-government, Problem of, solved, 72
London, Growth of, Lord Rosebery on, 11;
high rents, 28, 144;
their impending fall, 144;
sewerage system “unalterably settled,” 33;
area too small for its population, 38;
growth chaotic, 52;
Garden City contrasted with, 51;
cost of its school sites and buildings compared with Garden
City, 48;
cost of dwellings contrasted, 53, 54;
excessive number of shops, 81;
want of railroad system, 131;
contrast with Garden City’s system, 130;
its future, chap. xiii.;
its continued growth generally anticipated, 142;
this leads to mistaken policy of London County Council, 143;
its large debt and small assets, 144, 145;
simultaneous fall of ground values and rise of rates as the
withdrawal of population makes debt per head larger, 145;
cost of moving to and from work ever increasing, 146;
comparison with Garden City in this respect; slum property falls
to zero, 146;
transformation of London, 147;
London on strike against its landlords, 148;
the “squalid village,” unless entirely reconstructed, will
become deserted, 148;
proposals for reconstruction of, 149
M
Machinery, 55
Madgen, Mr. W. L., on Industrial Redistribution, 142
Magnets, The Three, 16
Management expenses, 62
Manchester, profit on electricity, 67
Mann, Tom, on the depopulation of the country, 13
Manufacturers, choice of workmen, 77
Markets, 76;
town forms a natural market for farmers, 22, 26
Marshall, Professor, on London overcrowding, 38;
on organised migration, 104
Marshall, A. and M. P., on excessive number of shops in London, 81
Master-Key, 13
“Merrie England,” inconsistency of its proposals, 120
Mexico experiment, 98
Middlemen, their number reduced, 32
Migration, organised, secures, (_a_) combined advantages of town
and country, chapters i., ii., iii., etc.;
(_b_) full increment of land values for migrants, 29;
(_c_) saving of compensation in respect of business disturbance,
47, 53;
(_d_) large reduction in railway rates, 32, 51;
(_e_) the advantages and economies of a well-planned city, 51;
(_f_) a splendid system of water supply within its own territory;
(_g_) proximity of workers to work, 54;
(_h_) a greater extent of local self-government, 72;
(_i_) plenty of space and avoids overcrowding, 88;
(_j_) opportunities for economic use of money, 92;
(_k_) a way of escape from present municipal obligations, 144;
(_l_) a field of work for unemployed, 93;
is advocated by Wakefield, 102;
by Professor Marshall, 104
Milk, saving effected in the case of, 32
Mill, J. S., his endorsement of Wakefield, 104;
on the ephemeral nature of wealth, 118
Misgovernment, check upon, 71
Money not consumed by being spent, 91;
importance of dispensing with its unnecessary use, 92;
set free from its enchantment, 93
Monopoly, no rigid, 27;
evils of may be avoided in the case of shops, and advantages of
competition secured, 79
Morley, Right Hon. J., on Temperance, 10;
on the gradual adoption of new ideas, 86
Mummery and Hobson, “Physiology of Industry,” 91
Municipal enterprise, growth of, how determined, 27, 70;
its limits, 69, 70;
at present small range compared with private, 99
N
Nationalisation must be preceded by humbler tasks, 89
Neale, Mr. V., on excessive number of shops in London, 81
Need, An urgent, 114
Nunquam. (_See_ Merrie England.)
O
Old age pensions. (_See_ Pensions.)
Order and freedom, reconciliation of, 141, 142
Over-crowding prevented, 88
Owen, A. K., Experiment of, 98
P
Parks and gardens, 22, 24, 39;
cost of, 62
Parliamentary powers unnecessary in the early stages of railway
enterprise, but requisite later;
so in relation to the reform initiated by proposed experiment,
126, 134
Pensions, 28, 65
Petavel, Capt., 61
Philanthropic institutions, 27, 65, 66
Plan, importance of in building cities, 51
Playgrounds. (_See_ Parks.)
Police, 66
Poor law administration, 66
Power, 25
Prices raised to producer, diminished to consumer, 32, 141
Private and public enterprise. (_See_ Municipal.)
Production, Right Hon. A. J. Balfour on necessity of increased
production, 116;
increased production secured and distribution rendered more
just, 116
Pro-Municipal enterprise, chap. viii.
Public-houses. (_See_ Temperance.)
Public-houses, Trust, 85
R
Railways, their rapid growth, 127;
a carefully planned system of, 130;
chaos in London, 131;
construction of railway system was “a large order;”
a larger one remains to be executed, 139, 140
Railway rates, reduction in, 32, 51, 60, 141
“Rate rent,” meaning of term, 34, 35;
revenue raised entirely by rate-rents, which are fixed by
competition, 21, 26, 28, 73;
tenants in occupation have some preference, 34;
assessed by a committee, 73;
estimate of, from agricultural estate, chap. ii.;
from town estate, chap. iii.;
what these suffice to do, chap. iv. and v.
Rates levied by outside bodies, provision for, 58, 65
Recreation, boating, bathing, etc. (_See_ Parks.)
Rents, computation of, in England and Wales, 30
“Revolution, The Coming,” 31
Revolution, Social, at hand, 134
Rhodes, Dr., on growth of cities, 12
Risk of shopkeepers, 80
Roads, cost of maintenance small, 25;
estimated cost, 59
Rosebery, Lord, compares London to a tumour, 11;
on borrowing from Individualism and Socialism, 117
Ruskin, Mr. J., 20
S
Sanitation, 24
_St. James Gazette_ on dangerous growth of cities, 12
Schools, sites for, 24;
comparison with London, 47;
estimated cost of buildings and maintenance, 58, 61
Semi-municipal industry, meaning of term, 76
Sewage, 25;
cost of system, 58;
difficulties in London, 32
Shaw-Lefevre, Right Hon. G. J., on chaotic growth of London, 52
Shops, factories, etc., estimated rents from, 41;
excess of in London, 81;
multiplication of prevented, 78;
risk of shop-keepers reduced, 80
(_See_ Local Option and Crystal Palace.)
Sinking fund for land, 21, 28, 34, 42;
for works, 58, 65
Slum property declines to zero, 146;
is destroyed and sites converted into parks, 146
Small holdings, 25
Smoke, absence of, 25
Social cities, chap. xii.
Socialism, does not represent a basis on which an experiment
can safely proceed, 97;
inconsistency of Socialistic writers, 118;
their neglect of the land question, 123;
their threats little heeded, 135;
and their efforts meet with little success, 137
Spence, scheme of common land administered by parish, 106;
the difference between this and my own chiefly one of
method, 107
Spencer, Herbert, advocated common land administered by
State, 107;
his reasons for withdrawing his proposals, (_a_) evils
attending State control, 108;
(but my scheme, like Spence’s, free from these evils, 109);
(_b_) difficulty of acquiring land on equitable terms, and
of yet making it remunerative to purchasers, 108;
(this difficulty completely overcome in my proposals, 109);
the “dictum of absolute ethics” that all men are equally entitled to
the use of the earth practically realised under my scheme, 110;
his objection on principle to State control rebuked out of his own
mouth, 109
_Star, The_, on depopulation of country, 12
Strand to Holborn, new street, 52
Strikes, the true and the false, 90;
of London against landlordism, 148
Subways, growing need for, 54;
their economy, 59
Sweating, opportunity for public conscience to express itself,
against, 83
T
Temperance, Right Hon. John Morley on, 10;
Lord Bruce on, 10;
experiment may lead to temperance reform, 84
_The Times_ on sudden changes, 9
-- Three Magnets, Diagram 1, 16
Tillett, Mr. Ben, on depopulation of country, 12
Topolobampo experiment, 98
Town life and country life contrasted and combined, 16-19
Tramways, 66, 131
Trees, 23, 39, 63
U
“Unearned increment” a misnomer, 29
V
Variety in architecture, 24;
in cultivation of soil, 25;
in employments, 111
Vested Interests, indirectly threatened, become divided, 135;
the same thing has occurred before, 135;
vested interests of skill, labour, energy, talent, and industry,
the most important of all vested interests consolidated by the
same force which divides the vested interests of land and capital
in twain, 138
Villages, Depopulation of. (_See_ Country.)
W
Wages, Effect of competition upon, 81
Wakefield, Art of Colonisation, 102;
J. S. Mill’s view of it, 104
War, implements of, drop down, 140
Ward, Mrs. Humphrey, all changes preceded by sporadic efforts, 94
Wards, town divided into by boulevards, 22;
each ward in a sense a complete town, 45;
work on one practically complete before commencing on another, 45
Waste products, utilisation of, 33
Water, scarcity of in country, 17
Water-supply usually a source of revenue, 66
Wealth-forms for the most part extremely ephemeral, 118;
J. S. Mill on, 118
Wells, Mr. H. G. on future growth of London, 142
Westgarth, Mr. William, prizes for essays on reconstruction of
London, 149
Wilson, P. W., on the distribution of industry, 142
Winter Garden. (_See_ Crystal Palace.)
Women may fill all offices in municipality, 75
Work, plenty of, 55, 88, 122, 130, 147
Workmen’s trains, 148
POSTSCRIPT.
“To-Morrow,” of which this book is substantially a reproduction, having
been published towards the end of 1898, the reader who has followed me
thus far will be interested to learn what has been done, and what is
proposed to be done to realise the project which was there set forth. I
will endeavour to answer these questions.
At the outset, I perceived that the first thing was to make the
project widely known--that the city which was pictured so vividly in
my own mind must be pictured more or less vividly by many, and that
a strong and widespread desire for its up-rearing must be created
before a single step could be wisely taken to put the project in a
concrete form. For the task before me was, I was fully conscious, a
most difficult one, and demanded the hearty co-operation of men and of
women[32] experienced in very numerous departments of human activity;
and many of these had to be reached and enlisted. City building, as
a deliberately thought-out enterprise, is indeed a lost art, in this
country at least, and this art has not only to be revived, but has
to be carried to finer issues than those who have before practised
it ever dreamt of. Autocrats like Alexander the Great and Philip II.
could build cities according to well-thought out and carefully-matured
plans, because they could impose their will by force; but a city which
is to be the outward expression of a strong desire to secure the best
interests of all its inhabitants can, among a self-governing people,
only arise as the outcome of much patient and well-sustained effort.
Moreover, the building of the first of such cities necessarily involves
co-operation on new lines--in untried ways; and, as it is essential
that the freedom of the individual as well as the interests of the
community should be preserved, very much work must needs be done to
prepare the way for the successful launching of such an experiment.
My task--hardly a self-imposed one, for, when I commenced my
investigations many years ago, I little dreamed where they would
lead me--was rendered especially difficult by the nature of my
professional work, which it was impossible for me to give up; and
I could, therefore, only give odds and ends of time and energies
largely exhausted to the work. But, fortunately, I was not left
without help. First the press came to my aid. “To-Morrow” was very
widely noticed. Many books have been more fully reviewed, but few have
been noticed, and favourably noticed, in such a variety of types of
journals as “To-Morrow” has been. Besides the daily and weekly papers
of London and the provinces, the project has been favourably commented
upon in journals representing widely different points of view. I
may mention, merely as illustrations of this--“Commerce,” “Country
Gentleman,” “Spectator,” “Leisure Hour,” “Court Circular,” “Clarion,”
“Builder’s Journal,” “Commonwealth,” “Young Man,” “Councillor and
Guardian,” “Ladies’ Pictorial,” “Public Health Engineer,” “Municipal
Journal,” “Argus,” “Vegetarian,” “Journal of Gas Lighting,” “Labour
Copartnership,” “Hospital,” “Brotherhood,” “Municipal Reformer.”
Nor was the reason of this widespread interest difficult to discover.
The project, indeed, touches life at every point, and when once
carried out will be an object-lesson which must have far-reaching and
beneficial results.
But, although approval of my aims was general, doubts were often,
especially at first, expressed as to their realisability. Thus, the
“Times” said: “The details of administration, taxation, etc., work out
to perfection. The only difficulty is to create the city, but that is
a small matter to Utopians.” If this be so, then, by the “Times’” own
showing, I am no Utopian, for to me the building of the city is what
I have long set my mind upon, and it is with me no “small matter.”
A few months after this, however, the “Journal of Gas Lighting” put
my case very forcibly thus: “Why should the creation of a town be an
insuperable difficulty. It is nothing of the kind. Materials for a
tentative realisation of Mr Howard’s ideal city exist in abundance in
London at the present moment. Time and again it is announced that some
London firm have transferred their factory to Rugby, or Dunstable, or
High Wycombe for business reasons. It ought not to be impossible to
systematise this movement and give the old country some new towns in
which intelligent design shall direct the social workings of economic
forces.”
In my spare time I lectured on the Garden City, the first lecture
after publication being given in December, 1898, at the Rectory Road
Congregational Church, Stoke Newington, N. In the chair was Mr. T. E.
Young, past President, Institute of Actuaries, and I was supported
also by Dr. Forman, A.L.C.C.; Rev. C. Fleming Williams, A.L.C.C.;
Mr. James Branch, L.C.C.; and Mr. Lampard, L.C.C. The lecture was
well reported in a local journal, and I speedily found that, by means
of lectures, interest in the project could be widened, because the
subject made “good copy.” I, therefore, as far as possible, have always
given lectures when requested, and have spoken in London, Glasgow,
Manchester, and many provincial towns. Friends, too, began to help,
the Rev. J. Bruce Wallace, M.A., of Brotherhood Church being among the
first to lecture upon the project; nor shall I ever forget the pleasure
I felt at hearing his simple and forcible exposition of it.
Soon after the publication of “To-Morrow,” I began to receive many
letters, and these often from business men. One of the first of
these was from Mr. W. R. Bootland, of Daisy Bank Mills, Newchurch,
near Warrington, who wrote heartily commending the project as “sound
business,” and yet as likely to confer great public benefits.
After a few months of such fitful work as I could undertake, I
consulted a friend, Mr F. W. Flear, and we decided it would be well
to form an Association with a view to securing supporters in a more
systematic manner, and of formulating the scheme more completely,
so that, at as early a date as possible, a suitable organisation
might be created for carrying it out. Accordingly, on the 10th June,
1899, a few friends met at the offices of Mr. Alexander W. Payne,
Chartered Accountant, 70 Finsbury Pavement, E.C., Mr Fred. Bishop,
of Tunbridge Wells, in the chair, and the Garden City Association was
formed--Mr. Payne being its first Hon. Treasurer, and Mr. F. W. Steere,
a barrister, who had written a very useful summary of “To-Morrow” in
_Uses_, its first Hon. Secretary. On the 21st of the same month, a
public meeting was held at the Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, E.C.,
which was presided over by Sir John Leng, M.P., who, at a very short
notice, gave an interesting outline of the project, and urged those
present to support me in my very difficult task. At this meeting a
Council was formed, and at the first sittings of that body Mr. T.H.W.
Idris, J.P., L.C.C., was elected chairman, a post which he resigned
at a later stage on account of ill-health, though remaining as firmly
convinced as ever of the soundness of the Garden City idea.
Lecturers now began to come forward in different parts of the country,
and additional interest was afforded by lantern slides and diagrams.
The Association steadily grew, and three months after its formation I
was able to write to the “Citizen”:--“The Association numbers amongst
its members, Manufacturers, Co-operators, Architects, Artists, Medical
Men, Financial Experts, Lawyers, Merchants, Ministers of Religion,
Members of the L.C.C., Moderate and Progressive; Socialists and
Individuals, Radicals and Conservatives.”
Our subscriptions, however, were very small. We had put the minimum
at the democratic shilling, so that none should be shut out, but,
unfortunately, some who could afford much more were content to
subscribe that sum, and, from the formation of the Association until
August 13, 1901--a little more than two years--the total subscriptions
to the general funds of the Association only reached £241 13s. 9d.
A change suddenly came over the Association. I learned early in 1901
that Mr. Ralph Neville, K.C., had written in “Labour Copartnership”
expressing his full approval of the essential principles of the Garden
City project, and when I called upon him he at once consented to join
our Council, and, shortly afterwards, was unanimously elected its
chairman. At about the same time, though our financial position hardly
justified such a step, we took an office of our own, and engaged a paid
secretary, who agreed to devote his whole time to the work.
And here the Garden City Association was very fortunate. It secured
the services of Mr. Thomas Adams, a young Scotchman, who has proved
active, energetic, and resourceful--to whose suggestion was due the
Conference held last September at Mr. Cadbury’s beautiful village of
Bournville, which has done more than anything else to make the Garden
City Association and its project known to the great public, and to give
to our members ocular proof of the feasibility--indeed, the wonderful
success--of a scheme in so many respects like our own.[33]
Since our Annual Meeting in December our membership has
increased--thanks mainly to a special effort of members--from 530 to
1,300; and, as many of our friends, anxious to put the project to the
test of experiment at an early date, are offering to subscribe very
considerable sums, a Joint Stock Company, to be called the Garden
City Pioneer Company, Limited, with a small capital of about £20,000,
is being formed for the purpose of securing the option of a site, and
of preparing and presenting to the public a complete scheme adapted
to the development of the site thus selected--a scheme which will be
in accordance with the general principles set forth in this book, but
differing, of course, in many details. Subscribers to this preliminary
Company will, of course, run considerable risk; and, as the profits,
even in the event of the most complete success, will only be nominal,
the appeal will be addressed only to those who take an interest in the
project as public-spirited citizens. The Secretary of the Garden City
Association will give the latest information on this subject, and will
also gladly enrol members.
No one can possibly be under a greater obligation than he who has an
idea which he earnestly wishes to see carried out and who finds others
helping him to make visible that which exists only as a thought.
Under this greatest of debts am I. By writing; by speaking; by
organising public meetings and drawing-room meetings; by suggestion,
encouragement, and advice; by secretarial and other work; by making
the project known among their friends; by subscribing funds for
propaganda work; and, now, by offering to subscribe considerable sums
for practical steps, many have helped and are helping me to do that
which, without their aid, must have been quite impossible. They have
thus multiplied my strength a thousandfold; and from the very bottom of
my heart I thank them for the assurance of speedy success which their
efforts have thus given me. Ere long, I trust we shall meet in Garden
City.
FOOTNOTES:
[32] Woman’s influence is too often ignored. When Garden City is built,
as it shortly will be, woman’s share in the work will be found to have
been a large one. Women are among our most active missionaries.
[33]
Through the kindness of Messrs. Lever Brothers, a conference is being
arranged for July this year at Port Sunlight, a most admirably planned
industrial village in Cheshire.
GARDEN CITY ASSOCIATION.
VICE-PRESIDENTS.
The Countess of Warwick.
The Earl of Carrington, G.C.M.G., L.C.C.
The Earl of Meath, L.C.C.
The Bishop of London.
The Bishop of Hereford.
The Bishop of Rochester.
Percy Alden, M.A.
Dr. Tempest Anderson (York).
Yarborough Anderson.
L. A. Atherley-Jones, K.C., M.P.
William Baker.
R. A. Barrett (Ashton-under-Lyne).
J. Williams Benn, J.P., L.C.C.
Sir M. M. Bhownaggree, K.C.I.E., M.P.
W. R. Bootland (Manchester).
Rev. Stopford Brooke, M.A.
The Right Hon. James Bryce, M.P.
W. P. Byles, J.P. (Bradford).
George Cadbury, J.P. (Bournville).
W. S. Caine, M.P.
Robert Cameron, M.P.
Professor Chapman (Manchester).
Rev. Thomas Child.
Dr. John Clifford, M.A.
Miss Marie Corelli.
Walter Crane.
Alderman W. H. Dickinson, L.C.C.
Canon Moore Ede (Sunderland).
Samuel Edwards, J.P. (Birmingham).
The Master of Elibank, M.P.
Alfred Emmott, M.P.
F. J. Farquharson, J.P.
Mrs. Anna Farquharson.
Michael Flürscheim.
Lady Forsyth.
Sir Walter Foster, M.P.
Madame Sarah Grand.
Corrie Grant, M.P.
W. Winslow Hall, M.D., M.R.C.S.
G. A. Hardy, L.C.C.
Cecil Harmsworth.
R. Leicester Harmsworth, M.P.
Henry B. Harris.
Anthony Hope Hawkins.
The Hon. Claude G. Hay, M.P.
Sir Robert Head, Bart.
C. E. Hobhouse, M.P.
Henry Holiday.
Canon Scott Holland.
George Jacob Holyoake.
Rev. Alfred Hood.
T. H. W. Idris, J.P.
Ben. Jones (Chairman C.W.S. London).
Mrs. Ashton Jonson.
Dean Kitchin (Durham).
George Lampard, L.C.C.
A. L. Leon, L.C.C.
Sir John Leng, M.P.
W. H. Lever (Port Sunlight).
J. W. Logan, M.P.
Dr. T. J. Macnamara, M.P.
Walter T. Macnamara.
Mrs. Magrath.
R. Biddulph Martin, M.P.
Professor Alfred Marshall (Cambridge).
Rev. F. B. Meyer.
Edward R. P. Moon, M.P.
Mrs. Morgan-Browne.
Harington Morgan.
The Hon. Dadabhai Naoroji.
Mrs. Overy.
Gilbert Parker, M.P.
F. Platt-Higgins, M.P.
Sir Robert Pullar (Perth).
Joseph Rowntree (York).
C. E. Schwann, M.P.
Arthur Sherwell.
Albert Spicer, J.P.
Henry C. Stephens, J.P.
Miss Julie Sutter.
A. C. Swinton.
Ivor H. Tuckett (Cambridge).
J. Elliott Viney.
Professor A. R. Wallace, D.C.L., F.R.S.
J. Bruce Wallace, M.A.
H. G. Wells.
Richard Whiteing.
J. H. Whitley, M.P.
Aneurin Williams.
Alderman Rev. Fleming Williams, L.C.C.
Robert Williams, F.R.I.B.A., L.C.C.
Henry J. Wilson, M.P.
Wm. Woodward, A.R.I.B.A.
Robert Yerburgh, M.P.
T. E. Young, B.A., F.R.A.S.
J. H. Yoxall, M.P.
COUNCIL.
_Chairman_--Ralph Neville, K.C.
_Hon. Treasurer_--A. W. Payne, F.C.A., F.S.S.
A. S. E. Ackerman, A.M. Inst. C.E.
C. M. Bailhache, LL.B
G. M. Bishop.
Arthur Blott.
Miss Edith Bradley (Lady Warwick Hostel).
James Branch, J.P., L.C.C.
William Carter.
J. Cleghorn.
G. Croscer.
F. W. Flear.
J. C. Gray (Secretary, Co-op. Union Manchester).
Ebenezer Howard.
Mrs. Ebenezer Howard.
James P. Hurst.
H. C. Lander, A.R.I.B.A.
Fred. W. Lawrence. M.A.
H. D. Pearsall, M.Inst.C.E.
T. P. Ritzema, J.P. (Blackburn).
Edward Rose.
Hon. Rollo Russell.
W. H. Gurney Salter.
Sydney Schiff (Chester).
W. S. Sherrington, M.A., L.L.M.
Edward T. Sturdy.
Alderman W. Thompson.
Herbert Warren, B.A.
Aneurin Williams.
(_The full Council will consist of 30 Members._)
Honorary Provincial Secretaries.
_Manchester District_--R. Morrell, Moston Lane, New Moston,
Manchester.
_Liverpool and Cheshire District_--J. Norton, 1 Morningside Road,
Bootle, near Liverpool.
_N.E._--F. W. Bricknell, Guyscliffe, Hessle, East Yorks.
_Midlands_--Rev. J. B. Higham, 25 Copthorne Road, Wolverhampton.
{Robert MacLaurin, 39 Caldercuilt Road, Maryhill, Glasgow.
_Scotland_--{James Allport, 15 Montpelier, Edinburgh.
_General Secretary_--
THOMAS ADAMS, 77 Chancery Lane, London, W.C.
Objects.
To promote the discussion of the project suggested by Mr. Ebenezer
Howard in “To-morrow”[34], and ultimately to formulate a practical
scheme on the lines of that project, with such modifications as may
appear desirable.
Membership.
Payment of an Annual Subscription of not less than 1s. confers
Membership. A Subscription of 2s. 6d., or more, entitles the Subscriber
to all literature published by the Association. More funds are required
for the immediate purpose of bringing our proposals prominently before
the public, and an average subscription of 5s. per member is necessary
to meet current expenditure. The income for the first half year
1901-02 was ten times that of the same period of the previous year.
The Membership is over 1,300, being an increase of 700 since January
1st, 1902. It is hoped that all who are desirous of improving, by
constitutional means, the present physical, social, and industrial
conditions of life in town and country, will help to immediately
increase this number.
Sectional Committees.
Committees have been or are being appointed to consider questions of
detail, such as Land Tenure, Manufactures and Trade, Co-operative
Societies, Labour, Housing and Public Health, Liquor Traffic,
Education, Smoke Abatement, Art, etc. Members desirous of taking part
in the work of any section are requested to communicate with the
General Secretary.
Publications.
The Association publishes a number of tracts which are forwarded
to members on joining. A list of publications and some explanatory
literature will be sent free on application. A few reports of the
Bournville Conference may still be had, price 6d., post free. These
reports consist of 80 pages, and contain reports of speeches by--Earl
Grey, Mr. Ralph Neville, K.C.; Mr. George Cadbury, Mr. Aneurin
Williams, the Mayor of Camberwell, Sir M. M. Bhownaggree, M.P.; Mr.
R. B. Martin, M.P.; Mr. Ebenezer Howard, Dr. Mansfield Robinson, and
others.
All communications should be addressed to the Secretary, Garden City
Association, 77 Chancery Lane, London, W.C. Cheques and postal orders
should be crossed London City and Midland Bank, Fore Street.
_Printed at the Rosemount Press;
London Office: 149 Fleet Street, E.C._
FOOTNOTE:
[34] Now published by Swan Sonnenschein & Co. (London), under the title
“Garden Cities of To-morrow.”
* * * * *
Transcriber's Note
Diagrams have been moved next to the text which they illustrate,
and may not match the page numbers in the List of Illustrations.
Punctuation in the index has been regularised without comment. Some
index entries have no page number. The text following "_see_ Diagram 5"
on p. 71 does not obviously relate to that diagram.
The following apparent errors have been corrected:
p. 12 "Tillet" changed to "Tillett"
p. 96 "be comparatively, feeble" changed to "be comparatively feeble,"
p. 118 "ilth" changed to "filth"
p. 163 "anounced" changed to "announced"
p. 169 "Meyer" changed to "Meyer."
p. 169 "Hon Dadabhai" changed to "Hon. Dadabhai"
p. 169 "Anenrin" changed to "Aneurin"
p. 171 "Wililams" changed to "Williams"
The following are used inconsistently in the text:
goodwill and good-will
Mr and Mr.
network and net-work
overcrowded and over-crowded
playgrounds and play-grounds
s and s.
shopkeepers and shop-keepers
End of Project Gutenberg's Garden Cities of To-Morrow, by Ebenezer Howard