Chapter 11 of 18 · 6091 words · ~30 min read

CHAPTER III

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.

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

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.