The Makin. 
 of a Town 
 
 Frank L. McVey 
 
The Making of a Town 
 
The 
 
 Making of a Town 
 
 BY 
 
 FRANK L. McVEY 
 
 President of the University of North Dakota 
 
 Professor of Economics, University of Minnesota, 1896-1907 
 
 Chairman, Minnesota Tax Commission, 1907-1909 
 
 Author, Modern Industrialism, Railroad Transportation, 
 
 History and Government of Minnesota, The Populist Movement 
 
 CHICAGO 
 
 A. C. McCLURG & CO. 
 191? 
 
Copyright 
 
 A. C. McClurg & Co. 
 1913 
 
 Published May, 1913 
 
 W. F. HALL PRINTING COMPANY, CHICAGO 
 
To 
 
 M. S. M. 
 
 261243 
 
MANY things have been said in books and 
 periodicals about cities, but very little has 
 been written on the problems of the smaller towns. 
 Still, the difficulties in these places are great; more- 
 over, the meeting of them is checked by lack of lead- 
 ership, opportunity to find the written material upon 
 them in near-by libraries, and by the absence of a 
 background of understanding and purpose. Some 
 experience in town building and a close relationship 
 to the problems of the smaller places, have brought 
 me to the view that a statement of town problems 
 might be of assistance. In view of that need, this 
 book has been prepared. It does not pretend to solve 
 all of the town problems, but I trust it brings to light 
 some of the more essential features of town growth 
 and the need of careful planning. If this point has 
 been clearly put, the book serves its purpose. 
 
 FRANK L. McVEY 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I TOWN BUILDING AND COOPERATION . . i 
 
 II THE PLANNING OF THE TOWN .... 19 
 
 III THE FIRST FUNDAMENTAL HEALTH . . 41 
 
 IV THE SECOND FUNDAMENTAL SCHOOLS . 61 
 V THE THIRD FUNDAMENTAL MORALS . . 85 
 
 VI THE FOURTH FUNDAMENTAL BUSINESS . 103 
 
 VII THE ENTRANCE TO THE TOWN 121 
 
 VIII GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION . . . 137 
 
 IX ORGANIZATIONS AND WHAT THEY CAN Do 
 
 FOR THE TOWN 159 
 
 X ADVERTISING THE TOWN , 177 
 
 XI THE FUTURE OF THE TOWN 195 
 
 REFERENCES 213 
 
 INDEX 219 
 
TOWN BUILDING AND COOPERATION 
 
THE MAKING OF A TOWN 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 TOWN B'UILDING AND COOPERATION 
 
 COMMUNITY-BUILDING is a difficult and 
 laborious process at best. It requires con- 
 fidence in the future, the cooperation of men and 
 women, and the bringing together of many elements 
 to make it a success. Under our American concept 
 of individualism, community-building has often been 
 regarded as individual in character. There has 
 been little emphasis laid on the cooperative side, and 
 practically no recognition has been given to the 
 contributions of the social factors to town-building. 
 It is true that in many towns strong men have erected 
 buildings, established banks, created mills and ele- 
 vators, and done a great deal that has assisted 
 materially the growth of the community. While all 
 of this is desirable and worth the while, in itself it 
 cannot create a town in the best sense of the term. 
 
 1 
 
2 The Making of a Town 
 
 The individual has identified the success of the town 
 in these instances with his own commercial advan- 
 tage, and has overlooked the important fact that a 
 town has a conscience, point of view, and attitude 
 of its own. This spirit of the town must be alive 
 to the town's condition, ready and alert as an indi- 
 cator of the character of the general citizenship to 
 take on problems and difficulties. 
 
 Community view and individual interest, more- 
 over, do not always coincide. The basis of the 
 opposition on the part of some men to town prog- 
 ress usually is not far to seek. Many times it is due 
 to misunderstanding, to idle gossip, or to competition 
 in a limited field. Thus the contest for patrons may 
 take on all the bitterness of a hostile strife in a gold 
 camp, and end in merchants having nothing to 
 do with each other in a business or social way. 
 Instead of ignoring such a situation, some of the 
 members of the community take sides. As a con- 
 sequence cliques are formed. This results in a 
 divisional town, which continues to lose ground, 
 because there can be no centralization of interests. 
 If one side favors a proposition the other is opposed 
 to it. Nothing deadlier could exist than just such 
 
Town Building and Cooperation 3 
 
 a condition. Mark Twain gave to the world a 
 number of years ago his " Story of the Man Who 
 Corrupted Hadleysburg." It can hardly be repeated, 
 even in outline, but the complete overturning of the 
 virtues of its citizens was due wholly to suspicion 
 and overreaching proclivities. Where else could 
 it have happened but in the small community? 
 
 Sometimes the strong man of the town insists, 
 through the various agencies of church, school board, 
 and council, that his views shall prevail. Thus the 
 spirit of thrift is talked and urged by him not so much 
 for the welfare of individuals as that tenants may pay 
 rents and debtors settle promptly their obligations. 
 .If the theology of his church maintains this view, he 
 is strongly set against the new thought that might 
 in any way loosen the bond of obligation and throw 
 doubts on the rendering to Caesar what is due. So 
 the teacher is expected to inculcate the doctrines of 
 ownership and the right to charge what the traffic 
 will bear, while the town council is instructed to turn 
 contracts over to those who are big taxpayers and 
 consequent benefactors of the community. It is 
 hard to get a man of such views to accept the social 
 concept of a town's development, because his in- 
 
The Making of a Town 
 
 terest and his thought have all centered about in- 
 dividual effort. 
 
 Besides this deterring element of individualism is 
 another of even more seriousness, which creeps into 
 every community as it takes on added importance 
 and increase of population. The old-time neigh- 
 borliness of the early days of the village, when the 
 difference between the well-to-do and the poorer 
 members of the community was merely a difference 
 of physical comfort won by the sweat of the brow, 
 has disappeared and been superseded by many artifi- 
 cial distinctions in family and social life. Inherited 
 wealth makes possible the enjoyment of pleasures 
 and more intimate touch with the outside world; and 
 as wealth is concentrated, social distinctions arise and 
 class lines appear as a factor in the town problems. 
 This condition is noticeable in the utilization of the 
 most attractive locations in the town for the best 
 residences and the creation of a " desirable sec- 
 tion " to which those able to afford it move. 
 Churches, too, come to be designated as fashionable 
 churches, and the town in its increase of population 
 is marked by distinctions that affect the "get-to- 
 gether " spirit of the place. 
 
Town Building and Cooperation $ 
 
 In sections of the country where new towns are 
 in the process of building the inhabitants are free 
 from many of the traditions of older places. The 
 newcomers who settle in the place are younger, 
 more open to new ideas and ready to enter into the 
 spirit of cooperation. This condition is worth much 
 in the building of a town. '* The veteran, John 
 Bigelow, in an address read at the dedication of a 
 museum presented by him to his native town in 
 Massachusetts, declared that * no people in town, 
 village, or city can be really prosperous or happy 
 without being brought together frequently to share 
 common amusements and recreations and exchanges 
 of opinion; it is such attractions that have contrib- 
 uted in a great degree to make Paris, London, Flor- 
 ence, and Rome pilgrim shrines. 1 In commenting 
 on this thought the Philadelphia Press said that 
 it is the opinion of a man of culture, of keen obser- 
 vation, and of experience through a long life extend- 
 ing beyond ninety years. It is not new, for it has 
 been felt in almost every community at one time or 
 another, but it has such obvious truth and force that 
 it is worth reviewing any time and all the time. 
 Harmony of thought and purpose and action have 
 
The Making of a Town 
 
 prospered many a city. We have had, perhaps, the 
 best demonstrations of this in western cities, par- 
 ticularly on the Pacific coast, where there has been 
 marvelous growth of the new municipalities. Every- 
 body helps to push the city along with all its interests, 
 and they, all work to one definite end, not pushing 
 and pulling against each other." 
 
 " Know your city " is the motto of a new move- 
 ment but recently sprung into existence and now 
 seen to its best advantage in some of our larger 
 municipalities. Knowing your town has reference 
 not only to its good sides, but to its weak points as 
 well. It is an attempt to clearly recognize the pros- 
 pects, the difficulties, and the evils that exist in a 
 community and to get at the social consciousness of 
 the inhabitants. The city of Boston decided to 
 create a great exhibition to be held in the year 1915. 
 The purpose of this event was not to present in 
 glaring figures the commerce of Boston, or her miles 
 of harbor, or the amount of sidewalk, sewers, or 
 paving that she possesses, but rather to show what 
 is needed to make Boston the most perfect city in 
 the world. To this end committees went to work to 
 ascertain the economic basis of the city, its social 
 
Town Building and Cooperation 7 
 
 aims and purposes, what it needed in the way of 
 public buildings and improvements, how the parks 
 and the water system might be bettered; in fact, 
 to find out what was lacking to make a complete 
 city. Another city on the other side of the country 
 determined to do not only the thing which Boston 
 has done, namely, to talk about what they ought to 
 be, but actually to accomplish it. Consequently, 
 great efforts were made to better the harbor, to ex- 
 tend the park system, and to improve the city gener- 
 ally. A great manufacturing city in the center of 
 the continent furnishes an example of a municipality 
 that studied its weak side. It attempted to find out 
 the conditions under which its workers were living, 
 the evils with which they were faced from day to 
 day, the sanitary conditions of the region in which 
 the people lived and worked, and what the city had 
 to offer to raise the general welfare. 
 
 These three great cities and their purposes might 
 well serve as examples for smaller communities. 
 There is no reason why any community should not 
 face its future in black and white. This means the 
 putting down on paper what it has on the credit side 
 in the form of good schools, streets, parks, etc., as 
 
 
8 The Making of a Town 
 
 well as enumerating the deficiencies in police service, 
 health regulations, proper amusements, tenements, 
 and the like. The adoption of a town motto ex- 
 pressive of hope and paraphrasing the relation of 
 the town to the community about it would tend to 
 concentrate the activity of citizens and give them a 
 definite purpose in their work for their community. 
 It seems necessary to give tangible form to propa- 
 ganda by unifying and enthusing a movement 
 through the use of a motto ; thus : " Know your City," 
 "A Clean City," "A Good Town to Live In," ex- 
 press the wish of a movement to better things. 
 Town-building, however, here and there has ad- 
 vanced beyond this phase and has sought to lay a 
 foundation in wider knowledge of conditions before 
 attempting some special line of activity. Hence 
 the "town survey," sometimes called the "social 
 survey," has been inaugurated for the purpose of 
 getting at the facts before an attempt is made to 
 generalize about the problem. 
 
 Under the old method a great deal of the special 
 work came to naught because there was no adequate 
 basis for the conclusions of the committees in charge. 
 Such a change in attitude has brought the student of 
 
Town Building and Cooperation 9 
 
 town problems to the front and relegated the spell- 
 binders to the rear, for the reason that a survey re- 
 quires knowledge of economic and social principles 
 as well as how to apply them. It is due further to 
 the recognition that town development is not wholly 
 a matter of chance, but one that rests upon ascer- 
 tainable principles; thus, increase in size and wealth 
 means division of population, the introduction of 
 social cleavage, and greater difficulty in maintaining 
 town unity; the growth of a town along economic 
 lines introduces disturbing elements in the policing, 
 financing, and managing of a town organization; at 
 the same time this progress will throw upon churches, 
 schools, and charitable societies a more difficult 
 problem than before. In each of these groups of 
 problems a knowledge of facts is presupposed be- 
 fore any solution can be suggested. This means a 
 survey. 
 
 Such a survey may well begin with an examination 
 of the town's location, geographical and economic, 
 to be followed by careful study of conditions in many 
 lines of social and economic activity. For guidance 
 of those who are in earnest the following outline is 
 offered as a suggestion: 
 
 
io The Making of a Town 
 
 OUTLINE OF TOWN SURVEY 
 
 I. LOCATION 
 
 1. Geographic 
 
 a. Character of topography 
 
 b. Nature of soil, drainage and water supply 
 
 c. Collection of maps and plats showing early 
 
 growth 
 
 2. Economic 
 
 a. Railroad connections, shipping and trackage 
 
 facilities 
 
 b. Distance from competing towns and the nature 
 
 of the competition 
 
 c. The wagon roadways, their condition and con- 
 
 venience 
 
 II. THE POPULATION 
 
 1. Number, origin and distribution in town 
 
 2. Race, religious and class antagonisms 
 
 3. Standards of living and wages paid 
 
 4. Conditions of employment 
 III. SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS 
 
 1. Recreational 
 
 a. Outdoors: parks, playgrounds, public baths, 
 
 open air concerts, winter sports 
 
 b. Indoors: theaters, gymnasiums, dance halls, 
 
 bowling alleys, places of amusement 
 
 c. The coordination and direction of these 
 
 2. Social 
 
 a. Clubs social clubs, boys' clubs, etc. 
 
 b. Restaurants, saloons 
 
 c. Lodges, labor unions 
 
 d. Entertainments and amusements, nature and 
 
 character of 
 
 e. Vice, nature and character of 
 
 3. Educational 
 
 a. Schools public and private; the conduct of 
 
Town Building and Cooperation II 
 
 them and adaptation to town needs. Con- 
 tinuation schools 
 
 b. Higher education colleges, technical schools 
 
 c. Libraries, reading rooms and book circulation 
 
 d. Lectures, institutes 
 
 e. Newspapers, periodicals and publications 
 
 influence of 
 
 f. Fine arts music, concerts, art gallery 
 4. Religious and charitable organizations 
 
 a. Churches number, denominations, member- 
 
 ship, attendance 
 
 b. Sunday schools and work of 
 
 c. Charitable work carried on associated chari- 
 
 ties; Salvation army; cooperation between; 
 private philanthropy and question of poor 
 relief 
 IV. GOVERNMENT 
 
 1. Management character of government, political, 
 
 business or social 
 
 2. Work of departments 
 
 a. Police 
 
 b. Fire 
 
 c. Health 
 
 d. Recreation and parks 
 
 e. Construction and public works 
 
 3. Utilities what they are; how managed; character of 
 
 service and cost 
 
 4. Financial taxes, assessment of property, expenditure 
 
 of funds; proper audit and publicity of accounts 
 
 5. Reformatory and eleemosynary jails, almshouses, 
 
 poor department, juvenile court, hospitals, dis- 
 pensaries 
 V. CONCLUSIONS 
 
 1. The form the conclusions should take 
 
 2. Distribution of population on basis of income, living 
 
 conditions and housing facilities 
 
12 The Making of a Town 
 
 3. Is the town filling its function as an economic agent? 
 
 4. Has the town provided adequate means of guarding 
 
 the health of its citizens: (a) in water supply, 
 (b) sewerage, (c) housing, (d) care of contagious 
 diseases? 
 
 5. Is the government efficient, honest and economical ? In 
 
 what respects can it be bettered? 
 
 6 Do the children have adequate educational facilities? 
 Have the problems of retardation and truancy been 
 solved ? 
 
 7. What social institutions exist? What is their value? 
 
 8. Are the provisions for recreation and amusement 
 
 sufficient to meet the aesthetic and ethical wants of 
 the community? If not, what provisions can be 
 made to meet the needs? 
 
 9. Is vice subjugated and the elements making for it 
 
 subordinated? Are there real efforts made to keep 
 the town clean and on a high moral basis; do 
 churches, schools, police and commercial clubs 
 cooperate to this end? 
 
 10. What plans are being made for a better town in the 
 
 matters of planning, recreation, education and 
 business? 
 
 11. Maps and charts should be made to show graphically 
 
 the facts gathered in the survey. 
 
 Enough has been said on the question of a sur- 
 vey to open the mind of the intelligent citizen, and 
 to suggest as well, that town planning and town 
 drifting are two widely divergent things. The first 
 presupposes knowledge, interest, and purpose; the 
 latter is the point of view that it is nobody's business, 
 based upon the fallacious doctrine that a good town 
 
Town Building and Cooperation 13 
 
 is bound to come out all right of its own accord in 
 the long run. But nothing happens by mere chance ; 
 a town is what it is in the course of a half century 
 because of economic and social conditions, coupled 
 with the exercise of intelligence, energy, foresighted- 
 ness, and cooperative spirit on the part of the citi- 
 zens in solving the problems. 
 
 In the pages of this book it is proposed to con- 
 sider the more important things that make for better 
 towns. The reader will undoubtedly accept the view 
 that some of these are more fundamental than others 
 and for purposes of discussion may be regarded as 
 basic. As the author views the matter, the topics 
 health, education, morals, and business would in- 
 clude in their wider application most that is vital to 
 the community. In fact, they may be referred to as 
 the fundamentals of community growth and their 
 treatment will necessitate the use of a chapter for 
 each one. A brief description here of the terms 
 and what will be discussed in connection with them 
 should facilitate their presentation in pages farther 
 on. 
 
 i. The first fundamental has just been said to 
 be health. Its consideration brings the town face to 
 
14 The Making of a Town 
 
 face with sanitary conditions, the disposal of waste, 
 garbage, sewage, the securing of good water, the 
 ventilation of schoolhouses, and the medical inspec- 
 tion of school children. 
 
 2. Education has been made almost a fetish in 
 American communities, but it involves so much that 
 any progressive community does not hesitate to lend 
 every influence it can exercise to have a modern 
 school. The general tone of the community is re- 
 flected in the school; in consequence, the problems 
 of support, maintenance, and direction are unusually 
 important. 
 
 3. The moral atmosphere of the community is 
 the third fundamental. A town is attractive, as a 
 general thing, in accordance with its moral atmos- 
 phere. This involves its attitude toward saloons, 
 the tone of the amusements, the enforcement of law, 
 and the part which is played by school and church 
 as moral agents in holding young people to higher 
 ideals. The amusements are closely allied with the 
 moral situation, and especially is this true in the 
 smaller communities, which are rarely visited by 
 lecturers, musical organizations or theatrical com- 
 panies. Mental stimulus and moral outlook are 
 
Town Building and Cooperation 15 
 
 furnished oftentimes by instruction, and this 
 problem is one of the most serious the small town 
 has to consider. 
 
 4. A further fundamental is business. It is the 
 foundation of the town and consequently important. 
 There are always conflicting forces at work against 
 the development of business in a community, seen 
 sometimes in too much competition, in too high 
 prices, in lack of advertising or a clear perception 
 of the problem which confronts the community. 
 Many villages drift from condition to condition, 
 taking each failure to arrive as an evidence of the 
 hostile attitude of Providence toward them. This 
 is the situation that will obtain unless counteracted 
 by the intelligent cooperation of the men of the 
 town with each other. Business conditions generally 
 are changing so rapidly that adherence to old views 
 may leave the town behind in the race for supremacy 
 in the district, unless resort is had to joint action 
 through the medium of organization. Thus far the 
 commercial club has been the best medium for 
 securing common opinion and common action. 
 
 Besides the features of town organization men- 
 tioned thus far in this outline of the book's purpose, 
 
1 6 The Making of a Town 
 
 there are other phases of town life which will be 
 given consideration in the remaining chapters; such 
 as administration and government, including the 
 question of taxation, the activities of clubs and or- 
 ganizations, the town hotel and the future of the 
 community. The point of view from which these 
 interesting topics will be considered is that of the 
 town as a community of common interests. The 
 town is a social organism. The conduct of its af- 
 fairs should be marked by loyalty, intelligence, effi- 
 ciency, willingness to spend money, and insistence 
 upon results, for the very reason that it is not a 
 private concern, but a social organization, involving 
 the interests of thousands of people. 
 
 A few years ago individualism was rampant. The 
 emphasis was upon competition as the soul of trade, 
 and because of the opposition engendered, pulling 
 together was nearly impossible. Little by little the 
 municipality has begun to understand that very 
 nearly anything is possible when citizens work to- 
 gether; while the concept of community values, due 
 to the presence of a population in a limited area, is 
 breaking slowly upon the minds of men as a means 
 by which the social needs of the community may be 
 financed. 
 
THE PLANNING OF THE TOWN 
 
CHAPTER II 
 THE PLANNING OF THE TOWN 
 
 IN the edition of the London Times for Septem- 
 ber i, 1911, a brief article appeared upon the 
 proposed capital of Australia. A site some seventy 
 miles from the eastern coast line, in New South 
 Wales, at Yass Canderra, has been selected, and it 
 is expected that there will be established the per- 
 manent seat of government, where the federal par- 
 liament will meet and the commonwealth legislation 
 be enacted. In time, there will be built a par- 
 liament house, government buildings, post-offices, 
 college and university buildings, museums, markets, 
 parks, and all the paraphernalia of a great city. Be- 
 fore anything is done, however, the government has 
 called for competitive designs upon all phases of the 
 problem, to be submitted upon a given date. This 
 item of news is introduced at the beginning of this 
 chapter upon the planning of the town to indicate 
 
 19 
 
2O The Making of a Town 
 
 how the people of Australia propose to build a 
 capital city by first carefully planning it. 
 
 Every town or village has some sort of a plan. 
 It may be one that is worked out in the first place 
 or one that is evolved later, but the town does not 
 move far in its history before a paper plat has been 
 accepted by the civil authorities. The expansion of 
 most of the towns of modern times is the result of 
 real estate enterprises, and their purpose has been 
 to sell lots rather than to look at the community as 
 a social organization with a future; so towns have 
 grown by accretions, called, in the real estate world, 
 additions. These are plotted with the single pur- 
 pose in view just referred to, and in carrying it out 
 the adherence to accepted ideas, shown usually in 
 the checkerboard form of plotting, is a customary 
 feature of real estate promotion. There are other 
 instances of town planning of a special character, re- 
 sulting from the purpose of some manufacturing 
 concern to devise a town which it can control, in 
 planning, organization and government; and in 
 many instances such places are really model towns 
 that hold up an example for the imitation of the 
 slower going communities. But very few towns are 
 
The Planning of the Town 21 
 
 planned with much of the future in view; if they 
 were, we should not find the embarrassment and 
 limitations to town growth brought about by high 
 values of property in private hands, but we would 
 find provisions made in the plans for the needs of 
 the inhabitants and the protection of comfort and 
 decency through control over surrounding lands. 
 Only within the past few years has there been any 
 consideration given to the need of plotting the land 
 round about as well as inside the town limits, and 
 that has been done mostly abroad; thus it is left for 
 future generations to wonder why the present 
 dwellers in towns did not protect themselves by look- 
 ing after the open places, school sites, and other 
 public needs. 
 
 In general, without refining the distinction, there 
 are two types of town planning. One may be called 
 the formal and the other the informal type. In the 
 first class are the checkerboard, diagonal, and round 
 forms of city plans, while included in the second are 
 the garden cities and the individual plans made to 
 fit topographical conditions. New York City set the 
 seal of approval upon the gridiron system in the 
 working out of the city plans above Fourteenth 
 
22 The Making of a Town 
 
 street. This form is the simplest and it provides 
 an accurate method of property description, though 
 it has the disadvantage of requiring every citizen to 
 pass around two sides of a block to reach a given 
 point, and it utilizes an unusually large portion of the 
 land for street purposes. The diagonal type of plan 
 was used by L'Enfant in the laying out of the city 
 of Washington. The ring plan as planned in the 
 European cities, is seen more particularly in the case 
 of Vienna, where the old fortifications were used as 
 the foundations of the boulevards extending around 
 the city. Opposed to these forms are the towns of 
 the informal type, among which may be enumerated 
 the garden cities, established in England more than 
 anywhere else, largely for the purpose of giving a 
 natural setting to modern industry. 
 
 Without doubt Letchworth in England furnishes 
 the best example of the informal type, since the pur- 
 pose of the organizer was clear and up to the pres- 
 ent more fully developed than elsewhere. Says the 
 prospectus of the company, "The four main fea- 
 tures of Letchworth may be summarized as follows: 
 (i) the freehold of the town is held in the interest 
 of the present and future community; (2) the 
 
The Planning of the Town 23 
 
 maximum number of houses to the acre is twelve; 
 (3) only one-third of the estate is being developed 
 as town, two-thirds are being retained as rural and 
 parkland; (4) the shareholders are entitled to five 
 per cent, the surplus will go to the tenants and 
 lessees in one form or another." Hampstead, on 
 the outskirts of London, is an excellent example of 
 the topographical plan, for there the housing and 
 garden questions have been brought to a harmonious 
 conclusion. The manufacturing village under com- 
 pany control is best illustrated by the instances of 
 Port Sunlight and Bourneville in England; Alfreds- 
 hof in Essen, Germany; Hopedale, Massachusetts; 
 Gary, Indiana, and LeClaire, Missouri. 
 
 The garden plans require, however, certain racial 
 conditions in the community. If there is consider- 
 able variety in the nationality of the population, it 
 is difficult indeed to work out a garden city plan. 
 The purpose is to secure a combined city and town 
 effect; to do this the gridiron system of lot arrange- 
 ment has been given over entirely, and the number 
 of houses limited to from ten to twenty to the acre. 
 Twelve houses to the acre of building land provides 
 gardens of the right size, and not too large to be 
 
24 The Making of a Town 
 
 worked by a laborer and his family. These houses 
 are carefully grouped so as to give a picturesque 
 appearance. 
 
 But these facts about the garden city are not the 
 vital ones, for the whole emphasis in the town's de- 
 velopment has been shifted from property to citizens. 
 To secure the advantages of comfortable living at 
 smaller costs, with enlarged community and indi- 
 vidual rights, is the purpose of these new munici- 
 palities. When the idea is fully realized the city is 
 its own landlord and its own builder, utilizing the 
 land for recreation and residence purposes, while 
 planning for playgrounds, beauty spots, and open 
 areas for public buildings. The fundamental prin- 
 ciples recognized are ( i ) the purchase of low-priced 
 agricultural land before development takes place; 
 (2) the permanent control of the area, including 
 streets, parks, and open spaces; (3) the utilization 
 of the unearned increment due to the growth of the 
 town for the benefit of the town, through either re- 
 duction in rent or the enlargement of municipal en- 
 terprises. 
 
 The types of the garden city may be grouped 
 under the three heads of ( i ) the self-contained in- 
 
The Planning of the Town 2$ 
 
 dustrial community; (2) the garden suburb; and (3) 
 the industrial village adjoining a factory plant. All 
 have in common the element of superior authority 
 resting in the community organization. 
 
 In Germany, where the greatest advances have 
 been made in planning cities along distinctly topo- 
 graphical lines, a marked opposition has sprung up 
 to what is called the "handsome picture" type of 
 plan, which seeks to arrange symmetrically the ap- 
 pearance of buildings. This is effected mainly upon 
 paper, though in actual construction it fails to make 
 the impression that is expected when first planned. 
 The point of view of this new group of men in Ger- 
 many is the avoidance of monotony and the use of 
 local circumstances through development according 
 to topographical conditions. Looked at in this way, 
 no two communities would have the same plan of 
 development, since the conditions upon which they 
 were worked out would not be the same. 
 
 The attitude referred to above is unquestionably 
 the right one, for the building of a town should 
 be based not only upon the cooperative principle, but 
 as well upon knowledge of the best way to unite in- 
 habitants in their efforts. Hence, in organizing the 
 
26 The Making of a Town 
 
 plan of a town or village, it is essential ( i ) that the 
 means of circulation, by which is meant the roads, 
 streets, walks, etc., shall be carefully planned; (2) 
 that there shall be proper locating and distribution 
 of open places and public buildings; and (3) that 
 private lands shall be so situated as to make the 
 placing of residences desirable and agreeable. 
 Ordinarily, recognition of the needs of a town plan 
 is not gained by the blowing of horns or the enum- 
 eration of the processes through which the com- 
 munity must go to secure a reorganization. Open- 
 mindedness and willingness to accept broad views of 
 the problem's solution are fundamental. When 
 coupled with skillful investigation of needs and 
 problems, this attitude will undoubtedly bring results, 
 though the acceptance of a plan should be followed 
 by the united and hearty cooperation of public au- 
 thorities and individuals; and when the general out- 
 line has been adopted, the plan should be put into 
 execution promptly along the lines laid down. 
 
 Be the community large or small, it is desirable 
 that at the beginning of the movement for new plans 
 some knowledge should be secured of the character 
 of the community, of the functions which it per- 
 
The Planning of the Town 27 
 
 forms, and of the economic and social organization 
 under which it is constituted. In other words, some- 
 thing should be done toward what is called, in the 
 previous chapter, an economic and social survey of 
 the community. A preliminary local survey to 
 include the collection of maps, plans, drawings, doc- 
 uments, statistics illustrative of the situation, history, 
 communications, industry, population, town condi- 
 tions, would do much to clear the air of many er- 
 roneous notions regarding the community and its 
 future. To plan a town rightly it is necessary to 
 have the cooperation of the surveyor and engineer, 
 the hygienist, the economist, and finally, in order to 
 bring the contributions of all these into harmony and 
 dignity, the architect, who is the leader and organ- 
 izer of the constructive side of the work that is to 
 be done.* 
 
 After the survey has been made the mere mechan- 
 ics of planning involve the division of the town 
 into districts, in which the size and height of build- 
 ings are determined, and a territory set apart for the 
 placing of factories. Thought also should be had of 
 
 *See Catalog of Belfast Cities and Town Planning Exhibi- 
 tion, 1912, p. 63. 
 
28 The Making of a Town 
 
 the laying out of sewers, not merely for a period of 
 one or two years, but for at least twenty or twenty- 
 five years in advance of the community. This will 
 mean the saving of expense and the giving of better 
 service to the citizens. Facilities for transportation 
 are not an impossibility and provision should be 
 made for them. In the development of parks and 
 open places, the problem would practically be 
 solved, so far as the expense of it is concerned, if the 
 municipality were authorized to purchase land and 
 to replat it in such a way as to secure the benefit of 
 the resulting rise in values that always follows the 
 creation of any park or open place. Even in case 
 the land is occupied, its condemnation under the law, 
 though the expense to the community would be great, 
 would be justified by the added value given to it 
 by the improvement. It is said that when Vienna 
 wants money for public purposes the authorities 
 make improvements and sell the adjoining land for 
 high prices due to the changes made. The ordinary 
 method of meeting the cost of a park is to assess 
 back upon the land surrounding it the benefits that 
 come from the creation of the park. In one way 
 this is the plan of the Vienna method, except that 
 
The Planning of the Town 29 
 
 there is no change in the ownership of the property 
 and the city can make no profit above the cost of 
 the improvement. 
 
 The inhabitants of most western towns have had 
 very little to say about the laying out of their com- 
 munities. They have been planned usually by en- 
 gineers on the basis of what might be called a rect- 
 angular town. The main street is either parallel or 
 at right angles to the railroad. Thus, one finds in 
 traveling across the country town after town ex- 
 actly similar in the details of its planning. Some- 
 times the courthouse is placed at one end of the 
 main street and the schoolhouse at the other, with 
 a square in the center between them, though this 
 arrangement is rather rare. In the older towns of 
 Europe a traveler is impressed by the irregularity 
 of the streets and in many instances by their nar- 
 rowness. A more careful examination, however, 
 shows that the men who planned these communities 
 had in mind the nature of the traffic on the streets, 
 as well as the general picture the town makes as a 
 consequence of the careful laying out of streets. The 
 street question, therefore, reaches great importance 
 in every community. 
 
30 The Making of a Town 
 
 The tendency in America has been to make streets 
 practically the same width throughout the town, 
 regardless of the purpose or service that they are 
 to render. In most instances the streets of the town 
 are too wide, especially the part devoted to road- 
 ways. One is astonished again and again to find 
 in Europe roadways eight, twelve and sixteen feet 
 in width, upon which passes a very considerable 
 traffic. Consequently, the widening of the parkings 
 of our streets and the narrowing of the actual road- 
 way would result in a very material beautifying of 
 the street, and in addition would lessen the cost of 
 keeping the paving in order. Many an official, 
 planning the streets of a new town, fails to recog- 
 nize that traffic is never so great as the provision of 
 his plat calls for. Seldom is it necessary for three 
 vehicles to pass abreast, and if it is, twenty-four 
 feet are ample space, while sixteen are nearer the 
 requirements of the ordinary street. When there 
 is any addition to the multiple eight feet, there is 
 useless expense and no benefit gained, since a vehicle 
 requires that much and no more room to move on 
 the highway. 
 
 The junctions of streets, where traffic comes in 
 
The Planning of the Town 31 
 
 contact with the buildings in any direction, form 
 a very important feature in every community. In 
 the checkerboard and diagonal types of towns the 
 method of dealing with junctions is practically the 
 same in all cases. In the European cities, especially 
 in those of Germany, the junctions of streets vary 
 according to the conditions of traffic; in case of con- 
 gested traffic the junction is widened out at the cross- 
 ing, narrowing again as the street proceeds. 
 
 Just how far tree-planting should be carried on 
 along streets and roadways depends upon local con- 
 ditions. " Trees and grass form the natural decora- 
 tion for streets and places in towns wherever the 
 condition of the atmosphere will allow them to grow. 
 Like every form of decoration, however, this needs 
 to be used with considerable judgment and restraint. 
 Breadth and simplicity of treatment seem to be essen- 
 tial to good results. Many fine streets and places in 
 continental towns are spoiled for lack of restraint 
 in the character of the gardening and planting 
 adopted. Broad stretches of grass and simple 
 masses or avenues of foliage are generally success- 
 ful, if well placed." The small town is faced with 
 the problem of tree-planting, and in addition effec- 
 
32 The Making of a Town 
 
 tive tree-planting, which will be useful for shade pur- 
 poses and beautiful in decoration. Perhaps the first 
 requisite is a tree ordinance, the second surely is 
 consultation with a landscape architect, as to the 
 kinds of trees, distances apart, and where to plant. 
 Some streets call for one treatment and some for an- 
 other, but monotony should be avoided. And a 
 third requirement should be added. It is to this 
 effect: make the municipality responsible for the 
 planting and care of trees; for when this is done con- 
 tinuity and persistency become the attitude of the 
 community and provide for adequate planting and 
 care through a series of years. 
 
 The problem of paving is perennial and difficult 
 of solution. In many instances the utilization of 
 macadam for the village street is all that is required, 
 and in a locality where gravel is difficult to obtain 
 a composite paving is resorted to in the business sec- 
 tions of the town. There is a great difference of 
 opinion as to the best forms of paving, but undoubt- 
 edly all would agree that there should be a concrete 
 base from four to eight inches in thickness. Upon 
 this may be placed many types of paving. Only 
 four or five classes of materials, which have been 
 
The Planning of the Town 33 
 
 tested by experience, need to be considered by a 
 community seeking a paving. These are stone 
 blocks or cobbles, asphalt, wood block, and brick; 
 but even these when tested by the criteria of noise- 
 lessness, absence of slipperiness, general appearance, 
 and economy, leave much to be desired. In the past 
 ten years there has been a very rapid growth in the 
 use of the wood block and bituminous macadam. 
 Paving wears out rapidly and the automobile helps 
 materially in its dissolution, creating also a diffi- 
 cult dust problem. It is said on good authority that 
 the roads of America lose 500,000 tons of material 
 annually by wind and wear and tear of vehicles. 
 Here and there attempts have been made to oil 
 roads, and when the oil has had an asphaltic base 
 the application has materially helped to check the 
 dust. 
 
 Very early in the history of the community the 
 question of buildings, of height and materials, comes 
 before the governing body for consideration. The 
 sky-lines of New York City and Chicago have been 
 imitated in practically every community on a 
 greater or less scale. In the main districts of towns, 
 buildings are erected closely together on what might 
 
34 The Making of a Town 
 
 be called the string method. They crowd along the 
 main street and the public square, which in some 
 measure is convenient, but it is always productive of 
 an awkward appearance. If the small town could 
 realize that it is unnecessary to build all of its busi- 
 ness houses next to one another, and so scatter them 
 about here and there, changing their appearance to 
 conform to the surroundings, the town itself would 
 be much more beautiful and the artistic sense of the 
 community very materially advanced. This prin- 
 ciple has been followed in the case of the garden 
 city plans that have been developed in England. 
 
 That " a man's house is his castle " appears to be 
 the measure of house-building in our own country, 
 where the small detached house is so much in vogue. 
 Nothing more forlorn in the problem of town plan- 
 ning is to be found anywhere than in the streets 
 lined by continuous rows of houses of similar design 
 and erected at equal distances from each other on 
 a straight line. Nor is the view much improved 
 when the owners strive to outdo their neighbors. 
 Then monotony gives way to a "higgledy-piggledy" 
 result that is almost as unsatisfactory, though each 
 man prides himself on having protected his own in- 
 
The Planning of the Town 35 
 
 terest. The offset to this situation is collective plan- 
 ning and control; " for the trouble lies in the funda- 
 mentally bad requisites as to their proportions, mass 
 and relative position, made necessary by the current 
 system of lot sizes and their individual develop- 
 ment."* And nothing can solve the problem but a 
 joint determination on the part of owners to place 
 their houses where each one will have a fair out- 
 look, and also to accept one architect who shall mass 
 the buildings as seems wise, in order to have archi- 
 tectural results and economy of construction. So 
 impossible does an outcome of this kind seem that 
 hut little is to be looked for in the way of better 
 house and building grouping in the average town, 
 except here and there, where a land owner has ac- 
 cepted and emphasized the principle of collective 
 planning and control. Yet the burdens of land own- 
 ership and the evils of land speculation are bound 
 to force the adoption of the principle of properly 
 concentrated and located houses on small lots that at 
 the same time will prove to be effective buildings 
 from the architectural point of view. 
 
 The town that does not possess a park of some 
 
 * See an interesting article, Scribner's Magazine, July, 1912, 
 p. 28. 
 
36 The Making of a Town 
 
 kind is an anomaly, for the city fathers of practically 
 every community have purchased a plat of land that 
 in the parlance of the community is known as " the 
 park." It may be a long distance from the center 
 of the town, or it may be actually inside of the city, 
 but it is usually added as an afterthought to the orig- 
 inal plan, for one of the things that is overlooked 
 often by the planners of towns, especially when 
 they are developed on the basis of the gridiron or 
 checkerboard system, is the park. Under ideal con- 
 ditions it should be located in the center of the com- 
 munity, connected by good roads to every part of the 
 town, and within its area should be a baseball dia- 
 mond, tennis courts, and a ball ground. In connec- 
 tion with the playground idea some tendency is to be 
 seen at the present time toward this type of park 
 and undoubtedly it will be more and more marked 
 as time goes on. One reason why the town life of 
 mediaeval Europe reached such delightful propor- 
 tions was because of the frequent coming and going 
 of the people in the plaza. The park of today in 
 the modern town takes the place of the old plaza, 
 and every inducement should be made to bring the 
 community into it and every incentive set up to cause 
 
The Planning of the Town 37 
 
 them to use it, since it tends to develop that larger 
 sense of democracy so greatly needed in our com- 
 munities. But it is a far cry from the theory of a 
 park as a part of the equipment of a community to 
 the actual securing of adequate recreation grounds. 
 A landscape architect recently reporting upon the 
 problems involved in developing a park, first called 
 attention to the physical features that affect most the 
 beauty or ugliness of a town. He followed this 
 study by another regarding the need of neighbor- 
 hood squares and then showed the locations for play- 
 grounds, the use of parks of large natural beauty 
 and sufficiently unified so that future development 
 would not mar it. To him the importance of acces- 
 sibility, street extensions and parkways, as well as 
 the surroundings of railway stations, made them a 
 part of the park problem that was joined with the 
 whole town development. 
 
 The purpose, after all, of city planning, as Mr. 
 John Nolan says, is to make the community "more 
 democratic, to develop the individuality of the city, 
 and to stop waste waste of land, of human energy 
 and vitality, and waste of health through badly 
 planned sewerage and water systems." 
 
38 The Making of a Town 
 
 We are just beginning to get an idea of the im- 
 portance of town-planning. "Making things do" 
 has been the basis of most town construction, and 
 the removal of the ugliness from modern life is one 
 of the functions of the up-to-date community. Yet 
 this is just the thing that is apt to be overlooked. 
 In many instances things have been done in a nig- 
 gardly way, but the application of the principles of 
 art to the planning of the town is not to be looked 
 upon simply as the suggestion of a connoisseur, but 
 rather as a thing which the most practical man ought 
 to take into consideration and plan for. "Art," 
 after all, " is the doing well of what needs doing." 
 It is not a trimming, but a necessity, and when a 
 thing is well thought out, well planned, and well 
 built, art will be the result. 
 
THE FIRST FUNDAMENTAL HEALTH 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE FIRST FUNDAMENTAL HEALTH 
 
 "'T^HE public health is the foundation on which 
 -- reposes the happiness of the people and the 
 power of a country," said Lord Beaconsfield forty 
 years ago. The statement made then is still true. 
 In the course of the next twelve months a million and 
 a half persons will die in the United States; more 
 than four million two hundred thousand will be con- 
 stantly sick, which is to say that over five million 
 homes, containing twenty-five million persons, will be 
 affected and made wretched sometime during the 
 year as a result of morbidity and mortality. The cost 
 of such wholesale sickness and death amounts to 
 millions of dollars annually. Individually the Amer- 
 ican takes more baths than the average man of any 
 other nation, but looked at from a communal point 
 of view he is nearly as dirty as the people of what 
 are usually referred to as the less enlightened lands. 
 In Spain the death rate per million of population in 
 
 41 
 
42 The Making of a Town 
 
 the period from 1905 to 1908, from the most typi- 
 cal of the filth diseases, typhoid, was 362; in the 
 United States it was 288, while in Ireland it was 91, 
 in England 80, in Prussia 61, and in Switzerland 46. 
 
 In the American community this condition of af- 
 fairs may be traced to the want of cooperation on 
 the part of citizens and the indifference of public of- 
 ficials, due largely to their lack of imagination and 
 understanding of the meaning of sanitation. As a 
 people we fail to appreciate the importance of health 
 and the effect which it has upon the growth and prog- 
 ress of the community. There are a number of 
 weighty problems involved in the growth of every 
 town which are closely associated with its health 
 and the extent of the death rate. They may be 
 enumerated as those dealing with the removal of gar- 
 bage and ashes, the care of sewage, the source of 
 water, the protection of milk and foods, and the 
 prevention of epidemics in the public schools. 
 
 It has been the custom in the smaller communities 
 to allow every citizen to determine for himself how 
 his ashes and garbage and other refuse shall be 
 handled, though happily we have passed beyond the 
 day when the household refuse was spilled in the 
 
The First Fundamental Health 43 
 
 streets and slops thrown from the windows without 
 regard to the finery of the passer-by on the paving 
 below. The method much in vogue was for each in- 
 dividual to haul outside of the town limits the refuse 
 from his household and deposit it where it could be 
 done with the least inconvenience; but the refusal 
 of land-owners to permit this sort of thing forced 
 the creation of a municipal dump, which in most 
 instances becomes a community disgrace, the abode 
 of flies and stench. In course of time every com- 
 munity will be brought to the maintenance of some 
 sort of collection system, especially in view of the 
 fact that it will not cost any more in the aggregate 
 than the method of individual dumping. A town in 
 one of the northern tiers of counties in Minnesota 
 provided every household with a raised platform 
 where the garbage and ash pans were placed before 
 being emptied at regular intervals by an employe of 
 the community. 
 
 The arrangements made for the disposal of com- 
 munity wastes are classified as the license, the con- 
 tract, municipal or dumping systems. The license 
 system is one under which an individual is given the 
 privilege of visiting the various houses of the com- 
 
44 The Making of a Town 
 
 munity to take away the refuse; this usually means 
 an unsatisfactory collection, as the licensee does not 
 wish to take all that he is asked to carry away. The 
 contract system is one under which the town enters 
 into an arrangement with some individual to remove 
 the refuse at so much per cubic yard or so much per 
 year for the whole job, while the municipal system 
 is one that the community operates, undertaking to 
 carry on the collection, paying the cost from public 
 funds. Any of these methods, however, may result 
 in the plan of dumping on land where burning, plow- 
 ing under, or feeding may follow as a means of de- 
 stroying the accumulations. The erection of a munic- 
 ipal incinerator for the purpose of destroying the 
 organic material is by far the most satisfactory, 
 though dump burning has much to be said for it as 
 against allowing accumulations without any attempt 
 at disposal. A separation of the refuse, though, 
 into organic and inorganic materials results in easier 
 handling of it and more satisfactory care. An 
 analysis of garbage shows 70 per cent moisture, 3 
 per cent grease, 20 per cent fibrous material, and 7 
 per cent refuse and rubbish. This is a group of pos- 
 sibilities freighted with financial return, when 
 
The First Fundamental Health 45 
 
 handled on a large scale, that has caused the larger 
 cities to establish reducing works, which by the use 
 of steam have produced soap, oils, residues and fer- 
 tilizers of value. Once in a while satisfactory in- 
 cinerators have been built, but only when the man- 
 ufacturers have kept inviolate the fundamental rules 
 of fuel combustion. They have to deal with wet 
 fuels and the problem involves the difficulties of 
 driving off the moisture, burning the gas vapors, 
 and offsetting the heat loss by radiation. Still, there 
 are now no less than 250 such plants in Great Britain, 
 and more than half of them are using the heat pro- 
 duced to manufacture power. The latest plant of 
 this type is located in the Borough of Richmond 
 (Staten Island), New York City. Professor Basker- 
 ville declares, in his Municipal Chemistry, that the 
 street cleaning department of New York City found 
 in every thousand loads of ashes an astonishing lot 
 of materials. There were, according to this state- 
 ment, ten tons of tin cans, 2,400 pounds of paper, 
 3,000 pounds of rags, 11,000 bottles, 55 barrels of 
 broken glass, 300 empty barrels, two tons of old 
 iron, and 836 pounds of rubber products. Besides 
 this amazing list, it was found that ashes contained 
 
46 The Making of a Town 
 
 30 per cent of clinker, 45 per cent of fine ash, and 
 25 per cent of unburned or partially burned coal. 
 The fine ash was available for manufacture into 
 Portland cement, the clinker for cement work, and 
 the coal for fuel. The whole is a lesson in economy 
 of wastes that will press more and more upon even 
 the small municipality. 
 
 Another question looms large in the disposal of 
 community waste. It is more difficult of solution 
 than the problem of garbage and ashes. House 
 sewage amounts to about thirty gallons per person 
 per day, and the problem of disposing of this be- 
 comes exceedingly difficult for any community. The 
 cost of building a proper sewer system is one that 
 forces some short-cut method of dealing with the 
 situation. Two methods of dealing with the waste, 
 speaking in broad terms, remain to the community; 
 either the draining of it into the water of a stream or 
 allowing the soil to take care of it. There is, how- 
 ever, a limit to the capacity of water to absorb and 
 purify itself after contamination with sewage. The 
 usual method has been to carry it off in some stream 
 or lake, but as populations grow very serious ob- 
 
The First Fundamental Health 47 
 
 j actions arise to a method of this kind, since the 
 burden is merely shifted and the problem of drain- 
 age and freedom from stench is left unsolved. In 
 some places this phase of the problem has been met 
 by building a series of open tanks, using screens to 
 hold and retard the organic matter. 
 
 The other methods of surface irrigation or of 
 sub-surface irrigation have certain features to com- 
 mend them. Through the medium of the first the 
 sewage and household wastes are distributed through 
 specially devised pipes or drains on the surface of 
 the ground sloping away from the sewage pipes. 
 The area of one acre of land will absorb the sew- 
 age of 2,000 persons, but as this method is not 
 adaptable to cold climates it cannot be used by many 
 cities. The sub-surface irrigation method is a 
 similar system, except that the effluent is carried be- 
 neath the surface of the ground in perforated pipes. 
 The cesspool and ordinary sewage vault are unsat- 
 isfactory methods of caring for sewage, and both 
 are likely to result in the development of disease 
 in the community. The dry earth or sanitary pail 
 closet is distinctly in advance of either one of these, 
 
48 The Making of a Town 
 
 although it necessitates considerable labor to render 
 it harmless and satisfactory and is not adaptable to 
 communities of any size. 
 
 Sewage is largely water, containing very little 
 inorganic matter, and this fact has made the method 
 of sedimentation attractive to a good many sani- 
 tary engineers, because by confining the effluent to 
 tanks and stimulating sedimentation by chemicals 
 the water can be drained off without a heavy charge 
 of organic matter. The best known of these tanks 
 is the septic tank, sometimes called a glorified cess- 
 pool, through which the sewage flows slowly, relying 
 upon bacteria to break up the solid matter. It pro- 
 vides for the first stage of bacterial action, break- 
 ing up the sludge by the bacteria and bringing about 
 the reduction of the organic matter. It is said to 
 have been first developed at Urbana, Illinois, in 
 1894, and was used in Exeter, England, in 1896. 
 Where the water passes through bacteria beds the 
 effluent must be treated chemically, in order to 
 decrease the amount of the bacteria. 
 
 An improvement upon the septic tank, called the 
 Imhoff tank, has been tried in connection with a 
 large sewerage system developed in the valley of the 
 
The First Fundamental Health 49 
 
 Emscher River round about the city of Essen, Ger- 
 many. Within this drainage area are a population 
 of 2,000,000, located in the large city of Essen and a 
 number of smaller places and numerous industrial 
 plants and coal mines. Thus a serious sewage prob- 
 lem was created: first of drainage and second of 
 disposal. The latter phase of the question is the 
 one which more particularly interests the dweller 
 in the smaller city. The clarification tank adapted 
 for treating sewage in the district has been called 
 the Imhoff tank, after the engineer, Dr. Karl Imhoff, 
 who perfected it. Like the septic tank, it does not 
 render sewage pure, but it does clarify and does 
 treat the residue, or sludge, as it is called. The 
 removal of suspended matter from the sewage is 
 the business of the Imhoff tank. This form of tank 
 is in reality a two-story septic tank, allowing the gas- 
 producing and bacteria-working influences to go on 
 at the same time. From the upper chamber the 
 suspended solids gradually settle and slide down the 
 sloping bottoms into the sludge-decomposing chamber 
 below. Here the sludge remains until the putrescible 
 matter is thoroughly decomposed, when it is removed 
 through a pipe. The gases of decomposition escape, 
 
50 The Making of a Town 
 
 and the sludge, on account of low water content, 
 dries quickly and can be used for fertilizer or filling 
 purposes. These tanks have been tried successfully 
 in a number of German cities; one tank will take 
 care of the sewage of 2,000 people, and a series of 
 tanks will provide for the largest places. It per- 
 haps is not too much to say that this device is the 
 latest and most advanced method of treating sewage, 
 and should be thoroughly studied by the engineers of 
 towns about to do something with their sewage 
 problem. 
 
 Fortunate, indeed, is any town possessing a water 
 supply that is above suspicion as a disease carrier. 
 "To constitute a satisfactory supply water should 
 not only be free at all times from all traces of micro- 
 scopically visible disease germs and chemical con- 
 tamination, but the location of its source and the 
 methods of construction and operation of its pump- 
 ing station, storage reservoir, and distribution should 
 be such that full protection against contamination is 
 possible. And water may be good as shown by 
 chemical or bacteriological examinations, but owing 
 to the near presence of some source of contamina- 
 tion, such as a cesspool, privy vault, sewage, etc., 
 
The First Fundamental Health 51 
 
 may become dangerous at any time. The importance 
 of full information concerning the surroundings of 
 the source of supply and the methods of construction 
 and operation are to be easily seen." 
 
 The source of water is to be found in wells, rivers, 
 or lakes. The first may be privately owned by indi- 
 viduals, each household depending upon it for their 
 supply of water, or the well may be put down to 
 greater depths by the community and operated by 
 it. In the former case there are likely to be great 
 differences in the character and bacteriological con- 
 dition of the water, since there are many opportuni- 
 ties for contamination. The use of water from a 
 river or lake pumped into mains and from them 
 into individual houses may be materially affected by 
 the turbidity of the water, a difficulty met by the 
 treatment of the water held in reservoirs through 
 the use of lime and sulphate of iron. Where colon 
 bacilli are present, it has been possible by the use 
 of chloride of lime to reduce the bacterial count to a 
 minimum point, rendering the water fit for drinking 
 purposes. " It only kills a few" is a very bad argu- 
 ment, though having the sanction of the experience 
 test, and one that ought not to stand in the way of 
 
52 The Making of a Town 
 
 the adoption of adequate means to secure a satisfac- 
 tory water supply. Aeration has no value as a dis- 
 ease preventer, though it is effective in destroying 
 taste and smell. Filtration, however, can be made 
 to do much in bettering a water supply. By this 
 method there are two ways of producing results; 
 one by a slow filtration of the water through sand 
 and gravel, and the other by rapid filtration and the 
 appliance of chemicals by mechanical device. The 
 first requires frequent change of sand and an arrange- 
 ment of the reservoirs in such a way as to provide 
 for the closing of parts of them during cleaning; 
 the second, while no more efficient than a sand filter, 
 can be utilized where there are smaller reservoirs, 
 and when well managed it requires but small addi- 
 tions of chemicals to the water and costs less to 
 build and maintain. 
 
 These brief statements make clear that, however 
 difficult the water problems may be in a community, 
 sanitary engineers have been able in the main to 
 solve them, providing the public can furnish the 
 necessary funds for the construction and proper 
 operation of filtration plants. In consequence, any 
 community that goes on with its plans for a water 
 
The First Fundamental Health 53 
 
 supply without advice from first-class sanitary experts 
 is short-sighted, to say the least, and in these days of 
 science may be called criminally foolish. 
 
 Another source, and a very frequent one, of 
 typhoid contamination is the milk supply; this result, 
 however, is not to be traced back to " bossy," but is 
 due to careless handling of milk in its distribution. 
 Typhoid is only one of the troubles that come from 
 careless handling, for many children's diseases may 
 be traced to " dirty milk." By far the greatest 
 amount of harm that is produced by milk is due to 
 the objectionable bacteria which it contains. No 
 test has been devised that will quickly and easily 
 show the presence of disease germs in milk; hence 
 the dairy and its surroundings must be clean all of 
 the time. Unless a community establishes inspection 
 of dairies and examination of product, it can have 
 no sense of security against disease. While even 
 minimum requirements of ordinances may do some- 
 thing, occasional visits of customers to dairies will 
 help materially the maintenance of clean conditions 
 in the milk business and uphold the hands of officers. 
 
 It remained for Dr. Koch to point out the danger 
 from infection through the prevalence of tuberculosis 
 
54 The Making of a Town 
 
 in milch cows. The convincing work of Dr. Hess, 
 of New York City, furnished proof positive that 
 tuberculosis can be contracted through the use of 
 milk from tubercular cows. In some instances as 
 high as two per cent of the children fed upon milk 
 may be infected with cattle tuberculosis. Conse- 
 quently, no health officer can be regarded as having 
 fulfilled his duty to the people of the community if 
 he does not insist upon the testing of every dairy 
 cow in his community with tuberculin and excluding 
 reacting cows from the herd. In cases where such free- 
 dom from tuberculosis among dairy herds is impos- 
 sible to secure, pasteurization should be resorted to 
 by heating the milk to 160 degrees for twenty min- 
 utes. Milk after such treatment cannot be kept long 
 and should be placed upon ice, for otherwise it 
 develops a condition more harmful than milk begin- 
 ning to sour. Even butter may be infected when 
 made from the cream brought from infected herds. 
 Public health can be maintained at its highest point 
 only through cooperation, watchfulness, the use of 
 trained men, and government authority. 
 
 The one place above all others where the health 
 of the community is always open to determination 
 
The First Fundamental Health 55 
 
 is in the public schools of the town, for here are to 
 be seen the immediate effects of epidemics, unsatis- 
 factory ventilation, the presence of disease germs in 
 the water, and the numerous other things that are 
 likely to affect the children of the town. The instal- 
 lation of fan systems of ventilation in most public 
 buildings that are now being erected has removed 
 some of the difficulties confronting the schoolmaster 
 in the care of the health of the children under his 
 instruction. The placing of drinking fountains in 
 the schoolhouses also and doing away with the old 
 drinking cup has performed miracles in the reduction 
 of the number of sore throats and colds. 
 
 Yet there is much to be done in the public 
 schools of the country. Investigations of one kind 
 or another have shown that children are more or 
 less defective. In one of the schools in Minneapolis 
 a few years ago 710 pupils were examined to get 
 at their physical condition. The children were classi- 
 fied in three groups, known as class I, class II, and 
 class III. The first contained those that were either 
 perfect or practically so, the second those that had 
 slight defects easily removable, and the third those 
 that were more seriously affected. Forty-six were 
 
56 The Making of a Town 
 
 found to be absolutely perfect, and 202 had defects 
 so trifling that no attention of any kind was neces- 
 sary; 191 had defects that might need medical atten- 
 tion, and in 271 cases the examining physician specif- 
 ically pointed out the need of medical treatment. 
 Among these defects were enlarged cervical glands, 
 adenoids, malnutrition, defective teeth, speech, hear- 
 ing, and vision, and other weaknesses that needed 
 medical attention. In other cities similar conditions 
 have been discovered upon inspections made by 
 examining physicians, and the movement now is 
 steadily toward the appointment of an examiner in 
 every school system of any importance. It has like- 
 wise been found that the necessary follow-up work 
 after defects have been brought to light cannot be 
 done by the teacher, but must be done by a trained 
 person. Consequently, the visiting nurse has in many 
 towns of the country become a part of the school 
 system, materially assisting the teacher in the care 
 of the pupils. As our eyes are opened to the im- 
 mensity of the problem of education, it is more and 
 more brought clearly to light that the teacher cannot 
 carry all the burdens of a properly conducted school 
 system in addition to the instruction which she is 
 
The First Fundamental Health 57 
 
 giving. If she attempts it, like Tarpeia of old she 
 is overwhelmed by those from without who were 
 admitted within the walls. 
 
 Closely associated with the problem of health 
 existent in the community are many other questions, 
 such as surveillance of food emporiums, disinfection 
 of houses and rooms used by diseased persons, 
 sprinkling and cleaning streets, and the proper means 
 of quarantine. Little by little we are awakening to 
 the importance of the health officer and to the reali- 
 zation that it is quite as necessary to have a man 
 with a social outlook and a wide knowledge of what 
 is done in sanitation as one with a medical training, 
 in order that he may be a successful guardian of the 
 people's health. 
 
THE SECOND FUNDAMENTAL 
 SCHOOLS 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE SECOND FUNDAMENTAL SCHOOLS 
 
 THE test of the intellectual and moral condi- 
 tions existing in a community will always be 
 found in the schools that are maintained. This is es- 
 pecially true, because through the school the conti- 
 nuity of institutions and race experiences are handed 
 on from generation to generation. In the days of 
 the simple community the function of transmitting 
 racial ideas was performed through personal con- 
 tact and intercourse, and by the sharing of young 
 and old in common activities. But as life has grown 
 more complex, the difficulty of impressing upon each 
 new generation the important phases of life has 
 materially increased, so that the school must be 
 called in to assist in accomplishing this end. The 
 statement, then, at the beginning of the paragraph, 
 that the intellectual and moral conditions of the 
 community are measured by the school, is not a trite 
 statement used to arouse interest, but one full of 
 
 61 
 
62 The Making of a Town 
 
 deep meanings in which are involved the future of 
 the community. 
 
 It may be put down that there are several reasons 
 for the maintenance of the school in any community. 
 The first of these is the necessity of acquiring the 
 tools of learning found in reading, writing, arith- 
 metic, the use of language, the picturing of ideas and 
 the like, and in addition the establishment of the 
 power of enjoyment of a rational character through 
 the opening of the treasure houses of science, liter- 
 ature, and the arts to the young mind. The state 
 would not be satisfied with these personal acquisi- 
 tions, if it did not hope that through the school there 
 would take place an endowing of the individual 
 with power to serve and an ability to maintain and 
 uphold racial ideals and institutions by constantly 
 renewing them through the child. Put broadly, then, 
 the school is not only a means of developing the 
 individual child, but, from the community point of 
 view, it is a safeguard against deterioration. 
 
 The important problems associated with the 
 development of the school system are to be found 
 in four factors: first, the building and its location; 
 second, its equipment; third, the training of the 
 
The Second Fundamental Schools 63 
 
 pupil and the determination of the courses of study; 
 and, fourth, the teacher. It will be the purpose of 
 this chapter to consider each of these factors in 
 order. 
 
 The choice of the location of the school grounds 
 is too often determined by political or personal con- 
 siderations. "Nothing is too good for the school" 
 should be the slogan of the village or town, and on 
 account of that attitude a well-turned piece 
 of ground, centrally located, and facing southeast, 
 should be selected as the place for the building. As 
 to the size of the grounds, the city block too often 
 furnishes the criterion for the determination of the 
 area which school boards have been known to 
 utilize for more than one building. Once a wise man 
 suggested the idea of a school park adequate for all 
 the school buildings of the town and with enough 
 land for playgrounds, gardens and aquariums round- 
 about. Straitened circumstances though have forced 
 most communities to use what they could buy and 
 pay for at the time. This course is often regretted, 
 for posterity blesses the man who sees largely, espe- 
 cially if the community is persuaded to do what he 
 suggests. Every school ought to have land for ade- 
 
64 The Making of a Town 
 
 quate playgrounds and school gardens, where the 
 children under proper direction, can come into closer 
 contact with the mystery of growing things. Any 
 other plan is short-sighted and foolish. 
 
 Today the tendency is toward more permanent 
 materials for school buildings and the giving over 
 of the wooden type, because it is expensive to keep 
 up, likely to be damaged badly in case of fire, cold in 
 winter, and warm in summer. Moreover, the type 
 of building that is now being erected constantly 
 approaches simpler forms in general structure and 
 ornamentation. It is considered important to erect 
 the building from the inside out, as it were, rather 
 than from the outside in. Consequently, emphasis 
 is placed upon lighting. Several forms of buildings 
 are now erected in the cities, among them the H and 
 E types; the first a building of two large wings, with 
 a connecting center, in which are to be found the 
 gymnasium and assembly hall; the second a building 
 with wings extending from the ends and the center. 
 Both of these forms are advantageous, since they 
 allow of expansion to meet future demands. The 
 student of school architecture is impressed with the 
 fact that it has moved forward just as fast as there 
 
The Second Fundamental Schools 65 
 
 has been a development of educational theory, and 
 the larger view of educational possibilities in the 
 field of vocational training, kindergarten instruc- 
 tion, and domestic art has had a marked effect upon 
 the size and form of buildings. 
 
 Some of these points may be mentioned in detail. 
 
 The basements of buildings should be in the neigh- 
 borhood of ten feet in height and not more than 
 three or four feet below ground. The area should 
 not be chopped up into little rooms, but so divided 
 as to furnish adequate facilities for manual training, 
 domestic science, or gymnasium work. The elemen- 
 tary schoolrooms ought to be about 24x32, and 
 i2 l / 2 feet in height, with the seats so arranged 
 that no child will be more than thirty feet from 
 the blackboard. The general rule for determin- 
 ing the width of the room is to make it twice the 
 height of the window tops from the floor. Long 
 experience has shown that by such a relation proper 
 lighting can be secured when the rooms receive their 
 light from one side. The color of the walls should 
 be light gray or light buff. The red end of the 
 spectrum should never be chosen for colors, but 
 rather the white end. Perhaps, one of the most 
 
66 The Making of a Town 
 
 important features to be kept in mind is the fact 
 that no schoolroom should be decorated on the basis 
 of home color ideas, since the whole surroundings 
 and point of view of the schoolroom are totally dif- 
 ferent from those that prevail in the house. The 
 purpose of subduing the colors is to relieve the eyes 
 from strain, and in many schools this is materially 
 helped by placing unbleached muslin over black- 
 boards when not in use. The woods that are used 
 should retain, so far as possible, their natural color, 
 and should not receive high polish or finish, since 
 that reflects light as well as shows the dust. The 
 deadening of floors by the use of asbestos not only 
 saves the floor but renders it difficult to hear the 
 movement of classes from below. 
 
 Since mechanical draft is now resorted to as a 
 means of ventilation, transoms should not be placed 
 over doors, and it is a question also whether doors 
 leading out of classrooms should have glass in them, 
 since it is likely to be broken, and, what is more, adds 
 to the possibility of the accumulation of dust. The 
 question of ventilation, though, is by no means set- 
 tled. The author of an article entitled "Stuffy 
 Rooms" in the November number of the Popular 
 
The Second Fundamental Schools 67 
 
 Science Monthly throws much doubt on current 
 theories of ventilation. Discriminating and careful 
 use of windows, aided by electric fans in each room, 
 furnishes a very satisfactory method of ventilating 
 schoolrooms. 
 
 In the rooms arranged for the grades, the cloak- 
 rooms should be in the rear of the classrooms and 
 opening upon them with a door at each end. This 
 gives the teacher complete control of the room and 
 makes it possible to enter and pass out without con- 
 fusion, leaving no possibility of entrance from the 
 outside hall. Various specific arrangements for 
 pupils should be found in the provision of pigeon- 
 holes for their overshoes, lockers placed in special 
 rooms in the basement, and suitable conveniences in 
 well located toilet rooms. 
 
 It is now pretty well accepted that no schoolhouse 
 is well planned that does not have an adequate 
 assembly room, which, whenever possible, should be 
 placed on the ground floor. This unquestionably 
 introduces new problems of architecture, but as we 
 are recognizing also the larger use of the school- 
 house as a phase of democracy, there ought to be 
 no question in the minds of boards of education 
 
68 The Making of a Town 
 
 as to what should be done when new buildings are 
 erected. 
 
 The larger vision that has been vouchsafed to 
 the teaching profession in these later years, and in 
 some degree to the patrons of the school, has made 
 material demands for an increase in the amount of 
 equipment in order to meet the needs thus visioned. 
 The utilization of mechanical means, in the resort 
 to power-driven fans, has fairly well solved the diffi- 
 culties of ventilation, while the problems of sanita- 
 tion through the adoption of modern plumbing have 
 been met by the turning to good account of water 
 as an agent for sanitary purposes. Only within a 
 short time has it dawned upon directors of school 
 affairs that children are of different sizes, and as a 
 consequence adjustable seats have been brought into 
 the better equipped schools. These seats are of dif- 
 ferent patterns and can be raised or lowered in 
 accordance with the needs of the individual pupil, 
 and their use should result in a material decline of 
 spinal dislocations and many other minor mal- 
 developments of the physical side of the pupil. 
 
 Libraries, too, as a part of the equipment of the 
 school, have long been used, but not so extendedly 
 
The Second Fundamental Schools 69 
 
 as an important agency in instruction as in recent 
 years. In some communities the tendency is to go 
 farther and establish libraries within the schools for 
 loan purposes, with the idea of permitting the 
 books to be taken to the homes of the pupils and 
 kept there for a short time by the patrons of the 
 school. Here and there small groups of photo- 
 graphs have been brought together and placed in 
 folders. These photographs, illustrative of great 
 works of art, of the better types of buildings, and 
 the noblest paintings that have been made by man, 
 have circulated among the people of the community, 
 and the art room has now come to be a feature of 
 school life that grows in importance as its possibilities 
 are recognized. 
 
 As a people we have neglected music as an educa- 
 tional factor; the phonograph in one form or another 
 has brought us back to the possibilities of musical 
 education at small expense. As the school becomes 
 more and more a social center where educational 
 work and lectures are carried on for adults, the 
 phonograph will proceed to larger and larger uses, 
 not only there, but in the classroom as well. 
 
 The object of all this building and equipment is 
 
70 The Making of a Town 
 
 the pupil and his training. He comes to school from 
 a great variety of home life and surroundings, with 
 marked differences in his physical, moral, and intel- 
 lectual care. While it is true that the school is 
 looked upon as a most important means of control- 
 ling the future of the state, nevertheless it should be 
 clearly kept in mind that, while it can do much in 
 advancing temperance, thrift, chastity, and civic 
 responsibility, there is no " radical cure for degen- 
 eration," as Professor Giddings has well said, " but 
 in a pure and sane family life which disciplines the 
 welcome and untainted child into robust virtue and 
 self-control, and in an unswerving allegiance to 
 duty." There arises consequently the necessity of a 
 real cooperation of the home and school. This, how- 
 ever, cannot be brought about by the subordination 
 of the home, but must be secured by the parents 
 undertaking to do their part in associating the child 
 with racial ideals. Without doubt u the strongest 
 constructive factor in the education of the human 
 being is the settled, quiet order of home." There is, 
 however, a marked movement toward a closer rela- 
 tionship between the school and the home in the 
 spirit of cooperation brought about through the visits 
 
The Second Fundamental Schools 71 
 
 of the parents to the school and of the teachers to 
 the homes. Undoubtedly the time will arrive when 
 everywhere, as it is now in some places, an addi- 
 tional visiting teacher will be employed for the sole 
 purpose of securing a helpful relation between the 
 home and the school; and in consequence the phys- 
 ical, moral, and intellectual care of the child will 
 be shared by the home and the school. 
 
 In the old days no effort was made to detect phys- 
 ical weaknesses in the pupil, but in the more modern 
 type of school medical inspection of school children 
 is coming rapidly to the front, with a follow-up nurse 
 system. Recent investigations have revealed that 
 more than half of the school children are hampered 
 in one way or another by physical defects. The 
 ascertainment of these at an early period in the life 
 of the child means a saving of expense to the public 
 school system as well as a material betterment of the 
 child's condition, which becomes more marked as he 
 grows older. 
 
 Associated with this problem of physical care is 
 also the one of moral direction. This is an exceed- 
 ingly difficult question, but the conditions in some 
 schools demand closest watching and careful over- 
 
72 The Making of a Town 
 
 sight on the part of principals and teachers in order 
 to prevent a wholesale development of immorality. 
 The instillation of moral principles and high ideals 
 is a matter of everyday instruction, together with 
 their presentation through lessons, in reading, his- 
 tory, and science. In Germany steps have already 
 been taken to present some of the simpler phases of 
 sex-hygiene, and the way should be opened in every 
 school in America to an early establishment of 
 similar instruction. 
 
 The course of study which exists in any school 
 system is always a complicated matter, far more so 
 than most people are aware, since it is related to race 
 experience. The interest of children in vocational 
 work of various kinds is due almost wholly to an 
 inherited race point of view rather than to any method 
 of presenting such instruction as a matter of tools 
 and of tasks. The demand for changes and addi- 
 tions is so great that the danger to the course of 
 study in our public schools is from its overloading 
 rather than in its failure to present enough. Already 
 there has come to the front an insistent request for 
 modification of courses and rearrangement of ele- 
 mentary and secondary work. One of the sugges- 
 
The Second Fundamental Schools 73 
 
 tions which have been made is that a change, and 
 quite a marked one, ought to take place after the 
 sixth grade in the methods of : nstruction. Then 
 follows a period of three years, regarded as a unit, 
 with an additional three years as a second unit 
 completing the twelve grades. The point in this 
 suggestion is that pupils, especially boys, should 
 have a new point of view at the age of twelve or 
 thirteen, and that this point of view should again 
 be changed at the age of fifteen or sixteen. This 
 method has been followed in some of the European 
 schools and has the advantage of meeting the condi- 
 tions more than the plan now generally in vogue. 
 It has also been suggested that promotion by grade 
 should cease after the sixth year, and instruction 
 be by subject while the pupils are in charge of what 
 is called a mother-teacher. This teacher is so called 
 because she looks after the pupils in the study 
 periods and directs their work, thus continuing the 
 element of personality, so important in elementary 
 and secondary instruction. Discussion of a topic 
 like that of a curriculum might well take all of the 
 pages of a book instead of a paragraph in a chap- 
 ter; still something may be said to indicate the new 
 
74 The Making of a Town 
 
 point of view. In some schools special teachers have 
 been delegated to help those who are behind in their 
 work, on the supposition that it is better to open the 
 way than to see the pupil fall by the wayside, while 
 the arrangement of subject-matter and character of 
 instruction have been changed to correspond with 
 the principles of child development. 
 
 As a term applied to school children, retardation 
 has to do with pupils who, by reason of physical or 
 mental defects and poor instruction, have failed to 
 maintain their grades. It would seem hardly neces- 
 sary to urge superintendents to ascertain a fact of 
 this character, but in very few school systems have 
 retardation charts been worked out " Only half of 
 the children who enter the first grades complete the 
 eighth grade," says one. Interpreted in figures it 
 seems that in Chicago 89 per cent of those entering 
 the first grade reach the sixth grade, 73 per cent the 
 seventh grade, and a few over 50 per cent finish the 
 eighth grade. The method of determining the num- 
 ber of retarded children in any school system is to 
 enumerate the children by ages and grades, and place 
 all of those who are older than a determined age in 
 each grade into a group called "above normal age" 
 
The Second Fundamental Schools 75 
 
 or "retarded." If children enter the first grade at 
 the age of six and a half years, and are not retarded 
 during their course, their ages will be as follows in 
 the grades: 
 
 TABLE 
 
 First grade 6 to 8 years 
 
 Second " 7 to 9 " 
 
 Third " 8 to 10 " 
 
 Fourth " 9 to ii " 
 
 Fifth " 10 to 12 " 
 
 Sixth " ii to 13 " 
 
 Seventh 12 to 14 " 
 
 Eighth " 13 to 15 u 
 
 Ninth " 14 to 16 " 
 
 Tenth " 15 to 17 " 
 
 Eleventh " 16 to 18 " 
 
 Twelfth " 17 to 19 " 
 
 With such a guide for the standard of retardation, 
 a chart can be made to show what the conditions are 
 in every grade of the school system. In the chart 
 given below the facts are shown so clearly and con- 
 clusively that the school board to which they were 
 shown were convinced not only of the need of an 
 additional teacher, but also of the wisdom of creat- 
 ing a junior high school from the seventh and eighth 
 grades.* It is interesting to note that this move of 
 
 * Prepared by Superintendent F. L. Whitney, of the Grafton, 
 North Dakota, Public Schools. 
 
The Making of a Town 
 
 the school authorities not only corresponded with 
 the facts of the chart, but also agreed with the sug- 
 gestion of the need of a change in form of instruc- 
 tion at the twelfth to thirteenth years, as stated in 
 the paragraph above. Perhaps it should be added 
 that a man was selected for the principalship of 
 the junior high school. 
 
 RETARDATION CHART 
 
 GRADE 
 
 Age 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 I 9 
 
 10 
 
 11 
 
 12 
 
 Total 
 
 6 
 
 49 
 6 
 
 8 
 23 
 
 9 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 57 
 40 
 
 8 
 
 2 
 
 11 
 
 19 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 37 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 ej 
 
 22 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 33 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 11 
 
 14 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 43 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 f] 
 
 
 
 r\ 
 t 
 
 ^ 
 
 20 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 37 
 
 12 
 
 
 
 
 C 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 11 
 
 12 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 
 35 
 
 13 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 7 
 
 ~6 
 
 
 17 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 53 
 
 14 
 
 
 
 
 
 t 
 
 5 
 
 "12 
 
 9 
 
 22 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 60 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 "6 
 
 14 
 
 10 
 
 9 
 
 1 
 
 49 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 c 
 
 14 
 
 9 
 
 4 
 
 48 
 
 17 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 hj 
 
 5 
 
 8 
 
 11 
 
 27 
 
 18 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 2 
 
 ^ 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 22 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 21 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 21+ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Total 
 
 57 
 
 42 
 
 42 
 
 47 
 
 40 
 
 56 
 
 58 
 
 44 
 
 56 
 
 44 
 
 34 
 
 27 
 
 547 
 
 Retarded, i. e., 
 above normal age 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 7 
 
 15 
 
 13 
 
 21 
 
 16 
 
 15 
 
 10 
 
 8 
 
 2 
 
 118 
 
 Per cent retarded 
 
 3.5 
 
 
 
 21.4 
 
 4.8 
 
 37.5 
 
 23.2 
 
 36.2 
 
 6.3 
 
 26.7 
 
 2.7 
 
 3.5 
 
 7.4 
 
 21.5 
 
The Second Fundamental Schools 77 
 
 Of the many devices suggested to meet the prob- 
 lem of retardation, the public summer school has 
 much to commend it, not only as a means of helping 
 backward pupils, but of introducing the children to 
 the industrial processes with which the race has 
 become familiar in its upward movement. This time 
 can be used for instruction in woodwork, basket- 
 making, sewing, domestic science, and in some cases 
 vocational subjects along trade lines can be taught, 
 with the main purpose of arousing intelligence. The 
 public playground when used as supplementary to 
 the summer public school has added much to the suc- 
 cess of summer instruction; nor is this to be taken as 
 a belittling attitude toward the matter of play- 
 grounds, for they are useful agencies through which 
 the principles of law, order, and discipline can be 
 well taught, but rather to show the advantage of co- 
 ordinating them with instruction at the time of the 
 child's most active play. For play is Nature's way of 
 building up power, without which the town child 
 lacks staying qualities. In order that play may count 
 in the course of education, it must be maintained on a 
 permanent basis. This means a permanent staff and 
 a permanent play center. One institution only is 
 
78 The Making of a Town 
 
 capable of maintaining play on this basis, and that is 
 the school. Moreover, to bring about the possibili- 
 ties of the play center as an educational factor the 
 community must have confidence in the supervision, 
 and this also points to the school. 
 
 A recognition of the problems that have been 
 referred to as physical, moral, and intellectual brings 
 clearly to the front the importance of the teacher. 
 It is perhaps not going too far to say that in the 
 opinion of many men well qualified to present their 
 views there is no more important individual in the 
 community than the teacher, but in general there is 
 no great recognition that he is dealing with the most 
 vital interests of the community. The teacher comes 
 in contact with social conditions, knows when illness 
 exists in the families of the school children, when 
 industrial calamities have fallen upon the people, 
 and, in fact, is entrusted with the most important 
 elements in our social and national development. The 
 attitude toward the teacher has not fully recognized 
 his place in the community, as shown by payment for 
 services. The average salary of the teacher in the 
 United States today is $53.88 per month, and it will 
 not be until we have given him a longer tenure of 
 
The Second Fundamental Schools 79 
 
 office with a higher salary that we can expect the 
 best men to come in to take places as schoolmasters. 
 Yet the demands for better training and bigger per- 
 sonality, which are more pressing today than ever 
 before, and the number of children in the schools 
 necessitates marked insistence upon better training, 
 better facilities, and greater opportunity. 
 
 The administration of the schools has been in 
 the main placed in the hands of boards, usually con- 
 sisting of comparatively small numbers of persons, 
 though there are exceptions to this statement. There 
 ought to be in every community a school board, 
 whose authority is as wide as that of the community, 
 independent of city councils or county commissioners, 
 with authority to expend money and to levy taxes 
 within their jurisdiction. The support of the public 
 schools amounts to one-fourth or one-third of the 
 total cost of local government, and the funds are 
 raised by apportionment from the commonwealth 
 school funds, state taxes, and local taxes. A term of 
 office ought to be from three to five years rather 
 than for a less period, and the number of the board 
 might well be fixed at seven rather than a smaller or 
 larger number. In their hands should be placed the 
 
80 The Making of a Town 
 
 trusteeship of the schools. They are the business 
 managers and directors. If they are wise, however, 
 they will turn over to a superintendent, selected for 
 competency, all the problems that are associated with 
 the management of the educational side of the school 
 work, such as the selection of teachers and text- 
 books, the determination of courses of study, equip- 
 ment, and the like. As soon as the school board 
 goes into the business of selecting apparatus and 
 school books, of outlining courses of study, and 
 selecting teachers, it is sure to engage in something 
 for which its members have had no special training 
 and for which they are not well adapted. The 
 community looks to it to maintain efficiency, and to 
 do this through competent management, direction, 
 and oversight, rather than through the care of 
 specific details. 
 
 Slowly the school boards of the country are com- 
 ing to recognize the important fact that the school 
 is essentially the savior of American democracy 
 when closely affiliated with the home; that it has an 
 unusual opportunity to widen the scope of education 
 and to extend it from the instruction of children in 
 their infancy and teens to the instruction of adults in 
 
The Second Fundamental Schools 81 
 
 many important matters. It may be urged that such 
 a tendency is beyond the scope of the schools, but 
 looking to Europe we will find that in many coun- 
 tries in Denmark and Germany, for instance 
 are to be found schools for adults conducted in the 
 evening under the direction of school boards. Such 
 utilization of the school will mean much in the 
 enlargement of the point of view of the community 
 and in the development of a more intelligent attitude 
 toward all the problems of the community and of 
 the state. 
 
THE THIRD FUNDAMENTAL MORALS 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE THIRD FUNDAMENTAL MORALS 
 
 THERE is no doubt as to the existence of a 
 definite code for the moral guidance of the 
 individual. Upon this point the public is fairly 
 clear, looking to the acceptance of axioms and rules 
 of conduct as the basis of this view. But the code for 
 public guidance is still more or less indefinite. It is 
 not so clear as it should be to men in the community 
 that there ought to be a communalized morality, for 
 clean living and clean thinking apply to the com- 
 munity quite as much as to the individual, each hav- 
 ing a conscience. Many citizens are good providers, 
 agreeable fathers and kindly neighbors, without 
 understanding that there is any larger obligation 
 upon them. Despite this general condition, evidences 
 are to be seen now and then of an enlarged sense of 
 social morality creeping into the point of view of 
 even the most backward communities. The "per- 
 sonal liberty" argument, heard so often in the past 
 
86 The Making of a Town 
 
 and used so freely to justify individual departures 
 from the path of rectitude, is now met by the state- 
 ment that the community has a standard of conduct 
 and that there is really a social test to be applied 
 to its attitude on moral questions which touches the 
 action of individuals. 
 
 The argument for the wide-open town as being 
 good for trade carried much weight in commercial 
 bodies fifteen or more years ago, because it was said 
 men will come to buy where there is to be some 
 excitement and dissipation. But it has been learned 
 since that the business of the town where such an 
 attitude is taken is quite as likely to lead to suspicion 
 of its good-will as to the increase of its reputation for 
 being a joymaker. Moreover, it has been discovered 
 that it is harder to collect debts and sell goods for 
 cash where conditions of that kind prevail than it is 
 in a community where law and order are the rule. 
 The question of what shall be the attitude of the 
 community toward the disturbing element collected 
 in every town is not solely a matter of business; it is 
 a community question and a church question; the 
 latter because the church represents the higher 
 standards of moral attitude. 
 
The Third Fundamental Morals 87 
 
 It has never been discovered that the men inter- 
 ested in the maintenance of the open town are really 
 concerned about the future of the community. Their 
 point of view is to secure as much money as they can 
 from the people who come to them. The amuse- 
 ments, disorderly houses, and even theaters are 
 made to yield a by-product that will draw cash to 
 their coffers. Moreover, an attitude of this kind 
 usually brings about an alliance between the ele- 
 ments that make for disorder and the government. 
 The result is that there creeps in an insidious influ- 
 ence toward increased cost of community manage- 
 ment, and materially lowered efficiency of govern- 
 ment and business enterprise. 
 
 Any community which permits the maintenance of 
 saloons, gambling dens, blind pigs, disorderly houses, 
 low theaters, poolrooms, and disreputable vaude- 
 villes is bound to pay the price. Not only as sug- 
 gested in the paragraph above, but in serious home 
 problems regarding the boy, and even the girl, as 
 well as having greater difficulty in the discipline of 
 the schools. It is true that these excrescences of 
 modern civilization can remain in a community under 
 police surveillance and cater in a way to what might 
 
88 The Making of a Town 
 
 be called the lower elements in the town. The saloon 
 may even be conducted on a fairly respectable basis, 
 and during the existence of the old type of saloon, 
 where the owner was manager and host, there was 
 something to be said on this point. But in these 
 days of the " line saloon," managed from a city far 
 away, and under the direct charge of men of no 
 reputation, it becomes a distinct menace to the com- 
 munity, not only as a source of temptation to young 
 men, but often as a rendezvous of criminals. The 
 gambling den and the disorderly house are direct 
 offspring of the saloon. They work together, one 
 fitting in with the other, while further down the list 
 are to be found the low theaters and the poolrooms 
 all joined in the endeavor to produce material for 
 the main hopper. So, too, the vulgar performances 
 of the vaudeville show tend to pull down the stand- 
 ards of morality, to increase the curiosity of young 
 persons, and in time to force them into the road that 
 leads through the poolroom and the low theater to 
 the gambling den, the saloon, and the disorderly 
 house. 
 
 The law everywhere provides at least the working 
 machinery for controlling these community menaces, 
 
The Third Fundamental Morals 89 
 
 but under the influence of uncertain public opinion 
 upon moral questions of a community character the 
 usual attitude has been to allow them to drift along 
 under some plan of occasional fines or infrequent 
 arrests of managers. In some instances it has been 
 suggested that the disorderly house, because of its 
 example, should be segregated from the rest of the 
 community, yet at the same time be allowed to have 
 a sort of legal existence under the law. This point 
 has been well covered by Professor Charles R. Hen- 
 derson in a publication issued by the Russell Sage 
 Foundation, when he states that "so long as public 
 opinion remains what it is the business of prostitu- 
 tion can never be made in any sense legal; it cannot 
 be openly recognized as legitimate; it cannot be 
 licensed; it cannot in any way secure legal standing 
 before the courts; the wages of the harlot cannot be 
 collected by suit at law; the landlord who rents a 
 house for such purposes is liable to prosecution. Any 
 attempt to introduce such laws as those which are in 
 force in some countries of continental Europe would 
 ruin the social and political career of any legisla- 
 ture." While it is true that there have been a few 
 instances of attempts at the license system, yet the 
 
90 The Making of a Town 
 
 attitude in America is distinctly against any such 
 method. Nor is toleration to be accepted as an atti- 
 tude that could in any measure receive the endorse- 
 ment of a self-respecting community. There remains 
 in consequence only one method of dealing with the 
 problem, and that is through increased police vigi- 
 lance to enforce the law wherever prostitution raises 
 its head. 
 
 There are, however, certain preventive measures 
 which can be developed in a community against the 
 social evil through education, greater recreation, bet- 
 ter economic conditions, and in provision for institu- 
 tional care of those who are the victims of the sys- 
 tem. The first may be brought about by the serious 
 attention of school authorities to moral standards, 
 the development of domestic science as a home- 
 making factor, and the better grading of children in 
 the schools. The second may be secured by play- 
 grounds, provision for athletics, public baths, and 
 comfort stations, the development of social centers, 
 the supervision of theaters, and the establishment of 
 municipal dancing halls under proper regulation. 
 When it comes to the third point, employers can do 
 something in making the conditions of employment 
 
The Third Fundamental Morals 91 
 
 better, particularly in the instance of young girls, 
 and by promoting higher ideals relative to efficiency, 
 health, and morals, and refusing to employ very 
 young girls and boys for services in their concerns. 
 On the other hand, in towns where many young 
 women resort for employment there can be main- 
 tained through the utilization of the Young Women's 
 Christian Association considerable oversight over the 
 welfare of working girls and young women. No 
 community, however, is likely to make progress in 
 these matters unless it is eternally vigilant. It must 
 back its police force, insist upon efficiency of instruc- 
 tion in the schools, and, on the other hand, maintain 
 opportunities for amusement and recreation open to 
 young people after the hours of labor. 
 
 In the consideration of forms of amusement main- 
 tained for profit, the town councils should establish 
 ordinances that will insist upon the proper conduct 
 of them. The theaters and poolrooms should be 
 closed on Sunday and at an early hour on week days, 
 but in doing this the community should remember 
 that it is necessary to put in their place some substi- 
 tute; in fact, that the time should be regarded as an 
 opportunity to bring to the attention of a large group 
 
92 The Making of a Town 
 
 of young men and women some of the higher ideals 
 of living. Whatever may be said relative to the 
 tendency on the part of Americans to give over the 
 church-going habits of their forefathers, it neverthe- 
 less remains true that Sunday is a day that should 
 be devoted to personal uplift of both a physical and 
 religious kind. We are told sometimes that the con- 
 tinental Sunday is creeping in upon us ; but the conti- 
 nental Sunday has been marked by two things which 
 do not appear in the American attitude toward the 
 first day of the week. In Europe, Sunday morning 
 is devoted to church services and is sacred to them, 
 while the afternoon is given over to the family unit. 
 It is then that the family rules, and as a unit it goes 
 into the open to enjoy the summer afternoon or in 
 the winter finds its way to the theater. In America 
 there seems to be a tendency to neglect the church 
 and to overlook the family as a unit. Consequently 
 the utilization of Sunday as a day in which to present 
 ideals that will uplift is an opportunity that should 
 be seized eagerly in every community. The utiliza- 
 tion of Sunday afternoon for the presentation of 
 music of a high character can undoubtedly be brought 
 about in nearly every community. It has been argued 
 
The Third Fundamental Morals 93 
 
 that such a movement breaks down the opposition to 
 the opening of poolrooms and theaters on that day, 
 but in reality there is no basis for such a view. Music 
 is a wonderful factor in the life of the community, a 
 fact that we are just beginning to realize in America. 
 Sunday evening finds a large number of people with- 
 out church connections seeking some utilization of 
 their time. In several cities the idea of a People's 
 Sunday Evening has been tried, with the result that 
 it has demonstrated its place and work. Says one, 
 reporting upon these results: "Three things have 
 taken place: first, we have learned much regarding 
 the people we desired to help ; second, the masses are 
 ready to listen to the truth if presented in a manner 
 free from bias and bigotry; third, the meetings have 
 been the greatest force ever undertaken here to teach 
 non-churchgoers that the church really cares for 
 them in a practical as well as a spiritual way." As a 
 consequence, the community has begun to think of 
 religion in a new light and its effects have reached into 
 the everyday life of the people. In some places lectures 
 of a more secular character might be provided; lec- 
 tures that would deal with the things that are being 
 done in other communities some of the problems 
 
94 The Making of a Town 
 
 arising from evolution, the work of great men for 
 the uplift of humanity, and other subjects that may 
 suggest themselves. 
 
 This larger sense of social solidarity that has come 
 into vogue with the opening of the new century has 
 brought with it what is called the school social cen- 
 ter. Two things have emphasized the enlargement 
 of the social center idea one that we have a great 
 capitalization lying idle in the schoolhouses of the 
 country, and the other that we have lost much 
 through our failure to get together as compared with 
 the social activities of the old pioneer days. So, out 
 of these two ideas, with the further feeling that 
 democracy must mean solidarity, the social center has 
 evolved. The principle of the movement has been 
 understood in Europe for a long time, especially in 
 Denmark. The idea is to utilize the schoolhouse in 
 the Evenings for social and intellectual purposes, to 
 establish there lectures that will be of interest to the 
 citizens of the community, and to have other means 
 of entertainment and amusement, to create a forum 
 where people can gather in the evening to discuss 
 any problem that may be of interest to them. The 
 whole purpose is distinctly educational. The utiliza- 
 
The Third Fundamental Morals 95 
 
 tion of the schoolhouse as the center of this activity, 
 however, is not an easy matter. To make it a suc- 
 cess there must be some individual with a clear vision 
 behind the movement, otherwise it will fail of its 
 purpose. In connection with it various clubs can be 
 established, one to watch the town government and 
 to discuss its needs, and another to read poetry or to 
 study science. By affiliating the town library to the 
 movement the right sort of material can be secured 
 in fiction as well as science for the use of club 
 members. Occasional plays under the auspices of the 
 social center can be presented, plays of good charac- 
 ter and that are amusing. It is not necessary that 
 artists be imported from abroad, for without doubt 
 there can be found among the people of the com- 
 munity latent talent that had not been suspected 
 before. 
 
 A few years ago it was hardly thought that the 
 universities would come to the rescue of the com- 
 munity seeking an outlet for its social and intellectual 
 energy. The development of the university exten- 
 sion idea, however, has proven to be an exception- 
 ally useful ally to the town working to maintain a 
 higher standard of living. In nearly all the states 
 
96 The Making of a Town 
 
 universities, founded by public action and supported 
 by public funds, are departments engaged in bring- 
 ing to the people of the different communities an 
 opportunity to utilize the mass of knowledge and 
 even the equipment of the university, so that the 
 efforts made here and there to uplift social standards 
 have now a means and a facility through which they 
 can accomplish great results. It may be that by 
 more careful thinking out of the problem the social 
 center will become firmly established in the school 
 system and the universities of the states will be able 
 to furnish all that is demanded in the way of assist- 
 ance. 
 
 There is, however, another problem closely 
 affiliated with the existence of the saloon which is 
 quite as much of a social problem as that which finds 
 its center in the schoolhouse. For many years the 
 saloon has provided meeting places for men, and it 
 still continues to play a considerable part in the 
 social life of many towns, villages, and cities. " It is 
 apparent, for one thing," says the Committee of 
 Fifty, " that there are not many centers of recreation 
 and amusement open at all hours to the working 
 people, none that minister to their comfort in such 
 
The Third Fundamental Morals 97 
 
 a variety of ways. The longer one searches for just 
 the right kind of a substitute for the saloon, afford- 
 ing its conveniences without its evils, the more one 
 despairs of finding it. And yet such places are a 
 positive necessity for the social instinct that demands 
 and finds its satisfaction with the saloon as a reality. 
 Work is not and was not meant to be the whole of 
 life. The leisure problem equals in importance the 
 labor problem and surpasses it in difficulty." 
 
 The saloon, nevertheless, varies from one which 
 acts as a social club to the positively immoral type 
 which becomes a sort of conduit through which pass 
 off the lowest forms of social sewage. Still it consti- 
 tutes one of the strongest ties which unite men, and 
 becomes, because of its location, both the official 
 and unofficial meeting place for the discussion of 
 their interests. In vain would the workingman seek 
 elsewhere for the fellowship and recreation which he 
 finds in the so-called "poor man's club." While 
 supplying this want, it does a vast amount of 
 mischief. 
 
 Attempts to control the saloon through legislation 
 are to be found in many statute books, varying from 
 a low license system to the Gothenberg plan existent 
 
The Making of a Town 
 
 in Norway. All low license systems fail, because 
 they place no limitation upon the attractiveness of 
 the saloon, nor for that matter does the high license 
 plan restrict to any degree these features, though it 
 usually acts to raise the tone of the traffic and to 
 eliminate the lower and more immoral saloons. The 
 trouble, however, with any license system is that it 
 permits the sale of liquor for private profit. To 
 avoid this difficulty the state has been brought into 
 the field as a liquor dealer, as seen in the South 
 Carolina dispensary system. Prohibition, on the 
 other hand, has much to commend it, though asso- 
 ciated with secret traffic and backroom drinking. It 
 is only when the private profits of the saloon busi- 
 ness are removed that the saloon will disappear as a 
 social center. The whole trouble with the various 
 enterprises that have been created from time to time 
 to take its place has been that they have never seri- 
 ously attracted the attention of the people, and the 
 usual reason for their failure is that they have taken 
 too little account of man's social nature. Every town, 
 village, and city where prohibition does not prevail 
 is compelled to face the saloon question, and in the 
 
The Third Fundamental Morals 99 
 
 prohibition territory they are often compelled to deal 
 with the "blind pig" problem. 
 
 To attempt, then, to establish some sort of social 
 center that will compete with the saloon requires a 
 knowledge of local conditions and an adherence to a 
 plan which takes into consideration the social nature 
 of man. No cut-and-dried system can produce this 
 result. It is only through a long period of time, in 
 cooperation with the social center developed round- 
 about the school, the enforcement of law, and a 
 wider introduction of a greater spirit of philanthropy 
 among the churches that the need for clubs for 
 workingmen can be fully met. 
 
 The recreation problem, too, crops out every- 
 where. Man is a social animal. So we find young 
 people seeking places to dance, where they may have 
 exercise and diversion, and the community fails to 
 meet this need. Private enterprise comes in and 
 establishes dance halls, shooting galleries, billiard 
 parlors, and the like, all of them depending upon 
 man's social nature for their support. One city has 
 recognized this necessity and established what has 
 been called the municipal dance. A big, serious 
 
ioo The Making of a Town 
 
 problem was met in a bold and daring way, and the 
 result has been a revelation to all serious-minded 
 people. The municipal dance has emphasized democ- 
 racy; it has emphasized respectability; it has opened 
 the way to a good time without any evil communica- 
 tions. The result has justified the effort and should 
 be copied by every community. 
 
 All of these things point to the time when the 
 town will come to recognize the fact that good 
 morals are within its control and under its direction 
 through the medium of the proper utilization of 
 time. Suppress evils with a strong hand and build 
 up the right sort of amusements, even though under 
 the direction of municipal enterprises, and the com- 
 munity will invariably have a new moral tone that 
 will bring results little understood or apprehended 
 at the beginning of such a movement. The town that 
 reaches such a point of view will begin to appreciate 
 the fact that it does not move forward, because of 
 competition with some other community, but because 
 it is constantly endeavoring to outdo its own per- 
 formances and to better its own standards. 
 
THE FOURTH FUNDAMENTAL 
 BUSINESS 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE FOURTH FUNDAMENTAL BUSINESS 
 
 WHILE it is true that towns are created for 
 business, nevertheless business is limited by 
 the community it serves. There are some exceptions 
 to this statement. Roundabout the outskirts of large 
 cities are towns that can be designated as merely 
 abiding places, " sleeping communities," as one wag 
 has put it; and there are other instances where large 
 manufacturing concerns do not depend upon the local 
 market, but find the sale of their goods extended over 
 the whole country. However, the majority of busi- 
 ness enterprises discover the limits of their size and 
 importance in the extent and character of the com- 
 munity in which they have established themselves. 
 In a stationary city, one that is not moving forward 
 in population and business enterprise, a business can 
 be extended only within narrow bounds, but in an 
 advancing town the limits of progress are set by 
 those of the district. Nor is it too much to say that 
 
 103 
 
 
iO4 The Making of a Town 
 
 the efficiency of a concern is limited by the condi- 
 tions under which it exists. The men who are en- 
 gaged in it, and who manage it, are affected by the 
 atmosphere, social life, and activity of the com- 
 munity; and the attitude of employes rests in like 
 measure upon the economic, sanitary, and moral con- 
 ditions prevailing there. Consequently, every busi- 
 ness man has a close and vital interest in the develop- 
 ment of his community, and for him progress in his 
 business is directly associated with advancement in 
 the welfare of the community. 
 
 Not long ago a little city of fifteen thousand 
 inhabitants showed how an area within a radius of 
 thirty-three miles could have a larger population, 
 better resources, and facilities for doing business 
 than were to be found in any similar area within four 
 hundred miles of it. This is an illustration of the 
 fact that the line of development for a town lies in 
 the growth of the district in which it is situated. 
 Examples of the truth of this statement are by no 
 means wanting, as they may be seen by any shrewd 
 observer in every part of the country. In the cast- 
 ing of jealous eyes upon larger communities the small 
 town has overlooked the fact that its progress is to 
 
The Fourth Fundamental Business 105 
 
 be found in the growth of a comparatively small 
 region. If it cannot manifest its own importance in 
 such a district, the town can hardly expect larger 
 things in a more extended territory. The moral is 
 not far to seek. The small town must begin its 
 industrial career by developing the territory round- 
 about. 
 
 Even in the older places to be found in the Atlantic 
 and Central States there is much to be gained by 
 careful development and exploitation of the imme- 
 diate territory. Every town is the center of an agri- 
 cultural district greater or less in extent. It is true 
 that the success of manufacturing communities and 
 the prosperity of the city will depend on the progress 
 of the surrounding agricultural territory and upon 
 the ability of the town to make it tributary to it. 
 It has been said, too, that the amount of business 
 that comes to a city will be almost in proportion to 
 the degree of agricultural development in the sur- 
 rounding district. Every sort of method has been 
 resorted to in order to secure such a result. Some- 
 times the problem has been one of attracting settlers 
 and advertisement has been the method resorted to 
 in order to get them to come to the territory; but in 
 
106 The Making of a Town 
 
 such instances there must always be a real basis for 
 agricultural growth or the advance made is only 
 temporary. Much aid can be secured by the wise 
 utilization of the publications of experiment stations, 
 and of the work of experts and successful farmers. 
 More particularly, the careful gathering of informa- 
 tion regarding the results of the cultivation of the 
 soil in the neighborhood of the town, when given 
 reading form in attractive English, will go a long 
 way toward the conversion of the skeptical. In- 
 creased facilities, like good roads, rural free deliv- 
 ery, the local library, and the establishment of fairs 
 and market days, and providing for good entertain- 
 ment and social opportunities, are effective influences 
 in bringing the town into closer touch with the 
 people residing in the district. 
 
 The placing of the emphasis upon home trade is 
 another method of producing closer contact between 
 the purchasing power of citizens and the products 
 of the community, although there is danger of carry- 
 ing this idea to the point of forcing individuals to 
 buy when it is against their own advantage to do so 
 from an economic point of view. In time a town 
 grows by depending upon its ability to justify its 
 
The Fourth Fundamental Business 107 
 
 existence as an economic factor in the district. Its 
 progress, too, will depend upon its ability to develop 
 an all-round industry, so that it will not only be in a 
 position to supply its own needs, but, in addition, be 
 in a position to secure and continue the employment 
 of its labor. Sometimes the home trade idea can be 
 fostered by giving slight preferences to the pur- 
 chasers in the local market. This is justifiable on 
 the ground of the saving in packing, transportation, 
 and other expenses which arise in the case of ship- 
 ment by train. 
 
 In almost every community the statement is made 
 that manufacturing plants are soon to be brought to 
 the community. This helpful belief is warranted 
 just so far as there is a basis for the statement and 
 the wisdom of the citizens to bring conviction in the 
 hearts of plant-owners seeking new fields. The old 
 day of bonuses has, in a measure, passed by. The 
 securing of factories today depends almost wholly 
 upon the advantages that are to be found in a com- 
 munity. Thus the possession of raw materials, the 
 presence of an adequate labor supply, and the exist- 
 ence of water power contribute materially toward 
 bringing to a community new manufactures. And if 
 
io8 The Making of a Town 
 
 to these are added adequate markets, with transpor- 
 tation facilities, there is no doubt about the develop- 
 ment of them. One of the difficult problems with 
 which a community is confronted is that of proper 
 power, and in these days of electricity it is coming to 
 be recognized that a central power plant, a sort of 
 power incubator, will attract in the long run a con- 
 siderable number of small factories, providing there 
 is a market for the output. In order to get factories 
 there must be clear evidence that the concerns can 
 survive, and perhaps nothing demonstrates this so 
 clearly as the actual presence of successful factories. 
 So one of the things that a community ought always 
 to do is to maintain well what is already within its 
 boundaries. New industries can be attracted by 
 being shown favorable conditions, and this rests 
 fundamentally upon a careful study of the local con- 
 ditions as to the points that have been enumerated 
 above. It would not be beyond reason for a com- 
 mercial club to call in an industrial engineer or busi- 
 ness expert to make an examination of the facilities 
 which they have at hand, so that a careful presenta- 
 tion of them upon a scientific basis can be made. The 
 day of stealing plants has gone by, and the day of 
 
The Fourth Fundamental Business 109 
 
 moving plants of no value can hardly be said to be 
 at hand. The purpose nowadays in securing fac- 
 tories is to get a plant that promises success, one that 
 has some free capital after buildings and machinery 
 have been provided. The emphasis ought to be 
 placed upon small plants rather than large ones, 
 since it means greater diversity of industry in the 
 long run and steadier employment of men. Certain 
 advantages are usually held out to new concerns in 
 the form of a low tax rate, adequate labor supply, 
 good shipping facilities, and, if necessary, proper 
 banking support. 
 
 There are various plans which have been sug- 
 gested from time to time to aid manufacturing plants 
 seeking a new home. One is by direct gift of money, 
 which is to be used for the purpose of enlarging the 
 capital. Another is by subscriptions to the stock, 
 which oftentimes places a heavy burden upon indi- 
 viduals. A third is the guaranty plan of a certain 
 percentage of capital or of so much per employe ; for 
 instance, the community may undertake to give five 
 per cent or ten per cent of the capital invested, or to 
 pay annually so much per each laborer employed in 
 the factory. Another plan which has attracted a 
 
IIO The Making of a Town 
 
 great deal of attention everywhere is the one known 
 as the Williamsport plan, which is, after all, an ar- 
 rangement for the guarantee of bank credit. It is 
 based upon what might be called subscription credit, 
 the subscribers agreeing to furnish any amount they 
 may be called upon for (up to the total of their 
 subscription) in the case of failure of borrowers to 
 make returns of loans. The contract is made for a 
 year and attorneys-in-fact appointed to administer 
 the subscription. Business concerns have been in- 
 duced to go to a town and are guaranteed a certain 
 amount of credit. On making application for a loan, 
 the attorneys-in-fact, after satisfying themselves 
 regarding the need of the applicant, endorse the 
 paper to the amount of the loan approved and indi- 
 cate what bank is to furnish the money. If the bor- 
 rower meets his obligation, the subscribers have no 
 knowledge of the transaction, but if he fails the sub- 
 scribers must pay to the bank whatever deficit exists ; 
 but no subscriber is liable for more than his propor- 
 tionate share of the total subscription. In the case 
 of Williamsport, three subscriptions have been made, 
 the first of $215,000, the second of $461,000, and 
 the third of $500,000, and the plan has been highly 
 
The Fourth Fundamental Business in 
 
 successful. It is a recognition, after all, of principles 
 that have long been applied in the rural regions of 
 Denmark and Germany in the matter of establishing 
 community credit. It is based upon the idea of sub- 
 stituting community credit for individual credit, and 
 is an instance of what can be done where harmony 
 and the cooperative spirit exist in a community. 
 
 In the early development of new countries the 
 tendency is to lay the emphasis upon one line of 
 industry. There are many examples of towns that 
 owe their origin to some one industry, such as that of 
 lumber, and come to be known as one-line towns. 
 So long as Nature holds out and furnishes the raw 
 materials, the noise of mill and hoist are heard 
 night and day, while strong men of the roaming 
 type move restlessly up and down the streets look- 
 ing for excitement. The end comes, the mills move 
 away; what then is to continue the town? This 
 is the test of the work that has been done, the 
 determination of the value of organization, and 
 the searching of the confidence and foresight of 
 the citizens in the future of the place. Looked at 
 superficially, the situation just described might ap- 
 pear hopeless, but many a place has grown greater 
 
112 The Making of a Town 
 
 than before, realizing that it must create factories, 
 utilize the labor supply at hand, and develop the 
 agricultural opportunities roundabout. Thus things 
 previously overlooked are found to have an eco- 
 nomic future that will last as long as the town, 
 but it is essential that the situation be recognized 
 before the one industry has ceased to be, for ten 
 years is a short time in the history of any community. 
 A town where manufacturing has taken place pos- 
 sesses at least fair transportation facilities, banks 
 accustomed to lend on products, and a basis for a 
 labor supply. The local situation naturally deter- 
 mines the successors of the primary forms of manu- 
 facture, but inventiveness, foresight, and courage will 
 bring success from such a situation. 
 
 The distributer performs quite as important a 
 function in the development of business as does the 
 manufacturer. Yet he finds increasing competition 
 everywhere, from wholesale merchants or manufac- 
 turers who are endeavoring to sell direct to the retail 
 trade, and the retail merchant, and in his conflict with 
 the mail-order houses. Occasionally the argument is 
 heard that the merchant in the community pays his 
 part of the taxes, supports the church and school, and 
 
The Fourth Fundamental Business 113 
 
 bears his share of the burden of keeping up the town, 
 and consequently is entitled to the support of his 
 fellow citizens. He feels that he is not being dealt 
 with justly when they make purchases outside of the 
 home town. This, however, is a parasitic argument. 
 The community is not interested in maintaining any 
 man who is not able to supply the goods and sell 
 them in competition with other merchants either at 
 home or abroad. The mail-order house succeeds 
 because it has the stock, and facilities, and the organi- 
 zation to do the business. The local merchant fails 
 in the competition because he is hampered by lack 
 of business knowledge, the failure to buy on the best 
 basis, and inability to see the trend of business. He 
 is usually an opponent of the parcels post, fearing 
 that the distant metropolitan store will be favored 
 as against his own. But a customer in most cases 
 wants a particular article as quickly as it can be 
 obtained, and he wants also to inspect his purchases 
 before accepting them. This he can do through the 
 local store to better advantage than elsewhere. 
 Moreover, in the matter of credit, the payment of 
 money, and the returning of unsatisfactory articles, 
 he is able to secure better satisfaction than he can 
 
H4 The Making of a Town 
 
 in dealing with a business house far away. The 
 parcels post in reality opens to the small merchant 
 an opportunity to secure all the advantages of a large 
 business at a lower rate of cost. The mail-order 
 house today does business by freight and by post, 
 and the establishment of the parcels post will not 
 materially enlarge the business that they are now 
 carrying on. There is no gainsaying that the mail- 
 order business possesses great possibilities in scope 
 and volume, and that it has taken some trade away 
 from the country merchant. It is doubtful, how- 
 ever, if it is really a serious menace to him. While 
 saying this, it must be recognized that he will never- 
 theless be compelled to inaugurate better methods, 
 to make more careful selection of stock, and to carry 
 on his buying more directly with the manufacturer, 
 saving so far as possible the wholesaler's profits. 
 That the country merchant can live under such com- 
 petition would seem to be demonstrated in the his- 
 tory of the one-line retail shop that has made its 
 appearance everywhere in the largest cities while 
 still in competition with the department store. In 
 the final analysis the advantage to the consumer 
 would appear to be in his dealings with the retail 
 
The Fourth Fundamental Business 115 
 
 store; but he will buy where he can buy cheapest, 
 and if the small merchant can meet this point there 
 is no question but that in the long run he will hold 
 the consumer in face of the competition of the mail- 
 order business. 
 
 Buying in small quantities has always brought 
 with it an added financial burden and increased cost 
 of handling. There would seem to be no reason 
 why the country merchants on the same line of rail- 
 road might not unite their forces. Through their 
 combined purchasing power they would secure all 
 the advantages of the lower prices, better railroad 
 rates, and added banking facilities. To illustrate: 
 if a half dozen merchants in a neighborhood could 
 agree to buy their supplies through one purchasing 
 agent, guaranteeing jointly their credit, they would 
 be able to get the low prices due to purchasing in 
 large quantities, secure carload rates, and get from 
 the banks the funds necessary to pay their bills, 
 securing two or three per cent discount for cash. 
 These savings would amount to a very considerable 
 profit. Besides the method just suggested, there 
 would appear to be no reason why the different 
 merchants in the community might not issue a joint 
 
n6 The Making of a Town 
 
 catalogue, in much the same form as those of mail- 
 order houses, showing what they have to sell. The 
 opportunity to select goods leisurely and to compre- 
 hend fully the proposed prices and conditions are 
 especially enjoyed by those purchasing by catalogue. 
 If the consumer not only could see the article in 
 the printed form, but in addition could examine it 
 in the store after he had learned about it, a great 
 many advantages would arise which ought to result 
 in increased sales. Clean stores, bright stocks, and 
 care as to the immediate wants of consumers cannot 
 but produce satisfactory results. In too many in- 
 stances merchants have gotten into the habit of buy- 
 ing goods along the line of least resistance. They 
 have established credit and they know the house. 
 Unless a merchant is alive as to what is going on, 
 he will find that no wholesale house can give him 
 the advantages of special concerns that are engaged 
 in the importation or manufacture of articles. This 
 is illustrated again and again, and if the merchant 
 does not watch the price lists of all kinds of man- 
 ufacturers in special fields in which he is dealing, he 
 is bound to compare unfavorably with his competitor. 
 The many items that go to make up the cost of 
 
The Fourth Fundamental Business 117 
 
 doing business do not rest alone upon the individual. 
 Insurance, for example, depends upon the character 
 of fire protection and the kind of buildings that have 
 been erected. If it is a wooden town, then insurance 
 rates are almost prohibitive, but by combination the 
 merchants of the community can secure better build- 
 ings, better fire protection and lower rates of insur- 
 ance. The price of getting on in business is, like the 
 price of liberty, eternal vigilance, and it is only by 
 watching all of the factors involved that the mer- 
 chant can be sure that he can hold his place and 
 secure his profit. 
 
 All of this goes to show that the continuance of 
 any particular type of business in a community de- 
 pends upon its economic efficiency. If it is not able 
 to meet the competition with which it is confronted, 
 the chances are that it will not be long-lived. Old 
 machinery is forced out of use, new types of organ- 
 ization come in, and the same will undoubtedly be 
 true with a business organization. 
 
THE ENTRANCE TO THE TOWN 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE ENTRANCE TO THE TOWN 
 
 IN the olden days the stranger who entered a 
 European city, whether on foot, horseback, or 
 in a carriage, passed through an impressive gateway, 
 often highly ornamented and in many instances 
 marked by great architectural beauty. The need of a 
 wall about a town has gone, and with it has vanished 
 the formal gate. Today references to the gateway 
 of the city are largely figurative forms of speech; 
 still, it may be said that the points where the traveler 
 first comes in contact with the town might be called 
 in modern parlance the entrance to the community. 
 The wonderful railway stations on the European con- 
 tinent, and even those in America that are the results 
 of years of waiting, vast expenditures of money, and 
 the utilization of great engineering skill, are re- 
 ferred to by the citizen as the gateway of his city. 
 Impressive entrances to a town cannot be built in a 
 day ; yet the small community can do many things in 
 
 121 
 
122 The Making of a Town 
 
 a modest way to give the stranger entering it an im- 
 pression that will be lasting. One of the first of 
 these things the town can do is to improve its street 
 lighting. We are immeasurably behind European 
 cities both in the quality of light and in the manner 
 of arranging our lighting systems. Some towns 
 have begun to appreciate this point and the so-called 
 "White Way" has made its appearance in many 
 places. The demand for better lighting has come 
 largely from business interests. In a number of 
 towns the expenses of installation and maintenance 
 have been borne by them. The customary arrange- 
 ment includes ornamental posts with supported clus- 
 ters of lights. These posts are arranged along the 
 streets at intervals of from one to two hundred feet. 
 Outside the central business district, ordinary gas 
 lamps or swinging arc lamps furnish the light for 
 the rest of the town. The arrangement is distinctly 
 American in that it solves but a small part of the 
 problem. A number of years ago great towers were 
 built and upon these powerful arc lights installed 
 for the purpose of furnishing light. Such an ar- 
 rangement made heavy shadows, thus defeating its 
 own purpose. The tower of twenty-five to fifty 
 
The Entrance 123 
 
 feet, when well located, furnishes attractive and 
 effective lighting. The gas lamp is less satisfac- 
 tory than the frequently placed electric lighted globe. 
 Like other matters, lighting for a town should be 
 carefully planned. Such plans should include pro- 
 vision for lighting the business section and in addi- 
 tion means for lighting residence districts. Of the 
 many features of town development, the one that 
 impresses all visitors alike is the beauty and the 
 adequateness of the street lighting. 
 
 It has come to be a byword that the worst part of 
 the town is always seen from the railway, and un- 
 fortunately there is much truth in this statement, for 
 in most places the railway is where the dirt and filth 
 of the community are accumulated. Despite this 
 fact, there are some evidences that the railway may 
 be made almost a thing of beauty by the utilization 
 of green banks and shrubbery. The contour of the 
 town may be broken agreeably by planting rows of 
 trees and groups of shrubs along the right of way. 
 Little by little we are recognizing in America that 
 the railway station furnishes a really great oppor- 
 tunity to advance the point of view of the com- 
 munity. So we are copying the attractive appear- 
 
124 The Making of a Town 
 
 ance of the railway station in England, both in the 
 character of the buildings and in the lawns and plant- 
 ing about the place. The very fact that the railway 
 station is a center of traffic necessitates some ad- 
 equate setting. In front of it should be an open 
 space, which ought to be well arranged so as to give 
 some dignity to the main entrance of the town. 
 Moreover, the stranger who steps out of the station 
 ought not to be in danger from the traffic which is 
 passing by. There should be in fact a sufficiently 
 wide plaza before the entrance of the station to give 
 him adequate protection, whichever way he may 
 turn. It has been suggested by some landscape archi- 
 tects that a small park near a railway station is of 
 untold benefit, because it gives to travelers who are 
 compelled to wait over a train a chance to spend 
 their time in the open air and to secure relief from 
 the noise of the station. Provision of such a char- 
 acter would cause the traveler to hold in his mind 
 a grateful memory of the town where he was allowed 
 to wait amid the surroundings of nature. 
 
 In American towns the place and position of the 
 railway is practically determined before the town 
 reaches any great importance. If the station can be 
 
The Entrance 125 
 
 located at one side of the town, with a street lead- 
 ing up to the main portion, it is likely to prove a 
 more satisfactory arrangement than if it stood in 
 the center of the community with all the noise and 
 dirt that accompanies any railway traffic. The 
 station itself should be well designed, built of sub- 
 stantial material, and in keeping with the importance 
 of the community. Inside cleanliness should be in- 
 sisted upon, though this in too many instances seems 
 to be impossible to secure ; and one other thing rela- 
 tive to the order upon platforms might be empha- 
 sized, namely, giving instructions to town marshals 
 and the officers in charge of the railway station to 
 keep young people off of the platforms and out of 
 station buildings unless they have specific business 
 there. In some places there may be seen young girls 
 and irresponsible boys on the platforms watching 
 and ogling any stranger who happens to step off the 
 train. In the mind of the thinking person this leaves 
 a bad impression as to the attitude on the part of 
 such communities. 
 
 Next to the railway station in creating first im- 
 pressions upon the traveler is the hotel. Much 
 might be said about the hotel of the small town 
 
126 The Making of a Town 
 
 relative to the failure of its management to realize 
 their opportunity and the general discomfort that is 
 characteristic of the average hostelry. The hotel is 
 the city's guest chamber. In the larger places it may 
 rest upon a business basis, since the demands of 
 the traveling public must be fully met under the 
 competition that exists there. But in the smaller 
 places the hotel falls into the hands of almost any- 
 body and there is a complete failure to recognize 
 the important functions which it performs. All 
 traveling men know that a good hotel is to be 
 found in but few towns. Naturally many a com- 
 munity is passed by in order that the traveler may 
 find a comfortable place in which to spend his Sun- 
 day. It is not the cheapness but the comfort that 
 appeals. The importance of possessing a good hotel 
 has never been given the consideration that it should 
 have received, although there appears to be sufficient 
 reason why the commercial club in every community 
 should give this matter its attention. 
 
 The problem of securing a hotel with satisfactory 
 accommodation, however, is not a very difficult one. 
 It requires a man of some imagination, of ability, and 
 ideals, to manage it. 
 
The Entrance 127 
 
 There must be plenty of air in the rooms, fresh 
 paint, cleanliness, and comfort. Simplicity other 
 than ornateness should obtain, and if round about 
 the building there is a patch of lawn showing evi- 
 dence of care, the traveler at once comes to the con- 
 clusion that here is a place where rest and quiet can 
 be had. Fresh air is to be regarded as a more sat- 
 isfactory thing to have in the lobby of the hotel 
 than stale tobacco ; nor should the hotel-keeper allow 
 loafers to continually utilize the room in the lobby of 
 his building. 
 
 The true test of a hotel management is to be 
 found in the dining-room. If the average hotel 
 manager would cease to imitate the city hotel, dis- 
 pense with the numerous small dishes that are 
 served, and fall back upon simple meals, with good 
 bread and butter, there is no doubt but that a reputa- 
 tion could be established both for him and the town. 
 A service of good fruit, chicken pie or hot roast, 
 with large cups of good, hot coffee, furnish a basis 
 for meals that will remain a long time in the memory 
 of the patrons. Add to this the absence of flies and 
 the presence of clean linen, clean dishes, and an at- 
 titude of courtesy on the part of the hotel people, 
 
ia8 The Making of a Town 
 
 and nothing can prevent the man who runs such a 
 hotel from coming into his reward. It has been 
 suggested, too, that many of our traveling public 
 have reached a somewhat dyspeptic condition. In- 
 structions to waitresses to recognize this fact and 
 to give the crank something to eat that may not be 
 on the bill of fare would help materially in creating 
 popularity. The hotel man can be helpful to the 
 people of the community by giving dinners for 
 special occasions and by relieving the ladies in the 
 matter of their luncheons and entertainments. By 
 so doing he can occupy a large place in the com- 
 munity and may regard himself as a man who is 
 giving both help and pleasure to humanity. 
 
 " The play's the thing" said one of Shakespeare's 
 characters several hundred years ago, and in this 
 statement we have in the theater another entrance 
 to the community. Practically every community has 
 some sort of a hall where shows are put on the 
 boards; oftentimes these are exceedingly shabby and 
 only the cheapest kind of plays appear. In most 
 instances individuals control this great public ed- 
 ucator, and are allowed to do so without any re- 
 
The Entrance 129 
 
 monstrance on the part of the municipality. The 
 little city of Red Wing, Minnesota, a number of 
 years ago was left a memorial theater by one of its 
 citizens. The control of it was placed in the hands 
 of a board of trustees and they were given power to 
 carry on the business of the theater, to engage plays 
 and concerts and entertainments. From time to 
 time a vote of the community was taken as to what 
 they should have, and the result has been a marked 
 uplift in the character of entertainment offered in 
 that community. A theater ought to be an attractive 
 building, not overly ornate, but clean, and, if possible 
 by any means whatsoever, advertisements should be 
 left off of the drop curtain. In time we shall recog- 
 nize that the municipality ought to own the theater, 
 That it even should have, where it can afford it, a 
 municipal orchestra, that the entertainment of the 
 community should be under just as direct super- 
 vision as education. Such a program is undoubtedly 
 a long way off, but in the meantime every community 
 can take into consideration the problem of the the- 
 ater and attempt to eliminate some of the tawdryness 
 and meanness of existing theatrical presentations. 
 
130 The Making of a Town 
 
 The city of Northampton, Massachusetts, has ini- 
 tiated what is a new experiment in American life, a 
 theater owned by the municipality and operated under 
 its control. 
 
 There is nothing new in a municipal theater. Such 
 theaters date back to the early days of the Christian 
 era, and probably grew out of the still earlier custom 
 of pagan Rome of furnishing entertainment for the 
 people. Such theaters are familiar to the people on 
 the Continent of Europe. A well-informed writer in 
 the Boston Transcript says that "the European takes 
 his municipal theater as a matter of course, just as he 
 takes his municipal schools, his municipal art mu- 
 seum, his municipal playground." There is really 
 no reason why the people should not provide for 
 themselves a cheap and pure entertainment as well as 
 a cheap and good education; no reason why they 
 should not own and operate for their own benefit a 
 theater as well as a museum. This, however, never 
 has been done in America, nor, so far as we know, 
 in England. One contrast between the results of the 
 English and the German system is noted by this 
 writer in the Transcript: "In Germany there are 
 practically no traveling companies. Each city, even 
 the smallest, has its independent local playhouses, 
 whose actors and stage directors mount new pieces 
 as soon as some experimenter has proven them suc- 
 cessful or interesting elsewhere, and use them as part 
 of a large and shifting repertory. In England it is 
 the opposite. There you find only one center for 
 
The Entrance 131 
 
 theatrical production London and a play once 
 successful runs for many months. In America we 
 have many cities all bound together by a great tour- 
 ing system over which a play travels from town to 
 town. The resident stock company of merit is almost 
 unknown, especially in the smaller cities. Repertory 
 and change of bill is rarer than in England." 
 
 Another result of this contract is that the smaller 
 towns and cities in America rarely get good plays, 
 and still more rarely good companies. Apprentices 
 learn their trade on the road. One-night perform- 
 ances are the rule. Plays which are to legitimate 
 drama what pictures chalked on the sidewalk are to 
 legitimate art, are customary. The managers depend 
 on striking, sensational, and bizarre effects. The 
 actors and actresses, having no reputation to win and 
 none to maintain, have very little spur to their artistic 
 ambition. 
 
 It may be noted incidentally, that the municipal 
 theater is not without its economic value to the city. 
 Hitherto the road shows which played in Northamp- 
 ton took out of the city a large percentage of the 
 receipts. With this new idea in operation, all the 
 money spent for the theater by the citizens remains 
 in the community. The members of the company 
 find their homes in the city, and all materials for 
 scenery and work upon the stage are supplied by the 
 residents of the city. Therefore large amounts of 
 money which hitherto were taken out of Northamp- 
 ton by road shows, are now returning through the 
 
132 The Making of a Town 
 
 channels of mercantile business into the pockets from 
 which they came. This fact is worth being borne in 
 mind by the citizens of other municipalities in con- 
 sidering the practicability of establishing a municipal 
 theater for their own community.* 
 
 Without thinking anything about it, most com- 
 munities have lost a real opportunity to impress upon 
 themselves as well as upon visitors the fact that there 
 is a center to the town. Under our triple form of 
 government found in nation, country, and city, the 
 usual custom has been to locate public buildings in 
 different places. The varying degree of influence 
 that has been brought to bear in the three instances 
 seems to make it impossible to concentrate the own- 
 ership of government property, and as a consequence 
 there is no centralization of public buildings in most 
 towns. The bringing together of the more impor- 
 tant buildings round about a square has been desig- 
 nated as the creation of the civic center. When such 
 a thing is planned in advance by one man and where 
 sufficient scope has been given to him the result is 
 imposing and effective. Without question the effect 
 of our public buildings is lost in most communities. 
 
 * Outlook, Dec. 21, 1912. 
 
The Entrance 133 
 
 Even the placing of them along the same street or 
 on the river bank results in a picturesque setting 
 that is impressive, for such grouping of buildings 
 helps the appearance of all. The main center in such 
 a plan should be occupied by the government build- 
 ings, and another center, such as an educational one, 
 would occupy another place in proximity to the first. 
 In too many instances it is almost too late to develop 
 anything in the way of a civic center on account of 
 the high price of property and the fact that build- 
 ings already have been placed. But where it is im- 
 possible because of relocations, or in the case of the 
 building of a new community, the central point should 
 be selected where people are likely to congregate, 
 where, in fact, there is a centering of the main traffic 
 lines of the town, and at such point the more im- 
 portant buildings of the community can be erected. 
 A consideration of the points raised in this chapter 
 as to the beautifying of the railway station, the 
 proper conduct of the hotel, the direction and de- 
 velopment of the theater, in order to make it educa- 
 tional in character, together with the grouping of 
 public buildings about a square, would prove of 
 great benefit to the community, because the town 
 
134 The Making of a Town 
 
 would be set out in marked contrast to its neigh- 
 bors. Such results require thinking in advance, but 
 there is hope, for we are beginning to realize that 
 building towns is not a mere matter of letting them 
 "just grow" like Topsy, but a matter of planning 
 long in advance of performance. 
 
GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION 
 
 WHILE a great municipal awakening has been 
 going on in America, with the object of 
 quickening an appreciation of municipal obligation, 
 of making known existing conditions, of familiariz- 
 ing citizens with municipal government, of securing 
 efficiency and encouraging the social forces for bet- 
 terment, there has been at the same time a tendency 
 everywhere to minimize city functions. The law 
 has determined the powers which a municipality may 
 exercise and laid these down in express words, so 
 that the object of municipal government must be 
 clearly declared for any acts beyond the scope of 
 the powers conferred, and any doubt as to them 
 must be determined by the courts. Exactly the op- 
 posite attitude exists in Europe, where the freedom 
 of the city to carry on such functions as it thinks 
 necessary is undenied. Primarily a town is an agency 
 for carrying on local government. As such it is the 
 
 137 
 
138 The Making of a Town 
 
 agent of the people. Secondarily, it acts as the agent 
 of the state. These two functions include all that 
 a city may do or may be called upon to do. 
 
 In its organization a city exists for the sole pur- 
 pose of promoting the general welfare, and in order 
 to accomplish such results it must necessarily en- 
 gage in various enterprises to care efficiently for the 
 welfare of the population. Because it is responsive 
 to the public will, it should be kept clearly in mind 
 that a city cannot respond to the business motive of 
 making profits, and the science of governing a city 
 becomes really a method of doing. As an agent 
 engaged in satisfying local needs, the municipality, 
 large or small, must maintain some public utilities, 
 such as means of communication, transportation, the 
 providing of light and water, the maintenance of 
 markets, the disposal of wastes, the protection of 
 life, health and property, the direction of charities 
 and corrections, the conduct of education, the pro- 
 viding of recreation in playgrounds and parks, and 
 even the construction and management of municipal 
 housing for a part of the population; all of these 
 fall within the scope of what a municipal body may 
 be expected to do. In addition to these direct serv- 
 
Government and Administration 139 
 
 ices, the municipality must raise money for the 
 maintenance of government. This may be from the 
 direction of property which it owns, from the pro- 
 ceeds of loans, or as a consequence of gifts and 
 legacies. Police regulations, too, unfortunately, may 
 furnish through the medium of fees, licenses and 
 franchises a considerable income, while the public 
 works may actually earn a surplus over and above 
 the cost of operation. The main source of the city's 
 income, however, is from general and special taxa- 
 tion due to local improvements. The functions 
 enumerated thus far may be carried to almost any 
 end, especially in the protection of health and the 
 guarding of life and property. So the city must 
 share with the state the problem of the administra- 
 tion of justice, the prosecution of criminals, the care 
 of defectives, and sometimes it even may subsidize 
 industry to furnish opportunities for self help. 
 
 As in federal and state government the legisla- 
 tures have followed the trend of organization that 
 has been laid down in constitution and law and ap- 
 plied this to the government of towns and cities. 
 While municipal government is the most difficult of 
 all government, because the problems with which it 
 
140 The Making of a Town 
 
 has to deal are nearest the people, yet the type of 
 legislative organization, of state executive, and even 
 the method of taxation, have been carried over into 
 municipal organization. It was natural that the 
 older forms of charters should provide for two 
 houses in the legislative division of government and 
 divide the authority of the executive between the 
 council, a group of boards, and the chief officer of 
 the municipality. It was natural, too, that adminis- 
 trative supervision under such conditions should be 
 delegated to committees without any special coop- 
 erative relation between them, and the ward system, 
 a copy of representation by states, be engrafted upon 
 the government of towns, creating thereby a demand 
 for local advantages and making it difficult to place 
 responsibility upon the members of the council. 
 
 Whatever may be the form of government that 
 exists in a town, there are certain phases which 
 should be the same for all types of charters. With- 
 out question a town should have powers sufficient to 
 meet all the local needs within its territory; it should 
 insist upon a merit system of employees; it should 
 have a simple organization with a few elective of- 
 fices, so that the question of responsibility for the 
 
Government and Administration 141 
 
 actions of the government might easily be deter- 
 mined. Moreover, the policy of the city should be 
 adapted to the needs of the people, and the admin- 
 istrative service should be competent and continuous. 
 A great deal of stress has been laid upon the form of 
 government rather than upon its spirit. The spirit 
 is a thing which constantly changes; the form con- 
 tinues. Hence it is essential in the working out of 
 the charter that the form should encourage and de- 
 velop the spirit of good government. In this direc- 
 tion is to be seen the tendency to enlarge the func- 
 tions of the voter in the business of government 
 through the agencies of the initiative, referendum 
 and recall, and at the same time to reduce the num- 
 ber of representatives so as to bring the people into 
 closer contact with the governing groups. In most 
 charters very little provision is made for unifying 
 the relations between departments. Even the meet- 
 ing of heads together to discuss municipal affairs is 
 looked upon as a tendency to create a machine that 
 may be used to perpetuate the tenure of office. 
 
 Putting it briefly, there are four kinds of city 
 charters, the mayor type, the council type, the 
 commission form, and the corporation form. In the 
 
142 The Making of a Town 
 
 mayor type the effort is made to throw upon the 
 mayor the larger part of the responsibility, redu- 
 cing the council to a legislative group and insisting 
 that the mayor shall carry the burden of adminis- 
 tration. The council type provides that the council 
 shall have unusual authority in the selection of of- 
 ficers and in the control over them, leaving to the 
 mayor the conduct of general executive matters and 
 the administration of the department of police. In 
 both instances various provisions may exist for the 
 election of members of the council. They may be 
 chosen at large, from wards, or from districts; and 
 in the case of the mayor type of council, a double 
 council, consisting of a considerable number of mem- 
 bers, may be a part of the machine. The term of the 
 mayor varies from one to five years, with a two year 
 term as the customary one. In the working of these 
 forms much criticism has been made upon the point 
 that it is difficult to fix responsibility for the action 
 of the government, and so great has this criticism 
 become that a marked tendency has set in toward the 
 so-called commission plan of government. 
 
 As early as 1870 a commission form of govern- 
 ment was tried in several cities of the South and 
 
Government and Administration 143 
 
 proposed in New Orleans. The experience of Gal- 
 veston brought about a revival of the commission 
 plan, and the success of a government conducted 
 with a purpose was so great as to give to the experi- 
 ment an unusual amount of publicity. Adding to 
 the commission idea the provisions for the initia- 
 tive, referendum and recall, the people of Des 
 Moines inaugurated a new type of commission with 
 provisions for non-partisan primaries. The com- 
 mission plan of government ordinarily provides for 
 five commissioners. One, acting as mayor, is the 
 head of the department of public welfare; another 
 is elected as head of the department of ways and 
 means, under which are found the work of account- 
 ing and finance; a third has charge of the public 
 utilities; a fourth looks after the public property in 
 the form of parks, buildings, and fire protection; 
 and the fifth may have charge of the public ways, 
 such as walks, streets, and alleys. In each of these 
 departments the heads appoint their subordinates, 
 and the commission acts both as a council and as 
 executive officers. 
 
 The advantage gained through this form of gov- 
 ernment is in the ability of the people to place re- 
 
144 The Making of a Town 
 
 sponsibility, and in case of the failure of an officer 
 to carry on his department in accordance with the 
 provisions of the law, to recall him and elect another 
 in his place. It may be said that though there are a 
 number of instances where this plan has worked suc- 
 cessfully, yet the interest in it, due to unusual con- 
 ditions in most of the towns that have adopted it, 
 has given a spirit to the conduct of government that 
 would for a time have carried any form to success. 
 The real test will take place a few years hence, when 
 the "interests" that are involved will possibly have 
 learned how to control or how to secure their ends 
 through the medium of a new form of government. 
 One difficulty exists, however, in the commission 
 type of government, which is true of all forms of 
 government in the United States. This difficulty 
 has its rise in the egotism of the democracy, an ego- 
 tism that takes it for granted that a man from a 
 store or from any other business will make a good 
 governing officer. We have yet to learn that munic- 
 ipal government must be conducted by experts. This 
 secret England has learned and Germany has long 
 possessed, with the result that the success of the 
 town governments in those countries is largely due 
 
Government and Administration 145 
 
 to the utilization of the abilities of men long trained 
 in governing cities. It is with something of this 
 view in mind that a number of the smaller communi- 
 ties have appointed a city manager. Their idea is 
 that while the commission plan places authority in 
 the hands of a small group of men and thus cen- 
 tralizes it, yet it is practically impossible to hold the 
 group responsible for its acts when it is not col- 
 lectively responsible. So these towns have deter- 
 mined to give over the legislative and executive func- 
 tions into the hands of a smaller number of men, 
 and looking upon them practically as directors of the 
 corporation, authorize them to select some one who 
 is qualified to run the city's business. The attitude 
 in the adoption of a plan of this kind, as seen in the 
 specific instances of Lockport, Pennsylvania, and 
 Staunton, Virginia, is that the business of a town 
 should be conducted like that of a corporation, the 
 council acting as a board of directors to take the 
 place of the council committees. The general man- 
 ager is employed to do the work of the departments 
 and of the committees. All purchases are made by 
 the manager after estimates of the needs of the town 
 have been presented. He employs all the servants 
 
146 The Making of a Town 
 
 of the town, and he is held responsible for the work 
 that he does by the council group. This plan is now 
 being followed in some of the newer towns of Can- 
 ada, and it is said to simplify the conduct of 
 municipal government very materially and to 
 increase its efficiency. 
 
 It has become more and more apparent to the 
 people dwelling in municipalities, be they large or 
 small, that the street railway, gas, electric light, and 
 water services can be performed so as to further 
 the ends of social welfare. Thus the lowering of 
 the price of gas in the city of Glasgow eliminated the 
 ineffective cooking stoves and gave to many people 
 in humble circumstances an opportunity to provide 
 warm meals, which had not been possible before. 
 The extension of light and water service beyond the 
 ordinary limits encourages the development of living 
 away from the crowded centers, and as a conse- 
 quence has much effect upon the growth of popula- 
 tion. Moreover, there is a feeling that by the utili- 
 zation of the municipality as a means of conducting 
 these services corporate influences can be eliminated 
 from political life and so better government be 
 
Government and Administration 147 
 
 brought about. Thus, it is declared that municipal 
 ownership means a more efficient and extended serv- 
 ice, cheaper rates for consumers, the utilization of 
 the profits for municipal enterprises, the improve- 
 ment of the conditions of labor and industry, the 
 working of the public service for the entire com- 
 munity, and the control of the municipal monopoly, 
 not by persons uninterested in the town's develop- 
 ment, but by the citizens themselves. It is the con- 
 clusion of the Public Ownership Commission of the 
 National Civic Federation that (i) "public utili- 
 ties can best be conducted under a system of legalized 
 and regulated monopolies. (2) Again, public util- 
 ities, in which the central motive is the charge, should 
 be operated by the public. (3) The success of mu- 
 nicipal operation of public utilities must depend upon 
 the existence in the city of a high capacity for munic- 
 ipal government. (4) Franchise grants to private 
 persons should be terminable after a fixed period and 
 subject to purchase at a fair value. (5) Municipal- 
 ities, too, should have the power to enter the field 
 of municipal ownership upon popular vote under 
 reasonable regulation. (6) Private companies 
 
148 The Making of a Town 
 
 operating public utilities should be subject to public 
 regulation and examination under a system of uni- 
 form records and accounts and of full publicity." 
 
 In the statements given above we have a summary 
 of the possible attitudes of a town toward public 
 utilities. Water and sewerage without doubt should 
 be provided for by the public, and whatever fran- 
 chises are granted by the town should be terminable 
 and subject to purchase at a fair value. In all in- 
 stances such companies should be subject to public 
 regulation and examination, with full publicity of 
 accounts, opportunity being provided for the munic- 
 ipality to enter the field upon popular vote under 
 reasonable conditions. This would seem to sum- 
 marize the main features of municipal ownership. 
 Sometimes a town is confronted with the difficulty 
 of securing the necessary capital to carry on a public 
 utility, and the agreement which it makes with the 
 private company may be more liberal than it other- 
 wise would be on account of the conditions. But in 
 these cases the general view of the situation is such 
 that provisions for ownership in the future, publicity 
 of accounts, and regulation of service always can be 
 made a part of the contract 
 
Government and Administration 149 
 
 We are beginning to realize the important fact 
 that an honest people cannot do right if they are mis- 
 informed. In all instances where changes in the 
 form of town government are urged the emphasis is 
 placed upon greater publicity, more economy and 
 efficiency of administration. In bringing about so 
 desirable an end the leading factor is the mainte- 
 nance and adherence to a budget system of finance. 
 A budget includes a complete statement of expendi- 
 tures as well as the income and means of raising 
 revenue. It discloses why expenditures may be 
 greater than income. Without it a council cannot 
 have adequate information for good government 
 and the citizen cannot know what is being done. It 
 is rather remarkable that in many of the towns in 
 America merely a cash system of bookkeeping has 
 been in vogue; that is, cash accounts cash received 
 and cash paid out were all the means of determin- 
 ing the transactions of the town. It is essential 
 and fundamental that a city government and the 
 people of the town should understand clearly what 
 constitutes a complete system of municipal accounts. 
 Such a system must cover all financial transactions 
 and data, and these must be collected, classified, and 
 
150 The Making of a Town 
 
 coordinated around the problems of administration. 
 Thus we have special and departmental ledgers and 
 general ledgers, which will explain in detail receipts 
 and expenditures, and give a clear account of what 
 the income of the city is and what has actually been 
 expended. A budget system provides for the pre- 
 sentation of all the expenses for the coming year, 
 and in addition to that the classification of these 
 expenses according to the functions which the de- 
 partment expending the money is supposed to per- 
 form. A budget is made by means of a committee 
 composed of departmental heads, which, working 
 along the lines of a suggested sheet of expenditures, 
 is able to show what the money is to be used for. 
 The town council, which passes upon it later, is able 
 to criticise and modify it, and in the final analysis, 
 having adopted the items of expenditure, to provide 
 plans for raising the money. 
 
 The Bureau of the Census of the United States 
 has adopted for its annual reports on the expendi- 
 tures of municipalities a schedule of classifications 
 that is printed here for the purpose of suggesting to 
 the reader some divisions into which the expendi- 
 tures of a city may be placed. This helps to demon- 
 
Government and Administration 151 
 
 strate that the whole business of government can be 
 greatly facilitated and intelligent criticism of ex- 
 penditures made that will ultimately result in the 
 preventing of any extravagance. 
 
 OUTLINE FOR A TOWN BUDGET 
 
 I 
 
 GENERAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 1. Council and legislative offices 
 
 2. Finance offices and accounts 
 
 3. Law offices 
 
 4. Executive offices 
 
 5. Elections 
 
 6. Municipal buildings 
 
 7. Courts and court officers 
 
 II 
 PROTECTION OF LIFE AND PROPERTY 
 
 1. Police department 
 
 2. Militia and armories 
 
 3. Fire department 
 
 4. Miscellaneous inspection 
 
 5. Pounds 
 
 III 
 
 HEALTH CONSERVATION AND SANITATION 
 
 1. Health department 
 
 2. Quarantine and contagious disease hospital 
 
 3. Morgue 
 
 4. Sewage and sewage disposal 
 
 5. Street cleaning 
 
152 The Making of a Town 
 
 IV 
 HIGHWAYS 
 
 1. General supervision 
 
 2. General street expenditures 
 
 3. Street pavements 
 
 4. Grading and curbing 
 
 5. Bridges and railroad crossings 
 
 6. Street sprinkling 
 
 7. Street lighting 
 
 8. Miscellaneous 
 
 V 
 CHARITIES AND CORRECTIONS 
 
 1. Relief of the poor 
 
 2. Miscellaneous charities 
 
 3. Hospital 
 
 4. Prison and reformatory; jail 
 
 VI 
 
 EDUCATION 
 
 1. Schools 
 
 2. Library 
 
 3. Art gallery and museum 
 
 4. Lectures and institutes 
 
 VII 
 
 RECREATION 
 
 1. Parks and parkways 
 
 2. Public baths 
 
 3. Children's playgrounds 
 
 4. Celebrations and entertainments 
 
 5. Municipal theater 
 
 VIII 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS 
 
 1. Miscellaneous offices 
 
 2. Miscellaneous objects 
 
Government and Administration 153 
 
 IX 
 
 PUBLIC SERVICE ENTERPRISES 
 
 1. Waterworks 
 
 2. Electric light plant 
 
 3. Markets 
 
 4. Cemeteries 
 
 5. Institutional industries 
 
 6. Public halls 
 
 INTEREST AND PUBLIC DEBT 
 
 1. Interest on bonds 
 
 2. Interest on other obligations 
 
 3. Redemption of bonds 
 
 4. Sinking fund 
 
 For the creation of the budget the board of esti- 
 mates might well consist of the mayor, the heads of 
 departments, and a small committee from the council. 
 The council, having power to strike out items and re- 
 duce amounts, can work out a basis of expenditure 
 that can be accepted and adhered to by the depart- 
 ments. 
 
 The main basis of providing funds for municipal 
 expenditure is found in the levying of a general tax 
 upon the property of citizens residing within the con- 
 fines of the community. Our general tax in America 
 is a heritage that has come down to us through sev- 
 eral centuries. Originally fairly effective in the days 
 
154 The Making of a Town 
 
 when property was limited to things that could be 
 seen, it has now become a difficult matter, not only 
 of assessing, but of actually collecting the funds that 
 are levied upon the basis of both a personal and a 
 property tax. In some of the Canadian towns the 
 personal property tax has been abandoned and the 
 whole burden of the support of the government 
 placed upon the landed values of the community. 
 Thus practically a single tax has come into existence, 
 and in communities that are progressive, where pop- 
 ulation is growing and industry developing, this 
 method of raising revenue has been highly success- 
 ful. But in the United States, where the old methods 
 are still adhered to, a good deal can be done by 
 adopting businesslike and scientific methods of mak- 
 ing the assessment. Thus the assessor of the com- 
 munity ought to work out maps that would show 
 the location of every building, the character of the 
 structure, and various other items that could be 
 ascertained at a glance. One way of doing this 
 would be to secure the facts regarding insurance 
 placed upon buildings. Another would be to deter- 
 mine, in accordance with the plan now in vogue in 
 
Government and Administration 155 
 
 New York City, the cubic contents of a building; and 
 then, by applying a given rate to it, determine by the 
 age of the building, the character of the structure, 
 and its general condition, its value for taxing pur- 
 poses. In the valuing of land, what is known as the 
 Somers rule has worked well in New York City. 
 Taking the middle lot in a block and getting its value 
 as nearly as possible, the value of the other lots can 
 be determined by a mathematical rule applicable to 
 every lot in the block. Thus, the corner being more 
 valuable than any of the others, is assessed at a 
 higher value and a sort of mathematical accuracy 
 developed in the determination of the assessment. 
 In smaller towns, where the uniformity of the large 
 city does not exist, there would be some difficulty in 
 working out this rule. Nevertheless, it can be said, 
 as a guide to assessing officers, that units of value 
 can be utilized in determining not only the assess- 
 ments against land, but against buildings. In this 
 way the haphazard guessing that is the rule in most 
 places will be avoided, with a consequent greater 
 relative justice than is possible where more general 
 personal estimates are made. Fortunate is the city 
 
156 The Making of a Town 
 
 that has a conscientious, hard-working and studious 
 assessor; and again, fortunate is the town that car- 
 ries its burden of taxation without complaint, and 
 has little difficulty in its collection. 
 
ORGANIZATIONS AND WHAT THEY CAN 
 DO FOR THE TOWN 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 ORGANIZATIONS AND WHAT THEY CAN Do FOR 
 THE TOWN 
 
 THE difference between a live town and a dead 
 one is to be traced to the kind of organization 
 existing in it. Under the prevailing conception of 
 municipal government many things are left for the 
 private individual to do, if they are to be done at all. 
 Naturally, in America organizations galore have 
 sprung into existence. These extend from the work 
 of the commercial club to the small boys 1 league 
 created for the purpose of picking up refuse from 
 the streets. It is therefore the object of this chapter 
 to deal with some of the questions and problems that 
 come before municipal organizations as well as to 
 consider something of the form these activities may 
 take. The Commercial Club, the Women's Civic 
 League, the Associated Charities, the Boy Scouts, 
 the Literary Society, and the Choral Union, furnish 
 enough variety of object and organization to form 
 the main theme of the chapter. 
 
 159 
 
160 The Making of a Town 
 
 It may be conceded at the outset that without an 
 organization no real results can be secured. The 
 commercial club is supposed to promote publicity. 
 To do this as well as other things it is essential that 
 the organization plan should be well thought out, a 
 paid secretary employed and enthusiastic committees 
 appointed from the club's membership. In towns 
 where miscellaneous committees appointed at the 
 town meeting have been relied upon to care for the 
 municipal interests, little gain has been made from 
 one year to another because of the lack of continuity 
 and careful direction of the enterprises under con- 
 sideration. Usually business and professional men 
 are willing to cooperate in any movement for the 
 promotion of their town, but such a movement is 
 productive of real results only when the strength, 
 intelligence and good citizenship of a community are 
 united in the organization. If it is proposed that 
 the organization shall be carried on by the giving of 
 bits of time by many men to the work of the office of 
 director, little unity is developed in the plan and the 
 continuation of the work is constantly interrupted. 
 This means that the services of a paid secretary must 
 be secured at the outset. It hardly seems necessary 
 
Organizations 161 
 
 to say that no paid secretary could do all of the work, 
 but he must be a sort of go-between man, keeping 
 committees up to the performance of their duties, 
 furnishing them with facilities, and acting as a kind 
 of general factotum for the different groups. 
 
 The selection of committees for the different types 
 of work to be carried on by the club is not an easy 
 matter. One plan that has been tried successfully 
 is to call upon the members to make suggestions of 
 names for the different committees, designating care- 
 fully that these men should be selected on the basis of 
 their energy, enthusiasm, judgment, public spirit, 
 knowledge, cooperative willingness and business suc- 
 cess. When the names that have been turned in have 
 been tabulated, the officers are in position to make a 
 selection of names for the committees that success- 
 fully carry out work assigned to them. The club 
 being a working organization rather than a social 
 one, it is essential that it shall have funds and unity 
 and hearty support not from a few, but from all. 
 This means a subscription list based upon what the 
 average man can give rather than what the richest 
 man can do. The work of the club is likely to deal 
 with problems of promotion, of securing better rail- 
 
162 The Making of a Town 
 
 road facilities; the looking after matters of discrim- 
 ination in rates and prices against the town ; the study 
 of town conditions; the maintaining of attractive city 
 parks; caring for streets and roadways; developing 
 publicity, and sometimes of regulating subscriptions 
 for various charitable and amusement proposals. 
 
 It is often difficult, however, to get a commercial 
 club to take a united stand on moral questions, or to 
 engage heartily and actively in ridding of public 
 nuisances. When suggestions in this direction are 
 made the business relationships of the members are 
 found to be such that some of them are likely to 
 object on the ground that it will introduce disturb- 
 ing elements into the club's policy and jeopardize the 
 good feeling among the membership. There is much 
 truth in this view of the matter for the cooperative 
 spirit will continue good so long as it does not in- 
 terfere with business enterprises. When it does, 
 the club's actions will hardly be sufficiently forceful 
 to get results that are likely to affect the situation. 
 
 There is, however, in some progressive towns, an 
 organization that takes up the work of town develop- 
 ment where the commercial club leaves it. This or- 
 ganization might be likened to the devoted tenders 
 
Organizations 163 
 
 of the sacrificial fires in ancient times, for it is en- 
 gaged in maintaining the flame of enthusiasm and 
 arousing the spirit of real citizenship. Sometimes 
 it is necessary in order to know what is the attitude 
 of the city actually to bring pressure to bear upon 
 citizens to take a high stand on the problems of 
 moral and civic righteousness. The civic league, 
 organized, maintained, and guided by the women of 
 the community, can do a great many things that no 
 commercial club can do. They are in a position 
 to emphasize the cleaning of the town, and being 
 connected usually with no business enterprises, the 
 members are able to bring the matter to the atten- 
 tion of the men of the community without having 
 their motives questioned. Such an organization is 
 invaluable, because it develops continuity of purpose 
 and acts with an authority and power that the in- 
 dividual working alone cannot have in the very nature 
 of things. Sometimes it is essential that the city 
 government shall be shown how a thing can be ac- 
 complished. In other words, having refused to take 
 the initiative, it remains for a private organization to 
 carry on the experiment Thus, in more than one 
 town the playground has been maintained first by the 
 
164 The Making of a Town 
 
 civic league, and having demonstrated that it is a 
 good thing, it is afterwards taken over by the town 
 government. The same thing is true of kinder- 
 gartens. In more than one place, the public school 
 authorities having refused to maintain a kinder- 
 garten, it remained for a private organization to 
 start it, gather the funds and keep it going until its 
 usefulness could be demonstrated. Indifference to 
 the curfew ordinance, the lax way in which parks are 
 policed, can be offset by the vigilance of a committee 
 of the civic league. A special league of that kind can 
 bring to the community lecturers who will present 
 some of the most recent phases and points of view 
 regarding municipal development which will serve 
 as a good basis for a propaganda to be carried on 
 later. Many instances might be cited where an or- 
 ganization of this kind, having brought such a lec- 
 turer into the town, has been able, by fostering the 
 opinion and sentiment so developed, to lay a founda- 
 tion for a wider public opinion that later expressed 
 itself in favorable action. 
 
 In making these statements in regard to the civic 
 league it is not to be understood that the work of the 
 commercial club is of any lesser value; but rather 
 
Organizations 165 
 
 that the very name itself and the character of the 
 work in which it is most interested of necessity cur- 
 tail the usefulness of the commercial club in con- 
 nection with what might be termed the higher phases 
 of town government and growth. 
 
 It has been said more than once that the modern 
 town is built for adults and not for children, although 
 the children are compelled to live in them for a 
 longer time than the older people who have estab- 
 lished residences there. The consideration of the 
 abilities and power of young people is given small 
 place in town development, and sometimes, the town 
 having failed entirely to recognize them, either in 
 school or elsewhere, the boys in the adolescent period 
 become an actual menace to the public welfare. Gen- 
 eral Baden-Powell of Boer War fame, a number of 
 years ago conceived the idea that the boys of Eng- 
 land ought to be brought into patriotic relationship 
 with their country, and so he inaugurated the Boy 
 Scout movement. This movement now brought to 
 America is as yet in its infancy. The organization 
 hesitates now and then as to the direction in which 
 it is going, but the purpose is a real purpose and 
 one that can be utilized to bring the boys into the 
 
166 The Making of a Town 
 
 problem of town development. If the boys of the 
 town can be brought together under such a move- 
 ment, with intelligent leadership, they can do many 
 things for their town in the way of maintaining 
 order, helping to keep the place clean and maintain- 
 ing a spirit of enjoyment and comradeship that will 
 make for a good town to live in. The young people 
 of our towns need a natural outlet, but up to this time 1 
 this fact has scarcely been recognized except by cer- 
 tain commercial agencies that have undertaken to 
 coin money by taking advantage of the love of ad- 
 venture and the need of outside stimulus through the 
 development of questionable resorts in which they 
 may spend their time. The organization of the Boy 
 Scout movement must come from the outside, from 
 the older people. It should be fostered by the 
 schools and churches of the community, and every 
 effort should be made to utilize the boys in helping 
 to build a better town; first, by getting them into the 
 right attitude, and, second, by using their energy 
 whenever practicable, as in the instance of fairs, 
 carnivals or festival days. The German people have 
 long recognized that it is essential that boys should 
 be given a physical education and military training. 
 
Organizations 167 
 
 After he is fourteen, for three years the German 
 boy is required to attend a continuation school, if he 
 does not go to a gymnasium or secondary school, and 
 after that to enter the army for a period of from one 
 to three years. In this country, however, we have 
 no such system of required education after the eighth 
 grade, and many boys not interested in the work of 
 the earlier period, drop out of school to drift from 
 job to job and adventure to adventure, until work is 
 irksome and further education is thought impossible. 
 Then the boy becomes a menace, which the Boy Scout 
 organization tends to check by utilizing him before 
 he has lost interest and hope. The men of a town 
 can do much to help. The school and church must 
 do more in order that the boy may be a real factor 
 in town development. 
 
 The commercial club counts its success in the in- 
 crease of population, the enlargement of business, 
 and the growth of bank clearings. The women's 
 civic league enumerates its conquests by calling at- 
 tention to what has been done in the establishment 
 of playgrounds, the enlargement of the schools, and 
 the giving of valuable lectures. But, after all, a town 
 is to be counted successful only when its young men 
 
1 68 The Making of a Town 
 
 and young women are entering into useful occupa- 
 tions and taking their places as efficient and law- 
 abiding citizens. So the Boy Scout movement meets 
 two needs: First, in giving the boys an opportunity 
 to utilize their time and energy to best advantage, 
 and, second, in giving the town the advantage of the 
 young force and ability which has hitherto been 
 neglected. 
 
 Besides the organizations that have been men- 
 tioned the town should have a choral society, con- 
 sisting of members from every class of the popula- 
 tion. We have not learned how to sing in America. 
 We do not yet appreciate the enjoyment to be found 
 in group singing. A choral society, intelligently led, 
 can do a great deal for the betterment of a town, 
 and what is more, a society of that kind, giving a 
 concert once a year, acts as a publicity factor that is 
 very effective in bringing people from the neighbor- 
 ing communities to the town. The same is true of a 
 live dramatic society whose offerings from time to 
 time add much to the enjoyment of the town. One 
 of the difficulties confronting such an organization 
 is how to secure a coach capable of directing the play. 
 It is worth observing that plans are now under way 
 
Organizations 169 
 
 in several of the state universities to send dramatic 
 coaches to communities so that they can have the ad- 
 vantage of intelligent direction that will result in 
 good training and in the presentation of first-class 
 plays. This element of publicity, looked at from the 
 business point of view, can be very effectively 
 utilized. 
 
 One other organization should be mentioned in 
 this connection, and that is an organization based 
 upon the old type of literary society. There is to be 
 found in every town some desire for intellectual ex- 
 pression other than that which is furnished by the 
 public prints and in ordinary conversation. 
 
 The creation of a fortnightly club, meeting 
 through some nine or ten months of the year, gives 
 a means for such expression, and it also acts as a 
 forum in which matters of public interest can be con- 
 sidered and tried out, as it were, before they are 
 brought to the attention of the larger group of the 
 town. The value of such a club can only be appre- 
 ciated by those who have seen one actually at work 
 and the results of the discussions that have taken 
 place in them. Many a problem fails of successful 
 solution because of inadequate conception of the 
 
170 The Making of a Town 
 
 principles upon which it is based, and the fortnightly 
 club of the community might serve as a safety-valve, 
 not only for the opening up of some important mat- 
 ters of a national and civic character, but also for 
 providing a means for arousing public opinion re- 
 garding actual needs of the town. 
 
 Under the conditions existing in old-fashioned 
 communities, it has been the custom to turn over the 
 problem of charity to individuals, churches and so- 
 cieties, without very much question as to what was 
 being done or how it was being done. Now and 
 then some flagrant case of duplication of effort has 
 come to the attention of a few of the observing, but 
 this ripple on the surface was soon dispelled and the 
 town fell back into its old way of doing things. Lit- 
 tle by little the communities are learning that charity 
 is a part of the municipal problem that cannot be del- 
 egated to individuals, and what is more, that there 
 must be some care, coordination and continuity of 
 treatment of the poor if we are to get anything like 
 a satisfactory result from our charitable impulses. 
 It has been assumed that charity organization socie- 
 ties were for large cities, but that such organization 
 was unnecessary in the smaller towns because it was 
 
Organizations 171 
 
 taken for granted that every one knew what was be- 
 ing done. But in towns of over 5,000 inhabitants 
 there is no question but that an organization along 
 the lines of the charity organization society, with a 
 permanent secretary, who may or may not be paid, 
 would materially help toward a better understanding 
 of the problems arising from the social and economic 
 conditions existing in the community. An organiza- 
 tion consisting of ten or fifteen directors, selected by 
 a larger group, could, by the employment of a visit- 
 ing nurse, or of a person skilled in charitable work, 
 bring about amazing results for the good of the 
 community, and, further, make an actual saving of 
 money. That, however, is not the purpose. The 
 real object is to stop wastefulness of effort and to 
 place those who have found difficulty in adjusting 
 themselves to conditions in the way of actually 
 securing a healthful home atmosphere. An asso- 
 ciated charities, then, with a visiting nurse, who can 
 go about wherever her help is needed, should be 
 established in every town of any size, for the reason 
 that there exists in every such community problems 
 that can only be met by systematic effort. The com- 
 mercial club assumes that it needs a paid secretary, 
 
172 The Making of a Town 
 
 the civic league insists upon continuity of effort, and 
 certainly the work of charity should be undertaken 
 in a continuous and helpful way. 
 
 Whichever way one turns in the consideration of 
 these problems which have brought into existence 
 these numerous organizations to deal with them, he 
 is confronted by the need of more education. Every- 
 where it is clearly seen that the first condition for 
 the solution of the problem is intelligence. While it 
 is true that education cannot produce intelligence as 
 such, it can materially widen the horizon of the 
 view of individuals, so that they can deal with the 
 problem in a big, generous way. Consequently, a 
 school board must bear the brunt, after all, of main- 
 taining most of the things that are needed in the 
 town. A commercial club can take care of publicity; 
 the civic league can deal with some of the problems 
 of street cleaning, though that is distinctly a munici- 
 pal function, but the utilization of the school plant 
 and the recognition of the fact that we are doing 
 little enough in America to bring about right results 
 in our towns, the keeping of the boys and girls alive 
 to their own interests, must rest upon the school 
 system. The watchword of the future will be, 
 
Organizations 173 
 
 "Utilize the school plant !" "Utilize the time of 
 the pupil ! " And this can be brought about by the co- 
 operation of school officers, instructors, the citizens, 
 and the town organizations. 
 
 If this chapter has any real purpose, it is to point 
 out that some organizations can take care of some 
 of the problems ; that the very existence of an organi- 
 zation is evidence of some sort of a problem; that 
 these problems affect the growth of the community; 
 that the attitude of indifference will leave us just 
 where we were; that the attitude of criticism is 
 destructive, and that by the bringing together of the 
 cooperative forces of the community the people of 
 the town may be made a great deal happier, a great 
 deal better, and a great deal wiser. When the min- 
 ister, the teacher, the business man, and the profes- 
 sional man work together through organization, 
 through town government, and through the school 
 board we shall have all the forces which the com- 
 munity has at its command actually engaged in the 
 betterment of the town. 
 
 This is not a dream; it is not an impossibility; it 
 is really the natural thing, and ought to be done. 
 The time has come when we ought to give over the 
 
174 The Making of a Town 
 
 idea that there is nothing to do because we live in a 
 town, and to accept the view that there is much to 
 do, because we have come in contact with a co- 
 operative society in which the lives of all are affected 
 by the views, the standards, and the acts of all. 
 
ADVERTISING THE TOWN 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 ADVERTISING THE TOWN 
 
 IN these days of periodicals, newspapers, and 
 illuminated signs, it has come to be regarded as 
 essential that all classes of business, different types 
 of enterprises, and various sorts of endeavor must 
 present their merit to the public in order to succeed. 
 This statement holds good not only of private under- 
 takings, but even municipalities are forced to present 
 their wares in the public prints. While it is true that 
 the town governments seldom expend the money 
 raised by taxation for advertising purposes, never- 
 theless private bodies of a semi-public character are 
 engaged continually in presenting the merits, wholly 
 or in part, of their different communities. Like the 
 price of liberty, publicity must be maintained at the 
 cost of eternal vigilance ; and, once begun, it is essen- 
 tial that it shall be continued, not for a short period 
 of a few days or weeks, but for several years, in 
 order to secure any real benefit. Viewed in this 
 
 177 
 
178 The Making of a Town 
 
 way, the question of advertising cannot be dismissed 
 as of no importance in the consideration of town 
 problems. 
 
 What is the purpose in advertising a community? 
 Presumably the first object is to bring together a 
 larger population to live within the confines of the 
 town; the second purpose is to sell more of the goods 
 and products that are manufactured in the com- 
 munity; and the third is to induce visitors to come 
 from abroad in order that they may spend their time 
 and their money in the place. 
 
 What brings such a population to a town is the 
 first question that comes to the front in an attempt 
 to analyze the purpose of advertising. There ap- 
 pear to be two answers: First, that the town shall 
 be a satisfactory place in which to live ; and, second, 
 that as a prosperous community in which a living 
 can be secured under fairly easy conditions there 
 will be inducements for people to invest their time 
 and money. Good water, proper sewerage arrange- 
 ments, and conditions which make for health are the 
 first requirement for a satisfactory living place; the 
 second consists of adequate educational facilities in 
 the way of schools, libraries, museums, and art gal- 
 
Advertising the Town 179 
 
 leries; and the third an environment where a high 
 regard for morals prevails and child life is safe from 
 contaminating influences. When these fundamentals 
 are provided in a community that is by nature attrac- 
 tive the first condition for securing a population 
 has been met. 
 
 Upon the second point, namely, a place where it is 
 comparatively easy to secure a living, the answer is 
 by no means so manifest. In this instance a satis- 
 factory market for products, the presence of the 
 essentials for manufacturing in the way of power, 
 fuel, material, and labor, all make, with a fairly 
 well-inhabited territory roundabout the community, 
 the basis for an economic organization that has pos- 
 sibilities of expansion. To bring visitors to the com- 
 munity who will spend their dollars during their 
 stay necessitates attractions, which may in part be 
 provided by nature, or developed by the community 
 in the form of theaters, exhibitions, fairs, carnivals, 
 and such other amusement as might from time to 
 time be brought to the town. If, then, there is a 
 real basis for the development of the community, 
 the question of advertising becomes the necessary 
 one of letting the world know what the town has. 
 
180 The Making of a Town 
 
 This, however, brings the reader to the material 
 that has been secured through the agency of the 
 social survey referred to in the opening chapter of 
 the book. Without knowledge of conditions inac- 
 curate statements may be made and persons misled 
 to the utter ruin of the town's reputation for hon- 
 esty and fair dealing. More than that, real publicity 
 must rest upon a wide knowledge of the facts, for 
 argument cannot be based upon hypothetical state- 
 ments. 
 
 If it is agreed by the leaders of the community 
 that an advertising campaign shall be carried on, 
 some four questions must be answered, if the ex- 
 periment is to result in success: First, to whom 
 should the argument about the town be directed; sec- 
 ond, what arguments are most appealing and effect- 
 ive to the constituency that will be interested; third, 
 what methods are the wisest for carrying out the 
 purposes of the campaign; and, fourth, in what 
 form and under what conditions should publications 
 be used? The reckless sending of information to 
 all parts of the country, through the medium of lists 
 of persons purchased without inspection of the names 
 and addresses, will result in disappointment. One 
 
Advertising the Town 181 
 
 method of securing a proper clientele has been that 
 of using corner coupons in cases where magazine 
 advertising has been resorted to. In this way the 
 persons interested make themselves known to the 
 committee in charge of the campaign, and when 
 followed up by the sending of special literature a 
 considerable percentage of bona fide inquiries have 
 resulted. During the last ten years some of the 
 larger cities have resorted to magazine space for the 
 presentation of their opportunities, and in some 
 instances the results have been effective, though man- 
 ufacturers are reluctant to give publicity to any pro- 
 posed change of location since it is likely to disturb 
 their credit and banking connections.* The smaller 
 towns are reduced for their publicity to the occa- 
 sional presentation of articles in the local news- 
 papers and periodicals. These articles should deal 
 with the advantages of the community and its value 
 as a living and business place. A few communities 
 print monthly magazines of their own, paying for 
 them from the funds of the town, and, while adver- 
 tisement was not the original intent, nevertheless the 
 uniqueness of the plan has brought a great deal of 
 
 *"How to Remedy Defects of City Advertising," Printers 
 Ink, January, 1913. 
 
1 82 The Making of a Town 
 
 publicity. Moreover, such a publication would likely 
 increase the interest of citizens in the business and 
 government of the town. The utilization of local 
 newspapers for advertising the town from the pro- 
 motion point of view proves usually expensive and 
 unsatisfactory, but as a means of circulating news 
 regarding the place much can be done through the 
 daily press to secure advantageous publicity. The 
 newspapers, however, will not take the material that 
 is commonly referred to as gratuitous publicity. The 
 copy prepared must contain news interest, and such 
 material, if it is to be sent out regularly, requires the 
 employment of a person willing to give his time 
 to it. Thus, in some of the small cities of the West, 
 towns of fifteen or twenty thousand inhabitants, 
 skilled newspaper men have been employed to con- 
 duct news bureaus. The advantage of such a plan is 
 found in the fact that all the different towns of the 
 region to which the news service is sent print the 
 name of the town from which the news emanates, 
 and as a consequence call attention to what is going 
 on at that point. One difficulty with this plan, how- 
 ever, is that, unless handled tactfully, the papers of 
 
Advertising the Town 183 
 
 rival communities refuse to print the news on the 
 ground that it is advertising pure and simple. 
 
 Besides these forms of printed advertising, there 
 is also the possible utilization of illustrated pamphlets 
 dealing with specific phases of a town's development. 
 Such, for instance, as the residence side of a town, 
 the business side, the educational advantages; in fact, 
 the town as a place to live. But it is to be said in 
 regard to such pamphlets that, unless well organized, 
 and still further well printed, with good illustrations, 
 they have little or no effect. The warning should be 
 made doubly emphatic in this connection that a 
 poorly printed booklet is likely to do more harm 
 than good as a means of publicity. 
 
 Certain individual forms of advertising, individ- 
 ual because the appeal and the method of circulation 
 is through the medium of persons, have been used in 
 many towns from time to time. The commonest 
 of these is the wearing of a button bearing the town 
 motto or some slogan concerning the town. These 
 buttons are usually presented on the occasion of the 
 meeting of a convention and add a certain element of 
 spice and interest for a day or two that is probably 
 
184 The Making of a Town 
 
 worth all that they cost. Yet they are merely 
 openers of the question, and since they give no infor- 
 mation must be followed up, if the curiosity excited 
 is to be utilized, through information of more ex- 
 tended character. Sometimes signs are placed along 
 the highways, by which the traveler is told of the 
 advantages of the community. While this method 
 of advertising has its advantages, nevertheless its 
 possibilities are limited, for a sign soon grows old 
 and lacks the interest which the printed forms of 
 advertising possess. 
 
 Many towns maintain a public band, largely to 
 assist in entertaining the community and to add to 
 the jollification on special days that are celebrated. 
 Such a band, if well trained, has a local influence in 
 the matter of advertising that impresses visitors and 
 others who hear it in different places with the enter- 
 prise of the community. 
 
 In most places where a town has entered upon a 
 systematic attempt to carry on a plan of publicity, 
 conventions and gatherings of all kinds are invited 
 to meet there. Inducements in the way of halls, 
 payment of certain local expenses, which may vary 
 from that of printing and postage up to the assump- 
 
Advertising the Town 185 
 
 tion of the entire cost, have been extended with the 
 understanding that a convention will bring people to 
 the town who will spend a considerable sum of 
 money there. Such advertising is really of a selfish 
 nature, as the money that is brought in is spent in 
 narrow channels, among hotel-keepers and retail 
 merchants. It is expected that the theaters, amuse- 
 ment places, and notion dealers will gain during the 
 time the visitors are in the town. 
 
 But this is by no means the sole argument for a 
 convention policy. It is estimated that 18,000 con- 
 ventions were held in the United States in a single 
 year. To these meetings men from all walks of life 
 came, giving the cities in which the conventions as- 
 sembled an opportunity to impress their important 
 advantages upon the visitors. Ten years ago, so the 
 story goes, three brothers from Iowa attended a con- 
 vention in Detroit. Impressed with that city, they 
 visited it again and finally removed their plant. 
 These were the Packards and the pioneers in the au- 
 tomobile business at Detroit. On a smaller scale, 
 and as a matter of course less frequently, the town 
 has the opportunity to impress the manufacturer, 
 who is seeking a modest opening for his plant, with 
 
1 86 The Making of a Town 
 
 its advantages for a successful business. The princi- 
 ple whether the place is large or small is the same, 
 though the details of policy may differ. On this 
 point, a committee of one of the city organizations 
 reported that the following convention policy should 
 be adopted as a basis for convention negotiations: 
 (i) Invite conventions for which local bodies are 
 willing to take charge of the entertainment; (2) pay 
 no money as a bonus for any convention; (3) free 
 halls and exhibit rooms may be offered to certain 
 conventions; (4) promise no funds for entertain- 
 ment of any convention; and (5) pay no expense 
 money to local delegates attending conventions in 
 other cities. The small town cannot hold to all of 
 these points and get conventions. In the first place, 
 there are but few local bodies that can take charge 
 of entertainment; free halls, in the second place, 
 must be provided, and in order to be represented at 
 times the fifth point must be given over, but on the 
 second and third points no question can be raised as 
 to their real soundness. 
 
 Fairs and carnivals may be helpful in town pub- 
 licity, or they may be actually deterrent to the repu- 
 tation of the town; it depends upon the attitude. A 
 
Advertising the Town 187 
 
 fair or carnival that has an educational purpose 
 connected with it, and where the object is to carry 
 conviction of a definite kind to the visitors, may 
 result in much good; but if the carnival is given by 
 some traveling concern, which goes about from place 
 to place, with no care whatever for the reputation 
 of the community, and only intent upon taking away 
 as much money as possible, the town may win a 
 reputation for reckless morals, and at the same time 
 impress the visitors with a lack of ideals and pur- 
 pose. On the other hand, a carnival can be made 
 a thing of entertainment and of education. Some- 
 thing of the history of the town might be presented 
 in tableau form, while the business interests would 
 have an opportunity of presenting their different 
 claims to the attention of the public in booths and 
 tents, assisted by discussions of interest to the peo- 
 ple of the region, together with entertainment in the 
 form of games in which all might indulge. Such an 
 event might be made a sort of home-coming, which 
 would result in far greater advantage to the town 
 than could be secured through the utilization of pro- 
 fessional companies. Here and there towns have 
 won lasting fame by such a program. Thus water- 
 
1 88 The Making of a Town 
 
 melon day at Rocky Ford is known far and wide, 
 and corn-roast day at Loveland has come in for much 
 comment. In short, a town that can develop an 
 annual festival, or a home-coming week, or a cele- 
 bration of some such type, and will prepare for the 
 event, basing it on principles that will give the right 
 impression, will be engaged in really efficient pro- 
 motion. 
 
 Occasionally excursions by citizens in autos into 
 adjoining territory, well advertised in advance, 
 awakens the surrounding territory to a realization of 
 what the town is, what it is doing, and what it has 
 to offer. Such an excursion must, however, be well 
 planned, so as to have clearly in mind the definite 
 aim of bringing attention to specific things, if it is 
 to work out as a publicity measure. If a town is 
 engaged in manufacturing, an excursion of this 
 character might be undertaken by train, and the 
 representatives of the community descending upon 
 the villages roundabout bring to them a realization 
 of the importance of their neighbor that could not 
 be secured by the occasional visits of individuals, 
 though they carried banners and buttons announcing 
 the advantages of the town. 
 
Advertising the Town 189 
 
 All of these suggestions are in the main either 
 amusement in character or the advancement of the 
 interests of specific groups of persons. Once in a 
 while a town might hold a sort of analytical meeting, 
 in which the relations between town and country 
 would be considered. The best ways of beautifying 
 the town; how to enlarge the functions of the schools 
 for the welfare of the community; the problems of 
 sanitation and hygiene, and other problems of a 
 purely municipal character would come in for con- 
 sideration. Well qualified speakers are to be found 
 in the state and at the university, and these can be 
 drafted to give advice and helpful suggestions to any 
 town looking for such help. To make a program 
 of that kind really valuable a survey should be made 
 in advance, so the speakers may fit their discussions 
 into the needs of the town. In the case of the pro- 
 gram on page 190, that was done with a much bet- 
 ter result than could be secured by inflicting upon the 
 community a general program prepared with other 
 ends in view. This program was given under the 
 title of u Citizens' Institute and by the cooperation 
 of the University of the State and the Commercial 
 Club of the Town." 
 
190 The Making of a Town 
 
 CITIZENS' INSTITUTE 
 
 Under the Direction of the Lisbon Commercial Club and the 
 Extension Department of the State University 
 
 Two DAYS WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY 
 
 Illustrated Lectures on Public Health. Lectures and Discussions 
 
 on City Improvement, School Questions, Medical Inspection, 
 
 Public Amusements and Other Topics. Free 
 
 Educational Moving Pictures Twice 
 
 Each Day at the Scenic 
 
 PROGRAM 
 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY TWENTY-NINTH 
 
 1:30 P. M. Scenic Theater. Edn- 2 Health and Hygiene of Sex Miss 
 cational Moving Pictures. Introduced Bertha Erdman Director of Course 
 by brief talk on the good and bad in for Nurses, University of North Da- 
 moving pictures. kota. 3 General Discussion. 
 
 2:30 P. M. Opera House. Is the 4:00 P. M. Opera House. Men's 
 
 Health of School Children a Matter of Meeting. 1 Plain Facts that We 
 
 Public Concern? Doctor Gustave F. Ought to Know Doctor Ruediger. 
 Ruediger, Director of State Public 5:00 P. M. Scenic Theater. Edu- 
 
 Health Laboratories. cational Moving Pictures. 
 
 2:45 P. M. The Woman's Side of 8:00 P. M. Opera House The City 
 
 Farm Life Miss Minnie J. Nielson, as a Home for Its People Professor 
 
 County Superintendent of Barnes John M. Gillette, Professor of Sociol- 
 
 County and President of State Feder- ogy, University of North Dakota, 
 ation of Women's Clubs. 8:45 P. M. The Social Center Idea 
 
 3:15 P. M. General Discussion of and Social Centers for Small Cities 
 
 questions of health and sanitation N. C. Abbott, Field Organizer of Ex- 
 
 \vith Doctor Ruediger in charge and tension Work, University of North 
 
 Superintendent Simcox of city schools Dakota, 
 leading. 9:15 P. M. General Discussion on 
 
 4:00 P. M. High School Assembly School Questions and Public Amuse- 
 
 Room 1 Practical work for the club ments with Professor Gillette in 
 
 women of Lisbon Miss Nielson. charge and Miss Nielson leading. 
 
 THURSDAY, JANUARY THIRTIETH 
 
 Forenoon conferences with Professor 3:30 P. M. Lessons in Civic Im- 
 
 Gillette, Doctor Ruediger, Miss Niel- proveraent from the Small Cities in 
 
 son and Miss Erdman. Germany President Frank L. McVey, 
 
 1:30 P. M. Scenic Theater. Edu- University of North Dakota, 
 cational Moving Pictures. 5:00 P. M. Scenic Theater. Chil- 
 
 2:00 P. M. Opera House. The dren's Meeting. Educational Moving 
 
 Town for the Country and the Country Pictures, 
 for the Town Professor Gillette. 8:00 P. M. Opera House. What a 
 
 1-45 P. M. The City's Interest in Town Government, Organizations and 
 
 Public Health Doctor Ruediger. Clubs Can Do for a Community 
 
 President McVey. 
 
 All General Sessions at the Opera House No Admission Charged 
 Come Prepared to Ask Questions 
 
Advertising the Town 191 
 
 After all, effective advertising in the long run 
 must be based upon the solidity of the community, 
 the honesty of its citizens, the character, and repu- 
 tation, and business that it carries on, the cleanliness 
 of the hotel, the uprightness of the community stand- 
 ards, the attractiveness of the entertainment offered, 
 as well as the general appearance of the town. These 
 are the things that really advertise, and all that 
 publicity can do is to bring these to the attention of 
 persons who would be interested naturally in seek- 
 ing such a place as a residence or as a business cen- 
 ter. Such publicity as can be brought about in the 
 various ways mentioned above is desirable in so far 
 as it is well done, and the results will be worth the 
 while only so far as intelligence is used and the 
 publicity started is continued over a period of time. 
 
THE FUTURE OF THE TOWN 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 THE FUTURE OF THE TOWN 
 
 LOOKING at the town from an historical view- 
 point, we find that it is a consequence of the 
 separation of trade and manufactures from agricul- 
 ture; or, to put it in other words, a product of the 
 division of labor. In ancient times the self-sufficing 
 groups attempted to meet their own needs, not only 
 in the products of the soil, but in the making of 
 clothing, furniture, harnesses, weapons, and tools. 
 Only now and then did the overlords on the manors 
 in Europe call upon commerce to bring them the 
 luxuries of the Indies, for the soil-bound population 
 supplied nearly everything. As time went on indi- 
 viduals reached high skill in specific lines of work, 
 and, instead of dividing their energies between agri- 
 culture and a craft, they came as a matter of course 
 to give all of their efforts to the latter. The demand 
 for goods increasing with the growth of population, 
 the artisans made their way to various places of con- 
 
 195 
 
196 The Making of a Town 
 
 venience and gathered around them other individuals 
 who were more or less directly associated with the 
 work that they were doing. In Europe the older 
 towns had their origin in numerous instances in the 
 meetings at some shrine or burial-place, and, as the 
 feudal system developed into a military force, the 
 population came to be grouped in the neighborhood 
 of the castles and forts belonging to the feudal lords, 
 partly for protection, partly for convenience of 
 barter and trade. 
 
 In America town beginnings had no such pic- 
 turesque origin. Everywhere the primitive agri- 
 cultural community was in evidence. The members 
 first grouped together for safety, and later on scat- 
 tered as a mater of convenience to the different 
 pieces of land they were cultivating. It was essential 
 that artisans and tradesmen should appear. These 
 located at points of vantage on the traveled roads, 
 at the fording place of a stream, or at some break 
 in transportation. Numerous examples of this state- 
 ment are to be found in all parts of the country: 
 (i) The city of St. Paul, now grown to a consider- 
 able population, is the head of navigation on the 
 Mississippi, and marked during the thirty years 
 
The Future of the Town 197 
 
 from 1850 the break in the movement of freight 
 and the transfer of goods from steamboat to the 
 Red River carts. New York, Duluth, and Buffalo, 
 as well as other cities in America, are now located 
 at points where in the earlier days it was necessary 
 to change the form of transportation. Thus, at New 
 York, the ocean steamer brought to the land the 
 goods that were to be carried by train beyond, the 
 train brought to the ocean steamer the commodities 
 that were to be transported to foreign shores, and 
 from this break at the water's edge there resulted 
 the development of a great population that came 
 ultimately to be engaged in commercial pursuits, in 
 banking, finance, and manufacturing. (2) As the 
 population of the United States has expanded, other 
 reasons have come to have special force in establish- 
 ing towns. The presence of natural resources, such 
 as coal, gas, and waterpower for manufacturing, has 
 resulted in the location of the city or town in the 
 neighborhood of the resources. Pittsburg is prob- 
 ably the best example of this statement. (3) Here 
 and there is to be found on our streams falling 
 water, which has been utilized for power. Minne- 
 apolis is an example of such a city, having had its 
 
198 The Making of a Town 
 
 origin in the waterpower at St. Anthony Falls. (4) 
 Again, freight rates and railway policies have deter- 
 mined the location of towns and affected their 
 growth. The regional basis of freight rates at one 
 time placed the whole State of Texas in a position 
 where all towns were practically on the same foot- 
 ing so far as long distance rates were concerned. 
 Again, for many years the growth of cities in Iowa 
 was checked materially by the through rates that 
 were granted to Omaha and not to them. This atti- 
 tude of the railways discriminated against the Iowa 
 towns and gave a marked advantage to the terminal 
 freight point. (5) Besides these economic reasons, 
 there are certain strategic ones, of both a military 
 and political character. Thus towns were located 
 because it was desired to protect a pass by a fort or 
 to control a body of water through the strategic 
 placing of a military force. Some cities, however, 
 have been created by political fiat, as in the case of 
 Washington, Ottawa, Berlin, and St. Petersburg, all 
 of which had their origin in the establishment of a 
 town as a capital, and their position and place com- 
 mercially were determined largely by a political act 
 
The Future of the Town 199 
 
 of the government* (6) The greater number of 
 towns in America, especially in the West, are, how- 
 ever, nothing but located towns. The railroads hav- 
 ing built their lines through undeveloped country, it 
 was part of their function to locate and establish 
 stations where freight and passengers might come 
 for distribution throughout the surrounding terri- 
 tory. In most instances the process of location has 
 been carried out in a perfunctory sort of way, with- 
 out much reference to natural position or beauty of 
 location. An engineer in his office at the terminal 
 station might have located the majority of the towns 
 as successfully as it has been done with nothing 
 more than a pair of dividers scaled for a given dis- 
 tance on the map. Later on syndicates were formed 
 which took over the townsites from the railroad com- 
 panies, and now in these later years, under the magic 
 of immigration managers, buildings appear before 
 the coming of the settlers' trains, and banks, general 
 stores, lumber yards, and elevators are established to 
 meet the economic needs, fancied or real, of the 
 prospective dwellers in the village. 
 
 * Berlin is an evident exception to this statement, but her 
 present prosperity and growth are due in a large measure to the 
 development of canals. 
 
2OO The Making of a Town 
 
 It is this type of town that is confronted by very 
 difficult problems in development, since beauty of 
 location and often the larger economic considera- 
 tions have been overlooked in the placing of the 
 village. There are scores of such towns in every 
 state and territory. The economies of wagon trans- 
 portation create a circle beyond which it is imprac- 
 ticable to carry grain or go for supplies. As a con- 
 sequence, these towns come to be known as " supply 
 towns," " elevator towns," " grain towns," " cow 
 towns," in accordance with the character of the busi- 
 ness to be done in a given territory. Producing 
 commodities necessitates sales. Hence, mercantile 
 and financial agencies, as seen in the elevator and the 
 bank, come as a matter of course, and since supplies 
 must be had for the cultivator of the soil, the general 
 store soon lays its foundation and covers its shelves 
 with goods for the purchaser. Other wants, such as 
 repairs of machinery, ironwork in sharpening tools, 
 and woodwork, must be met, and if a profit is ap- 
 parent, even in the imagination of the most san- 
 guine, the manufacturing, merchandising, and finan- 
 cing agencies of adjoining territory are called upon 
 to add another link to their organization. 
 
The Future of the Town 201 
 
 From everywhere, from veritably the four corners 
 of the earth, come the population required to make 
 up the dwellers of a new village. The storekeeper 
 may be a retired farmer, weary of outdoor life, and 
 now looking for an easier way of adding to his 
 hoard, or he may be some young fellow enthused 
 with the fame of great merchants, who, stocked by 
 a wholesale house, has gathered a hundred dol- 
 lars or so to start his venture in the new community. 
 The banker is already on the ground ere the first 
 train arrives, having traveled overland from the 
 rival road some forty miles away. He is in all 
 likelihood the representative of some banking com- 
 pany that has added a new bank to its string, and the 
 elevators, pushing their ugly forms skyward, bear 
 the insignia of companies managed and owned in 
 one of the large cities. The professional men of 
 the town are likely to be new men just from the 
 schools, anxious to try their acquirements upon 
 client or patient, or they may be older men seeking 
 new openings, where competition is less severe or 
 surroundings pleasanter. The schoolmaster and his 
 assistants are the forerunners of a long procession 
 of ever-changing instructors of youth. From many 
 
2O2 The Making of a Town 
 
 schools and colleges they come, now and then vitally 
 interested in the community, and in some instances 
 enthusiastically trying to leave some learning in the 
 minds of the pupils. Besides all these are the livery 
 man, the hotel man, the section foreman, the station 
 agent, the odd job man, and many others who make 
 up the roster of the village. From many parts 
 of the land, of many nationalities, varying education, 
 training, experience, and point of view, they come to 
 live together in close association, meeting day by 
 day, with the ultimate object of building a town. 
 
 Strongly contrasted with these new beginnings of 
 community life are the older towns and villages, 
 started before the days of railroads. These have 
 had their heyday and are now settled down to a 
 humdrum existence, forgetting progress, and re- 
 luctantly putting forth any community effort to bet- 
 ter conditions of living. The slow falling of the 
 value of property creates problems of revenue that 
 overshadow all questions of betterment, and the 
 hardening of social lines has brought about a cleav- 
 age in the status of the population that divides the 
 town into social groups that get on with tolerance of 
 
The Future of the Town 203 
 
 each other, but throttle the town's progress because 
 of the lack of a common purpose. 
 
 There is another group, consisting of towns and 
 villages, that have found an increasingly larger place 
 in the economic organization, and now look forward 
 to changes in sewers, water, light, paving, and en- 
 larged expenditure upon community social enter- 
 prises. The population in such places is actuated by 
 the common impulse to succeed and a real interest 
 in the progress of the region roundabout. The larger 
 meaning of community wants and needs is accepted, 
 and the philosophy of the new advertising, that wants 
 can be created by opening the imagination to the 
 uses of products, forms the basic principle of the 
 business expansion. Consequently, merchants no 
 longer look upon a patron gained as a patron lost 
 for their competitor, but understand that each may 
 perform his work better in the community by the 
 specialization of effort. So the division of labor 
 goes on, and even the inevitable social cleavage is 
 offset by the greater opportunities for amusement 
 and contact with the citizens of the place in the 
 growth of the town. 
 
 The observer of community life has noticed that 
 
204 The Making of a Town 
 
 it is a far cry from the scattered hamlet to the com- 
 pact and dominating city. Midway in the process 
 of metropolis building is the town, defined as larger 
 than a village, but not a city. Various economic im- 
 pulses, through the medium of railroad, local indus- 
 tries, the securing of political advantages, and the 
 growth of population have made the hamlet a town 
 and aroused local spirit, while opening a roseate 
 view of future prospects to the imagination of the 
 citizen. It is then that cow paths are surrendered 
 for walks and traffic in vehicles goes on the road- 
 way between curbs. Voluntary efforts for protec- 
 tion of life and property are no longer considered 
 sufficient, and the local squire comes to be regarded 
 as an inadequate representative of the law. So a 
 city charter is secured from the state. In it specific 
 powers are granted to the community, offices are 
 added to the original list, and the functions of gov- 
 ernment are materially enlarged. Originally but a 
 distributing center, where farmers came to exchange 
 their products for the necessities of life, the town 
 takes on industrial, and even commercial, functions, 
 The blacksmith shop disappears to reappear in the 
 course of time as a wagonworks, the cobbler is dis- 
 
The Future of the Town 205 
 
 guised as a shoe manufactory, and the little grocery 
 on the corner in a few years begins a new career 
 as a wholesale house. Then it is that a local market 
 is created and banks come to act as the medium 
 through which business is transacted. The place, in 
 fact, reaches the point of showing a consciousness 
 of its own integrity. 
 
 Quite as remarkable as these outward changes in 
 the town are the more subtle ones to be found by 
 the keen observer of population and complexity of 
 life. Originally the people of the hamlet were much 
 alike in ambitions, possessions, and education, but 
 the growth of the hamlet into the town has brought 
 marked differences in conditions, and social groups 
 come to be distinguished as entities separate from 
 the general mass of people. The possession of prop- 
 erty marks one group, professional training an- 
 other; politics and church affiliations create cross 
 groupings, until there is a complexity of social and 
 economic conditions that stand out in strong con- 
 trast to the simple hamlet days. With these changes 
 a far more difficult problem arises in the building 
 of the town and making it what it ought to be a 
 good place for men, women, and children to live in. 
 
206 The Making of a Town 
 
 As a matter of fact, the town offers an immense 
 economic agency to stamp a new civilization upon the 
 people who pass through its portals. In the long 
 run the town will prove itself an advance toward 
 higher and better forms of social existence. It is 
 not by decrying the town that progress is to be made, 
 but by raising the town to a realization of its place 
 as a maker of standards, the creator and experi- 
 menter with new things, and then in turn giving to 
 the country the best the town has in improvements 
 and opportunities. Both go forward together, not 
 one as against the other. 
 
 "The drift of country population to the towns 
 and cities, with their many amusements, indulgence 
 in vices, and higher wages, is sapping the strength, 
 not only of the English, but of every white race." 
 "This flocking to the towns means the ultimate 
 destruction of the white races if it continues un- 
 checked." The two statements just quoted are indic- 
 ative of the general attitude toward towns and the 
 feeling of apprehension that is everywhere shared 
 by men of some reputation as thinkers. The mighty 
 flow of country population into the cities is looked 
 
The Future of the Town 207 
 
 upon as an entirely modern phenomenon. Yet, go- 
 ing back into the history of Europe, there are to be 
 found two periods during which the same phenome- 
 non took place one during the heyday of the Ro- 
 man Empire, and the other in the fourteenth and 
 fifteenth centuries. Professor Biicher, upon whose 
 authority the above statements are made, in his 
 Industrial Evolution, fittingly says: "Every transi- 
 tional epoch has its inconveniences and its suffer- 
 ings; but the modern movement of population, in so 
 far as it is expressed in the influx into the cities, will, 
 like that of mediaeval times, reach its goal and then 
 subside. This goal can be none other than to assign 
 to every individual capacity and to every local group 
 of persons that place and role in the great national 
 life in which its endowments and the altered techni- 
 cal conditions of economic activity best fit it to con- 
 tribute to the general welfare." 
 
 Viewed largely, the statement of the last para- 
 graph sets a great program before the munici- 
 palities of the world. Nearly four-fifths of the 
 people of Great Britain live in towns, while one- 
 half of the population of the United States dwell 
 
ao8 The Making of a Town 
 
 within town boundaries. In feudal times towns 
 meant protection from the ravages of marauders; 
 today they mean congested population made up of 
 landless men, without resources behind them to fall 
 back upon, who eagerly seek opportunity and a 
 market for their services. The consequent variations 
 in conditions of life and livelihood in the town create 
 a series of problems that are beyond the power of 
 any one individual to solve, and raise ever-present 
 questions regarding health, education, protection, 
 and recreation of the inhabitants. How to make the 
 town a benefactor has come to be a matter of con- 
 cern to municipal officers, while the municipal spirit 
 seeks to widen the opportunities for real living. We 
 have thus seen fit to designate the place where 
 organized attempts are made to apply scientific and 
 economic principles to the housing of people, their 
 education and comfort, and where standards of 
 living are high, as a Model Town. The phrase 
 means little or much, depending upon how it is ap- 
 plied, but it represents in a word the move toward 
 better things in municipal life. Betterment in these 
 matters cannot result except by intelligent community 
 action. So town building today means community 
 
The Future of the Town 209 
 
 cooperation as never before and the study of the 
 problem from the point of view of the future. 
 
 The future town, when it has come to realize all 
 of its possible activities, will be, in addition to the 
 agency of government and director of utilities, a 
 patron of the arts. In times gone by kings and 
 princes gave bonuses to gifted men and women iri 
 order to help them in their work as artists. But in 
 a country where there is no privileged class the 
 towns and cities will become the patrons of the 
 fine arts. Mural pictures will appear in the great 
 civic buildings, fountains will adorn court yards, and 
 statues will be found in every park. The people of 
 the town will know art and appreciate it, because it 
 will be a part of their life; and the town will be the 
 patron, because it will have larger funds at its com- 
 mand than any individual. With a wider apprecia- 
 tion of what art is and what it can add to life, it will 
 come to be looked upon as an essential thing and 
 not one remote from the daily life of the people. 
 
 Without question democracy is being tested in 
 unusual ways today, and nowhere more than in the 
 city and town. The problems of government press 
 for solution everywhere, and the possibility of deal- 
 
2io The Making of a Town 
 
 ing with these problems in comparatively small areas 
 is greater in city and town than anywhere else. If 
 the town cannot manage its business better than the 
 state or nation, it certainly is no argument for the 
 larger control of business and industry by a democ- 
 racy scattered over a broader area. If the town 
 cannot build and cannot carry on an enterprise with 
 efficiency, it certainly cannot be argued that the 
 larger democracy can do the bigger things. 
 
 While this statement is true, it must be acknowl- 
 edged that the pressure upon democracy from forces 
 opposed to government by the people is likewise 
 greater in a city than elsewhere. Hence today the 
 problem of good government is not one which inter- 
 ests only the people of the town, but it interests the 
 people of the nation as a whole. The working out 
 of an efficient government by democracy in the town 
 will be taken as a hopeful sign by the people the 
 country over. Consequently, the man who looks 
 upon government in town and village as a matter 
 of indifference, and of no special interest to him, is 
 really taking the attitude that government the coun- 
 try over is hardly worth the while. The call for the 
 intelligent patriotism and sacrifice of men in city, 
 
The Future of the Town 211 
 
 town, and village is great indeed, and if there can be 
 created in these places a real government, forceful, 
 efficient, and wise, it may be assumed that the 
 problem of national government will be solved. 
 
REFERENCES 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 TOWN BUILDING AND COOPERATION 
 
 Allen, William H., Efficient Democracy, New York, 1910, chap- 
 ters IV, VII, IX, XIII. 
 Calkins, Raymond, Substitutes for the Saloon, Boston, 1901, 
 
 chapters Ill-XL 
 Bourne, E., The Social Order in an American Town, Atlantic 
 
 Monthly, February, 1913. 
 Gillette, John M., Constructive Rural Sociology. New York, 
 
 1913, chapter XVIII. 
 Daniels, John, The Social Survey: Its Reasons, Methods and 
 
 Results, Conference of Charities and Corrections, 1910, pp. 
 
 236-240. 
 World To-day, The Small City and the Survey, Vol. 21: pp. 
 
 828-832. 
 Zueblin, Charles, American Municipal Progress, New York, 1902. 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 THE PLANNING OF THE TOWN 
 
 Alden, Percy, Democratic England, London, 1912, pp. 165-214. 
 Atterbury, Grosvenor, Model Towns in America, Scribners, 
 
 July, 1912. 
 Craske, Harold, The Need for New Cities, Economic Review, 
 
 Oct., 1908. 
 
 Howard, Ebenezer, Garden Cities of Tomorrow, London, 1898. 
 Howe, Frederick C, The Garden Cities of England, Scribners, 
 
 July, 1912. 
 
 Nolan, John, Replanning Small Cities, New York, 1912. 
 
 213 
 
214 References 
 
 Robinson, C. M., The Improvement of Towns and Cities, New 
 York, 1909. 
 
 Sennett, Garden Cities in Theory and Practice, 2 Vols., London. 
 
 Sitte, Camillio, Der St'ddtebau nach semen Kustlerischen Grund- 
 satzen, Wien, 1909. 
 
 Tillson, George W., Street Pavements and Paving Materials, 
 New York, 1913. 
 
 Unwin, Raymond, Town Planning in Practice, contains bibli- 
 ography, London, 1909. 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 THE FIRST FUNDAMENTAL-HEALTH 
 
 Alvord, H. E., and Pearson, R. A., The Milk Supply of Two 
 Hundred Cities and Towns, U. S. Dept. Agriculture Bureau 
 of Animal Industry, Bui., No. 46, 1903. 
 
 Baker, M. N., Municipal Engineering and Sanitation, New York, 
 1902. 
 
 Baskerville, Charles, Municipal Chemistry, New York, 1911. 
 
 Chapin, C. V., Municipal Sanitation in the United States, Provi- 
 dence, R. I., 1901. 
 
 Pearson, R. A., Facts About Milk, U. S. Dept. Agriculture, Bui., 
 No. 42, 1896. 
 
 Roseneau, M. J., M. D., The Milk Question, Boston, 1913. 
 
 Saville, Charles, The Emscher Sewerage District and Imhoff 
 Tank, Journal of Association of Engineering Societies, July, 
 1911. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 THE SECOND FUNDAMENTAL SCHOOLS 
 
 Dressier, F. B., American School Houses, United States Bureau 
 
 of Education, Bui., 1910, No. 3. 
 Hill, Leonard, Stuffy Rooms, Popular Science Monthly, October, 
 
 1912. 
 
References 215 
 
 Perry, Clarence M., The Wider Use of the School, Russell Sage 
 
 Foundation, New York, 1911. 
 Sage, Russell, Foundation, A Comparative Study of School 
 
 Systems in the Forty Eight States, New York, 1913. 
 Scudder, Vida, The Schoolhouse as a Center, Atlantic Monthly, 
 
 Vol. LXXVII. 
 Search, Preston W., The Larger High School, School Review, 
 
 April, 1900. 
 Search, Preston W., An Ideal School, New York, 1901. 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 THE THIRD FUNDAMENTAL MORALS 
 
 Bray, R. A., The Town Child, London, 1907. 
 
 Calkins, Raymond, Substitutes for the Saloon, Boston, 1901. 
 
 Gillette, J. M., Constructive Rural Sociology, New York, 1913, 
 
 chapter XV. 
 Minneapolis, Vice Commission Report, by M. D. Shulter, chair- 
 
 man, 1911. 
 
 Puffer, J. Adams, The Boy and His Gang, Boston, 1913. 
 Richard, L. S., A People's Sunday Evening, Survey, July 24, 
 
 1911. 
 
 Rural Manhood, Vol. II, pp. 83, 139, 155. 
 
 Rountree, Joseph, Taxation of the Liquor Trade, London, 1906. 
 Woods, South End House, Boston, 1898. 
 Ward, E. J., Civic and Social Center Development, New York, 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 THE FOURTH FUNDAMENTAL BUSINESS 
 
 American Academy of Political and Social Science, Business 
 
 Management and Finance, Vol. XXV, No. I. 
 Brand, E. A., Commercial Organisations, Bureau of Manufac- 
 
216 References 
 
 tures, Dept. of Commerce and Labor, S. P. Agent, Series 
 No. 60, 1912. 
 
 Gunther, L., Selling by Mail, a pamphlet, Chicago, 1907. 
 
 Outlook, The Waste of Retailing, Feb. i, 1913. 
 
 Ross, E. A., Sin and Society, New York, 1907. 
 
 Scott, Walter Dill, Increasing Human Efficiency in Business, 
 New York, 1911. 
 
 Sparling, S. E., Business Organisation, New York, 1906, chap- 
 ters V-VIII, X-XII, XIV. 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 THE ENTRANCE TO THE TOWN 
 
 Cravath, J. R., Practical Illumination, New York, 1907. 
 Independent, Northampton Municipal Theater, June 15, 1905. 
 Lane, J. E., How to Make Money in a Country Hotel, Caterer 
 
 Publishing Co., New York, 1901. 
 
 Outlook, Northampton Municipal Theater, December 21, 1912. 
 Robinson, C. M., The Improvement of Towns and Cities, New 
 
 York, 1909, chapters X, XL 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION 
 
 Allen, William H., Efficient Government, New York, 1907. 
 
 American Academy of Political and Social Science, Commission 
 Government in American Cities, November, 1911 (An ex- 
 haustive discussion). 
 
 Deming, H. E., The Government of American Cities, New 
 York, 1909. 
 
 Fairlie, J. A., Local Government in Towns and Villages, New 
 York, 1906. 
 
References 217 
 
 King, C. L., The Regulation of Municipal Utilities, New York, 
 
 Oswald, R., The Real Problem of Commission Government, 
 
 Popular Science Monthly, Sept., 1912. 
 Wilcox, Delos F., The Study of City Government, New York, 
 
 1897- 
 
 Wilcox, Delos F., Municipal Franchises, New York, 1911. 
 Woodruff, C. R., City Government by Commission, New York, 
 
 1911. 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 ORGANIZATIONS AND WHAT THEY CAN DO FOR 
 THE TOWN 
 
 Brand, E. A., Commercial Organizations, Dept. of Commerce 
 
 and Labor, Bureau of Manufactures, S. P. Series, No. 60, 
 
 1912. 
 League of Civic Clubs, Rochester Social Center and Civic Clubs, 
 
 1909. 
 Robinson, C. M., The Improvement of Towns and Villages, New 
 
 York, 1909, chapter XV. 
 Stern, Neighborhood Entertainments. 
 Warner, Charles G., American Charities, New York, new edition. 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 ADVERTISING THE TOWN 
 
 Martin, J. Mac, Report to Minneapolis Civic and Commerce Asso- 
 ciation on Conventions, 1913. 
 
 Printers Ink, How to Remedy Defects of City Advertising, Jan- 
 uary, 1913. 
 
 Scott, W. D., Psychology of Advertising, New York, 1908. 
 
 Sparling, S. E., Business Organization, New York, 1906, chapter 
 XIII. 
 
2i8 References 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 THE FUTURE OF THE TOWN. 
 
 Biicher, Carl, Industrial Evolution, New York, 1901, chapter X. 
 Ely, R., The Coming City, New York, 1902. 
 Gladden, Washington, Social Salvation, New York, 1902. 
 Parsons, Frank, The City for the People, Philadelphia. 
 Small and Vincent, An Introduction to the Study of Society, 
 
 New York, 1894. 
 
 Stelzle, Charles, Christianity's Storm Center, New York, 1907. 
 Strong, Josiah, The Twentieth Century City, New York, 1898. 
 Weber, A. F., The Growth of Cities in the Nineteenth Century, 
 
 New York, 1899. 
 Williams, J. W., An American Town, New York, 1906. 
 
 PERIODICALS 
 
 American City, New York City. 
 American School Board Journal, Milwaukee, Wis. 
 American Municipalities, Marshalltown, Iowa. 
 National Municipal Review, Philadelphia. 
 
 Stddtebau, Der, Berlin, publishes many plans of towns and vil- 
 lages in each issue. 
 Survey, New York. 
 
 Town Development Magazine, Chicago, III. 
 Western Municipal News, Winnipeg, Canada. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Advertising the town, 177-191 ; 
 purpose of, 178; attractions, 
 178; system in, 180; meth- 
 ods, 181-191 ; conventions, 
 185, 186 
 
 Agricultural center, 105, 106 
 
 Amusements, 91, 100 
 
 Arts, patronage of the, 209 
 
 Australia, the new capital of, 
 19 
 
 Bigelow, John, quoted, 5 
 
 Boston, 6, 7 
 
 Boy Scouts, 165-168 
 
 Budget system, 150 
 
 Buildings, 33-35 
 
 Business, 15; fundamental, 103- 
 
 117; mail order, 113, 114; 
 
 country merchant, 113-116 
 
 Charities, 170 
 
 Charters, 141, 142 
 
 Choral societies, 168 
 
 Churches, 3, 92 
 
 Civic League, 163, 164 
 
 Cliques, an injury, 2 
 
 Commercial Club, 160-163, 167, 
 172; secretary for, 160; com- 
 mittees, 161 
 
 Commission form, 142-145 
 
 Conventions, 185, 186 
 
 Cooperation in town building, 
 essential, I, 16, 27; of the 
 home and school, 70, 71 ; of 
 business men, 160; forces in 
 community, 173 
 
 Dance, municipal, 99, 100 
 Democracy, test of, 209, 210 
 "Desirable section," effect of, 4 
 Des Moines commission plan 
 of government, 143, 144 
 
 Education, 14; public schools, 
 
 61-81 ; importance of, 172 
 Entrance to the town, 123, 124 
 Establishment of towns, 196- 
 199 
 
 Fairs and carnivals, 186, 187 
 Factories for the town, 109, 
 
 no 
 Finance, budget system, 149, 
 
 150; outline for, 151, 153; 
 
 providing for funds, 153 
 Future of the town, 195-211 
 
 Garden city, the, 23-25 
 Garbage, disposal of, 42, 43 
 Germany's planned cities, 25; 
 teaching hygiene in schobls, 
 72; theaters, 130; education 
 of boys, 166, 167 
 
 219 
 
22O 
 
 Index 
 
 Get-together spirit, value of, 5 
 Giddings, Prof., quoted, 70 
 Government, 137-156; town an 
 agency for, 137; must main- 
 tain utilities, 138; difficult, 
 139; spirit of, 141; kinds of, 
 141, 142; city manager, 145; 
 a national problem, 210; so- 
 lution of, 211 
 Grades in schools, 73-75 
 Gridiron system of laying out 
 towns, 21 
 
 Health, 13, 41-57; officer, 57 
 Home trade, 106, 107 
 Hotels, 125-128; importance of, 
 126; cuisine, 127 
 
 Imhoff tank, 49 
 
 Incinerators for garbage and 
 waste, 44, 45 
 
 Individual interest and in- 
 fluence, 2, 3 
 
 Industries, securing, 107-112 
 
 Institutes, 189, 190 
 
 "Know your city" movement, 6 
 
 Land valuation, 155 
 Letchworth, England, plan, 22, 
 
 23 
 Libraries, school, 68, 69; town, 
 
 95, 106 
 
 Lighting, street, 121-123 
 Literary societies, 169 
 
 Mail order business, 113 
 Medical inspection of children, 
 
 55, 56, 71 
 
 Milk, contaminated, 53, 54 
 Morals, 14, in schools, 71-72; 
 
 town, 85-100 
 Mottoes for towns, 6, 8 
 Municipal ownership, 147, 148; 
 
 dance, 100; center, 133; 
 
 dump, 43 
 
 Nolan, John, quoted, 37 
 
 Organizations, what they can 
 do for a town, 159-174; sec- 
 retary for, 160; commercial 
 club, 160-162, 167; civic 
 league, 163, 164; Boy Scouts, 
 165-168; choral society, 168; 
 literary societies, 169; chari- 
 ties, 170 
 
 Parks, 28, 36, 37; near station, 
 124; and civic league, 164 
 
 Paving, 32, 33 
 
 "Personal liberty" argument, 
 85, 86 
 
 Planning of the town, 19-38, 
 134; gridiron system, 21; 
 diagonal, 22; ring, 22; in- 
 formal, 22; garden, 23, 24; 
 rectangular, 29 
 
 Playgrounds, 77, 167 
 
 Plotting, 20, 21 
 
 Population, classes of, 201, 202 
 
 Power, central plant, 108 
 
Index 
 
 221 
 
 Prohibition, 98 
 
 Public buildings, 132, 133 
 
 Railroads and stations, 123-125 
 Retardation of school children, 
 74-77 
 
 Saloons, 87, 88, 97-99 
 
 Schools, public, health deter- 
 minators, 54, 55; defectives 
 in, 55, 56, 71 ; system, 61-81 ; 
 tests of town status, 61 ; why 
 maintain, 62, 80; location, 
 63; materials for building, 
 64 ; types, 64 ; plans, 65 ; ven- 
 tilation, 66; seating, 68; li- 
 braries, 68; as social center, 
 69; courses of study, 72; 
 teachers, 78; boards, 79 
 
 Schoolhouse, social center, 94, 
 
 95 
 
 Sewage, 46, 48 
 Sewers, laying out, 28; public 
 
 ownership, 148; essential, 178 
 Social centers, 99 
 Social evil, prevention, 90, 91 ; 
 
 segregation, 89, 90 
 Social survey, 8, 9; outline for, 
 
 10-12 
 
 Streets, 30, 31 ; lighting, 122 
 Sunday, observance of, 91-93 
 
 Survey of town, 8, 10-12; 
 value in advertising, 180 
 
 Tank, septic for sewage, 48-50 
 
 Taxation, 153, 154; assessor, 
 154-156 
 
 Teachers, school, 78; salaries, 
 78, 79 
 
 Theaters, 128-132; municipal, 
 129-132 
 
 Town, drifting, 12 ; survey, out- 
 line of, 10-12; planning the, 
 19-38; "wide open," 86, 87; 
 as a center, 105 ; government 
 and administration, 137-156; 
 budget for, 151-153; advertis- 
 ing, 177-191 ; the "model," 
 208 
 
 Towns, origin and growth of, 
 195-211; movement to, 206, 
 207 
 
 Trees, planting, 31, 32 
 
 Universities, 95, 96 
 Ventilation of schools, 66 
 
 Waste, disposal of, 43-50 
 Water, 50; sources of supply, 
 51; filtration, 52; impor- 
 tance, 178 
 "Wide open" town, 86, 87 
 
m 
 
 
 AN 
 
 W1UL BE ^^ SS T E H D E F D T TE OUE HE PENALTY 
 THIS BOOK ON THE * THE FO URTH 
 
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 OVERDUE. 
 
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