"SEEING NEW YORK"

For years New York, to the average American in his moments of pessimism, has summed up in one gigantic symbol everything connoted by Wall Street, the crowded fifth of the East Side, the conspicuous failure of democratic government; above all the noise, confusion, and materialism of American life raised to the n-th degree. Consequently, the announcement yesterday of the launching of a vast scheme to create a greater New York in the true sense of the word, a scheme planned and backed by Wall Street, to be carried out in cooperation with the East Side and the rest of the nine million citizens, throws a brilliant array of light into a gloomy outlook.

What is planned is the creation of an ideal. The trustees of the Russell Sage Foundation, which has undertaken the enterprise, have appointed a committee of prominent New Yorkers who will give to the people within the next few years a definite plan; the burden of accomplishment is then shifted to the people themselves. Needless to say, the plan will represent the best efforts of engineers, artists, architects, social workers, and economists. Four exhaustive preliminary surveys have been organized; analyzing living conditions: existing law in control of the area; topographical and physical facilities; and the economic and industrial potentialites and limitations of New York. These surveys will act as a foundation upon which to build. In the meantime a search has begun and men of promise are being specifically trained to do for New York what L'Enfant did for Washington and Burnham for Chicago. The plans finally evolved will be turned over to the public for criticism by groups of citizens in each community involved.

The magnitude of such a project as this "Plan of New York" and the problems to be overcome before it can begin to be realized are evident. What has already been accomplished by the "Plan of Chicago" undertaken less thoroughly and less far-sighted in vision, shows the possibilities for city-development carefully planned with practical idealism. Today the proverbial saying that "all good Americans go to Paris when they die" finds its converse in the popular belief that all bad Americans go to New York and live. Certainly, there is no question that the city has reached its saturation point under existing conditions. More people may be crowded in, of course, but growth in any except a material way is stifled at present. Only through the realization of some "Plan", developed by the most far-sighted minds, and carried out by the cooperation of the entire population, is the salvation of this, or any other large city of the future assured.