CHICAGO THE METROPOLIS OF THE MIDDLE WEST: REASONS FOR EXPECTING
CONTINUOUS GROWTH: THE SUBURBS: A LAKESIDE DRIVEWAY ALONG LAKE
MICHIGAN: CONNECTIONS BETWEEN OUTLYING CITIES: THE BUILDING OF GOOD
ROADS
[Illustration: COTTONWOOD, NEAR CHICAGO.
Height, 127 ft.; diameter, 10 ft.]
Chicago is the metropolis of the Middle West, a term popularly applied
to the area known a century ago as the Territory Northwest of the
Ohio River. No section of the country, except New England, has so
distinct a history. Conquered by Virginia troops at the very time when
the Colonies were wresting their independence from Great Britain,
and held for the United States by the sagacity of Franklin and the
pertinacity of John Jay when the treaty of 1783 was negotiated, the Old
Northwest was the first territorial acquisition of the new republic.
Then, while the British still held the posts and only Indians and
fur-traders roamed its forests, the Congress of the Confederation
gave to the Northwest Territory in the Ordinance of 1787 a charter
which contained two provisions that during the years of development
exercised a unifying force comparable only to that brought about by
the extension of Christianity and the civil law during the Middle
Ages,—the prohibition of slavery, and the encouragement of free popular
education. The continuous struggle to preserve human freedom against
all the forces determined to extend slavery to the fertile fields of
the new West, and the establishment of schools and colleges supported
from a public treasury, brought about common aims and aspirations.
When the nation engaged in the struggle for its very life, this region
furnished the battle-ground for the statesmen; and when war came,
both the leader of the people and the commander in the field were the
embodiment of the spirit of the Middle West.
The domain over which Chicago holds primacy is larger than
Austria-Hungary, or Germany, or France; three thousand miles of
navigable waters form a portion of its boundaries; the rivers flowing
into the Great Lakes, the Mississippi, and the Ohio, give access to
every part of the interior; the level prairies invite the railroad and
the canal builder; the large proportion of arable land makes possible
the support of an enormous population; and the abundance and range of
the products of earth and forest furnish the materials for traffic.
It is no wonder, therefore, that the growth of the Middle West in
population and in wealth has been phenomenal; and that at the point of
convenience a city of the first order has sprung up.
During the second half of the nineteenth century the population of
Chicago increased from thirty thousand to two millions of people.
To-day all conditions point to continued gains. The days of chance and
uncertainty are past. The days of doubtful ventures are gone, and the
hazards of new fortunes. The elements which make for the greatness of
the city are known to be permanent; and men realize that the time has
now come to build confidently on foundations already laid.
The growth of the city has been so rapid that it has been impossible
to plan for the economical disposition of the great influx of people,
surging like a human tide to spread itself wherever opportunity for
profitable labor offered place. Thoughtful people are appalled at
the results of progress; at the waste in time, strength, and money
which congestion in city streets begets; at the toll of lives taken
by disease when sanitary precautions are neglected; and at the
frequent outbreaks against law and order which result from narrow and
pleasureless lives. So that while the keynote of the nineteenth century
was expansion, we of the twentieth century find that our dominant idea
is conservation. The people of Chicago have ceased to be impressed by
rapid growth or the great size of the city. What they insist asking
now is, How are we living? Are we in reality prosperous? Is the city a
convenient place for business? It is a good labor market in the sense
that labor is sufficiently comfortable to be efficient and content?
Will the coming generation be able to stand the nervous strain of city
life? When a competence has been accumulated, must we go elsewhere to
enjoy the fruits of independence? If the city does not become better as
it become bigger, shall not the defect be remedied? These are questions
that will not be brushed aside. They are the most pressing questions of
our day, and everywhere men are anxiously seeking the answers.
The remark is often heard, that if, after the great fire of 1871, the
people had realized what the future growth of the city would be, they
would have saved a vast amount of money by planning for a convenient
city. The undaunted courage with which a debt-burdened community of
three hundred and fifty thousand people then set about rebuilding their
city must absolve them from the charge of lack of foresight. To-day
there is no excuse for the second city in the United States with its
destiny made manifest and its wealth secure, if it shall now fail to
keep pace with the march of progress that is gathering into its ranks
the progressive cities of the world.
Chicago is now facing the momentous fact that fifty years hence, when
the children of to-day are at the height of their power and influence,
this city will be larger than London: that is, larger than any existing
city. Not even an approximate estimate can be ventured as to just how
many millions the city will then contain. Mr. Bion J. Arnold, after a
careful discussion of the problem of the increase that may be expected,
reaches the conclusion that if the national and local conditions
governing the population of Chicago shall average in the future
exactly as in the past the population in 1952 will be 13,250,000. Mr.
Arnold hesitates to predict such an increase in population, just as
the most optimistic rebuilder in 1871 would have hesitated to predict
two millions in thirty years. Yet it is apparent that the tendency is
towards city life. “When the Pacific Coast shall have a population
of twenty millions,” prophesies James J. Hill, “Chicago will be the
largest city in the world.” The completion of the Panama Canal,
bringing about a more rapid development of the Mississippi Valley;
the opening of China and Japan and the Far East to American trade and
manufactures; the expansion of the wheat-producing area in the North;
and the conversion of the desert lands of the West into arable acres by
means of irrigation—all are factors in the growth of Chicago.
[Illustration: XXXV. CHICAGO, AND DIAGRAM OF LAKE MICHIGAN.
Proposed roadway to connect all the towns along the shores of the Lake.
COPYRIGHT, 1909, BY COMMERCIAL CLUB OF CHICAGO ]
Moreover, city life has attractions that make a strong appeal to human
nature. Opportunities for large success, for wealth and power and
social consideration, for amusement and instruction, for the increase
of knowledge and the cultivation of taste, are greater for the average
person in the city than in the country. The city, therefore, is
constantly drawing from the country the young men and women of ambition
and self-reliance, who are lured thither by the great prizes which in a
democracy are open to the competition of all.
When Chicago is adverted to as the metropolis of the Middle West, the
meaning is that throughout this area Chicago newspapers circulate,
and Chicago banks hold the banking reserves; that in Chicago are the
chief offices of the large industrial enterprises, and the market for
their products. New ideas in government, in civic improvement, in the
creation and maintenance of parks, and pleasure grounds are apt to
appear first in the metropolis, spreading thence to the surrounding
country. On high-days and holidays the great city allures the people
from the neighboring parts, and sends its own people on the water or
into the country for rest and refreshment, so that there is a constant
interchange of comers and goers. In the art schools of Chicago more
than four thousand students are gathered; the theaters draw audiences
from long distances, and in music Chicago is attaining a worthy
position. In Chicago great political conventions are held, party
policies are determined, and from the party headquarters here national
campaigns are conducted.
It is not in the spirit of boasting that these facts are stated, but
rather to show the responsibility which the very pre-eminence of the
city imposes, and the necessity for establishing and maintaining those
standards of commercial integrity, of taste, and of knowledge which are
the prerequisites of lasting success, and the only real satisfaction of
the human mind. The constant struggle of civilization is to know and
to attain the highest good; and the city which brings about the best
conditions of life becomes the most prosperous.
While the influence of Chicago extends throughout a domain larger than
any European country except Russia, there exist between this city
and outlying towns within a certain radius vital and almost organic
relations. The steam and the trolley railways and the automobile
have opened to the city workers all varieties of life, and have made
possible to a large proportion of the people a habitation amid what
might be healthful and attractive surroundings. Unfortunately, however,
conditions near any rapidly growing city are apt to be both squalid and
ugly.
Occasionally a suburb grows up at some sightly point on the Lake shore,
or gathers about some educational institution; or a group of people
engaged in a common enterprise select a picturesque spot on river banks
and there build homes which, by their very relations one to another,
indicate neighborliness. In each of these instances a community of
feeling pervades the place and finds expression in well-shaded streets,
broad lawns, and homelike architecture. Too often, however, the suburb
is laid out by the speculative real estate agent who exerts himself
to make every dollar invested turn into as many dollars as possible.
Human ingenuity contrives to crowd the maximum number of building lots
into the minimum space; if native trees exist on the land they are
ruthlessly sacrificed. Then the speculative builder takes matters in
hand and in a few months the narrow, grassless streets are lined with
rows of cheaply constructed dwellings, and with ugly apartment houses
occupying the more desirable sites. In ten years or less the dwellings
are dropping to pieces; and the apartment houses, having lost their
newness, become rookeries.
This manner of things is as true of London or of Rome as of Chicago;
it is the rule wherever population increases rapidly, because human
nature is alike the world over. England, however, is remedying this
evil by means of town-planning laws executed by a central board; and
is endeavoring to regulate the width and direction of streets, and to
provide for sufficient open spaces for the health and convenience of
the people. After the English manner, a commission should be appointed
to lay out all that territory adjacent to the city of Chicago which
is likely to become incorporated in the city at least during the next
decade. The plans should be so drawn that as subdivisions are platted
the new streets shall bear definite relations to the plan of the city;
that these streets shall be of suitable width, either for traffic or
for residence purposes as the case may be; that building restrictions
shall be made to prevent depreciation of property by the advent
of undesirable classes of structures, or the erection of towering
apartment houses which keep light and air from adjoining property and
from the street.
[Illustration: XXXVI. NANCY, FRANCE. VIEW OF THE PLACE STANISLAS.
The principal avenues lead into it; a typical arrangement of public
squares in small surrounding towns.]
Moreover, adequate provision should be made for public and semi-public
buildings. In each town plan spaces should be marked out for public
schools, and each school should have about it ample playgrounds, so
that during all the year the school premises shall be the children’s
center, to which each child will become attached by those ties of
remembrance that are restraining influences throughout life. Next to
the school, the public library should have place; and here again the
landscape setting should be generous and the situation commanding. The
townhall, the engine-house with its lookout tower, the police station
with its court of justice, and the post-office, all naturally form a
group of buildings that may be located about a common or public square,
so as to form the suburban civic center.
There was a time in the older portions of the country when church
and churchyard occupied the chief place in the town; and to-day
enterprising real estate dealers find it to their advantage to give to
one or more religious denominations building sites. But so numerous
are the sects into which Christianity has divided itself, and so
diverse are the nationalities to be provided for, that the suburban
church building rarely offers to the eye any relief from the monotonous
ugliness of the airless street which it helps to frame. Also, the
old churchyards, with their serried ranks of slate headstones, their
cypresses and weeping willows, and their rows of tombs, made a direct
appeal to the deepest feelings of the human heart; but the disorder of
the modern town cemetery would seem to carry the idea of turbulence
even to the grave itself. Perhaps, in the coming times, the spirit of
unity will draw people together in religion as well as in business,
and such a syndication of religious effort will prevail as shall find
expression in permanent buildings devoted to the moral advancement of
all the people. The day of the splendid cathedral may never dawn for
this country, but certainly in every community there will be buildings
for the help of the unfortunate, and the amelioration of those
desperate conditions which form the reverse side of great prosperity.
[Illustration: XXXVII. FOREST OF FONTAINEBLEAU, FRANCE.
The Croix de Franchard, an illustration of a country road intersection.]
Then, too, there are the various railway stations and the electric
lighting and power buildings, semi-public structures which should be
treated in such manner as to present a smiling face to the public. A
well-arranged grass plot, a few shrubs, and a little regular attention
will give to the plainest building a setting that, like a soft answer,
will often turn away wrath from a public-service corporation.
The question of creating pleasing conditions in a suburb is not
primarily a matter of money, but of thoughtful co-operation. Even the
real estate agent is beginning to discover that by cutting off somewhat
from the depth of his lots he can get park space that will make his
land more available; and by a combination treatment he can secure for
a group of houses an enjoyable area of green grass, to take the place
of the narrow and ill-kept back yards which are at once unsightly
and unsanitary. In every town a public improvement commission should
be formed to bring about the most orderly conditions within the town
itself, and especially to act in co-operation with similar bodies in
neighboring towns so as to secure harmonious, connected, and continuous
improvement.
If we take arbitrarily a radius of sixty miles from the heart of
Chicago and count all the territory in the semi-circumference as
having definite relations with the city, the distance from center to
circumference is no greater than the present suburban electric lines
extend, or the automobilist may cover in a drive of two hours. The
traffic over the ways leading to and from the city is already large and
steady; and the near-by towns and villages along these thoroughfares
may confidently look forward to the day when the tide of Chicago’s
growth will envelop them, and ultimately incorporate them in the city.
Hence two considerations become all-important: first, the improvement
of the thoroughfares, not only those leading to the great city, but
also those which now form the connections between towns and which
ultimately will appear as convenient diagonals within the city itself;
and secondly, the arrangement of the streets of the town, together
with provision for space for the public and semi-public buildings,
and sufficient park and playground area, obtained while land is
comparatively inexpensive.
The suburban movement of population will necessarily increase as the
ground and buildings within the business area of the city become
so valuable for commercial purposes as to preclude their use for
dwellings. In the city of London a thousand policemen are detailed to
guard the five thousand and more buildings left entirely empty each
night. More than one-fifth of all the buildings in the “city” are thus
left vacant at night and on Sunday. Moreover, London, in order to carry
out improvements made to prevent congestion, finds it necessary to
remove and rehouse the working people who are displaced by tearing down
buildings in the over-crowded quarters. On the site of the old Millbank
prison four thousand persons removed at the time of the Holborn to
Strand improvement were rehoused in convenient new dwellings built
by the municipality; and more than fifty thousand people have been
displaced and reinstated by reason of the various improvements. Thus
the city, while drawing from the farms and small towns, also sends out
swarms to be housed under more wholesome conditions.
[Illustration: XXXVIII. CHICAGO. THE SHERIDAN ROAD NORTH OF GLENCOE.
From the Report of the Special Park Commission.]
These suburban residents are dependent on the city for a livelihood,
and either directly or indirectly pay the taxes that support the
municipality. They are vitally interested in adequate and convenient
means of transportation, in the protection of life and property, and in
well-ordered home surroundings. Thus it happens naturally that as the
city grows the functions of the various governing bodies are extended
over areas outside the city limits. The administrative county of London
has an area of but 118 square miles; but the greater London over which
the metropolitan and city police have jurisdiction comprises 693 square
miles, and includes a population of two millions outside of the county.
The water-board and the sanitary authorities also have authority far
beyond county limits.
Boston, first among American cities, realized the advantages of
co-operation between the great city and outlying districts. In 1889 the
Massachusetts legislature created a metropolitan sewage commission,
and later a metropolitan park commission, with jurisdiction over
thirty-seven distinct municipalities; and to-day it is proposed to
extend police jurisdiction and fire protection over substantially the
same area. The Boston park system, developed through the co-operation
of these various towns and cities, is famed for its beauty and variety.
Beginning with the great ocean beach at Revere, where on a summer day
one hundred and fifty thousand persons enjoy the bathing privileges,
broad parkways sweep around the city, enveloping on their way great
stretches of fen and lofty hills, until again salt water is reached
at Nantasket, where another bathing beach as large as the first
furnishes refreshment and recreation. Again, it is not without effect
on the people of the outlying towns that Massachusetts Avenue keeps
its name as it traverses Boston, Cambridge, Arlington, Lexington, and
Concord; and that Beacon Street maintains its integrity from Boston
through Brookline to Newton. Throughout the entire region one and the
same spirit prevails—a spirit of love for and loyalty to the city
set on three hills, which dominates the entire region. It would be
no more difficult to secure the co-operation of Illinois, Wisconsin,
and Indiana in planning for the continuous development of the Lake
shore than it has been for New York and New Jersey to combine for the
preservation of the Palisades of the Hudson and the development of
their park possibilities.[16]
A highway should be built from Wilmette along the western shore of
Lake Michigan to Milwaukee; and even where this road runs through
intermediate towns it should be located as close as possible to the
edge of the water. Such a highway should be kept somewhat back of the
sand beaches and a little above them, a retaining wall being built to
separate the road from the beach. The planting should be of trees and
evergreens hardy enough to stand the exposure. A few miles north of
Waukegan is a sand waste on which grows a dwarf juniper, the effect
of which on the sand banks is that of moss of dark rich color. This
could be used effectively along the shore. A similar treatment might be
adopted for the edge of the water much of the way around Lake Michigan.
It needs no argument to show that direct highways leading from the
outlying towns to Chicago as the center are a necessity for both; and
it is also apparent that suburban towns should be connected with one
another in the best manner. Isolated communities lack those social and
commercial advantages which arise from easy communication one with
another. A diagram has therefore been drawn for the use of the public
bodies in their study of the relations of a particular town with other
towns, and to suggest the locations and routes that may be followed.
This diagram is not put forward as a complete study of the roads, but
as a general scheme, the large details of which can be relied on and
safely followed. The solid black lines are routes already open and in
use as public highways; the dotted lines indicate proposed connection
links not yet in existence. It is believed that the building of these
roads will not be difficult or unduly expensive for any given township,
as very little land will have to be acquired. The existing highways
will suffice for the present, and the burden of the improvement will
fall lightly on each township.[17]
Pending the creation of a metropolitan commission for the treatment of
the entire area, the public authorities or the improvement associations
of each town should confer with their neighbors and agree on the
routes of connecting highways; also upon the width and arrangement of
roadways, sidewalks, planting-spaces and drainage, and the varieties of
trees and shrubs to be used for shade and ornament.
In laying out routes, no bad kinks or sharp turns should be tolerated.
The English roads, though better as to surface-finish and drainage, do
not compare with the roads of France as to trend and direction; because
in England there are so many abrupt and “blind” twistings, which are
generally avoided in France. Liberality in road building now will be
repaid many fold in the future. The aim should be to adopt the best
routes, the best curves and turns, and the most perfect construction
known at the present day.[18] It is the opinion of all experts on road
building that taking a period of ten years, a good bed and surface
carefully maintained all the time will cost less in the aggregate
than the very best bed and surface if neglected. We need perfect
maintenance, and organization constantly kept sharp and effective,
rather than expensive first construction. Nevertheless, the best
original construction will be found economical in the end. Automobiles
have introduced on the roads a new sort of wear and tear, as their
broad pneumatic tires, carrying great weights and moving at high
speeds, press into the softer spots and suck up loose material. The
result is pockmarks or rough places, which destroy the best of roads
constructed according to the old-methods road building.[19]
While good highways are of great value to the terminal cities, they
are of even greater value to the outlying towns, and of greatest
value to the farming communities through which they pass. Good roads
add an element of better living to an agricultural community; they
afford ready communication with the city and reduce materially the
cost of handling farm products of all kinds; and also they promote
communication between farms. These state highways should invariably
include a work-road for heavy loads, and also a pleasure drive. The two
should be separated by a grassway and there should be grass plots at
the sides, and not less than three rows of trees should be planted. The
country schools should be on these highways.
At the earliest possible date measures should be taken for beginning
what may be termed the outer encircling highway. Beginning at Kenosha
on the north, this thoroughfare would run through Pleasant Prairie,
Trevor, and Wilmot to McHenry, thus passing through the northern lake
region. Here are the headwaters of the Fox River, lying in natural
scenery of much beauty; here too are a large number of lakes and
waterways surrounded by hills, the whole forming an extensive park-like
territory that will become an important adjunct of Chicago life when
properly improved, and when suitable connections are secured.
[Illustration: XXXIX. CHICAGO. THE DES PLAINES RIVER; VIEW NEAR MADISON
STREET BRIDGE.
From the Report of the Special Park Commission.]
Beyond McHenry, this outer encircling highway continues on through
Woodstock, Marengo, Genoa, Sycamore, De Kalb, Cortland, Sandwich,
Millington, and Morris; thence it runs beside or near the Kankakee
River through Wilmington, Kankakee, Momence, Shelby, and Maysville,
the scenery along the route being very interesting, and much of it
romantically beautiful. From Maysville the highway bends north through
Valparaiso to Lake Michigan at Michigan City; or by another route
from Maysville through La Crosse, Wellsboro, and La Porte to Michigan
City, the total length from Kenosha around to Michigan City being
approximately two hundred and fifty miles. It is obvious that such a
highway, properly built and adorned, would become a strong influence in
the development of the social and material prosperity of each of the
cities involved, and of all the farming communities along the entire
route.
The encircling highway next inside the outer one above described begins
at Waukegan and passes through Libertyville to Lake Zurich; thence by
two routes, one through Barrington to Elgin, the other bending around
to skirt the Fox River near Algonquin and Dundee to Elgin, and on
through St. Charles, Geneva, and Batavia to Aurora. From Aurora the
highway continues to Plainfield, where it crosses the Du Page River,
thence through Joliet, and by one route through Manhattan, Monee,
Eagle Lake, Cedar Lake, Crown Point, and Hobart, to Lake Michigan; and
by another route from Joliet, through Chicago Heights, Griffith, and
Tolleston to Gary, on the Lake. The highway will be approximately one
hundred and forty miles long, and nearly the whole of the northern
part of it is very picturesque. The next highway proposed goes through
a fine, rolling country west of the Des Plaines River. Beginning at
Winnetka, it runs through Des Plaines, Elmhurst, and Hinsdale to Blue
Island, whence the route divides into two routes, one running through
Harvey and Hammond to Gary, and the other running from Blue Island to
Robey, on the Lake.
The fourth of the encircling highways begins at Evanston, and passes
through Niles or Des Plaines, and along the Des Plaines River to
Riverside; all this part of the way, being wooded on the borders of the
water, is very beautiful in its present condition. From Riverside, this
highway runs through Chicago Ridge to Robey or Blue Island, and from
thence to the Lake, over routes already mentioned.
[Illustration: XL. CHICAGO. GENERAL DIAGRAM OF EXTERIOR HIGHWAYS
ENCIRCLING, OR RADIATING FROM, THE CITY.
All the arteries composing the system without the city limits exist,
except where shown in dotted lines. City limits shown in red tint;
rivers and other waterways in blue.
CHICAGO
GENERAL DIAGRAM OF EXTERIOR
HIGHWAYS
ENCIRCLING AND RADIATING FROM
THE CITY
COPYRIGHT, 1909, BY COMMERCIAL CLUB OF CHICAGO ]
It will be noted that the diagram provides not only for encircling
highways, but also for roads running directly to the heart of Chicago
from every important town or village. And it will also be noted that
nearly every stretch of roadway shown on the diagram already exists as
a more or less satisfactory country road, the dotted lines indicating
proposed changes or links. The system as outlined is complete, and it
meets every present demand of road building for such extensive environs
as those of Chicago. It is confidently believed that in the course of
the next few years every mile of these highways will be improved in the
best manner, and that thus Chicago ultimately will come to possess a
network of surface thoroughfares equal to the requirements of future
generations.
A satisfactory method of running highways is to parallel the railroads.
The work-road should be next to the right-of-way; then should come the
carriage driveway. Where electric railways exist, or are projected on
thoroughfares, the most agreeable treatment is found in setting apart
for the tracks a space which may be grassed over and well shaded.
Besides adding to the comfort of the passengers, the uninterrupted
use of the tracks permits high speed and thereby saves time. The
improvement of the three roadways as a unit, with the appropriate
planting, would give a charm to suburban travel where now there is
none, while at the same time expenses of maintenance would be lessened.
As a rule, the creation of highways along railroads involves only
the bare cost of inexpensive land and the building of the road. The
railroads are in themselves great diagonals; and by following them the
shortest lines between important points are secured. Then, too, the
right-of-way traversed by the tracks should be improved. The drainage
should be perfect, so that pools of stagnant water shall not be an
offense to the eye and a menace to health. The unsightly billboard
should be replaced by shrubbery or by a wall; and the entire space
should be free from the litter of papers or the accumulations of dirt
and ashes.
[Illustration: XLI. CHICAGO. THE SHORE OF LAKE MICHIGAN; VIEW AT THE
NORTH LINE OF COOK COUNTY.
From the Report of the Special Park Commission.]
The suburban resident is vitally interested in the means of
communication between his home and his place of business. If his
morning and his evening ride are made on the steam railway, he is
interested not only in passing through pleasant scenes on his way
to and from Chicago, but he is concerned also in having the railway
station in his suburban town conveniently located, constructed simply
but artistically, and placed amid surroundings which in themselves are
harmonious and appropriate. A well-kept lawn, with shrubbery shutting
out the necessarily unpleasant feature of a steam railway station; a
sheltered platform well lighted at night, and a commodious station,
architecturally in good taste—these accessories go a long way towards
mitigating the nerve strain which every business man feels and from
which too many suffer.
The electric railroads, with their frequent cars passing one’s very
door, have done a vast deal to bind the outlying towns firmly to the
central city. More than this, they have promoted neighborliness among
people of adjoining towns, and have broken up the isolation of farm
life. These roads now strive to obtain private rights-of-way, excepting
where for the convenience of passengers they pass through city streets;
and the same observations as to good order along the routes and at the
terminals that appertain to steam roads apply equally to trolley lines.
The rapidly increasing use of the automobile promises to carry on
the good work begun by the bicycle in the days of its popularity in
promoting good roads and reviving the roadside inn as a place of rest
and refreshment. With the perfection of this machine, and the extension
of its use, out-of-door life is promoted, and the pleasures of suburban
life are brought within the reach of multitudes of people who formerly
were condemned to pass their entire time in the city.
While the people generally have yet to be brought to appreciate the
value of well-constructed highways, the universal experience is that
where a stretch of good road has been built the saving in time and
money is so great and so apparent that the movement gathers force
rapidly, and culminates only when all main lines have been completed.
Land adjacent to such roads increases in value and finds a readier
sale; the farmer is no longer cut off from his market, and often he
finds it possible to lessen the number of horses he keeps. The actual
economies which the good road allows far exceed the increase in taxes
necessary to meet the bond issue, and life on the farm becomes more
profitable as well as more agreeable.
[Illustration: XLII. VIEW OF LAKE ZURICH, ILLINOIS.]
FOOTNOTES:
[16] The Palisades Interstate Park Commission was organized in 1900.
Mr. J. P. Morgan, the honorary president of the American Scenic and
Historic Preservation Society, gave $122,500; the state of New Jersey,
$55,000; and New York appropriated $410,000. With these resources the
Palisades Commission has acquired most of the palisades fronting on the
Hudson, from Fort Lee, N. J., to Piermont, N. Y.
[17] The commercial value of good roads was recognized by Massachusetts
a quarter of a century ago, and to-day every portion of the
commonwealth is provided with a network of excellent highways built
under the direction of a highway commission at the joint expense of
state and town; and now the work of tree planting along the roads is in
progress. In Los Angeles County, California, $3,500,000 has been raised
by a bond issue for laying out and improving highways—so thoroughly
do the people appreciate the attractions which good roads have for
the tourists who, as in Massachusetts, are a source of income to the
community.
In Illinois the State Highway Commission has built two so-called
experimental roads in the vicinity of Chicago, one at Wheaton and the
other at Naperville. On the road at the latter town, the commission has
tried both limestone and slag macadam, and also gravel treated with tar
and with oil. A movement is on foot to connect the Wheaton road with
Chicago by a direct highway built in a substantial manner. In a letter
dated October 20, 1908, Mr. A. N. Johnson, the State Highway Engineer,
says: “It is possible that some attempt will be made at the coming
session of the legislature to secure means to start the construction of
highways. Public sentiment in general, however, is somewhat backward,
and I imagine will require longer time than is available by the next
legislature to get to such a point that any considerable sum of money
will be forthcoming, such as will be necessary to take this work up
properly.”
[18] For general information on road building there is no better
reference document than the paper read by Mr. John Alvord some years
ago before the Commercial Club. In general, the conclusion of Mr.
Alvord and of others seems to be that there are many specifications,
any of which will produce good surfaces, but that durability and
lasting value in any case, must finally depend on maintenance. No road
yet invented will stand up without constant care and attention being
bestowed upon it, care which should begin almost as soon as the surface
is first finished.
[19] No roads constructed with smooth surfaces have stood up under
heavy automobile travel, except those made of asphaltum and those made
like the Sheridan Road in Buena Park. The last-mentioned road has gone
through two seasons of very hard usage, and although little repairing
has been done, it seems unchanged as to its surface. In one section
of England considerable stretches of the same sort of construction
have been in service for some time, and with the same result as at
Buena Park. In France two years ago, the main road from Versailles to
Chartres was in first-class condition; going over the same road in
June, 1907, it was found to be almost impassible, the wear upon it
having come from automobiles; and yet this highway was constructed with
care, on the best old-fashioned macadam formula. Asphaltum roads can be
made that will not chip up or pockmark, but the surfacing must be done
so that it will incorporate with the mass beneath, and not rolled on as
an outer layer. A very moderate speed limit for automobiles will keep
roads in good repair, for it is the high speed of the machines that is
so destructive to roadbeds.
[Illustration: XLIII. CHICAGO. WINTER VIEW OF GRANT PARK AND THE
PROPOSED HARBOR, LOOKING EAST.
From the original sketch by E. H. Bennett.
COPYRIGHT, 1909, BY COMMERCIAL CLUB OF CHICAGO ]