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 ^^ BUILDING DISTRICTS 
 ANi) RESTklGTIONS 
 
 A BILL 
 
 For an Act granting to cities and villages 
 in the State of Illinois power to create 
 residential, business and industrial build- 
 ing districts or zones. 
 
 Recommended by the City Coandl of the City 
 
 of Chicago to the General Assembly of the 
 
 State of llliaois for enactment into law. 
 
 AND 
 
 A STATEMENT 
 
 of the desirability of giving the City of 
 Chicago power to create building districts, 
 pr^^tjtel to the Committee on Judidary 
 of the City Council of the City of Chicago 
 
 BY 
 
 ALDERMAN CHARLES E. MERRIAM 
 
 Printed by Order of the City Council 
 
 JOHN SIMAN 
 ' City Clerk 
 
 February, 1917 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924024454559 
 
BUILDING DISTRICTS 
 AND RESTRICTIONS 
 
 > A BILL- 
 
 For an Act granting to pities and villages 
 in the State of Illinois j power to create 
 residential, business and industrial build- 
 ing districts or zones. 
 
 Recommended by fbe City Council of the City 
 of CAicago to the General Assembly of the 
 State of Illinois for enactment into law. , 
 
 : 7 
 
 AND 
 
 A STATEMENT 
 
 of , the desirability of giving the City of 
 Chicago power to create building districts, 
 presented to the Committee on Judiciary 
 of the City Council of the City of Chicago 
 
 BY 
 
 ALDERMAN CHARLES E. MERRIAM 
 
 Printed by Order of the City Council 
 JOHN SIMAN 
 
 City Clerk 
 February, 1917 
 

 %, 
 
 
 A'iW'^oTfc 
 
 JOHN F. HIGGINS 
 
 PRINTER AND BINDER 
 
 >80 
 
 S7B-38Z MONROE STREET 
 CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 
 
COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY 
 
 OF THE CITY COUMCIL OF THE CITY OF CHICAGO 
 
 AIxDERMAN OTTO KERNER. Chairman 
 ALDERMAN JOHN GOUGHLIN 
 ALDERMAN HUGH NOJIRIS 
 ALDERMAN EDWARD J. WERNER 
 ALDERMAN DAVID R. HIGKEY 
 ALDERMAN A. A. MbaORMICaK 
 ALDERMAN JOHN N. KIMBALL 
 ALDERMAN! W. E. RODRIGUEZ 
 ALDERMAN JOHN POWERS 
 ALDERMAN HERMAN E. MILLER 
 ALDERMAN EARL J. WALKER 
 ALDERMAN JOHN H. HAULER 
 AiiDERMAN JOHN HRUBEG 
 .ALDERMAN WM. J LYNCH 
 ALDERMAN ROBERT M. BUCK 
 ALDERMAN JOSEPH C. BLAHA 
 
 SUB-COMMITTEE ON STATE LEGISLATION 
 
 ALDERMAN A. A. MoOORMICKi Chairman 
 ALDERMAN ROBERT M. BUCK ALDERMAN EARL J- WALKER 
 ALDERMAN JOHN POWERS ALDERMAN EDWARD J. WERNER 
 
RESIDENTIAL AND INDUSTRIAL DISTRICTS. 
 
 [The following Bill was drafted 
 by Mr. Donald R. Riehberg in con- 
 sultation with Messrs. Edgar B. 
 Tolman, John O'Connor, Prof; Ernst 
 , ,Freund, G. T. B. Goodspeed, Edward 
 B. Burling and Assistant Corpora- 
 tion Counsel Daniel A. Rtfberts — 
 Introduced in the City Council by 
 Aid. Otto Kerner.] 
 
 A BILL 
 
 For an act to amend Section 1 of 
 Article V of an act entitled, "An 
 Act to Provide for the Incorpora- 
 tion of Cities and; Villages," ap- 
 proved April 10, 1872, and in force 
 July 1, 1872: As amended by sub- 
 sequent acts. 
 
 Section 1. Be it enacted by the 
 people of the State of Illinois, rep- 
 resented in the General Assembly:. 
 That Section 1 of Article V of an 
 Act entitled : "^.n Act to provide for 
 the infcorporation of cities and vil- 
 lages," approved April 10, 1872, and 
 in force July 1, 1872; as amended by 
 subsequent Acts, be amended so as 
 to read as fallows, viz: 
 ^ First : To control the finances 
 and property of the corporation. 
 
 Second: , To appropriate money 
 for corporate purposes only, and 
 , provide for payment of debts and 
 expenses of the corporation. 
 
 Third : To levy and collect taxes 
 for general and special purposes on 
 real and personal property. 
 
 Fourth: To fix the amount, 
 terms and manner of issuing and re- 
 voking licenses. , 
 
 Fifth : To borrow money on the 
 credit of the corporation for cor- 
 porate purposes, -and issue bonds 
 therefor, in' such amounts ahd 
 form, and on such conditions as it 
 .shall prescribe, but shall not be- 
 "'.'no indebted in anj^ manner, or for 
 
 any purpose to an amount, includ- 
 ing existing indebtedness in the ag- 
 gregate to exceed Ave (5) per cen- 
 tum on the value of the taxable 
 property therein, to (be ascertained 
 by the last assessment for the state 
 and county taxes previous to the 
 incurring of such indebtedness; and 
 before or at the time of incurring 
 any indebtedness, shall provide for 
 the collection of a difect annual tax 
 sullicient.to pay the interest on such 
 debt as it falls due, and also to pay 
 and' discharge the principal thereof 
 within twenty years after construct- 
 ing (contracting') the, same. 
 ' Sixth: To issue bonds in place 
 of or to supply means, to meet ma- 
 turing bonds, or for the consolida- 
 tion or funding of the same. 
 
 Seventh: To lay out, to estab- 
 lish, open, alter,- widen, extend, 
 grade, pave or otherwise improve 
 streets, alleys, avenues, sidewalks, 
 wharves, parks and public grounds, 
 and vacate the same. 
 
 Eighth : To plant trees upon the 
 same. 
 
 Ninth : To regulate the use of 
 the same. 
 
 Tenth: To prevent and remove 
 encroachments or obstructions upon 
 the same. 
 
 Eleventh: To provide for the 
 lighting of the same. ; 
 
 Twelfth: To provide for the 
 cleansing.of the sam6. 
 
 Thirteenth : To regulate the 
 openings therein for the laying of 
 gas or water mains and pipes, and 
 the building ^nd repairing of sewers, 
 tunnels and drains, and erecting gas 
 lights: Provided, however, .that any 
 company heisetof ore organized under 
 the general laws of this State, or any 
 association of persons organized or 
 
which may be hereafter organized 
 for the purpose of manufacturing 
 illuminating gas to supply cities or 
 villages, or the inhabitants thereof,' 
 with the same, shall have the right 
 by consent of the common council 
 (subject to existing rights), to erect 
 gas factories, and lay dpwn pipes 
 in the streets or alleys of any city 
 or village in this State,, subject to 
 such regulations as any such city or 
 village may by ordinance impose. 
 
 Fourteenth : To regulate the use 
 of sidewalks and all structures 
 thereunder; and to require the 
 owner or occupant of any premises 
 to keep the sidewalks in front of, 
 or along the same, free from snow 
 and other ol>stru,ctions. 
 
 Fifteenth : To regulate and pre- 
 yent the throwing or depositing of 
 ashes, offal, dirt, garbage, or any 
 offensive matter In, and to prevent 
 injury to any street, avenue, alley 
 or public ground. 
 
 Sixteenth: To provide for and 
 regulate crosswalks, curbs and gut- 
 ters. ' 
 
 Seventeenth : To ijegulate and 
 prevent the use of streets, side- 
 walks, and public grounds, for signs, 
 sign posts, awnings, awning posts, 
 telegraph poles, horse troughs, 
 racks, posting hand bills and ad- 
 vertisements. 
 
 Eighteenth : To regulate and pro- 
 hibit the exhibition or carrying, of 
 banners, placards, advertisements or 
 hand bills in the streets or public 
 grounds, or upon the sidewalks. 
 
 Nineteenth:- To regulate and pre- 
 ,vent the flying of flags, banners or 
 signs cicross the streets or from 
 houses. 
 
 Twentieth : To regulate trafHc 
 and sales upon the streets, sidewalks 
 and public places.^ 
 
 Twenty-first: To regulate the 
 speed of horses and other animals, 
 vehicles, cars and locomotives with- 
 in the limits of the corporation. 
 
 Twenty-second: To regulate the 
 numbering of houses and lots. 
 
 Twenty-third: To name and 
 change the name of any street, ave- 
 nue, alley or other public place. 
 
 Twenty-fourth: To permit, ^eg^- 
 ,late or prohibit the locating, con- 
 structing or laying a track of any 
 horse railroad, in any street, alley 
 or public place; but such permis- 
 sion shall not be for a longer time 
 than for twenty years. 
 
 Twenty-fifth: To provide 'for- 
 and change the location, grade and' 
 crossing of any railroad. 
 
 Twenty-sixth ; To require rail- 
 road companies to' fence their re- 
 spective railroads, or any portion 
 of the same, and to construct cattle 
 guards, crossings of streets and pub- 
 lic roads, and keep the same in re- 
 pair, within the limits of the cor- 
 poration. In case any railrpad com- 
 pany shall fail to coipply with any 
 such ordinance, it shall be liable 
 for all damages the owner of any 
 cattle or horses or otl\er domestic 
 ahimal may sustain by reason- of in- 
 juries thereto while on the track of 
 such tailroad, in like manner and 
 extent as under the general laws 
 of this State, relative to th^ fenc- 
 ing of railroads; and actions to re- 
 cover such damages may be insti- 
 tuted before any justice of the peace 
 or other court of competent juris- 
 diction. 
 
 Twe;Qty-s_eventh : To require rail- 
 road conip'anies to keep flagmen 
 at railroad crossings of streets, and 
 provide protection against injury to 
 persons and property in the use of 
 such railroads. To compel such rail- 
 roads to raise or lower their rail- 
 r09,d tracks to conform to any grade 
 which may, at any time, be estab- 
 lished by said city, and where such 
 tracks run lengthwise of any such 
 street, alley or highway, to keep 
 their railroad tracks on a ilevel with 
 the street surface, and so that such 
 tracks may be crossed at any place 
 on' such street, alley or highway. 
 To compel and require railroad 
 companies to make and keep open 
 and to keep in repair ditches, drains, 
 sewers and culverts along and un- 
 
•7- 
 
 der their railroad tracks so that 
 filthy or stagnant pools of water 
 cannot stand on their grounds or 
 right of way, and so that the 
 natural drainage of adjacent prop- 
 -6f ty shall not be . impeded. 
 
 , Twenty-eighth : To construct and 
 keep in repair bridges, viaducts, and 
 tunnels, and to regulate tfie use 
 thereof. 
 
 Twenty-ninth.: To construct and 
 keep in repair culverts, drains, 
 sewers and cesspools and to regulate 
 the use thereof. 
 
 Thirtieth: To deepen, ' widen, 
 dock, cover, wall, alter or change 
 channfil of water courses. 
 . Thirty-flrst: To construct and 
 keep in repair canals and slips for 
 ' the accommodation of commerce. 
 
 Thirty-second : To erect and keep 
 in repair public landing places, 
 wharves, docks and levees. 
 
 Thirty-third : To ' regulate and 
 control the 'use of public and private 
 landing places, wharves, docks and 
 levees. 
 
 Thirty-fourth: To control and 
 regulate the anchorage, moorage and 
 landing of all wat6.r craft and their 
 cargoes within the jurisdiction of 
 the corporation. 
 
 Thirty-fifth : To license., regulate 
 and prohibit wharfrboats, tugs and 
 other boats used about the haAor, 
 or within such jurisdiction. 
 
 Thirty-sixth: To fix the rate of 
 wharfage and doefeage. 
 
 Thirty-seventh : To collect wharfs 
 age and dockage from all l)oats, 
 rafts or other craft landing at or 
 using any public landing place, 
 wharf, dock or levee within the 
 limits of the corporation. 
 
 Thirty-eighth : To make regulSi- 
 tions in regard to use of harbors, 
 towing of vessels, opening and pass- 
 ing of bridges. 
 
 Thirty-ninth: To appoint Har- 
 bor Masters and define their duties. 
 
 Fortieth: To provide for the 
 cleansing^and purification of waters, 
 water-courses and canals, and the 
 
 draining or filling of ponds on pri- ' 
 vate property,, whenever necessary 
 to prevent or abate nuisances. 
 
 Forty-first : To license, tax, regu- 
 late and prohibit hawkers, peddlers, 
 pawnbrokers, keeper^ of ordinaries, 
 theatricals and other exhibitions^, 
 shows and amusements, and to re- 
 voke such license at pleasure. 
 
 Forty-second: To license, tax; 
 and regulate hackmen, draymen, 
 omnibus drivers, carters, cabmen, 
 porters, expressmen, and 'all others 
 pursuing like occupations, and to 
 prescribe their compensation. 
 
 Forty-third: To license, regulate, 
 tax and restrain runners for stages, 
 cars, public houses, or other things 
 or persons. 
 
 Forty-fourth: To license, regu- 
 late, tax or prohibit and suppress 
 billiard, bagatelle, pigeon-hole or 
 any other tables or implements kept 
 or used for a simijlar purpose in 
 any place of public resort, pin alleys 
 and ball alleys. 
 
 Forty-fifth : To suppress bawdy 
 and disordelrly houses, housfes of ill- 
 fame or assignation, within the 
 limits of the city and within thr6e 
 miles of the outer boundaries of thfe 
 city; and also to suppress gaming 
 and gambling holises, lotteries, and 
 all fraudulent devices and prac-- 
 tices, for the purpose of gaining or 
 obtaining money or property; and , ' 
 to prohibit the sale or exhibition oif 
 obscene or immoral publications, 
 prints, pictures or illustrations. 
 
 Forty-sixth : To license, regulate 
 and prohibit the selling or giving 
 away -of any intoxicating, malt, 
 
 ; vinous, mixed or fermented liquor, 
 the license not to extend beyond the 
 municipal year in which it shall be ; 
 granted, and to ' determine the. 
 amount to be paid for such license; 
 Provided, that the city council in. 
 cities, or presidents and boards of . 
 trustees in villages, njay grant per- 
 mits to druggists for the sale of 
 
 , liquors for medicinal, mechanical, 
 sacramental and chemical purposes 
 only, subject to forfeiture, and un- 
 
8 
 
 der such restrictions andTegulations 
 as may be provided by -ordinance : 
 Provided, further, that in granting 
 licenses such corporate authorities 
 shall comply \yith whatever general 
 law of the State may be in force rel- 
 ative to the granting of licenses. 
 
 Forty-seventh : The foregoing 
 shall not be construed to affect the 
 provisions of the charter of any 
 literary institution heretofore 
 granted. 
 
 Forty-e;ghth : And the city coun- 
 cil in cities, and -president and board 
 of trustees in villages, shall also 
 have the power to forbid and punish 
 the selling or giving away of any 
 intoxicating, malt, vinous, mixed or 
 fermented liquor to any minor, ap- 
 prentice or servant or insane, idiotic 
 or distracted person, ,habitual 
 drunkard, or person intoxicated. 
 
 Forty-ninth: To establish mar- 
 kets and market-houses, and pro- 
 vide for the regulation and use 
 thereof. 
 
 'Fiftieth : To regulate the sale of 
 meats, poultry, fish, butter, cheese, 
 lard, vegetables, and all- other pro- 
 visions, and to provide for place 
 and manner of selling the same and 
 to direct the location thereof. 
 • Fifty-first : To prevent and pun- 
 ish forestalling and regrating. 
 
 Fifty-second: To regulate the 
 sale of bread in the city or village; 
 prescribe the weight and quality of 
 bread in the loaf. 
 
 Fifty-third: To provide for and 
 regulate the inspection of meats, 
 poultry, fish, butter, cheese, lard, 
 vegetables, cotton, tobacco, flour, 
 meal and other provisions. ~ 
 
 Fifty-fourth : To regulate the in- 
 spection, weighing and measuring of 
 brick, lumber, firewood, coal, hay, 
 and any article of merchandise. 
 
 - Fifty-fifth: To provide for the 
 inspection and sealing of weights 
 and measures. 
 
 Fifty-sixth : To enforce the keep- 
 ing and Use of proper weights and 
 mestsures by vendors. 
 
 FilFty-seventh : To regulate, the 
 construction, repairs and use of 
 vaults, cisterns, areas, hydrants, 
 pumps, sewers and gutters. 
 
 Fifty-eighth : To regulate and 
 direct the location of places of 
 amusement. 
 
 Fifty-ninth ; To prevent intoxi- , 
 cation, fighting, quarreling, dog 
 fights, cock fights, and all disor- 
 derly conduct. 
 
 Sixtieth: To regulate partition 
 fences and party walls. 
 
 Sixty-first : To prescribe the 
 thickness, strength, and manner of 
 constructing stone^ brick and other 
 buiildings and construction of fire 
 escapes therein; 
 
 Sixty-second : The city council', 
 and the president and trustees' in 
 villages, for the purpose of guard- 
 ing against the calamities of fire, 
 shall have power to prescribe the 
 limits within which wooden build- 
 ings shall not be erected or placed, 
 or repaired, without permission, and 
 to direct that all and any buildings 
 within the fire limits, when the 
 same shall have been damaged by 
 fire, decay or otherwise, to the»ex- 
 tent of fifty per cent of the value, 
 shall be torn down or removed and 
 to prescribe the manner of ascer- 
 taining such damage. 
 
 Sixty- third : To prevent the dan- 
 gerous construction and condition of 
 chimneys, fireplaces, hearths, stoves, 
 stove-pipes, ovens, boilers, and ap- 
 paratus used ia and about any 
 building and manufactory, and to 
 causa the same to be removed or 
 placed in a safe condition, when 
 considered dangerous; to regulate 
 and prevent the carrying on of 
 manufactories dangerous in causing 
 and prompting .(promoting) fires; 
 to prevent the deposit of ashes in 
 unsafe places, and to cause all such 
 buildings and enclosures, as may be 
 in a dangerous state i to be put in a 
 safe condition. 
 
 Sixty-fourth : To . ereqt engine 
 houses, and provide fire engines, 
 hose carts, hooks and ladders, and 
 
other implements for prevention 
 and extinguishment of fires, and 
 provide fop the use and manage- 
 ment of the same by voluntary flre 
 companies or otherwise. 
 
 Sixty-fifth : To regulate and pre- 
 vent storage of gunpowder, tar, 
 pitch, resin, coal, oil, beiizine, tur- 
 pentine, hemp, cotton, nitrogly- 
 cerine, petroleum, or any of the 
 products thereof, and other com- 
 bustible or explosive material, and 
 the use of lights in stables, shops 
 and other places, and the buil<jling 
 of bon-flres; also to regulate, re- 
 strain and prohibit the use of fire- 
 works, firecrackers, torpedoes, Ro- 
 man candles, sky-rockets, and other 
 pyrotechnic displays. 
 
 Sixty-sixth: To regulate the 
 police of the city or village, and 
 pass and enforce all necessary police 
 ordinances. 
 
 Sixty-seventh: To provide for 
 the inspection of steam boilers. 
 
 Sixty-eighth: To prescribe the 
 duties and powers of a superintend- 
 ent of police, policemen and watch- 
 men. 
 
 Sixty-ninth: To establish and 
 erect calabooses, bridewells, houses 
 of correction and 'workhouses for 
 the reformation arid confinement of 
 vagrants, idle and disorderly per- 
 sons, and persons convicted of vio^ 
 latirig any city or village ordinance, 
 and mal^e rules and regulations for 
 the government of the same, and 
 appoint necessary keepers and as- 
 sistants. 
 
 Seventieth: To use the county 
 jail for the confinement or punish- 
 ment of offenders, subject to suchi 
 conditions as are imposed by law, 
 and with the consent of the county 
 board. 
 
 Seventy-first: To provide by^or- 
 dinance in regard to the relation be- 
 tween all the officers and employes 
 of the corporation in respect to each 
 other, the corporation and the peo- 
 ple. 
 
 Seventy-second : To prevent and 
 
 suppress, riots, routs, affrays, noises, 
 disturbances, disorderly assemblies 
 in any public or private place. 
 
 Seventy-third: To prohibit and 
 punish cruelty to animals. 
 
 Seventy-fourth: To restrain and 
 punish vagrants, mendicants and 
 prostitutes. 
 
 Seventy-fifth: To declare what 
 shall be a nuisance, and to abate 
 the same; and to impose fines upon 
 parties who may create, continue 
 or suffer nuisances to exist. 
 
 Seventy-sixth: To appoint a 
 board of health, and prescribe its 
 powers and duties. 
 
 Seventy-seventh: To erect and 
 establish hospitals and medical dis- 
 pensaries, and to regulate hospitals, 
 medical dispensaries, sanatoria and 
 undertaking establishments, and to 
 direct the location thereof. 
 
 Seventy-eighth: To do all acts, 
 make all regulations which may be 
 necessary or expedient for the pro- 
 motion of health or the suppression 
 of disease. 
 
 Seventy-ninth: To establish and 
 regulate cemeteries within or with- 
 out the corporation, and acquire 
 lands therefore (therefor), by pur- 
 chase or otherwise, and cause ceme- 
 teries to be removed, and prohibit 
 their establishment within one mile 
 of the corporation. 
 
 Eightieth: To regulate, restrain 
 and prohiibt the running at large of 
 horses, cattle, swine, sheep, goats, 
 geese and dogs, and to impose a tax 
 on dogs. 
 
 . Eighty-first : To direct the loca- 
 tion and regulate the management 
 and construption of packing houses, 
 renderies, tallow chandleries, bone 
 factories, soap factories, and tai>- 
 neries, within the limits of the city 
 or village, and within the distance 
 of one mile without the city or vil- 
 lage limits, r 
 
 Eighty-second: To direct the 
 location and rogulate the use and 
 construction of breweries, distil- 
 leries, livery, boarding or sale 
 
10 
 
 stables, blacksmith shops, foundries, 
 ■ machine shops, gafages, hangars, 
 launderies, bathing; .beaches, pianino 
 mills, flour mills, box factories, lead 
 factories, §teel factories, iron fac- 
 tories, ice plants, either for the 
 manufacturing or storing of ice, fac- 
 tories or other manufacturing estab- 
 lishments using rruwhinery, or emit- 
 ting offensive or noxious fumes, 
 odors, or noises, and storage\ and 
 warehouses within the limits of the 
 city or village. 
 
 Eighty-third : To prohibit ^ any 
 offensive or unwholesome business 
 or establishment within or within 
 one mile of the limits of the cor- 
 poration. 
 
 Eighty- fourth : To compel the 
 owner of any grocery, cellar, soap 
 or tallow chandjlery, tannery, st^le, 
 pig-sty, privy, sewer or other un- 
 wholesome or nauseous house or 
 place,, to cleanse, abate or remove 
 the same, and to regulate the loca- 
 tion thereof. 
 
 Eighty-flfth ; The city council or 
 trustees of a village, shal|l have 
 power to provide for the taking of 
 the city or villaige census; but no 
 city or village census shall be taken 
 by authority I of the council or trus- 
 tees oftene'r than once in three 
 years. 
 
 Eighty-sixth : To provide for the 
 erection and care of all public 
 buildings necessary :?or the use of 
 the city or village. 
 
 Eighty-seventh : To establish fer- 
 ries, toll bridges and license and 
 regulate the same, and from time 
 to time to fix tolls thereon. 
 
 Eighty-eighth: To authorize the 
 construction of mips, mill-races, 
 and feeders on, through or across 
 the streets of the city or village, at 
 such places and under such restric- 
 tion as they shall deem proper. 
 
 Eighty-ninth: The city council 
 shall have power, by coniiemnation 
 or otherwise, to extend any street, 
 alley or highway over' or across, or 
 to construct any sewer under or 
 through any rai|lroad track, right of 
 
 way, or land of any railroad com- 
 pany, (within the corporate limits) ; 
 but where no compensation is made, 
 to such railroad company the city 
 shall restore such railroad track, 
 right of way or land to its former 
 state, or in a sufficient manner not 
 to have impaired its usefulness. 
 
 Ninetieth: The City Council or 
 IBoard of Trustees shall have no 
 power to grant the use of or the 
 right to lay down any railroad tracks 
 in any street of the city to any 
 steam, dummy, electric, cable, horse 
 or oth,er railroad company, whether 
 the same shall be incorporated Under 
 any general or special Jaw of the 
 State, now or hereafter in force, 
 exbept upon the petition of the 
 owners of the land representing 
 more than one-ha:if of the frontage 
 of the street, or so much thereof 
 as is sought to be used for railroad 
 purposes, and when the street or 
 part thereof sought to be used shall 
 be more than one mile ih extent, ho 
 petition of land owners shall be valid 
 uAless . the same shall be signed 
 by the owners of the' land repre- 
 senting more than one-half of the 
 frontage of each mile and of the 
 fraction of a mile, if any in excess 
 of the whole miles measuring from 
 the initial point nanied in such pe- 
 tition of such street or of the part 
 thereof; sought to be used for rail- 
 road purposes. 
 
 Ninety-first : To tax, license and 
 regulate auctioneers, distillers, 
 breweries, lumber yards, livery 
 stables, public scales, money chang- 
 ers and brokers. 
 
 Ninety-second: To prevent and 
 regulate the rolling of hoops, play- 
 ing of ball, flying of kites, or any 
 other amusement or practice having 
 a tendency to annoy persons passing 
 in the streets or on the sidewalks, 
 or to frighten teams and horses. 
 
 Ninety-third: To regulate, direct 
 the location of, and prohibit the 
 keeping of any lumber or coal yard, 
 and the placing or piling or selling 
 any litmber,, timber, wood, coal, or 
 other combustible material within 
 the limits of the city or village. 
 
11 
 
 r^inety-fourth : To provide by, 
 Ordinance, that all the paper, print- 
 ing, stationery, blanks, fuel and all 
 the supplies needed for the use of 
 the city, shall be furnished by con- 
 tract, let to the lowest bidder. 
 
 Ninety-fifth : To fax, license and 
 regulate second-h'pind and junk 
 stores and yards, and to forbid their 
 purchasing or receiving from min- 
 ors without the written consent of 
 their parents or guardians, any arti- 
 cle whatsoever, and to direct . the 
 location thereof.. ' 
 
 Ninety-sixth : To direct, license 
 and cbntrol all wagons and' other 
 vehicles conveying loads within the 
 city, or any particular class of such 
 wagons, and other vehicles, and 
 prescribe the width and tire of the 
 same, the license fee when collected 
 to be kept as a separate fund and 
 used only for paying the cost and 
 expense of street or alley, improve- 
 ment or repair. 
 
 Ninety-seventh: To acquire, in 
 the manner now or hereafter pro- 
 vided by law for the taking of pri- 
 vate property for public use, pri- 
 vate lands bordering upon the pub- 
 lic or navigable waters,- useful, de- 
 sirable or advanta,geous for bathing 
 beaches and recreation piers. 
 
 Ninety-eighth: To regulate and 
 limit the intensity of the use 0/ 
 lot areas and to determine the 
 proper areas for yards, courts and 
 other open spaces; to regulate and 
 restrict the location of trades and 
 industries and the location of build- 
 ings designed for specified uses and 
 to designate the trades and indus- 
 tries that shall be permitted in, or 
 excluded from, designated districts, 
 or subjected to special regulations 
 and to designate the uses for which 
 buildings in any designated district 
 may or may not be erected or ot- 
 tered, giving reasonable considera- 
 tion to the character of fhe district, 
 its peculiar suitability for partic- 
 ular uses, the conservation of prop- 
 erty, values and the direction of 
 building development to the best 
 advantage of the entire city or vil- 
 
 lage; to devide cities or villaget into 
 district^ of such number, shape and 
 area and to classify the buildings, 
 trades and industries therein as may 
 be deemed best suited to secure 
 safety from fire and other dangers 
 and to promote' the public health, 
 comfort and welfare, regard bei^g 
 given, so faf as possible, to securing 
 adequate light, air and convenience 
 of access an4 to conserving the tax- 
 able value' of buildings and land 
 throughout the city or village; pro- 
 vided, that, it shall be a provision of 
 all regulations or Ordinances enacted 
 under the authority herein con- 
 ferred that all^ buildings and im- 
 provements may be continued in any 
 condition or use to which they are 
 lawfully devoted at the time of the 
 enactment of such regulation or or- 
 dinance, and provided further, that 
 no such ^ regulation \ or ordinance 
 shall be enacted until after a public 
 hearing has been held upon the 
 question of such regulation or ordi- 
 nance either before the city council 
 in cities, or the President and Boq.rd 
 of Trustees in villages, as the case 
 may be, or before a committee or 
 commission authorized by these 
 ^bodies to investigate and make rec- 
 ommendations concerning such pro- 
 posed regulations or ' ordinances. 
 Notice of such a hearing, shall be 
 given by piiblieation of the same in 
 a newspaper Of general .circulation 
 within such city or village at least 
 thirty days prior to the date of s,uch 
 hearing,, at which hearing oppor- 
 tunity shall be given parties inter- 
 ested to be heard upon the matter of 
 the proposed regulation or ordi- 
 nance. 
 
 Ninety-ninth : To pass all ordi- 
 nances, rules, and make all regula- 
 tions, proper or necessary, to carry 
 into effect the powers granted to 
 cities or villages, with such fines or 
 penalties as the city council or board 
 of trustees shall deem proper : Pro- 
 vided, no fine or penalty shall ex- 
 ceed $200.00 and no imprisqnnient 
 shall exceed six months for one of- 
 fense. 
 
12 
 
 BUILDING DISTRICTS AND RESTRICTIONS 
 
 A statement of the desirability 
 of giving the City of Chicago power 
 to create Building Districts, pre- 
 sented to the Sub-Committee of the 
 City Council's Committee on Judic- 
 iary, by Alderman Charles E. Mer- 
 riam, in support of a Bill intro- 
 duced by him in the City Council, 
 May 8, 1916. 
 
 I. Considerations favoring Build- 
 
 ing Distripts: 
 1. Protection against depre- 
 ciation of property val- 
 ues. ' 
 ■ 2. Reduction of fire hazard. 
 3.- Reduction of number of 
 accidents to children. 
 
 4. Improvement of home 
 
 conditions, with par- 
 
 ticulEir reference to 
 
 , clea,n streets, pure air 
 
 and quiet. * 
 
 5. Improvement of housing 
 
 conditions. 
 
 6. Promotion of industrial 
 
 development of city. 
 
 II. Difflcultips of Private Biiild- 
 
 ' ing Restrictions. 
 
 III. .Experience of other cities. 
 
 IV. Chicago's, legislation and legal 
 
 problem. ' < 
 
13 
 
 How to obtain sanitary, safe, 
 comfortable and attractive homes 
 where large populations are con- 
 centrated upon small areas, is one 
 of the greatest problems of the 
 modern city. No other single ques- 
 tion of city government is of great- 
 er importance, for the protection 
 and improvement of living condi- 
 tions is one , o^ the fundamental 
 concerns of the municipality. How 
 to obtain an orderly development 
 of residential and industrial dis- 
 tricts, without hampering the home 
 or cramping industrial grewth, is 
 also a vital problem of every city, 
 whether large or small. 
 
 Quiet, freedom from the nerve 
 racking atmosphere that generally 
 surrounds our industries, pure air, 
 safety for our children in their 
 play, lessening of the possibility of 
 fire loss, and wholesome housing 
 conditions; these are some of the- 
 things a "city should conserve to its 
 people in their home life. If we 
 are to build up a healthy com- 
 munity, we must plan our city to 
 secure these essentials for good 
 .living conditions. We must stop 
 haphazard development which 
 brings factories and commercial 
 establishments into home neighbor- 
 hoods and breaks down the condi- 
 tions for normal home life. • 
 
 That the desirabili,ty for residence 
 purposes of many sections of our 
 city has been greatly lessened- by 
 the entrance of industry and busi- 
 ness mky be conclusively demon- 
 strated (by . experience. These en- 
 croachments have depreciated the 
 investment of ,home owners, im- 
 paired the stability of real estate 
 values, resulting in widespread loss, 
 increased the Are hazard of adjacent 
 residence property; destroyed the 
 quiet of our residence neighbor- 
 hoodS; made more dangerous thei 
 play of children on the streets near 
 their homes; and generally dis- 
 turbed the living conditions in the 
 community, 
 
 ' On the other hand, the haphazard 
 development of industrial and resi- 
 dential districts has not helped the 
 
 growth of manufacture and trade. 
 Quite the contrary, the hit and miss 
 expansion of industrial lareas has 
 been enormously costly to the com- 
 munity in many ways. This be- 
 comes clear the moment we under-~ 
 take to deal with the question of 
 railway terminals, local transporta- 
 tion, municipal harbors and local 
 market centers. At once the value 
 and necessity_of an orderly plan of~ 
 development ' becomes > apparent. 
 Terminals, harbors, transportation, 
 are all related to areat of industry 
 and the residential areas of those 
 who carry on the industries. The 
 practical problems now before our 
 Railway Terminal Commission and 
 our Transportation Commission are, 
 in a large measure, dependent upon 
 the future growth of the residential 
 and industrial areas of Chicago. 
 Terminals, transportation, trade 
 centers, markets, manufacturing 
 areas, and homes are all woven to- 
 gether in actual fact. Consequently 
 the city must view and act upon 
 the problem as a whole, in order 
 to conserve the great human inter- - 
 ests as well as the land and indus- 
 trial values involved. The city can- 
 not leave its own development to 
 chance, specuiation and individual 
 interests alone. We must direct and 
 plan the outlines of ^le city's 
 growth. 
 
 It is the purpose of this brief to 
 show that the city should be au- 
 thorized by the Legislature to create 
 building districts,- classified as "resi- 
 dential", "industrial", "undeter^ 
 mined", or otherwise; and should 
 work out and execute a concrete 
 plan of this k^nd, as soon as au- 
 thorized. 
 
 PROTECTION AGAINST DEPRECIATION OF 
 VALUES. 
 
 The destruction of the conditions 
 for wholesome ihome life by the in- 
 vasion of trade and industry in 
 residence districts is reflected in 
 the. loss in value in residence prop- 
 erty when such encroachments are 
 made. The depreciation in prop- 
 erty values is considerable and the 
 
14 
 
 loss to an individual sometimes is 
 so great as seriously to embarrass 
 the owner who has invested all his 
 savings in a home. That this has 
 occurred in other large cities as 
 well as in Chicago is borne out by 
 the statement in the report of the 
 Commission on Building Districts 
 and Restrictions of New York City, 
 page 17, recently issued: 
 
 "There is an intimate and 
 necessary relation between con- 
 servation of property values and 
 the conse^atioii of public health, 
 safety and welfare. Throughout 
 the city, those areas in which 
 values have been depreciated by 
 the invasion of inappropriate 
 uses or lack of building control 
 as to height, courts and open 
 spaces, are the areas in which the 
 worst conditions as to sanitation 
 and safety prevail and where 
 there is the greatest violation to 
 the things essential to public 
 comfort, convenience and order. 
 The decline in property value in 
 such districts is merely an econ- 
 omic index of the disregard of the 
 essential standards of public 
 health, safety and convenience in 
 building development.". 
 Instances may be multiplied, in- 
 dicating a similar decline of values 
 in various parts of Chicago where 
 encroachments of trade and in- 
 dustry have been made in residence 
 districjis. Typical examples, based 
 upon actual sales of property, or on 
 values fixed by th©. owner for the 
 purposes of sale, from various sec- 
 tions of the city, are : 
 
 "Several years ago, an apart- 
 ment building was erected at a 
 cost, for the building itself, of 
 eleven thousand dollars. The cost 
 of the land was at that time 
 thirty-five hundred dollars, mak- 
 ing a total investment of fourteen 
 thousand five hundred dollars. 
 Subsequently a coal yard was 
 established immediately adjacent 
 to it. Since that time it has been 
 impossible to rent one of the 
 apartments in this building be- 
 cause of the dust and di?t nuis- 
 
 ance created by the unloading of 
 coal in the yard. One of the other 
 apartments in this building has 
 been rented only at a decreased 
 rentaj. The owner lived in the 
 third apartment. As residence 
 property, the land has depreciated 
 in valuci but for the purposes of 
 a coal yard it has, perhaps, in- 
 creased in value if rom the original 
 price of thirty-five hundred dol- 
 lars to seventy-five hundred dol- 
 lars, but the increased valua,tion 
 is based on the "bare" value of 
 the land, and if it wer^ sold at 
 that figure, nothing would be paid 
 for the improvements which have 
 ■been made, but which, of course, 
 are Avorthless from the point of 
 view of the operator of the coal 
 yard. If the owner is forced to 
 sell under these conditions, even 
 assuming that the value of ^ land 
 in this section for coal yard pur- 
 poses has increased, he would re- 
 ceive seventy- Ave hundred dol- 
 lars after making an investment 
 in residence property of fourteen 
 thousand five hundred dollars. In 
 other words, the encroachment of 
 business in this district, whick is , 
 wholly devoted to' residential 
 purposes, has resulted in a net 
 loss to the adjacent home ovvner 
 of seven thousand dollars. The 
 loss would have been much 
 greater if the land' value for use 
 as a coal yard had not increased 
 as much as it has." 
 
 "A residence in the vicinity of 
 Wicker Park on the Northwest 
 Side, was built twelve years and 
 represented then an investment of 
 almost 625,000. The Establish- 
 ment of a grocery store in the 
 block, together with the gradual 
 estaiblishment of small shops in 
 the neighborhood, has so lessened 
 the value of the property fbr resi- 
 ' dential purposes that two of the 
 residences in the block are • va- 
 cant and have been so for a con- 
 siderable period and the sale of 
 the residence above referred to 
 
15 
 
 was recently made at a price, it 
 is reported, of $5,000, as com- 
 pared (With the $25,000 invest- 
 ment made but twelve years ago. 
 
 The lowering of the character 
 of the neighborhood has, of 
 course, lowered the demand for 
 good residences in this locality 
 and the ^depreciation in t)ie value 
 of the real estate improvements 
 has been much greater than 
 would normally be the case. 
 
 Another instance in the same 
 locality is of a residence built in 
 1898 on Robey street. Two years 
 later a street car line was estab- 
 lished on this strpet. Then came 
 a clothing factory and a saloon 
 in the same block. The value of 
 land at the time the residence was 
 erecteid in this block was about 
 $100 per front foot. Since these 
 encroachments have occurred, the 
 value has dropped to $60 per 
 front foot, a loss of forty per 
 cent." 
 
 "A thirty acre subdivision on 
 the north side was opened up 
 several years ago. Two lots had 
 been sold -before the land of the 
 subdivision ha,d been placed upon 
 the market. The developers of 
 the subdivision t)laced in the 
 deeds- of all property which they 
 controlled (not, of course, includ- 
 ing the two lots), restrictions as 
 to the use of property, limiting 
 the area to buildings used for 
 residential purpo&es and prescrib- 
 ing a building linff^set back from 
 the lot line. The Ipts in the sub- 
 division sold readily and were 
 improved with residences of 
 moderate value. One of the two 
 lots sold, prior to the formal 
 opening of the subdivision re- 
 mained vacajil for a number of 
 years. The owner of the Itit then 
 erected an apartment building out 
 to the lot line. The result of this 
 failure to lObserve the building 
 line has depreciated property in 
 the immediate vicinity and it is 
 estim.ated that the total loss to 
 
 property owners affected is be- 
 tween $5,000 to $10,000, based 
 upon one sale made in that lo- 
 cality indicating a loss to the 
 owner selling of over $500. 
 
 "The value of residence prop- 
 erty may be depreciated not ,only 
 by an encroachment of a business 
 fronting on the same street as the 
 residence but by the location of a 
 factory or business in the same 
 square block as the residence but 
 
 ' facing on another street. This is ' 
 illustrated in a sale of residence 
 property on Washington boule- 
 vard where the value of property, 
 had been lessened because ot the 
 location of a factory across ithe 
 
 , alley from the residence, but fac- 
 ing on another street. Several 
 years 'ago the home in question 
 was purchased by the 'owner for 
 $11,000. As a result of the in- 
 vasion of industry in the block in 
 which his home was located, he 
 was forced to sell for $7,000. The 
 loss in this case represents 
 largely a depreciatioh in the 
 value of the residence rather than 
 a loss in value of the land which 
 may be. available for other 
 uses." 
 
 5. ' 
 
 "A few years ago stores were 
 established on a street in Rogers 
 Park immediately east of Ashland 
 avenue. At that time this street 
 was one of the best residence 
 stree^ in Rogers Park and there 
 were a number of residences built 
 on the street in the immediate 
 vicinity where these stores were 
 established. Some of these resi- 
 dences cost as niuch as $30,000 
 and the land value on that street 
 was as high and in SQihe cases 
 higher than the value of property 
 on adj agent streets. That the 
 locating of stores in: this neigh- 
 Iwrhood has depreciated the value 
 of property on that street is evi- 
 denced by the! sale of vacant 
 property in this locality in the 
 
16 
 
 last year. Eifty feet frontage 
 vacant on this street, three hun- 
 dred feet west of Paulina street, 
 sold at the rate of $70 per foot. 
 Similar frontage, one block dis- 
 tant, sold during the same year 
 at the rate of f 100 per foot, and 
 forty fleet frontage, two blocks 
 away, sold at the same price. It 
 is apparent, therefore, • that the 
 depreciation of land value has 
 occurred on the streets where the 
 stores were established." 
 
 6. 
 
 "On University avenue, in a 
 wholly residential district, a large 
 ice plant was erected, against the 
 unavailing protests of the entire 
 community. ■ The direct result 
 was the great destruction of real 
 estate values in the neighborhood 
 , and the material discomfort of 
 those who were obliged to endure 
 the noise and smoke of this large 
 es1;ablishment surrounded by 
 apartment buildings." 
 
 To the small home owner, such 
 invasions of his territory are dis- 
 astrous and even tuinous,' where the 
 owner has placed a rnortgage on his 
 property. If the o'winer of a $5,000 
 home, on which there is an en- 
 cumbrance of say $2,500, finds one 
 day an industrial establishment 
 next door, he suffers severe loss. If 
 he has b,uilt a small home and is 
 surrounded by large apartment 
 buildings, he ' suffers loss and dis- 
 comfort in the same way. Yet un- 
 der our present system he has abso- 
 lutely no defense. He will be 
 obliged to bear not only financial 
 loss, but may also endure a menace 
 to his health, safety and comfort. 
 
 Illustrations of this kind are 
 many. In fact, any one can readily 
 find concrete cases by looking 
 around his own neighborhood. They 
 are commonplace oocutrences in 
 the \life of the smaH home owner, 
 the larger investor, the dfealer, and 
 the tenant,' whos^ health, comfoi^, 
 and convenience may be jeopardized. 
 Instead of encouraging individual 
 
 home building on a modest scale, 
 we make it altogether too hazardous 
 an enterprise. This fact tends in- 
 evitably to create constantly greater 
 concentration of population. 
 
 The present haphazard way of 
 mixing business industries with 
 residences has frequently given op- 
 portunity to an unscrupulous owner 
 to exact tribute from his neighbors. 
 The blackmailing of owners who 
 wish to preserve their neighborhood 
 as a residence district is niade pos- 
 sible under present conditions 
 which permit the development of 
 vacant property where the neigh- 
 borhood is excWsi\ely residential, in 
 some very inappropriate manner, 
 such as by a factory or store, which, 
 would seriously injure the other 
 property in the vicinity. 
 
 Alexander S. Taylor, who has had 
 many years experience in the de- 
 velopment of residential real estate 
 in Cleveland, calls attention to this 
 condition in his additess on "Dis- 
 tricting by Private Effort" before 
 the National Conference on M;iity 
 Planning, ,1916: 
 
 "I have no tolerance for tttfc in- 
 dividual who sometimes classes 
 himself as a real estate operator 
 who deliberately goes into a fixed 
 residential locality and ruins not 
 only the beauty, but the harmon-' 
 ious development of that section 
 by improper use of the land- 
 through the erection of business 
 buildings entirely out of place, 
 undesirable and unneeded in that 
 section. He should be restricted 
 and under municipal control. 
 There is always an open season 
 for hold-up operation of this 
 character on the part of certairi 
 individuals' who seek to acquire 
 land only in high class residential 
 localities and force - adjoining 
 property owners to take it over at 
 a profit, so it appears to me that 
 the vital effort of this organiza- 
 tion should • be directed towards 
 , such protection as will come 
 through proper legislation and 
 municipal control. For private 
 
17- 
 
 effort has its limitations without "i 
 legal redress." 
 
 This practice is illustrated in a 
 case which occurred several years ' 
 ago on, the south' side on a very good 
 residence street. 
 
 "Oh a street on the south side 
 where there were many hand- 
 some residences, costing from 
 115,000 to, $35,000, all of tjie lots 
 were improved except one on the 
 corner. One day the neighbors 
 were astonished to find prepara- 
 tions being made to biiild on the 
 vacant property. They were 
 naturally interested to know what 
 development was to take place 
 and on inquiring of the owner, 
 were told he was planning to 
 build a number of small stores 
 on the vacant corner. It was 
 pointed'out to him that the erec- 
 tion of stores at this corner would 
 seriously detract from 'the ap- 
 pearance of the rest of the block 
 and lower the value of property 
 in the neighborhood. He replied 
 that that was his matter and that 
 he had a right, which he un- 
 doubtedly did, to build just as he 
 pleased. A meeting of the prop- , 
 erty owners in the rest of the 
 block was held, and they decided 
 it was cheaper to purchase the 
 property, even at an advanced 
 price, if it were possible to do so, 
 than to permit the encpoachment 
 of stores in the neighborhood as 
 threatened. "After negotiation, 
 the owner of the vacant property 
 \ agi-eed to sell to the other owners 
 in the block his lot at a price ap- 
 proximately $3,000 above what 
 was the market value of the 
 property. In other livords, the 
 owners of residences in the blqck 
 were required to pay the expense 
 of a $3,000 insurance fund in or- 
 der to protect their homes against 
 the invasion of the neighborhood 
 by stores and other undesirable 
 establishments." 
 
 There are many instances of sUjOh 
 cases ahd at present, under the law, 
 this practice is not only permissible, 
 
 but may be highly profitable to an 
 unscrupulous builder who may hold 
 up other property owners on a 
 street by threatening to break down 
 the wholesome conditions in a good 
 residential district. 
 
 Concisely stated, the purpose of 
 the proposed bill is to confer upon 
 the city the power to make "busi- 
 ness.", "residential" and' "undeter- 
 mined" districts and such other 
 classes of districts under each head 
 as may be necessary; to give the city 
 power to regulate and limit the 
 height and bulk of buildings, the 
 area of yards, courts and other open 
 spaces; to restrict the location of 
 trades and industries, and the loca- 
 tion of buildings designed for 
 specified uses. 
 
 If the municipality obtained such 
 power, an ordinance epuld be passed 
 giving a special commission the au- 
 thority to Outline t'entative dis- 
 tricts based upon a thorough study 
 of all the many factors involved. 
 Public hearings would ■ then be 
 held; after which the districts, then 
 deenied appropriate, would then be 
 recommended to the Council and an 
 ordinance passed by that body fixing 
 these districts, with provisions, of 
 course, -for necessary changes. 
 
 The damage which is done to 
 property values in a community be- 
 cause of inappropriate uses of land 
 may affect not only the individual 
 owner who is unfortunate enough 
 to have a factory or store built im- 
 mediately adjacent to his home, but 
 may impair values in a large area 
 and cause' general economic de- 
 preciation of property which is 
 borne by the whole community; 
 The New York City report on Build- 
 ing Districts and Restrictions in 
 speaking of this condition, says : 
 
 "The purely private injury in- 
 cident to haphazard development 
 has become so serious and wide- 
 spread as to constitute a^great 
 public calamity. Through hap- 
 hazard construction and invasion 
 by inappropriate uses the capital 
 values of, large areas have been 
 
'18 
 
 greatly impaired. This destruc- 
 tion of capital value, not only in 
 the central commercial and in- 
 dustrial section, but also through- 
 out the residential sections of the 
 city, . has reached huge propor- 
 tions. It does not stop with the 
 owners in the areas immediately 
 affected, but is reflected in de- 
 pressed values throughout the 
 city. Market value _ for invest- 
 ment purposes is always affected 
 by the hazard of the business. 
 Economic depreciation due to un- 
 regulated construction and in- 
 vasion by inappropriate ,uses had 
 become a hazard that .must be 
 considered by every investor in 
 real estate. This extra hazard 
 increases the net earning basis 
 required to induce investment, 
 and consequently lessens capital 
 values throughout the city. What- 
 ever the capitalized amount that^ 
 may be properly charged to the 
 economic depreciation hazard, it 
 is certainly a huge burden and 
 one that affects npt only the in- 
 dividual owners of real estate 
 throughout the city, but the sav- 
 ings and other large lending in- 
 stitutions, the municipal finances 
 and the general welfare and 
 prosperity of the whole city." 
 
 The situation in Chicago is sim- 
 ilar to that of New York' City in this 
 respect. In a growing city there is, 
 of course continual change in the 
 Character of various sections. As 
 the business district expands, resi- 
 dence neighborhoods close to the 
 center of the city must give way to 
 the demand for more area for busi- 
 ness needs. The changing of a 
 neighborhood from residential to 
 business or industrial uses in- 
 volves a scrapping of the value of 
 buildings used as dwellings which 
 are unavailable for th6 new pur- 
 poses to which the land is put. In 
 the change from a residence neigh- 
 borhood to a business district, the 
 enhanced value of land for stores 
 and offices may be sufficient to pro- 
 vide for the loss from obsolescence 
 of the buildings which must he torn 
 
 down so that they may provide 
 room for business blocks, and no 
 serious loss results. But this is not 
 always the case. In many instances 
 widespread damage results from the 
 scrapping of the value of houses in 
 a residence district. The loss is 
 perhaps greatest where the change 
 is to a manufacturing section. The 
 depreciation not only in improve- 
 ments, but in land values, as prop- 
 erty used for industrial purposes 
 does not command as high prices as 
 business property, may mean a very 
 serious loss to the pro'lpferty owners 
 in the district and to the community 
 at large. ' 
 
 There are many such blighted 
 districts in Chicago and the de- 
 struction of capital in the com- 
 munity has been very great al- 
 though the general rise of land 
 values in the city as a whole has 
 tended to reduce the loss assumed ■ 
 by the community. 
 
 An example of a blighted dis- 
 trict is that bounded roughly by 
 Racine and Western avenues and 
 Lake and Van (Buren streets. In 
 
 . this area, especially on Qjfickson 
 
 and Washington boulevards and 
 
 , on other of the east and west 
 
 • streets. on which there are no car 
 lines, many good residences had 
 been erected. Gi'adually factories 
 came into the district and al- 
 though- the first encroachments 
 were made fifteen years ago or 
 even more, there are still many 
 residences in.this locality. With 
 the coniing of industry,, those 
 residents, who could afford to do 
 so, moved. Rents fell and there 
 was a ' general drop in values. 
 The effect of the encroachments 
 of manufacturing ' plants in this 
 neighborhood is indicated not 
 only in a general 'depreciation of 
 the value of residence property 
 throughout this large area, but 
 also in a decline in land values 
 on an important business street 
 running through this district. 
 This thoroughfare was in demand 
 as a location for retail stores 
 supplying this residence district 
 
19 
 
 and property on the street sold as 
 high as $800 per foot for retail 
 .business purposes. ■ Since the 
 change in the character of the 
 neighhorhood, values have de- 
 clined and sales are now ,being 
 made for property on the street 
 as low, as $300 per front foot as 
 the advantages of this street for 
 business has been lessened. 
 
 The dfivelopnient of this dis- 
 trict, now half f actori? and half 
 residential, has, during the past 
 few years, been very slow. There 
 is no building for residence pur- 
 poses in this section and factories 
 have stopped coming into the dis- 
 trict. The value of land is low 
 in comparison with the value of 
 the land for dwellings,, but the 
 fcost, plus the cost of the resi- 
 dences erected and made un- 
 des^^rable because of. the invasion 
 qf industry, are much higher than 
 land in the outlying sections of 
 the city which are available for 
 manufacturing purposes. 
 
 The situation can be best il- 
 lustrated, perhaps, in the blocks 
 facing Jefferson Park, a small 
 park established when this was 
 an exclusively .residential dis- 
 trict. Some idea of the loss in 
 value to property in this locality 
 may be hai^- in comparing the 
 rents of a building facing -the 
 park in a block in which no en- 
 croachments bave as yet been 
 made; but which is directly op- 
 iposite to a block in which a num- 
 ber of factories have been estab- 
 lished. Apartments in this build- 
 ing rented before industry secur- 
 ed i a foothol'd in the neighborhood 
 ' at $75 per month. Since then the 
 rents have declined to as low as 
 $35 per month,, a depreci'ati'6n in 
 renting value of over fifty per 
 cent. 
 
 Recently no factories had been 
 established in the Jefferson Park 
 district because ■ of the ' relative 
 value of land for industrial pur- 
 poses in that section compared 
 with land nearer the outskirts of 
 
 the city which may be used as 
 factory sites. This district, un- 
 til a readjustment of, valuQS is 
 made, will probably remain half 
 industrial, half residential and 
 the development of the district 
 will be at a standstill.' 
 A district of this kind is in a very 
 unfortunate position because the 
 9wners cannot afford new improve- 
 ments, inasmuch as the* resident's 
 home at any tipie may, be found of 
 no value if the land is sold for in- 
 dustrial uses. ' The New York Com- 
 mission on Building Districts and 
 Restrictions, referring to such a 
 condition, says: ■ ^■ ; 
 
 "A depressed, district of chang- 
 ing occupancy is almost always a 
 district in which . Unwhole^me 
 home a.nd work conditions pre- 
 i vail. Declining values make it 
 difficult or impossible to enforce 
 p]?Hper standards. These de- 
 pressed districts create the most 
 difficult and perplexing problems 
 of housing and factory regula- 
 tion." 
 
 l^he haphazard development 
 which has been permitted in Chi- 
 cago not only impaired the invest- 
 ment of the home owher, and made 
 it possible for unscrupulous real 
 esitate operators to mulct other 
 property owners on the street who 
 wish to protect conditions in their 
 rieighborh<5'od, but it also; caused a 
 large economic loss to the com- 
 munity Eind prevented ' the develop- 
 ment of the city in a mianner likely 
 to insure its -best use: 
 
 Where the usefulness of an ai^ea 
 for residential purposes is injured 
 by the appearance of' industrial es- 
 tablishments and the development- 
 of a mixed residential-industrial 
 territory,^ the community is likely 
 to suffer in several ways. "There is 
 great temptation to leave buildings 
 in an unsanitary , condition, while 
 at the siame time rents are made 
 low enough to attract many people 
 who are not weir equipped to pror 
 tect thertiselves against )this menace. 
 The poor and the weak are the first 
 
20 
 
 to suffer 'here. They must take 
 what is cheapest without much 
 protest. Or the temptation to rent 
 property for immoral purposes may 
 attract the owner, suffering from 
 loSs in property values. Rents for 
 such purposes are notoriously high- 
 er than for other uses, and the 
 "transition" district may easily be- 
 come the rendezvous for vice and 
 crime. This, in turn, may affect 
 those reputalDle citizens who are 
 obliged to live in these neighbor- 
 hoods because rents are low, and 
 returns secured by congestion of 
 population. 
 
 Protection of residence districts 
 will reduce the fire .hazard. 
 
 Haphazard development, permit- 
 ting industrial and business build- 
 ings in residence districts, unques- 
 tionably increiases the fire hazard. 
 From the insurance point of yiew, 
 other things being equal, the risk 
 from fire loss is less in an exclu- 
 sively dwelling house neighborhood 
 than in business or industrial dis- 
 tricts. Mr. W. D. Matthews, Chief 
 Surveyor of theObicago Board of 
 Underwriters, who is especially 
 well qualified to speak on the mat- 
 ter of fire hazard, says: 
 
 "In the first place, a strictly 
 dwelling district is usually re- 
 garded as lesis hazardous than the 
 others. Good housekeeping less- 
 ens the likeMhood of fires; low 
 ■heighth of buildings and usual 
 clear spaces on two or more sides 
 facilitate the operaitions of the 
 public fire department. The 
 greater the percentage of build- 
 ings having incombusitible exter- 
 io^r walls (brick, stone, tile, hol- 
 low blocks, stucco) and roof 
 covering (slate, tile, metal, con- 
 crete, asibe'stos shingles) the less 
 becomes the probability of fire 
 spreading beyond the point of 
 origination. Occupation by own- 
 ers rather than by tenants bas a 
 decided influence, I believe, in 
 minimizing the , probability of 
 origination of fires. Modem 
 
 methods of heating and lighting 
 also have an important bearing. 
 
 "Summarizing the above I 
 -should say that the most hazard- 
 ous (from a fire standpoint) 
 dwelling section would be one in 
 which the buildings are of frame 
 construction with wooden shingle 
 roof coverings, built close togeth- 
 er, with stove heat, lamp or 
 candle lighting, and occupied by 
 shiftless and careless tenants; 
 the other extrehie is the section 
 consisting entirely or largely of 
 fireproof dwellings on large lots 
 which afford ample clear space 
 all around. Between these two 
 extremes there is room for an 
 abundance of variations and 
 combinations. 
 
 "Assuming that by "business" 
 you mean "mercantile" buildings, 
 o-r those in which goods are^sold, 
 I will say that a mercantile bilild- 
 ing, in the abstract, is a more 
 hazardous type of building than 
 the ordinary* dwelling: Goods are 
 received in packages or contain- 
 ers which, when removed, often 
 find a lodging place in the base- 
 ment and provide excellent fuel 
 for fire; the goods themselves are 
 often of a hazardous nature; 
 the place is «(pen to the public, 
 and the public is generally care- 
 less of others' rights and prop- 
 erty. Undoubtedly the least 
 harzardous mercantile building 
 is that with incombustible ex- 
 terior walls and .poof covering, 
 occupied by the owner in part for 
 the sale of goods of low combus- 
 tibility and in part for living 
 rooms. This is an especially de- 
 sirable combination if the owner 
 is one who has been raised in a 
 foreign country where a whole- 
 some fear of fire is inspired by 
 law. Buildings of multiple oc- 
 cupancy, i. e., buildings having 
 numerous tenants, become more 
 and more hazardous as the num- 
 ber lof tenants increase, because 
 of the multiplicity of sitocks, the 
 increased number of employees, 
 
21 
 
 buyers, truckmen, expressmen, 
 etc., and the fact that usually one 
 tenant has no jurisdiction within 
 the premises of lanother and con- 
 sequently there is no co-opera- 
 tion among the many divisions of 
 authority in protecting the build- 
 ing against the probability of fire. 
 
 "What you term "industrial" I 
 presume is what I would call a 
 "manufacturing" building. There 
 are many, mlany classes of manu- 
 facturing esltablishments, ' some 
 of which are very hazardous, 
 owing to the type of raw stock 
 used, the nature of the processes, 
 or the quality of the finished 
 product; others are practically 
 free from hazard. Still others 
 are conflagration breeders when 
 medium or extreme physical 
 hazards are combined with poor 
 construction or poor protection, 
 but with these features eliminat- 
 ed, may be considered mild. 
 
 "From the foregoing you will 
 gather that the term "residen- 
 tial," "business" .and "industrial" 
 as applied to buildings or sections 
 does not adequately fix the status 
 of such buildings or sections, 
 from a fire standpoint, unless we 
 also know what the nature of the 
 construction, protection and oc- 
 cupancy is. 
 
 "A section built up closely of 
 frame dwellings with wooden 
 roofs might be greiatly benefited 
 by the occasional introduction of 
 a fireproof or even a brick build- 
 ing of good ordinary construction, 
 occupied for mercantile" or light 
 manufacturing purposes, pro- 
 vided such building had blank 
 side walls which would act as a 
 barrier to the spread of fire from 
 frame to frame. 
 
 "In general I will say that I am 
 a firm believer in the segregation 
 of dwelling, mercantile and 
 manufacturing disitricts for the 
 following reasons: 
 
 "1. It creates a balance and 
 an impression that is impossible 
 
 where the difl'erent types are in- 
 terspersed. 
 
 "2. The confinement of mer- 
 cantile and .manufacturing to 
 certain districts removes the 
 traffic from the dwelling section 
 and makes possible a more se- 
 cluded, quiet and wholesome 
 home life. ' 
 
 "3. A segregated mercantile 
 district is likeily to be more uni- 
 form in appearance, more closely 
 built up and therefore less liable 
 to conflagrations than if the mer- 
 cantile buildings are scattered, or 
 unequal heights, and with exter- 
 ior openings unprotected and ex- 
 posed by other Ijuildings. 
 
 "4. The introduction of haz- 
 ardous manufacturing establish- 
 ments and of such occupancies as 
 dry cleaning plants, garages, 
 livery stables, etc., which cannot 
 be classified as manufacturing or 
 industrial plants, but which are 
 much more hazardous than some 
 of the latter, within a mercantile 
 district or of a great many classes 
 of mercantile buildings within a 
 dwelling section, not only in- 
 creases the probability of serious 
 fires therein, but usuially places 
 a tax upon the exposed property 
 by way of increased fire insur- 
 ance cost. 
 
 "5. The location of manufac- 
 turing establis/hments within cer- 
 tain confined territories usually 
 results in the extension of better 
 public fire protection than could 
 be afforded to scattered plants. It 
 'also makes possible a system of 
 co-operative private fire protec- 
 tion whereby considerable saving 
 may be made, e. g., one power 
 station for furnishing water un- 
 der a considerable pressure for 
 an entire district, rather than a 
 separate pump for each plant. 
 
 "6. Lastly there is the matter 
 of real estate values wfhich are 
 often reduced by the location of 
 mercantile or manufacturing 
 plants in dwelling sections." 
 
22 
 
 The increased flre hazard is re- 
 flected to a certain extent in the 
 higher rate for insurance for dwell- 
 ings immediately adjacent to framf^ 
 .sfores and industrial buildinss. In- 
 surance rates vary in relation to 
 the height of buildings, and as busi- 
 ness and industrial buildings are 
 generally higher than dwellings, the 
 premium charge on them is higher, 
 and in some cases the ralo on dwell- 
 ings may be increased. 
 
 Fire fighting apparatus is becom- 
 ing specialized with reference to 
 the development — business, resi- 
 dential or industrial — in various 
 sections of the city. The New York 
 Commission, in commenting on the 
 advantages of locating residential, 
 industrial and business zones or 
 districts, says: — 
 
 - "The segregation of residential, 
 business and industrial buildings 
 will also m'ake it easier to provide 
 the flre apparatus in each section 
 suitable for the character and in- 
 tensity of development in that 
 section. It will make it easier to 
 provide proper safeguards against 
 fire. It will increase the safety 
 and sofnrity of iMo homes of the 
 people. These Tacts were ti>slified 
 to by Chief Kenlon' of the Fire 
 Department and by Edward R. 
 Hardy, Assistant Manager, New 
 York Fire Insurance Exchange." 
 
 The exclusion of trade and indus- 
 try from residence dislricts should 
 tend to lessen greatly the cost to 
 the community for flre protection, 
 insurance and loss from fire result- 
 ing from the lack of control of the 
 
 location and use of buildings by the 
 municipality. 
 
 III. 
 
 REDUCTION OP NUMBER OF 
 .-VCCmENTS. 
 
 Many streets in the congested 
 neighborhoods of our city are used 
 as playgrounds for the children. 
 This is especially true in the imme- 
 diate vicinity of a public school. 
 The coming of business estab.lish- 
 ments and factories in such neigh- 
 borhoods invariably brings more 
 and heavier vehicles and increases 
 thereby the danger to children from 
 accidents. A study of the Coroner's 
 records of children under sixteen 
 years of age killed by motor 
 vehicles during an eighteen months 
 period, ending July 1, 1916, shows 
 that sixty per cent of the fatal 
 accidents to children caused by 
 motor trucks and fifty per cent of 
 the fatal accidents where chil- 
 di;^n are run over by pas- 
 senger automobiles are on streets 
 where tJioco is mixed residential and 
 business or industrial development. 
 This' is not due to the volume of 
 traffic- priinarily. On business 
 streets where the traffic is, perhaps, 
 heaviest, there are fewer acci(l(>nts 
 than in mixed neighborhoods be- 
 cause dwellings are not numerous 
 and thei'e are but few children. In 
 exclusively industrial districts 
 where motor truck trafflc is heavy, 
 there were but seven fatal accidents 
 as compared to sixty-seven in the 
 mixed neighborhood. The figures 
 classified by the character of the 
 vehicle causing the accident and the 
 location of the accident arc here 
 given : 
 
 Location 
 
 Commercial . Auto- 
 Vehic'es 'mobiles 
 
 Total 
 
 Percentage 
 
 Exclusively residential district. ...4 
 Mixed residential with business or 
 
 industry ,. 24 
 
 Business district 9 
 
 Industrial district 3 
 
 Parks 
 
 15 
 
 19 
 
 15% 
 
 43 
 
 67 
 
 53% 
 
 22 
 
 31 
 
 25% 
 
 4 
 
 7 
 
 5%% 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 1% 
 
 Total. 
 
 .40 
 
 86 
 
 126 
 
23 
 
 The outstanding fact is that 53% 
 of all deaths caused by motor car 
 accidents occur in the districts 
 where residences and industries are 
 on the same street. Of deaths 
 caused by commercial vehicles, 60% 
 are found in such districts, while of 
 deaths caused by automobiles, 50% 
 occur in the mixed areas. In the 
 parks, where there is a very great 
 volume of automobile traffic, there 
 are relatively few accidents. In the 
 industrial districts where the 
 volume of commercial automobile 
 traffic is large, there are relatively 
 few fatalities. But precisely in the 
 •districts where homes and industries 
 are side by side, tihe loss of life is 
 strikingly greatest. , If the number 
 of accidents which are not fatal 
 were reckoned, the gross figures 
 would, of course, be gteatly in- 
 creased. These figures, however,, 
 are not available. 
 
 In view of the constantly in- 
 creasing use of the automobile, both 
 for pleasure and for business, and 
 in view of the pressure of popula- 
 tion, the number of deaths and ac- 
 cidents in mixed districts challenges 
 sharply the attention of those in- 
 terested in the future of our city. 
 
 In addition, there is in many 
 cities, notably in New York, a grow- 
 ing tendency to use streets at certain 
 hours for play purposes. A block 
 or more may be closed to traffic 
 during fixed hours, say , from four 
 to six o'clock, and transformed into 
 a playground for the little ones. 
 This is an emergency measure 
 which municipal foresight should 
 have made unnecessary by adequate 
 playground reservation. Yet with 
 conditions as they are, it is an ex- 
 pedient to wfhich resort will prob- 
 ably be made on a considerable 
 scale. 
 
 It is plain, however, that where 
 residences and industries are lo- 
 cated in the same block, the closing 
 of the street to traffic is impractical 
 and difficult, even where there are 
 alleys. In exclusively residential 
 
 districts, on the other hand, the 
 temporary closing of a block to- 
 traffic occasions much less incon- 
 venience to the community, and may 
 be employed with greater frequency 
 as a device to increase play fa- 
 cilities. 
 
 Roland Haynes, an expert on 
 recreation, testifying before the New 
 York Commission on Building Dis- 
 tricts and Restrictions, said: 
 
 "The restrictioning of resi- 
 dential streets against factories 
 and against stores and against 
 public garages make those streets 
 better lor play use, first, because 
 it reduces the amount of traffic 
 into those streets. It makes the 
 traffic into those streets simply 
 delivery traffic for household 
 necessities, which is much less 
 than any through traffic or traffic 
 to garages, or delivery traffic to 
 and "from stores. It reduces the 
 amount of traffic and thus makes 
 the burden of reserving a street 
 for play purposes much less. Tn 
 the second place, it makes pos- 
 sible the reservation for play 
 purposes of residence streets 
 which are near those on which 
 the children are living. In short, 
 it makes possible the reservation 
 of play streets without burden to 
 traffic and near where they are 
 needed." 
 
 The number of children killed by 
 motor vehicles on Chicago streets 
 while at play is appalling. If we 
 are to make our streets safe for our 
 children and reduce the number of 
 accidents, we must reduce the 
 amount of traffic on residence 
 streets. This can be accomplished 
 largely by preventing factories and 
 commercial establishments from 
 locating in residence neighborhoods. 
 Side streets where there is no in- 
 dustrial or business development 
 have comparatively little traffic 
 and the danger from accidents is re- 
 duced to a minimum. The segre- 
 gation of business and industry is 
 essential if we are to reduce the 
 
24 
 
 number of deaths of children from 
 street accidents in this city. 
 
 (e) GREATER CLEANLINESS OP STREETS 
 AND AIR. 
 
 The accumulation of dirt and 
 waste and the increase in traffic 
 caused by the coming of stores and 
 industry into home neighborhoods 
 makes them more unsanitary and 
 greatly increases the , difficulty of 
 keeping streets and alleys clean. 
 Richard T. Fox, Superintendent of 
 the Street Cleaning Bureau of Chi- 
 cago, and one of ' the leading ex- 
 perts on street cleaning methods in 
 the United States, says in speaking 
 of the value of zoning in making 
 possible a clean city : 
 
 "The street cleaning problem of 
 a city is much simplified and is 
 more' economically and sanitarily 
 solved when the residence ar;eas 
 are developed apart from the 
 commercial or industrial areas 
 for the following reasons: 
 
 1. The traffic is much lighter 
 on residential streets than on 
 streets devoted to residence and 
 business. In fact, aside from an 
 occasional delivery wagon, the 
 traffic is confined principally to 
 motors which make but little dirt. 
 Therefore, the cheapest and 
 simplest method of cleaning can 
 be applied, which cannot be used 
 if a street is given over to the 
 heavy traffic of comjiined resi- 
 dence and business streets, or to 
 the heavier traffic of business 
 streets only. 
 
 2. The proportionately small 
 quantity of dirt produced in resi- 
 dential streets can be easily con- 
 trolled and better sanitary condi- 
 tions can toe maintained than on 
 business streets. 
 
 3. By reason of the lighter 
 traffic on residence streets less 
 material is required in the pave- 
 ment to carry this traffic. In 
 other words, a residence street 
 can be constructed more econo- 
 mically than a street for mixed 
 development.' 
 
 i. A type of pavement that is 
 
 easily and cheaply cleaned oan be 
 installed in a residential district. 
 This is not always possible on 
 streets of mixed development. 
 
 5. The light traffic on resid- 
 ence streets require that it be 
 only wide enough at most for two 
 vehicles to pass freely between 
 vehicles standing at either curb. 
 We will say a width of twenty- 
 five feet. Streets devoted to 
 business or to business and 
 residence purposes run from 
 thirty-eight to seventy or mdre 
 feet in width. This means less 
 pavement surface in streets de- 
 voted entirely to residential pur- 
 poses and less expense for con- 
 struction. It also means less ex- 
 penditure for repairs and re- 
 newals to the pavement. It fur- 
 ther means, as there is less street 
 surface to clean, to sprinkle, and 
 to flush, and from which to re- 
 move snow, a saving in the cost 
 of these items. 
 
 6. In the collection of house- 
 hold wastes, there is considerable 
 economy in the service given in 
 the purely residential sectiSn as 
 compared with a mixed business 
 and residential area. It is ap- 
 parent that the time required for 
 a cartman to gather the refuse 
 from houses adjoining each other 
 is less than if the residences are 
 separated by business houses 
 wihich receive no service." 
 
 The collection of refuse and the 
 cleaning of streets are essential to 
 the well-being and health of a 
 community. It is especially im- 
 portant that home neighborhoods 
 be kept free from dirt, dust and 
 refuse if our children are to be 
 brou^t up under the most favor- 
 able circumstancPiS and under 
 wholesome, healthful conditions. 
 As Mr, Fox has pointed out, not only 
 do business and industrial encroach- 
 ments in residence neighborhoods 
 increase the amount of refuse, but 
 also add to the amount of pavement 
 area where dust and dirt may 
 
25 
 
 accumulate. The heavier traffic, 
 too, interferes with the removal and 
 control of refuse. 
 
 John T. Fetlherston, iGommissioner 
 of Street Cleaning for New York 
 City, speaking of 'the greater diffi- 
 culty of cleaning streets on 
 thoroughfares where there is a 
 large amount of traffic, says: 
 
 "There are some streets ip 
 lower Manhattan where it is 
 hardly possible to clean the 
 streets during the day time on 
 account of the procession of ve- 
 hicles which prevents! the cleaners 
 from collecting the street dirt. 
 On that type of street the same 
 sanitary conditions cannot be 
 maintained as would be required 
 in a residential street. In that 
 respect traffic conditions in a 
 residential locality also adversely 
 affect the street because there 
 may be a residential street which 
 connects with a traffic street, and 
 it is not possible to keep that 
 residential street in as good a 
 condition as other similar streets 
 in the same locality, because the 
 men cannot work advantageously 
 while traffic occupies the street. 
 Even in the case of mixed occu- 
 pancy of a particular block, 
 residence, business and factory 
 use, the factories and business 
 placed in that particular block 
 tend to bring heavy traffic into 
 the block and make it difficult to 
 keep it in the best sanitary condi- 
 tion." 
 
 It is impossible to compute ac- 
 curately the advantages of separated 
 over mi^ed districts in the matter 
 of street cleaning, but there is no 
 question that the gain is material 
 and important. It is one of the 
 factors that must be given con- 
 sideration in planning the growth of 
 a great city. 
 
 There is nothing more important 
 to the well-being of a community 
 than pure air. The pollution of the 
 lair by industrial esitablishments is 
 not conducive io public health. It 
 
 may be necessary in the carrying 
 out of our industrial processes to 
 permit this to be done in the manu- 
 facturing districts, but the area 
 should he limited as much as pos- 
 sible and steps should be taken so 
 that smoke-laden air should not 
 pervade our residence neighbor- 
 hoods. The study made by the As- 
 sociation of Commerce Committee 
 on electrification of t-ailroads in- 
 cluded the amount of smoke and 
 other deleterious impurities in the 
 air discharged by industrial plants 
 in various sections of this city. 
 This shows that in mixed residential 
 districts the amount of carbon 
 dioxide, nitrous acid, chlorine and 
 other poisonous gases is greater 
 than in exclusively residence neigh- 
 borhoods. The figures^ are as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 MILLIGRAISIS PER CUBIC FOOT OF AIR. 
 
 Country 15037 
 
 Park 62647 
 
 Residence 1.14211 
 
 Mixed Residence 1.59060 
 
 Industrial 1.48941 
 
 Loop 2.52939 
 
 Railroad 2.00689 
 
 CARBON DIOXIDE. PARTS IN 10,000. 
 
 Country 3.17 
 
 Park 3.18 
 
 Residence 3.16 
 
 Mixer] Residence 3.21 
 
 Industrial 3.36 
 
 Loop 3.74 
 
 Railroad 3.37 
 
 The presence of carbon dioxide in 
 the air is especially injurious. 
 While the air of smoky towns does 
 not contain carbon dioxide in a pro- 
 portion sufficient to prove instantly 
 a menace to health, yet it is alto- 
 gether probable, as has been sug- 
 gested, that "Small amounts of ex- 
 cess carbon dioxide, continued for 
 long periods of time, would, within 
 limits, tend to have the effects 
 somewhat similar to the effects 
 of large amounts breathed for a 
 short period of time." 
 
 The Association of Commerce 
 Committee reported that the amount 
 
26 
 
 of impurities in the air was greatest 
 where the greatest industrial ac- 
 tivity prevailed. The amount of 
 smoke caused by various types of 
 plants is given by the Association of 
 Commerce in the following table: 
 
 Coal Visible 
 Consumed. Smoke. 
 
 Steam Locomotives 11.94% 22.06% 
 High Pressure 
 
 Boilers 41.61% 44.49% 
 
 Metallurgical Plants 21.03% 28.63% 
 
 Low Pressure 23.63% 3.93% 
 
 The low-pressure boilers are 
 those used for domestic heating 
 (apartment buildings and resid- 
 ences) while the high-pressure 
 plants are used for industrial pur- 
 poses. It is significant that domestic 
 fires produce less than 4% of the 
 visible smoke although they con- 
 sume almost 25% of the fuel used 
 in the city, while manufacturing 
 and business establishments are re- 
 sponsible for 73% of the smoke of 
 the city. 
 
 To the extent that residence 
 neighborhoods are invaded by in- 
 dustrial establishments, the pollu- 
 tion of air will to that extent be in- 
 creased. From the standpoint of 
 public healtlh, this is a very serious ( 
 condition. In the report of a very 
 exhaustive investigation made by 
 the Mellon Institute of Industrial 
 Research and School of Specific In- 
 dustries, on the influence of smoke 
 on health, it is stated (page 5) : 
 
 "Practically all investigators 
 whose opinions are based on 
 grounds other than theory, are 
 agreed that smoke has a tre- 
 mpndous influence in increasing 
 the incident severity and mortal- 
 ity of acute diseases of the air 
 passages. It would appear that 
 this increased susceptibility is, in 
 part, the result of the lowering of 
 our natural body resistance. In 
 simple terms, the smokier the at- 
 mosphere, the more the colds and 
 
 bronchitis, and the more money 
 paid to doctors." 
 
 This report further calls attention 
 to the diminution of sunlight caused 
 by smoke and its effect on health, as 
 follows (page 56) • 
 
 "Liefman has grouped these 
 harmful influences of smoke 
 under three headings. 'If,' he 
 states, 'we group all these ex- 
 periences in the significance of 
 light for our life and health, and 
 concentrate them upon the prob- 
 lem which here interests us, we 
 shall be led„in my opinion, to the 
 conclusion that a darkening of 
 the atmosphere of our great cities 
 is injurious to heal-th in three 
 ways : ( 1 ) An exciting impulse 
 which influences our disposition 
 is weakened and the energy of 
 metabolism, especially as it con- 
 crns respiration, is 'diminished. 
 (2) The illumination and warm- 
 ing of the earth, the water, and 
 air within the precincts of our 
 great cities is diminished and in 
 this way a series of hygienically 
 important processes is influenced 
 or depressed. (3) The cheijiical 
 and bactericidal effect of the sun's 
 rays is decreased and thus bac- 
 teria, especially the pathogenic 
 ones, are permitted to thrive. ' 
 
 Sir William Ramsay regards 
 smoke as harmful by virtue of its 
 power directly to -absorb light, 
 and by its effect in the formation 
 of clouds and fogs which, he 
 states, are peculiarly fitted to ab- 
 sorb the blue, the violet and ultra 
 violet rays, these being the rays 
 that are especially germicidal. In 
 this manner a diminution of sun- 
 shine causes an increase of bac- 
 teria, both pathogenic and non- 
 pathogenic, in the atmosphere 
 The same writer believes that 
 sunlight has a direct influence on 
 the human skin as well as upon 
 mental states." 
 
 The people living in dwellings ad- 
 jacent to factories Or coal yards 
 frequently find it necessary to keep 
 
27 
 
 their windows closed in order to 
 prevent the accumulation of dust 
 and soot in their houses. This con- 
 dition means less fresih air for the 
 occupants of homes in the vicinity 
 of manufacturing plants and bears a 
 direct relationship to the amount of 
 bad air diseases prevalent in those 
 districts. The Pittsburgh report in 
 commenting on this, says (page 60) : 
 
 "A further quite obvious factor 
 which renders a smoky town un- 
 healthy is the necessary curtail- 
 ment of free house and factory 
 ventilation. To open a window 
 carries with it the certain pen- 
 alty of soiling a rug or a counter- 
 pane. The zealous housewife ac- 
 cordingly is prone to guard the 
 cleanliness of her house at the 
 expense of fresh air. Out of 
 doors sleeping porches are for a 
 similar reason conspicuous by 
 their absence in smoky towns, in 
 contrast with their increasing use 
 in more cleanly modern cities. 
 The fme shower of soot detracts 
 from the comfort of sleeping in 
 the open air and speedily soils the 
 bed linen; Such a more or less 
 universal avoidance of fresh air 
 militates strongly against the 
 health of the community and pre- 
 disposes its inhabitants to tuber- 
 culous and other diseases." 
 
 Residence districts, if they are to 
 be made healthful and comfortable 
 places to live, should be protected 
 as far as possible from establish- 
 ments which pollute the air either 
 by the emission of poisonous gases 
 or smoke. The policy 'of the Ger- 
 man cities which have carried out 
 successful zoning projects is inter- 
 esting and pertinent in this connec- 
 tion. In many of these cities indus- 
 trial districts are laid out with 
 reference to the direction of the 
 prevailing winds so that the smoke 
 from the manufacturing ■ establish- 
 ments will not be blown into resid- 
 ence neighborhoods. The zoning of 
 the city so as to prevent further en- 
 croachments in what are now resid- 
 
 ence neighborhoods by factories will 
 insure a large measure of pure air 
 to our people in their homes. 
 
 Good housing conditions are es- 
 sential to the building up of a 
 healthy community. The city has 
 in force a building code governing 
 the regulation of various types of 
 buildings. The requirements with 
 respect to size of courts and open 
 spaces, number of windows, size of 
 rooms, the area of lot covered, are 
 based on a higher standard than are 
 the requirements regulating build- 
 ings used for industrialor commer- 
 cial purposes. Buildings used for 
 dwelling purposes make a larger 
 contribution to the light and air of 
 the other buildings in the block 
 than do buildings used for ware^ 
 houses, factories or mercantile pur- 
 poses. The presence of industry 
 and business in residence neighbor- 
 hoods frequently results in impair- 
 ing the circulation of air in the 
 block and cutting off the light of an 
 ad,jacent dwelling. A typical situa- 
 tion may be cited where the light 
 and air of a dwelling had been to a 
 large measure lessened by. the erecV 
 tion of a building used for a clothing 
 factory on the adjoining lot. 
 
 "That 'haphazard development 
 is not only productive of serious 
 loss, in the value of residence 
 property, but lowers the standard 
 of living conditions generally, is 
 shown very vividly in a case of a 
 home on Robey street in wihat was 
 formerly a residence block. On 
 the corner of this block in which 
 this house was located, about 
 seven years ago, a building for a 
 clothing shop was erected, out to 
 the ,lot line, which is about 
 twenty feet in front of the build- 
 ing line of the residences in the 
 block. The factory building was 
 erected so that the side wall was 
 on the lot line, cutting off the 
 light and air of the adjoining 
 building which is used as a 
 dwelling. For a long time it was 
 impossible to rent the two apart- 
 
28 
 
 ments in this building and this 
 has been done only at a very re- 
 duced rental. The selling value 
 of the property has, of course, 
 been greatly lessened." 
 
 The city has made considerable 
 progress in establishing building 
 regulations, governing the percent- 
 age of lot covered, the amount of 
 space .between buildings, and num- 
 ber of windows in cases of buildings 
 erected, which are to be used as 
 dwellings. These regulations, (how- 
 ever, do not apply to buildings used 
 for factory or store purposes and 
 the very intent of the building 
 regulations governing residence and 
 tenement houses is defeated by the 
 erection of factory buildings in 
 residence neighborhoods adjacent to 
 dwellings which cut off the light and 
 air of buildings where people live. 
 No reaf advance can be made in 
 handling the housing problem if 
 situations of this kind are allowed 
 to develop. 
 
 Mr. Charles B. Ball, Chief Sanit- 
 ary Inspector, commenting on this 
 situation, says: 
 
 "It is unquestionably true that 
 if limitations were imposed oapon 
 la given area by whjch a single 
 type of development were in 
 general permitted in that area, 
 light and air conditions could be 
 better conserved than where 
 promiscuous development is al- 
 lowed as at present. For ex- 
 ample, in areas where up to the 
 present the development bjfs been 
 mainly residential, buildings are 
 so designed so as to afford light 
 and air circulation, front and rear, 
 "and in many cases on the side as 
 well. The ordinance in general 
 contemplating that a certain 
 amount of extra light and ven- 
 tilation will be derived from ad- 
 joining property. 
 
 It is also true that in the de- 
 velopment of a block with office 
 buildings or factories the condi- 
 tions as to heig'ht of buildings are 
 relatively uniform and the build- 
 
 ings constructed are provided 
 with open spaces in the nature of 
 courts, etc., conforming to that 
 type. The requirements for 
 business and industrial buildings 
 are, howevr, notably less than in 
 buildings for dwelling purposes. 
 In fact, the requirements as to 
 lighting and ventilating factories 
 and offices are exceedingly gen- 
 eral in nature and of little prac- 
 tical value. The limitations im- 
 posed by tihe Health Department 
 are much greater than can be 
 sustained by the ordinance re- 
 quirements. 
 
 By reason of the fact that 
 buildings for business and indus- 
 trial purposes have practically no 
 requirements with respect to 
 courts on the lot line, amount of 
 area left vacant and the like, ii 
 very frequently happens that such 
 buildings are constructed to the 
 lot line and covering the whole 
 area of the lot. This is a very 
 marked disadvantage where the 
 adjoininq buildings are used for 
 residential purposes, and espe- 
 cially so by reason of th^ much 
 greater height in most cases of 
 the industrial development. It 
 would be undoubtedly practical to 
 impose restrictions of height, 
 area covered and size of lot line 
 course similar to those in exis- 
 tence upon dwellings and tene- 
 ment houses where industries are 
 of a character which would jus- 
 tify their introduction into a 
 rpsddence district, but it would 
 probably appear easier to impose 
 general limitations as to heigh^t of 
 buildings aver large areas than to 
 attempt to discriminate as to the 
 type of buildings which could be 
 erected to a certain height." 
 
 Miss Breckinridge says: 
 
 "That the City Council should 
 be able' to declare residential 
 areas and determine, with a cer- 
 tain deliberation and forethought, 
 the directions in whicili the city's 
 growth should occur and some- 
 
29 
 
 thing of the nature of that growth, 
 is highly desirable from the point 
 of view of those who desire better 
 housing conditions for the wage- 
 earning groups. The desirability 
 of the possession and the wise 
 exercise of this power may be 
 illustrated by the experience ithat 
 ■has befallen many large cities in 
 which fJhere has occurred a con- 
 siderable growtJh during the past 
 forty or fifty years^ namely the 
 development of slum areas, char- 
 acterized by great overcrowding, 
 bad sanitation, dilapidation and 
 low moral standards, due largely 
 to the use of the houses in the 
 district by ,a different class of 
 occupants from that for Which 
 they were designed. 
 "For example, Charles Booth in 
 his great summary of his study of 
 the Life and Labor of the People 
 of London' classifies undesirable 
 housing conditions under twelve 
 heads, \the seventh being 'Houses 
 used by families of a class for 
 which they were not designed and 
 not suited.' On this subject he 
 says : 
 
 'We ' come now toi the houses 
 occupied by a different class to 
 that for which they were de- 
 signed. This may have been due 
 to a change of fashion — the 'go- 
 ing down,' as it is said, of a neigh- 
 bor'hood; or it maybe that the 
 particular houses became dis- 
 credited because ill-bui'lt or 
 placed on insufficient ground; or 
 because they were ill-arranged, 
 Or were altogether a miscalcula- 
 tion, and thus did not hit the 
 mark at which they were aimed 
 The results at best are unsatis- 
 factory, but there is a wide dif- 
 ference between the use that can 
 ■be made of good old houses de- 
 serted by fashion and the jerry- 
 built imitations that have been 
 rejected from the first. For both, 
 however, a well-thought-out 
 scheme of adaptation is essential, 
 'the sanitary and other difficulties 
 
 1. Final volume, p. 158. 
 
 being great. Moreover, the 
 scheme ought to be of general ap- 
 plication, as suited to the needs 
 of the neighborhood. What can 
 be wisely and profitably done 
 where there happens to' be only 
 one owner, ought to be equally 
 possible where there are many; 
 and it is only by successful alter- 
 ation, so that the houses may be 
 made infcoi healthy and conven- 
 ient homes for wh&tever class of 
 occupant may be in view, that the 
 evils of non-adaptation or mal- 
 adaptioh can be obviated. Other- 
 wise a process of deterioration 
 sets in tO' which no bounds can be 
 put: 'Large houses fall into 
 working-class hands, and are let 
 and sub-let, and the street loses 
 caste;' or it may be that the 
 houses, without any proper adap- 
 tation, are 'let direct in floors; a 
 fatal plan, a responsible chief 
 tenant being requisite.' In small 
 ways, the need for a line of policy 
 which goes beyond the individual 
 house has been recognized; as 
 with the gardens of squares which 
 falling into neglect when the in- 
 habitants cannot afford to pay a 
 gardener, are often taken over by 
 the local Council and, to the great 
 advantage of a whole neighbor,- 
 lioqd, are opened to the public' 
 
 "On this same subject again re- 
 ferring to London, Mrs. Bernard 
 Bosanquet writes'' : 
 
 "The evils of bad housing and 
 overcrowding are only too well 
 known in London and find abun- 
 dant illustration here But 
 
 few perhaps are aware of how 
 much of this difficulty arises from 
 houses being built to meet the 
 needs of another class than tbat 
 which comes to occupy them; or 
 have ever realized that in build- 
 ing the outer ring of London we 
 are to a large extent repeating the 
 same mistakes which have caused 
 
 2. Helen Bosanquet reviewing Booth's 
 Life and Labour, Economic Journal, XIII r 
 412. 
 
30 
 
 the slums we are now 90 anxious 
 to redeem ' 
 
 "Or if attention is given to 
 American cities, of Philadelphia 
 Miss Emily Dinwiddie says' : 
 
 'The 'furnished room' house 
 forms an objectionable class par- 
 ^ tially co-extensive with the tene- 
 ment, which latter is defined by 
 law as a building occupied by 
 'three or more families living in- 
 dependently of each other and do- 
 ing their cooking upon the prem- 
 ises.' In some cases the furnished 
 room bouses come under this, 
 definition, in others the families 
 do not keep house with any regu- 
 larity. The tenants of the fur- 
 nished apartments in the districts 
 investigated, as a rule, belong to 
 the lowest class. The houses are 
 dirty and dilapidated, and often 
 thoroughly disreputable. The 
 furniture frequently consists of 
 almost nothing except beds and 
 bedding, the latter often in a 
 filthy condition.' 
 
 'The filthiest living rooms were 
 found in the furnished room 
 houses, in a few of the larger 
 tenements, some cellars, and 
 houses tenanted by groups of men 
 keeping house together.' 
 
 Attention has been, called to this 
 evil in Chicago in a series of arti- 
 cles in the American Journal of 
 Sociology, which deal with Housing 
 Conditions in Chicago. For ex- 
 ample in an article' dealing with 
 Families in Furnished Rooms' the 
 following statements are made : 
 
 'In each of the three sections 
 into which Chicago is divided by 
 the Chicago River, there has 
 grown up a district in which 
 family life has been transferred 
 from normal homes to a wasteful 
 existence in furnished rooms. In 
 
 1. Housing Oonditions in PhUadelpMa, 
 pp. 2, 23. 
 
 2. Prepared by the Department of Soc- 
 ial Investigation of the Chicago School of 
 CiTios and Philanthropy. 
 
 3. American Journal of Sboiologv, XVI ; 
 289-90,2»5-9e, 303. 
 
 each case, as is entirely natural, 
 this district lies between the por- 
 tion' devoted to business oir man- 
 ufacturing on the one side and 
 the usual residential section on 
 the other. The peculiarity of the 
 areas under discussion is that 
 here, for reasonably long periods 
 and with fairly permanent ar- 
 rangements, families live in 
 cramped' quarters where they rent 
 by weekly payments not only the 
 room or rooms in which they live, 
 but even the furniture they use. 
 In these districts, which have 
 been invaded by business or in- 
 dustry but in which large numbers 
 of people still live, are found the 
 commodious homes of an earlier 
 period. The probaible course of 
 development of the neighborhood 
 is too' uncertain -to admit of re- 
 construction at once and they are 
 therefore put, in their original 
 form, to the most profitable use, 
 which, for the time, suggests it- 
 self. The rooms are too large to 
 admit of their separate enjoy- 
 ment by individuals, and they 
 are, ■ therefore, let to^« family 
 groups. Only the very 'poor, or 
 those who are less than ordin- 
 arily competent, will consent to 
 live in this manner, and for such 
 there seem peculiar advantages 
 in renting by the week a fur- 
 nished room which will make 
 possible the most transient and 
 irresponsible kind of family life. 
 These people live under condi- 
 tions of crowding and lack of 
 privacy, obviously demoralizing 
 and fail to secure any of the self- 
 esteem or educative restraining 
 effect which comes from hand- 
 ling their own property or em- 
 bodying their earnings and taste 
 in the objects by which they are 
 surrounded. Many families 
 which apply to the Njharitable 
 agencies of the city for assis- * 
 tance come from such homes. 
 The application for relief is the 
 last siep in a downfall which be- 
 gan when they either sold their 
 
31 
 
 furniture, or stored it to move 
 into smaller quarters. They were 
 soon unable to pay the storage 
 'charges and they became per- 
 manently fixed in furnished 
 rooms, living from hand to 
 mouth, with no resources to fall 
 back upon.' 
 
 'It is unnecessary to point out 
 that these old-fashioned houses 
 ran never be properly adapted to, 
 tenement use. A single room is 
 often as large as an apartment of 
 two or three rooms in an ordi- 
 nary tenement, but if this room is 
 made into several, some of them 
 will be windowless. The result is 
 the one-room apartment. At- 
 tempts to remodel such houses 
 are sometimes found, but the je- 
 modeling is not part of a careful- 
 ly planned scheme to make the 
 house a suitable or convenient 
 living-place for the new class of 
 tenants. It consists instead of 
 some makeshift alterations, 
 which will turn the large rooms 
 into smaller ones and make possi- 
 ble a larger monthly rental. In 
 one house on South Peoria street, 
 part of a large hall has been made 
 into an additional room, leaving 
 for a hall a totally dark passage 
 twenty inches wide. Through 
 this hall one of the tenant famil- 
 ies has the only access to its 
 room, and two other families are 
 obliged to use it to get water from 
 the sink, which is in a dark cor- 
 ner at the end of the passage.' 
 
 'Tuberculosis in furnished 
 rooms is one of -their serious 
 ■dangers, and many other cases 
 similar to the last one might be 
 given. A woman and her five 
 children were found in a single 
 fourth-floor room reached by a 
 very dark stairway in a house on 
 Washington boulevard. The room 
 was extremely dirty and the chil- 
 dren very much neglected. The 
 man who had an advanced case of 
 tuberculosis had deserted his 
 family for a second time, and the 
 woman who had incipient tuber- 
 
 culosis was not alble to work 
 much. She had sold the furni- 
 ture, taken a furnished room, and 
 locked the children in during the 
 days she went out to work. She 
 had made no application for re- 
 lief, and the condition of the 
 home and children was discover- 
 ed only by chance. In another 
 case, a family whose furniture 
 had gone for a grocery bill had 
 moved into a single furnished 
 room with their two children and, 
 although the man had tubercu- 
 losis, they all slept in one bed. 
 
 And again in the West Side 
 Revisited^ it is said: 
 
 'In a sense the whole territory 
 between Halsted and the river, 
 one might even- say between Cen- 
 ter avenue and the river, from 
 the South to the North Branch, is 
 awaiting the business invasion. 
 Needed repairs on old houses, the 
 proper building of new houses, 
 improvements of every kind are 
 postponed because of the current 
 belief that this whole territory is 
 in the near future to be taken 
 over for commercial and indus- 
 trial uses. In the meantime, 
 while landlords and dealers wait, 
 poor people continue to live in 
 unsanitary houses, tuberculosis 
 breeds there, children grow up in 
 dark, ill-ventilated rooms, with- 
 out proper space for play. 
 "It Is indeed clear that the City 
 Council should be given the power 
 to take those steps in regard to the 
 'outer' sections of Chicago, to the 
 'inner' sections as they are to be 
 rebui'lded to prevent so far as may 
 be 'the repetition of the same mis- 
 takes which have caused the slums 
 we are so anxious to redeem,' to 
 take thought and to provide condi- 
 tions in which children may saifely 
 live and play, and property be con- 
 trolled for rational rather than 
 speculative uses." 
 
 GREATER COMFORT FOR THE HOME. 
 
 That quiet and freedom from dis- 
 
 1. American Journal of Sociology, 
 XVII, p. 4. 
 
32 
 
 turbance is an essential of whole- 
 some home life and that the in- 
 vasion of home neighborhoods by 
 factories and stores produces and 
 intensifies nervous disorders, was 
 testified to by Dr. Gustave F. 
 Boehme, before the New York Com- 
 mission on Building Districts and 
 Restrictions : 
 
 "Business and industrial uses 
 on a residemtial street and the 
 noise and confusion incidental 
 theretoi make such streets less 
 healthful and desirable for resi- 
 dence purposes. 
 
 "The necessity for reducing the- 
 stress and strain of city life is 
 becoming more and more appar- 
 ent. This is essential if the city 
 is to be a place in which our heri- 
 tage oif health and vitality is to be 
 used, conserved and handed down 
 to succeeding generations instead 
 of being abused and exhausted." 
 N. Y. Gomn. on B. D. & R. page 13. 
 
 That noise, dirt and the general 
 disturbance incident to the intro- 
 duction of industrial and commer- 
 cial establishments in home neigh- 
 borhoods have a bad effect on pub- 
 lic health in reducing the resistance 
 of the individual against disease, 
 was pointed out toy Prof. George C. 
 Whipple of Harvard University in 
 a memorandum to the New York 
 Commission on Building Districts 
 and Restrictions. Prof. Whipple 
 said: 
 
 "Health is more than the ab- 
 sence of disease. It is something 
 positive and involves physique 
 and vitality and is mental as well 
 as physical. The iriherent diffi- 
 culty at the present time is the 
 absence of scientific methods of 
 measuring this positive element 
 in health. Yet the world knows 
 as a matter of human experience 
 that it is real and vital. The ex- 
 pression 'health and comfort of 
 the people' is centuries old, and 
 these two ideas are inseparable." 
 
 The protection of our reside^nce 
 districts by the exclusion of the dis- 
 
 order, noise and other disturbances 
 incidental to business and industry, • 
 which prevent our people from 
 bringing up their families in a 
 quiet, restful neighborhood, should 
 promote the public health of the 
 community and insure to our citi- 
 zens the comfort NVhich is necessary 
 to health and resistance power 
 against .disease. 
 
 The city has found it desirable 
 and feasible to create "zones of 
 quiiet" around hospitals where the 
 difference between noise and quiet 
 may mean life or death, but th^re " 
 are thousands of men, women and 
 children, not in hospitals, who are 
 suffering daily in their homes from 
 the turmoil which they cannot es- 
 cape even there. In planning for 
 the development of our city, atten- 
 tion must be given to the protec- 
 tion of the home, a.s far as possi- 
 ble,' from noise and discomfort. Un- 
 questionably the separation of in- 
 dustrial and residential structures 
 and areas will contribute materially 
 to this important result. 
 
 One of the most frequent com- 
 plaints made to an alderman is fijpm 
 those who suffer from "noisy neigh- 
 borhoods." The City Council has 
 found it necessary to create an 
 "Anti-Noise Committee," which has 
 labored to eliminate unnecessary 
 noises throughout the city. Their 
 work- will be inoomiplete, however, 
 until we can deal in a more com- 
 prehensive way with the whole 
 problem. 
 
 GENERAL IMPROVEMENT OF HOUSING 
 CONDITIONS. 
 
 A detailed investigation made by 
 the Chicago School of Civics and 
 Philanthropy, by Miss S. P. Brecken-i 
 ridge and Miss Edith Abbott, ar- 
 gued very forcibly that many houses 
 were in bad repair and the owners 
 did not make the needed repairs and 
 improvements necessary to main- 
 tain the minimum standard of pub- 
 lic health and safety in districts 
 formerly exclusively residential, but 
 Where encroachments had beem 
 
33 
 
 made by business and industry and 
 the neighborhood was in the process 
 of changing its character. Fre- 
 quently districts of this kind remain 
 in this condition for a great many 
 years, *his may be a result of only 
 a few encroachments. If business, 
 industrial and residential districts 
 were laid out by the city, subject to 
 change only when a considerable 
 proportion of the property owners 
 wished to change the character of 
 the neighborhood, the standard of 
 the district could be maintained. 
 Under present conditions, an owner 
 hesitates to expend money for the 
 repair of an old building now used 
 for dwelling purposes Which will, 
 after an indefinite period, be of no 
 value because the land will then be 
 wanted for another use. If the 
 character of neighborhoods were 
 more .permanently fixed, the city 
 could enforce standards of sanita- 
 tion and safety in old buildings 
 whers now but little can be done. 
 
 A zoning system for the control 
 of building development which pro- 
 vides for regulations governing the 
 location and use of buildings erected, 
 area of lot covered, the size of open 
 spaces, distance between buildings, 
 in sections of the city not now 
 developed, different ' from those in 
 force in the more closely built 
 areas will be of great value in re- 
 ducing congestion and improving 
 housing ' conditions. American 
 cities, until recently, have pre- 
 scribed the same standards for the 
 entire city. Thus the standard of 
 congestion fixed for the center of 
 the city where unrestricted develop- 
 ment has taken place, is the same 
 for the undeveloped portions of the 
 city where it is yet possible to re- 
 quire more healthful conditions. 
 
 Mr. George E. Hooker, speaking 
 before the National Conference on 
 City Planning, in 1910, said: 
 
 "The standard of density which 
 might be reasonable for the cen- 
 tral section of large cities, would 
 not be so for its borders. The 
 
 cities of continental Europe have 
 established quite precise stand- 
 ards on this subject by fheir zone 
 system for buildings. The zone 
 system prescribes the percentage 
 of the lot which can be covered, 
 the number of stories Which can 
 be erected and the character of 
 the builditigs perpitted in each of 
 the three to six irregularly shaped 
 but so-called zones into which the 
 city is usually divided for that 
 purpose." 
 
 Mr. Ball says on the value of 
 establishing a zone system in se- 
 curing better housing conditions: 
 "There is no question that our 
 present failure to impose pro- 
 gressive limitations from the 
 congested centers toward open 
 areas, is illogical and) a very 
 grave mistake. We are building 
 in the open prairie without neces- 
 sity the same types of buildings 
 which must be allowed in areas 
 which are much congested where 
 only a single' lot is unoccupied. 
 No adequate protection can be 
 afforded to the duplication of 
 congested conditions on what is 
 now open prairie unless a zoning 
 system or districting over large 
 areas is adopted. 
 
 The present requirements of 
 the municipal code with respect 
 to unoccupied area, widths of 
 courts, and shafts may be con- 
 sidered fairly adequate for the 
 congested areas, but sihould be 
 very greatly increased in areas 
 wher<, the development is still in- 
 complete, and especially in areas 
 where no occupation has yet 
 begun." 
 
 If we are to prevent the same 
 mistakes being made in the outlying 
 and undeveloped sections of our 
 city as in the more crowded districts 
 la zoning plan should be adopted im- 
 posing progressively' stricter limita- 
 tions upon the use' of property so 
 that the requirements for distance 
 between buildings^ area of courts, 
 etc., shall be greater in the outlying 
 
34 
 
 sectioji where there is still hope for 
 better housing conditions. 
 
 PROMOTION OP INDUSTRIAL DEVELOP- 
 MENT. 
 
 That protection of our residential 
 areas is beneficial to such districts 
 and the city as a whole, is plain. A 
 zoning plan, as is here proposed, has, 
 however, advantages for business 
 and industrial as well as residential, 
 property. In the discussion of the 
 blighted neighborhoods, the wiping 
 out of values on a business street 
 when the residence disitrict upon 
 which it depended for support was 
 ruined by encroachmehts of fac- 
 tories, was sihown- As was stated, 
 the loss in land values on a business 
 street formerly in demand as a loca- 
 tion for retail stores and which is 
 an important fthoroughfare in the 
 city, was from $800 per foot to $300, 
 over fifty per cent. There are many 
 instances of this kind throughout 
 the city. An example which may be 
 cited of a less important business 
 thoroughfare is as follows : 
 
 That a zoning system would be 
 of benefit to the development of 
 business streets as well as the 
 protection of residence property, 
 is indicated in the development of 
 East 73rd street and East 75th 
 street. East 75th street is the 
 one-half section line and is 
 logically the business street for 
 this area, and there has been on 
 this street a subdivision of the 
 lots in the block facing on this 
 thoroughfare so that the lots face 
 on 75th street, thereby making 
 them available for business pur- 
 poses. A few years ago the street 
 car company was obliged to route 
 a through car line on 73rd street 
 because 71st street, where it nor- 
 mally would be routed, was occu- 
 pied by the tracks of "the Illinois 
 ■Central Railroad. A number of 
 attempts had been made by 
 owners of property on 73rd street 
 to secure from the City Council 
 authority to re-subdivide blocks 
 on this street so that the lots 
 
 would face on 73rd street and 
 could be used for business. This 
 authority was not granted, how- 
 ever, because of the protests of 
 the people in the neighborhood 
 who did not wish the sft-eet de- 
 veloped in that way. In a few 
 isolated cases, despite the difficul- 
 ties to improper subdivision of 
 the lots in the block, small shops ' 
 were established on 73rd street. 
 
 The result of these encroach- 
 ments has been that develop- 
 ment on both sides of 73rd street 
 for the space of as much as two 
 hundred feet has stopped because 
 the character of the neighbor- 
 hood is so uncertain. People will 
 not buy for residence purposes 
 for they are not certain they will 
 be protected against encroach- 
 ments of stores on 73rd street 
 and property is not valuable for 
 business purposes as it is real- 
 ized that the routing of^ the 
 street car line along this street 
 is temporary. The business on 
 the street is also lessened by the 
 fact that the residents in the im- 
 mediate vicinity resent the com- 
 ing in of business in their neig}!- 
 borhood and in some cases have 
 instituted boycotts against such 
 shops. 
 
 The bad effect of such hap- 
 hazard development has not been 
 felt wholly by 73rd street and 
 the territory in the immediate 
 vicinity, but it also has hampered 
 the development of 75th street, 
 where normally business would 
 locate. The section cannot sup- 
 port two business streets and 
 there are many vacant stores on 
 75th street because of the busi- 
 ness establishments on 73rd 
 street and no new stores are be- 
 ing built on 75tii street because 
 of this condition. 
 
 The setting aside of streets for 
 business purposes is important if 
 we are to secure well planned de- 
 velopment of our city. The large 
 retail merchants in New York City 
 
35 
 
 have recognized the need of pre- 
 venting, through co-operative ef- 
 fort, the further encroachments of 
 the business areas and residential 
 districts by factories. This is shown 
 
 very strikingly in the full page 
 advertisement which they inserted 
 in all of the New York newspapers, 
 entitled "'Shall We Save New 
 York?" 
 
 SHALL WE SAVE NEW YORK? 
 
 A Vital Question To Every One 
 Who Has Pride In This Great City 
 
 CHAL'L we save New York from what? Shall we save it from unnatural and 
 ^ unnecc^ry crowding, from depopulated sections, from being a city unbeau- 
 tifiil,from h^h rents, from excessive and illy distributed taxation? We can save 
 it from all of these, so far at least as they are caused by one specified industrial 
 evil— the erection of factories in the residential and famous retail sectioa 
 
 Hie Factory Invasion of the Shopping District 
 
 The factories makins clothing, cloaks, suits, furs, petti- 
 coats, etc., have forced the large stores from one section 
 and followed them to a new one, depleting it of its normal 
 residents and filling it with big loft buildings displacing homes. 
 
 The fate of the sections down town now threatens the fine 
 residential and shopping district of Fifth Avenue, Broadway, 
 upper Sixth and Madison Avenues and the cross streets. It 
 requires concentrated co-operative action to stem this invading 
 tide. The evil is constantly increasing; it is growing' more 
 serious and more difficult to handle. It needs instant action.- 
 
 The Trail of Vacant Buildings 
 
 Shall the finest retail and residential sections in the world, 
 from Thirty-third Street north, become blighted the way the 
 old parts of New York have been? 
 
 The lower wholesale and retail districts are deserted, and 
 there is now enough vacant space to accommodate many 
 times over the manufacturing plants of the city, if new 
 modem factory buildings are required, why not enamrciffe 
 the erection of such structures in that section instead qf 
 erecting factory btdldings in the midst of our homes and 
 fine retail sections. 
 
 How it Affects the City and its Citizens 
 
 It is impossible to have a city beautiful, comfortable or safe 
 under ^ch conditions. The unnatural congestion sacrifices 
 fine residence blocks for factories, which remain for a time end 
 then move on to devastate or depreciate another section, leav- 
 ing ugly scars of blocks of empty buildings unused by business 
 and unadapted for residence: thus unsettling real estate values. 
 
 How it Affects the Tax-payer 
 
 Every man in the city pays taxes either as owner or tenant. 
 The wide area of vacant or depreciated property in the lower 
 middle part of town means reduced taxes, leaving a deficit 
 made up by extra assessment on other sections. Taxes have 
 grown to startling figures and this affects all interests. 
 
 The Need of Co-operative Action 
 
 111 order that the impending menace to all interests may be 
 checked and to prevent a destruction-similar to that which hat 
 occurred below Twenty-third Street: 
 
 fVe ask the eo-operatien (jfthe various garment aitoetaiiont. 
 
 We ask the co-operation tfthe associations qforgatuxed labor. 
 
 iVe ask the co-operation ifeuery financial interest. 
 
 We ask the co-operation of every man uiAoowru a home or rents an apartmenL 
 
 We ask the co-operation qf every man and ivoman in New Vork who hat 
 
 pride in thefiiturt development qfthis grtat city. 
 
 NOTICE TO ALL INTERESTED 
 
 IN viettf of the facts herein set ftrrih we wish to give publicity to the following notice .'—We, the under- 
 signed merchant! and such others aa may later join with ut, will give the preference in our purchases 
 of suits, cloaks, furt, clothing, petticoats, etc, to flimi whose mani^acturing plants are located outside 
 of a zone bounded bytheupper^eof Thirty-tMrd Street, Fifty-ninth Street, Third and Seventh Avenues, 
 alio including thirty-second and thirty-third Streets, from Sixth to Seventh Avenues. 
 
 February 1st, 1917, is the time that this notice goes into effect, so as to enable manufacturers now 
 located in this zone to secure other quarters. Consideration will be given to those firms that 
 remove their plants from tlus zone. This plan will ultimatdy be for the benefit of the different manufac- 
 turers in the above mentioned lines, as among other reasons they will have the benefit of lower rentals. 
 
 KALTMANACa 
 ARNOLD, CONSTABLE & CO. 
 BEST A CO. 
 BONWIT TELLER & CO. 
 
 J. M. GIDDINC A CO. 
 GIMBEL BROTHERS 
 L P. HOLLANDER A. CO. 
 
 LORD A TAYLOR 
 JAMES McCREERY&Ca 
 R. R MACY & CO. 
 
 FRANKUN SIMON & CO. 
 SAKS & CO. 
 STERN BROTHERS 
 
 Tlw underrigned endorie thi> movement for the beneHt of tha Cilj of New Vurk 
 
 ViiKMl Artor 
 Vtuwmnitf Oub 
 UiMN LMfiM CkS 
 CritariMiClHb 
 Riis^CaHton 
 Hoial BllUnor* 
 Ho(>( McAlpw 
 A. A. Vuttina A Co. 
 MvkCrM*C«. 
 
 AnorEital* 
 WaMorf-AaloM 
 5l lUffli H<>l«l 
 
 AMwTrwlCa. 
 
 Colunibu Tnut Ca. 
 Fifth Anniia Buik 
 • TnulCai. 
 
 rtffMyaCa 
 
 BUik,S*MnA?ntt 
 
 HotdMaobaltu 
 Hotel N«ib<Hw4 
 Hotel Lemia»% 
 
 M.KiiD«lkraCft 
 H. W. Ji^Bt-Muirilb C* 
 Yak a TowiM MTf. C*. 
 ScMta FowlMCa.' 
 
 DrMMraCo. 
 Marcui Ml C*. 
 
 E. M. C«ltb a c«. 
 
 ChariM Scribaan' Saai 
 
 W. a J. Slaana 
 
 AaoUan Campan* 
 C (L CuntllM*' SaM 
 A. Jatckal a C*. 
 TOfany StudiM 
 Hilfini A Saitar 
 Davi) CoUanwra & C& 
 Tlw Ediion Shop. 
 Frask 1. SUianiat 
 
 KnoaHalCo. 
 
 Thao, HofiUMar A Cs. 
 
 Jamaa MeCirtebaaH A Cft 
 
 Camnanr 
 
 J. a J. Slatar, lac 
 
 D« Pinna 
 
 Fndli 
 
 larfyACa 
 
 aca. 
 
 Wa ask CiIizmu. Menfiania and Civic bodiee to co-operoto and tend tetterw mdotwing due ptm to tfm eommiHeB. can of J. H. Burtan. cAotrmon, 267 Ftflh Aotnaa. 
 
36 
 
 The encroachment which manu- 
 facturing establishments Shave been 
 making on Fifth avenue and other 
 important retail business thorough- 
 fares in New York City had gone 
 so far as to interfere seriously with 
 the interests of the large retail 
 merchants of that city. In their 
 advertisements they stated that 
 they would give preference in mak- 
 ing purchases for their stock to 
 individuals and firms who were lo- 
 cated out of a certain area which 
 did not encroach upon the retail 
 business district. As a result of 
 this advertisement although the 
 plan was not to be made effective 
 until February 1, 1917, within two 
 weeks (March, 1916) several hun- 
 dred manufacturers in a signed ad- 
 vertisement supported the move- 
 ment and agreed to move to other 
 sections of the city outside of the 
 prescribed business zone. A num- 
 ber of large manufacturing firms 
 have already removed their estab- 
 lishments frotn the business dis- 
 trict and have located them in parts 
 of the city which seem better 
 adapted to industrial purposes'. 
 
 The creation of zones in which 
 factories and manufacturing plants 
 may be located will also benefit the 
 industrial interests of the commun- 
 ity. The City of Chicago is now 
 working on a comprehensive study 
 of the railroad terminal and trans- 
 portation problem in Chicago. The 
 Railroad Terminal Commission has 
 especially studied the need for co- 
 ordinating the service of the many 
 railway lines in the city to facili- 
 tate the movement of freight 
 through the vast network of lines 
 radiating into and around the city. 
 Industrial zones should be estab- 
 lished which would give our manu- 
 facturing plants a place in this plan 
 for proper railroad development. 
 
 Henry A. Goetz, who has made 
 an engineering study of the freight 
 switching problem in Chicago for 
 the railroads of this city, has an- 
 alyzed the movement of freight 
 through ' Chicago streets by teams 
 
 and has investigated the switching 
 facilities of the city. A map which 
 he prepared showing the origin of 
 594 teams carrying 328 tons of 
 freight to the Northwestern Railway 
 freight house on a certain day, 
 shows that teams were obliged to 
 haul the freight for many miles 
 along important thoroughfares and 
 through^ the central business dis- 
 trict and goes far to explain the 
 congestion of trafTic in the down- 
 town loop district. Mr. Goetz says 
 (City Club Bulletin) : 
 
 "No city can succeed commer- 
 cially unless it has good facilities 
 for handling freight and that city 
 will outstrip all others that has 
 the superior facilities. Chicago 
 has twenty-six railroads entering 
 the city, but notwithstanding 
 this great number of transporta- 
 tation lines, the city is handi- 
 capped in its handling of freight 
 In no citjy are the drayage dis- 
 tances, the drayage expenses and 
 the delays to teams so great. 
 
 To aid in upbuilding the man- 
 ufacturing interests of the city 
 there should be definitely located 
 and selected places all over town, 
 areas with good switching facili- 
 ties, especially adapted to factor- 
 ies. Maps showing these locations 
 should be prepared and given 
 wide publicity as a guide for in- 
 dustries and an encouragement 
 to such enterprises." 
 
 If industrial districts are estab- 
 lished as suggested it would great- 
 ly lessen the amount of switching 
 which hampers and delays the 
 movement of freight in and out of 
 the city, would reduce the cost of 
 teaming and improve traffic condi- 
 tions on our streets. The economic ' 
 loss and the congestion of vehicles 
 on business streets would be great- 
 ly lessened if our industrial dis- 
 tricts were laid out .with reference 
 to the railroad systems of Chicago. 
 
 E. H. Bennett, in an article on 
 I "Pfanning for the Distribution of 
 
37 
 
 Industry," annals of the American 
 Academy, 1914, says: 
 
 "The industrial area (as con- 
 trasted with the business area) 
 has no one definite location, de- 
 pending largely on" railroad fa- 
 cilities. It sooh becomes scat- 
 tered throughout all sections of 
 the city, forcing its way from all 
 directions 'in wedges almost to 
 the business heart. There is gen- 
 erally no control and no concen- 
 tration other than that offered by 
 the railroad lines." 
 
 "There are evidences appear- 
 ing, although not yet clearly de- 
 fined except in a few special 
 manufacturers, which lead us to 
 the belief that there is also a ten- 
 dency of manufacturihg inter- 
 ests to seek the section of the 
 city which is within easiest reach 
 of the source of their raw ma- 
 terial. This is natural and easily 
 understood for the reason that the 
 time consumed in taking freight 
 through and around large com- 
 mercial centers is becoming 
 greater every year, and industry 
 cannot afford this time waiting 
 for this raw material upon which 
 it depends.*^ The material must 
 be brought to it quickly and with 
 minimum delay. So also is it 
 with the finished product. Trans- 
 portation facilities for distribu- 
 tion must be provided reasonably 
 quickly, as mijch of the modern 
 commercial superiority depends 
 upon service." 
 
 The concentration of industry in 
 definite areas would facilitate oper- 
 ations between industries, reduce 
 waste and provide for a closer co- 
 ordination between transportation 
 lines and our manufacturing plants. 
 The New YOrk Commission on 
 Building Districts and Restrictions, 
 referring to the value of the loca- 
 tion of factories in industrial zones, 
 says : 
 
 "The segregation of factories 
 will directly reduce production 
 costs. It will make it possible to 
 
 have the best rail and water ter- 
 minal facilities and the best ex- 
 press and mail facilities. It will 
 reduce trucking and thus im- 
 prove street traffic conditions. It 
 will tend to the segregation of 
 heavy trucking from other classes 
 of street traffic and thus further 
 tend toward the improvement of 
 street traffic conditions. Further- 
 more, the segregation of factor- 
 ies along the rail and water ter- 
 minals and their subsequent ex- 
 clusion from the resident sec- 
 tions, will improve living condi- 
 tions , throughout the city. A 
 factory is usually a nuisance in a 
 residence section. It is found di- 
 rectly injurious by reason of noise, 
 odor, dust or smoke. It always 
 brings heavy trucking with at- 
 tendant noise and danger to the 
 safety of the children, especially 
 in the crowded tenement districts. 
 It often subjects the neighboring- 
 residence and property owners to 
 increased risk from fire and ex- 
 plosions." 
 
 That the zoning of cities so as 
 to provide definite areas for resi- 
 dential and industrial purposes and 
 the setting aside of streets for 
 stores and other commercial estab- 
 yshments is "good business," is 
 shown in the zoning plan adopted 
 by large manufacturing companies 
 which have laid out cities for the 
 location of their factories and to 
 house their employes. 
 
 II. 
 
 SHALL THE PROTECTION BE AFFORDED 
 
 THROUGH PRIVATE AGREEMENT OR 
 
 BY PUBLIC CONTROL? 
 
 That residence districts should be 
 protected from the encroachment of 
 business 'and industry and that such 
 protection is necessary to insure 
 'healthful and comfortable home 
 conditions for our people has been 
 shown. The question arises, can the 
 necessary protection be given bet- 
 ter through private agreement be- 
 tween individual property owners, 
 
38 
 
 or through public control by the 
 City? 
 
 At present, the private agreement 
 by owners in the deed is the only 
 means which we. have to prevent in- 
 appropriate uses of land and the 
 br^akiog down of desirable stand- 
 ards in residence neighborhoods. 
 Restrictions of the use of property 
 contained in agreements where 
 transfers of title are made, has been 
 found in many cases to be very use- 
 ful. Private subdivision owners in 
 opening up new territory, have 
 found it profltaible and desirable to 
 sell their land, especially in the out- 
 lying residence districts, with re- 
 strictions. 
 
 Alexander S. Taylor, formerly 
 president of the National Associa- 
 tioin of Real Estate Exchanges, who 
 has had twenty years of experience 
 developing subdivisions in Cleve- 
 land, spe'aking before the National 
 Conference on City Planning, 1916, 
 said: 
 
 "I have teund in my operation 
 that restricted residential prop- 
 erty is more salable, more desir- 
 able and more valuable than oth- 
 or properties open to invasion by 
 business encroachments. A prac- 
 tical example of the desirability 
 of restricted property is every 
 day demonstrated in the demand 
 on the part of prospective buy- 
 ers for homes only in sections 
 under restricted control. 
 
 "I know, were I to guide you 
 today through Cleveland's best 
 residential section, I would take 
 you to our restricted districts, 
 where the home owner in the 
 contentment and security of the 
 protection afforded him creates 
 and m'aitotains the most beautiful 
 homes and rests safe in the se- 
 curity of his surroundings. 
 
 "I point with pride to some of 
 Cleveland's most beautiful and 
 uniformly residential sections, 
 such as Clifton Park, the I;ake 
 Avenue development. Wade Allot- 
 ment, Ambler Heig'hts, Euclid 
 Heights, Shaker Heights, the Van 
 
 Sweringen development, Bra- 
 tenahl and many others, all 
 splendid examples of Cleveland's 
 highest class home sections, made 
 so by the protection atid security 
 of proper restrictions and devel- 
 oped under the ideals of men of 
 foresight and ability. 
 
 "Many of you have seen the 
 beautiful Roland Park develop- 
 ment in Baltimore, Forest Hill 
 ' Gardens on Long Island, the ' 
 Country Club Distriot in Kansas 
 City, Ottawa Hills in Toledo, the 
 Arlington Addition at Columbus 
 and many other beautiful home 
 sections, made so by the ideals of 
 high-minded men who conceived 
 and developed them under prop- 
 er restrictions." 
 
 The value of such limitations 
 upon the kind of development in a 
 particular district is illustrated in 
 the experience of two districts in 
 Chicago, one in a very high-class 
 residence neighborhood and the 
 other in a more moderate.ly priced 
 home district. 
 
 "Two subdivisions located in 
 the northwest section of our city, 
 adjacent to eac'h other, one a 
 forty-acre tract on the south side 
 of Irving Park boulevard and the 
 other on the north side, show how 
 home owners regard restrictions 
 as to the use of property in the 
 immediate vicinity of their resi- 
 dences and how they value these 
 restrictions. These subdivisions 
 have precisely the same trans- 
 portation facilities, are located in 
 the same section of the city, and 
 :are, generally speaking, in every 
 sense comparable. In the sec- 
 tion south of Irving Park boule- 
 vard, where there are no restric- 
 tions as to use, the value of prop- 
 erty is $15 a front foot, while in 
 the section north, the value of 
 land is 830 per front foot. In the 
 section south, the character 
 of improvements valued about 
 $2,500 per house, While in that 
 section north the value of im- 
 provements is almost twice as 
 
39 
 
 much. The differelnce in desira- 
 bility of these two sections is not 
 shown wholly in the difference in 
 values, but is also evidenced in 
 the character of the gardens and 
 the other amenities of home life 
 which have been developed in the 
 restricted area, while in the un- 
 restricted subdivision the park- 
 ways are ill-kept and there is 
 apparently a lack of interest in 
 the neighborhood which makes 
 for better conditions and a bet- 
 ter civic spirit." 
 
 "The value of private restric- 
 tions in residential areas is 
 strongly shown in the develop- 
 ment of the territory east of the 
 Lincoln Parkway and north of 
 Pearson street. This area was 
 owned by some Mteen different 
 owners prior to 1911 and was en- 
 tirely undeveloped. To the west 
 and south of this district which 
 would seem admirably adapted to 
 residential purposes, there had' 
 been encroachments of business 
 land industry and property values 
 ■for residential purposes have 
 been greatly depreciated. The 
 fifteen individual owners, as a 
 matter of self-protection, agreed 
 among themselves to deed their 
 land to the Chicago Title and 
 Trust Company, who in turn 
 transferred back the prop- 
 erty to them, providing m- the 
 deed that no industry or business 
 establishments oould be located 
 jn this territory for a term of 
 forty years. Prior to this trans- 
 action the land was vacant and 
 was selling as low, in some im- 
 stances, as $100 per front foot. 
 Immediately after the transac- 
 tion, land values increased thirty- 
 three and one-third per cent and 
 now the va:iue of the lalnd in^this 
 large tract has doubled. Real es- 
 tate operators generally familiar 
 with this section of the city, as- 
 cribe this phenomenal increase in 
 value, toge1#ier with the large 
 amount of money which has been 
 spent and is being invested for 
 residential improvements in this 
 
 section, to the security provided 
 in tbe restrictions governing the 
 use of land in this district. It is 
 significant to point out in this 
 connection, first, that this could 
 not have" been accomplished ex- 
 cept through the consent, of all of 
 the property owners in the dis- 
 trict. If one bad held out, no 
 such result could bave been at- 
 tained." 
 
 The private agreement between 
 owners, however, is weak in a num- 
 ber of particulars. In the first place, 
 it is a means of control which only 
 the wealthy may use. Others can- 
 not stand the expense of litigation 
 in the courts when the restriction 
 clause is violated. If an owner 
 chooses to build a factory or store 
 or other objectionable establish- 
 ment in a restricted district, he can 
 be prevented' from so doing only 
 through court proceedings by an- 
 other owner whose rights are af- 
 fected. The owner who has com- 
 plied with the deed clause must pay 
 the cost of starting the litigation, 
 employing attorneys and assuming 
 the incidental trouble and expense 
 of litigation in the courts. The ex- 
 pense is, in many cases, consider- 
 able and often acts as a deterrent 
 toward securing action for the en- 
 forcement of the agreement. The 
 burden of proving the case is placed 
 upon the owner wbo has not in any 
 way deviated from the deed limita- 
 tion, and he must prove that the 
 restriction imposed was a valid and 
 proper one and that the owner of 
 the property who wishes to erect a 
 store or factory or carry out some 
 other undesirable develooment. has 
 violated the restriction in the deed. 
 
 The Illinois courts in passing on 
 this subject have said in Wieghman 
 vs. Kusel, 270 111. 520, that an agree- 
 ment of this kind (for a uniform 
 building line) is not a covenant 
 running with the land, but is one 
 intended for the common benefit of 
 all purchasers and is enforcible 
 only at the smit of an owner of any 
 
40 
 
 other lot who has not himself 
 violated the agreement. 
 
 The private agreement is not an 
 effective means of control because 
 the courts as a matter of law are 
 generally adverse to enforcing these 
 restrictions. In Voorhees vs. Blum, 
 et al. case, the Illinois Supreme 
 Court has recently held : 
 
 "Another rule that must be 
 taken into considera:tion is that 
 limitations and restrictions upon 
 the use of property are not 
 favored. Where the intent is 
 clearly manifest such restrictions 
 will be enforced by the courts, 
 but as a general rule all doubts 
 are to be resolved against them." 
 
 An instance of the legal diflicul- 
 ties with respect to the enforcement 
 of private restrictions imposed by 
 subdivision owners may be cited in 
 the case of a subdivision in the 
 vicinity of Irving Park boulevard 
 and North Cicero avenue, which was 
 developed with restrictions pro- 
 viding that the property should be 
 improved wholly with dwelling 
 houses costing not less than a cer- 
 tain sum and providing that they 
 should bo built back at a certain 
 distance from the lot line. This dis- 
 trict was all improved with dwelling 
 houses in accordance with the deed 
 restrictions, except for a tract of 
 approximately one acre which was 
 left vacant. A few years ago a lum- 
 ber company purchased this prop- 
 erty and proceeded to establish a 
 lumber yard at this point, not, how- 
 ever, erecting any permanent build- 
 ing or structure. The property 
 owners in this subdivision foug'ht 
 the establishment of a lumber yard 
 in their neighborhood in the courts. 
 They lost the case in the lower 
 court and because of the expense 
 wer« unable to appeal it, the char- 
 acter of improvements in this dis- 
 trict being single family dwellings 
 of only moderate value. The court 
 held that the establishment of a 
 lumber yard did not violate the deed 
 restrictions as to the character of 
 
 improvements to be built upon the 
 property. The lumber yard, in the 
 opinion of the court, was not an 
 improvement and under this tech- 
 nical ruling the protection the 
 property owners thought they had 
 secured through the deed provi- 
 sions, which they then^selves had 
 faithfully carried out against un- 
 desirable development in their home 
 neighborhoods was removed. They 
 are subject to the increased fire 
 hazard of such an establishment and 
 to all noise and inconvenience to 
 their home life incidental to such 
 development. The weakness of the 
 protection" offered by the private 
 agreement is shown very strikingly 
 in this example. This case illus- 
 trated also the tendency of small 
 property owners to give up their 
 fight after the case has been heard 
 in the lower court because of the 
 expense. 
 
 Private restrictions or limitations 
 as to use of property must be set in 
 advance of initial development for 
 a definitely /fixed period to insure 
 uniform conditions and protection 
 for all purchasers. If the period is 
 a comparatively short one the pro- 
 tection afforded is thus limited and 
 the development of the area to that 
 extent checked. As President Tay- 
 lor of the N-ational Association of 
 Real Estate Exchanges has pointed 
 out: 
 
 "It is a regrettable fact that 
 there are high-class subdivisions 
 upon which restrictions Were 
 placed lat the first sale of lots 
 fifteen years ago, and these re- 
 strictions are expiring in 1925 so 
 with only ten years of restricted 
 control on some of the properties, 
 it is a difficult matter to negotiate 
 a sale of the remainder without 
 an adjustment of the situation, 
 for a buyer would not consider 
 the purchase of a lot and the 
 erection of a handsome home 
 with the fact facing him that in 
 ten years contiguous property 
 might be sold and used for busi- 
 ness or other purposes." 
 
41 
 
 On the other hand, if the restric- 
 tions are imposed for a Ibnger period 
 the difficulties of securing a waiver 
 of the deed clause which would 
 necessarily reajiire formal acquies- 
 ence on the part of all the property 
 owners affected, may seriously in- 
 terfere with a change in the char- 
 acter of development to meet the 
 needs of changing conditions in 
 keeping with the growth of the rest 
 of the city. 
 
 Private agreements are neces- 
 sarily limited in scope to the prop- 
 erty held by one subdivider, and he 
 may, and frequently does, fail' to 
 lake into consideration the develop- 
 ment of the rest of the city, which 
 may seriously affect the condition 
 subsequently in the subdivision. He 
 cannot, of course, control the de- 
 velopment on the other side of the 
 street from his property and the 
 plans of the subdivider on the oppo- 
 site side of -the street may not con- 
 form with his. Instances have oc- 
 curred where subdivisions have 
 been opened up with beneficial re- 
 strictions as to use of buildings and 
 the location of building lines, and 
 undesirable development which has 
 taken place in the adjoining areas 
 has made these restrictions of no 
 value. 
 
 Alexander S. Taylor, speaking be- 
 fore the National Conference on 
 City Planning, said: 
 
 "The value of private restric- 
 tions is recognized, but that there 
 are serious weaknesses in this 
 method of securing desirable, 
 well-planned and lasting home 
 . conditions, 'is apparent." 
 
 Individuals through private effort 
 are doing all within their power to 
 give the public uniformly developed 
 residential sections under proper 
 restrictions. This movement can be 
 made permanent, however, .only 
 through municipal control, so that 
 we may ultimately have esfablishec? 
 values properly regulated and har- 
 monious and symmetrically de- 
 veloped cities. 
 Even legal regulation based upon 
 
 the consent of individual property 
 owners has received a severe blow 
 from the courts. The city of Rich- 
 mond, Virginia, in 1908 passed an 
 ordinance authorizing two-thirds of 
 the frontage in a given block to fix 
 a building line. This was held •in- 
 valid by the Supreme Court of the 
 United States, on the ground that 
 such regulations gave one set of 
 owners arbitrary control over 
 another set; that such exercise of 
 power might be purely "capricious;" 
 and there was no necessary connec- 
 tion between such regulation and 
 the public welfare or safety. (Eu- 
 bank vs. City of Richmond, 226 U. 
 S. 137, 1912>. From this decision it 
 follows that building regulations 
 based upon the consent of individual 
 property owners will encounter the 
 most serious obstacles from the 
 courts. , 
 
 Control by the city is, therefore, \ 
 necessary if we are to protect our 
 home neighborhoods and secure- the , 
 development of the city in accord- 
 ance with a proper plan. Restric- 
 tions and limitations imposed by 
 private subdividers are undoubtedly 
 of value in conserving property 
 from encroachment by buildings for 
 inappropriate iffees, However, there 
 are many serious weaknesses in this 
 method and at best they affect only 
 a small portion of the city. There 
 are great sections of Chicago which 
 are being developed and put to in- 
 appropriate uses where there are 
 no restrictions or limitations im- 
 posed as to use, character of build- 
 ings or other essentials. Public con- 
 trol is here manifestly reguiired. 
 Indeed, the very persons most in 
 need of protection are often tenants 
 and not owners. They may have no 
 property but their persons, yet they 
 bear the burden of unsanitary and 
 unpleasant surroundings without 
 any opportunity to help themselves 
 by private agreement. Even the 
 stronger and wealthier are unable 
 to protect themselves by legal 
 agreements and building regulations 
 that are law and fool proof. 
 
42 
 
 CONTROL BY THE CITY MEANS A 
 
 BETTER PLANNED CITY IN EVERY 
 
 RESPECT. 
 
 We must know where our people 
 are going to live and where our in- 
 dustrial and commercia] establish- 
 ments are to be located before we 
 can intelligently plan for a solution 
 of our local transportation problem, 
 determine the location of our parks 
 and recreation centers, locate our 
 school sites and direct the develop- 
 ment of the other municipal utilities 
 and functions. The New York Com- 
 mission on Building Districts and 
 Restrictions says: 
 
 "While city planning includes 
 the stree.t find block layout, the 
 park and recreation system, loca- 
 . tion of public buildings, sewerage 
 system, water supply, transit and 
 transportation systems, and port 
 and terminal facilities, these con- 
 stitute but half the problem. The 
 way in Which private property, 
 w'hich occupies almost two-thirds 
 of the entire area, is developed, is 
 of at least equal importance. No 
 plan for th^ development of pub- 
 lic facilities can toe complete and 
 effective unless there goes with it 
 a comprehensive plan for the 
 control of buildihg development 
 on private property." 
 By way of illustration, the city 
 of Chicago, througih its Board of 
 Education, spends several millions 
 of dollars each year to provide for 
 new school sites to meet the growing 
 needs of the community. Wiley W. 
 Mills, formerly a member of the 
 Committee . on Buildings and 
 Grounds of the Chicago Board of 
 Education, speaking of the advan- 
 tages of districting in planning for 
 the location of -school sites, says: 
 
 "One of the persistent problems 
 of the Board of Education of Chi- 
 cago is that of providing enoug'h 
 school houses where they are 
 needed. No matter how carefully 
 and conscientiously the site for a 
 new school may be selected, the 
 chance location of an industrial 
 
 plant or some other private enter- 
 prise may arrest the growth of 
 what promised to be a rapidly 
 growing residence or apartment 
 district and leave hundreds of 
 empty seats in an expensive 
 school building, while a few miles 
 away the children are subjected 
 to half-day sessions and portable 
 buildings. 
 
 The definite arrangement in 
 advance for residence sections 
 will tend to minimize the rapid 
 shifting of population and make it 
 easier for those charged with 
 providing school facilities to antir 
 cipate the probable trend of set- 
 tlement." 
 
 Again, the City Council recently 
 appropriated $230,000 for a survey 
 of the traction situation in this city 
 so that the local transportation 
 system could be planned to reduce 
 congestion and to give proper serv- 
 ice in the future. In order' to solve 
 this problem, the Commission made 
 a suTvey showing where the em- 
 ployes of business industrial estab- 
 lishments lived so las to determine 
 what transportation facilities were 
 necessary to take them to and from 
 their work during the' rush hours 
 and the number of cars necessary 
 on existing lines and what new lines 
 were needed. .Haphazard develop- 
 ment, causing the shifting of neig'h- 
 borhoods, may upset the calcula- 
 tions of the Commission, based upon 
 present situations and cause condi- 
 tions in which certain areas would 
 have too many lines and other sec- 
 tions an inadequate number. If the 
 zoning of the city were carried out 
 so as to promote the proper develop- 
 ment of the town, the transportation 
 problem of the community could be 
 more intelligently met. 
 
 A city plan with regulations for 
 building development by districts 
 would be of great value in locating 
 sites for parks, police stations, Are 
 stations and other public buildings. 
 Several years ago the Chicago Tele- 
 phone 'Company made a complete 
 
43 
 
 survey of the City of Chicago, in- 
 dicating the growth and develop- 
 ment of various sections so as to 
 determine the probable need in the 
 future for telephone lines so as to 
 plan their distribution system. A 
 similar survey of the city and con- 
 trol of the city's development, 
 based upon such a study, would 
 greatly aid the city in planning its 
 municipal utilities and giving the 
 best service to the people. 
 
 If we are to make Chicago a bet- 
 ter 'place to live and work in, we 
 must plan our city so as to protect 
 our residence neighborhoods and 
 provide for business and factory 
 zones which will promote our coiA- 
 mercial and industrial development. 
 George E. McAneny, formerly pres- 
 ident of the Board of Aldermen of 
 New York City, speaking of the 
 value of good city planning, says: 
 "In every pursuit of life we ac- 
 knowledge the necessity for plan- 
 ning for the future. Prepared- . 
 ness is just as necessary for large 
 groups of people as for an in- 
 dividual. City planning simply 
 means getting ready for the fu- 
 ture in city growth. It is the 
 guidance into proper channels of 
 a community's impulses toward a 
 large and broader life. On the 
 face it has to do with things 
 physical, the laying out of streets 
 and parks and rapid transit lines. 
 But its real significance is far 
 deeper; a i^roper city plant has 
 a powerful influence for good up- 
 on the mental and moral develop- 
 ment of the people. It is the firm 
 base for the building of a health- 
 ful and happy community." 
 
 It is not to be supposed that any 
 group of districts can be made ab- 
 solutely permanent. There must 
 be room for change, as unforseen 
 conditions develop. Consequently 
 all zoning systems contain provis- 
 ions for rendering the plan suffi- 
 ciently flexible to meet the neces- 
 sary changes. 
 
 In the New York system, consid- 
 
 erable areas about the future of 
 which there is doubt, are left and 
 labelled "Undetermined." These 
 tracts are open to any development, 
 until such time as it becomes clear 
 what the type of the neighborhood 
 will be, or in the opinion of the 
 authorities, should be made with ' 
 reference to other factors in ■ the 
 city's expansion. 
 
 "The aim has been," says the 
 New York Commission, "to give 
 the greatest possible freedom of 
 action and to avoid restrictions 
 that may possibly hinder future 
 growth and development. It is 
 anticipated that when their ap- 
 propriate use is more fully dis- 
 closed, it may seem wise to re- 
 strict them apart to business or 
 residence use." 
 
 Furthermore, the regulations 
 may be changed at any time after 
 due notice and public hearing. If, 
 however, the owners of twenty per 
 cent of the frontage file a protest 
 against the proposed change, the 
 alteration cannot be made except 
 by a unanimous vote of the board. 
 This regulation will tend to pro- 
 duce stability, yet it permits a de- 
 gree of flexibility when demanded 
 under unusual conditions. If, for 
 example, a residence district is, in 
 the course of a long period pf time, 
 surrounded by industry, and sur- 
 render becomes necessary, the 
 change will be a collective, not an 
 individual act. The area will be 
 held intact, in all probability, until - 
 the land is ready or "ripe" for in- 
 dustrial purposes, as some little 
 squares in New York, such as 
 Gramercy Park, are still held. But 
 the pressure for unsanitary ."tran- 
 sition uses" will be greatly dimin- 
 ished and a far greater degree of 
 stability secured than is possible 
 now. "Home" districts could be 
 compactly held until the time came 
 for another use, and most of the 
 tribulations of the transition period 
 could be avoided both by tenant 
 and owner. 
 
44 
 
 There is no guaranty that mis- 
 takes will not be made from time 
 to time by a fallible municipality. 
 The real alternative is between the 
 present haphazard, hit and miss 
 development of the city, with its 
 enormous losses in property and 
 human values, and on the other 
 hand, a business like plan of muni- 
 cipal building and expension, con- 
 trolled by intelligent public opinion. 
 
 It is evident that a policy of cre- 
 ating building districts is supported 
 by the strongest considerations of 
 public interest. Whether we con- 
 sider the property values involved, 
 or the greater human values at 
 stake, the necessity of district con- 
 trol is imperative. Real estate 
 values, the industrial development 
 of the city, public health, safety 
 and comfort, all require the adop- 
 tion of a municipal policy for the 
 orderly development of our city. A 
 continuance of a haphazard, plan- 
 less growth of a great city is in- 
 tolerable. Whether we measure 
 the loss in terms of property, of 
 trade or of human life, safety, 
 health and comfort, or of all of 
 them together, the burden is stag- 
 gering in its weight. 'Prompt ac- 
 tion must be taken to relieve the 
 community of the load it is carry- 
 ing. 'Necessary laws and ordi- 
 nances must be obtained so that the 
 city may protect its home owners, 
 its tenants, its industrial develop- 
 ment. 
 
 Protection against depreciation 
 of property values on the part of 
 the home owner and investor, re- 
 duction of fire hazard, reduction of 
 the number of accidents "to chil- 
 dren, improvement of home condi- 
 tions with particular reference to 
 clean streets, pure air and quiet, 
 general improvement of housing 
 conditions, promotion of economical 
 and orderly industrial development 
 of the city are all reasons for the 
 adoption of a new policy upon the 
 part of the city. 
 
 PROGRESS OF OTHER CITIES. 
 
 American and foreign cities have 
 made great progress in providing 
 zones for residential, business and 
 industrial development so that the 
 land may be put to the most appro- 
 priate use and the public health, 
 comfort and welfare of the com- 
 munity promoted. In many Ger- 
 man cities this plan has been in 
 operation for many years. By all 
 odds the most significant develop- 
 ment in the United States has taken 
 place in New York City where re- 
 cently a comprehensive districting 
 ordinance, covering the five bor- 
 oughs in that city, was adopted by 
 tRe Board of Estimate and Appor- 
 tionment. 
 
 NEW YORK CITY. 
 
 The building districts and re- 
 strictions put in force by New York 
 City was based on exhaustive study 
 of the experience of other cities 
 and of the conditions in Greater New 
 York. The Heights of Buildings 
 Commission in its report of 1913, 
 recommended to the state legisla- 
 ture that enabling legislation be 
 passed permitting the city to cre- 
 ate height, use and^area zones, and 
 later by the Commission on Build- 
 ing - Districts and Restrictions, 
 which worked out a zoning plan for 
 the city. The act of the legislature 
 provided : 
 
 The Board of Estimate and 
 Apportionment shall have power 
 to regulate the limit and height 
 and bulk of buildings hereafter 
 erected and to regulate and de- 
 termine the area of yards, courts 
 and other open spaces by districts 
 determined by the city, providing 
 that such regulations shall be 
 uniform for each class of build- 
 ings throughout each district. 
 Regulations in one district may » 
 differ from those in another. 
 
 The act further provided that an 
 investigation be made to determine 
 the boundries of these districts and 
 that _after such investigation, pub- 
 
lie hearings should be held so that 
 persons interested might be given 
 an opportunity to be heard. The 
 regulations were to be designed so 
 as tO' secure "safety from fire and 
 other dangers and promote public 
 health and welfare, including, as 
 far as conditions may permit, pro- 
 vision for adequate light, air and 
 convenience of access." 
 
 The districts were to be laid out 
 in accordance with a plan for the 
 entire city so as to promote public 
 health, safety and welfare and the 
 Board of Estimate was authorized 
 to 'determine the proper use of 
 buildings in each district so as to 
 tend to conserve the value of build- 
 ings and enhance the value of land 
 throughout the city. 
 
 In order to provide for flexibil- 
 ity in the regulatigns so that 
 changes could be made in the light 
 of experience to meet the needs of 
 the community as they developed, 
 the board was given authority after 
 public notice and hearing to amend, 
 supplement or change such regula- 
 tions or district. But in the event 
 that a protest against the pro- 
 posed amendment or change was 
 made by the owners of twenty per 
 cent or more of the frontage af- 
 fected, or by twenty per cent of the 
 owners in the rear of the frontage 
 affected, or on the opposite side of 
 the street, no amendment should be 
 passed except by the unanimous 
 vote of the board. 
 
 Under this provision the prop- 
 erty owner must be heard as to any 
 changes, but he alone cannot stand 
 in the way of the development of 
 the city demands. If all the mem- 
 bers of the Board of Estinfate and 
 Apportionment believe that the 
 public interest demands a change, 
 the property owners cannot prevent 
 such amendment. 
 
 CLASSES OF USE, DISTRICTS. 
 
 The ordinance recently adopted 
 by New York City provides for four 
 districts, according to the kind of 
 
 buildings and the use — factory, 
 store or dwelling — they are put to, 
 namely: (1) Residence districts; 
 (2) business districts; (3) unre- 
 stricted districts, and (4) undeter- 
 mined districts. The ordinance 
 provisions are as follows: 
 
 "Residence Districts : In a 
 ^residence district only buildings 
 with their usual accessories de- 
 signed exclusively for the follow- 
 ing specified uses may be con- 
 structed : 
 
 (1) Dwellings, which shall in- 
 clude tenement houses, 
 boarding houses, and ho- 
 tels having thirty or more 
 sleeping rooms. 
 
 (2) Private clubs. 
 
 (3) Religious, educational, 
 phifanthropic and elee- 
 mosynary buildings and 
 institutions, other than 
 correctional institutions. 
 
 (4) Hospitals and sanitar- 
 iums. 
 
 (5) Farming, truck garden- 
 ing, nurseries or green- 
 houses. 
 
 In a residence district the use 
 of buildings or premises shall be 
 limited to the uses as above 
 specified, for which buildings 
 may be constructed and to the 
 customary accessory uses incident 
 thereto. The superintendent of 
 buildings may, however, permit 
 in a residence district any build- 
 ing of use in keeping with the 
 luses expressly enumerated above. 
 The term accessory use shall not 
 include a business or a factory, 
 nor shall it Include any building 
 or use not located on the same 
 plot with the building or use to 
 which it is accessory. A private 
 garage for more than five motor 
 vehicles shall not be deemed an 
 accessory use. A private club 
 having as its chief activity a 
 service customarily carried on as 
 a business shall be excluded from 
 a residence district. 
 
46 
 
 "Busilness Districts : In a busi- 
 ness district no buildings shall be 
 constructed and no premises or 
 building shall be used for any of 
 the following specified trades, in- 
 dustries or uses: Ammonia, 
 chlorine or bleaching power man- 
 ufacture; asphalt manufacture or 
 refining; assaying (other than 
 gold or silver) ; blacksmithing; 
 boiler making; brewing and dis- 
 tilling of liquors; carpet cleaning; 
 celluloid manufacture; cremator- 
 ies; distillation of coal, wood or 
 bones; dyeing and dry cleaning; 
 electric central station power 
 plants; fat rendering; fertilizer 
 manufacture; garage for five or 
 more motor vehicles; gas (illu- 
 minating or heating) manufacture 
 and storage; glue, size and gela- 
 tine manufacture; incineration or 
 reduction of garbage, offal, dead 
 animals or refuse; iron, steel, 
 brass and copper works; junk and 
 rag storage and baling; jamp 
 black m'anufacture; lime, cement 
 and plaster of paris manufacture; 
 milk bottling or distributing sta- 
 tion; oil cloth or linoleum manu- 
 facture; paint, oil, varnish and 
 turpentine manufacture; petrol- 
 eum refining or storage; printing 
 ink manufacture; raw hides and 
 skins — storage, curing and tan- 
 ning; rubber manufacture from 
 the crude material; saw or plan- 
 ing mills; shoddy manufacture and 
 wool scouring; slaughtering of 
 animals; smelting; soap manu- 
 facture; stable for five or more 
 horses; starch, glucose or dex- 
 trine manufacture; stock yards; 
 stone and monumental works; 
 sugar refining; sulp'hurous, sul- 
 phuric, nitric or 'hydrochloric 
 acid manufacture; tallow, grease 
 and lard manufacture and re- 
 fining; tar distillation or manu- 
 facture; tar roofing or tar water- 
 proofing manufacture. 
 
 No building shall be ertected 
 and no building or premises shall 
 be used for any trade of indus- 
 try that is noxious or offensive by 
 reason of the emission of noise. 
 
 odor, dust, smoke or feas, but car 
 barns or places of amusement 
 shall not be excluded. The su- 
 perintendent of buildings, may, 
 however, permit the erection of a 
 garage or stable in a business dis- 
 trict in any portion of a street 
 between two intersecting streets 
 in which there exists a public 
 garage or public stable at the 
 time of the passage of this reso- 
 lution. The use of buildings or 
 premises for factory purposes 
 shall be proihibited in a business 
 district except that 25% of the 
 total floor space of a building, or 
 space at least equal to the ground 
 area of the building or lot may be 
 so used. The printing of a news- 
 paper shall not be deemed a fac- 
 tory use. No use permitted in a 
 residence district by Section 4 
 shall be expluded from a business 
 district. 
 
 Unrestricted districts are used 
 to designate the areas for which 
 no restrictions or regulations in 
 relation to the location of trades 
 and industries and the location of 
 buildings designated for specific 
 uses are provided. They n^y be 
 generally regarded as manufac- 
 turing or industrial districts. 
 
 Undetermined districts are 
 areas in wihich, for the present, 
 no restrictions or regulations as 
 to location of trades and indus- 
 tries and the location of build- 
 ings designated for specified use. 
 The undetermined districts are 
 generally speaking areas as yet 
 undeveloped and it is anticipated 
 that when their appropriate use 
 is more fully disclosed, it may 
 seem wise to restrict them in part 
 to a particular use." 
 
 The Board has also established 
 regulations governing the height 
 of buildings and has created five 
 classes of height districts so that 
 the building heights in the outlying 
 sections of the city are limited to a 
 greater extent than in areas closer 
 to the center of the city. The regu- 
 lations vary according to the width 
 
47 
 
 of the street upon which the build- 
 ing fronts. 
 
 For the purpose of regulating 
 and restricting the proportion of 
 lot covered by buildings hereafter 
 erected and the area and dimensions 
 of yards and courts, the city of New 
 York is divided into five classes of 
 districts. In general, the size of 
 yards varies proiportionately to the 
 height of the building so that the 
 air and light of an adjoining build- 
 ing will not be cut off by the high 
 building. A proportion of the lot 
 covered by buildings varies so that 
 the conditions are more stringent in 
 the outlying districts than in the 
 more congested, built-up areas, the 
 purpose being tO' prevent the same 
 conditions of congestion to be re- 
 peated where little development has 
 taken place and where there is still 
 an opportunity to provide adequate 
 spaces between houses and for 
 courts and yards. The carrying out 
 of such regulations will prevent 
 congestion and bad housing condi- 
 tions in districts which have not yet 
 been fully developed. 
 
 It is interesting to note in con- 
 nection with the passage of this 
 comprehensive zoning ordinance in 
 New York City that the plan has had 
 the bearty endorsement and support 
 of almost all of the civic, real es- 
 tate, taxpayers, professional and 
 other organizations throughout New 
 York City. It received support from 
 the large retail merchants in the 
 Fifth avenue district and was also 
 endorsed (by the big life insurance 
 companies and important bank and 
 trust companies. At the public 
 hearings, held so as to permit all 
 persons interested to be heard, 
 there were few objections to bound- 
 aries of districts and the majority 
 of the suggestions at the final hear- 
 ings were for making the regula- 
 tions and restrictions more drastic 
 than had been proposed by the 
 Commission on Building Districts 
 and Resitrictions. 
 
 I.OS ANGELES. 
 
 Los Angeles has had a longer ex- 
 
 perience with districting than any 
 other city in the Country. The first 
 ordinance was passed in 1909 and 
 has been frequently amended since 
 that time. In February, 1916, two 
 ordinances were passed codifying 
 the regulations in this city. Under 
 the provision of these ordinances 
 the entire city of Los Angeles, ex- 
 cepting certain sections which had 
 been set aside as industrial districts, 
 is declared to be a residence zone in 
 which all J)usinesses and industries 
 are prohibited. The remainder of 
 the city not included in the resi- 
 dence district is divided' into 
 twenty-seven industrial districts in 
 twenty of which all industries or 
 businesses may be located; one dis- 
 trict in which all industries are 
 permitted except the following: 
 
 "Winery, blacksmith shop, 
 stone crusher, rolling mill, carpet 
 beating estatolishment, gas works, 
 mattress factory, soap ta,cloTy, 
 fertilizer factory, tallow render- 
 ing establishment, tannery, glue 
 factory, public laundry, wash- 
 house, brick yard or lumber 
 yard." 
 and six small districts which are 
 practically residence districts, the 
 only industries permitted being 
 "public hand laundry or washhouse 
 where power other than animal 
 power is used to operate them." 
 
 There are, in addition, one hun- 
 dred "residence exception districts" 
 scattered through the residential 
 zone. The most important of these 
 districts is the area known as Fire 
 District No. 1, which includes the 
 business section of the city and em- 
 braces an arc;a of approximately two 
 and one-half square miles. The 
 largest of these districts includes 
 areas as yet undeveloped and an- 
 nexed to the city of Los Angeles 
 subsequent to January 1, 1915, hav- 
 ing an area of one hundred and 
 eighty square miles, added to the 
 city of Los Angeles in connection 
 with its port and 'harbor proj^t. 
 The other residence exception dis- 
 tricts are very small in area, the 
 
48 
 
 largest being about one-half mile 
 square, while the next largest does 
 not occupy a greater area than two 
 square blocks. In many instances 
 these districts do not occupy more 
 than one or two lots and with the 
 exception of the tract of one hun- 
 dred and eighty square miles, which 
 is really out of the city proper, the 
 ■combined area of the exception dis- 
 tricts is about one per cent of the 
 residential zone in which they are 
 located. These exception districts 
 are scattered rather widely through 
 the residential area and illustrate 
 the teijdency of light manufacturing 
 plants to distribute themselves 
 rather widely and in no particular 
 neighborhood of the city because 
 they are not so dependent upon 
 having railroad facilities near at 
 hand. 
 
 In these residential exception 
 areas under the provisions of the 
 1911 ordinance it was permissible 
 to carry on all but a few of the 
 heavier and more objectionable in-' 
 dustries, viz. : 
 
 "Blacksmith shops, stone 
 crushers, winery, rolling mills, 
 carpet beating establishments, 
 gas works, mattresg factory, soap 
 factory, fertilizer plant or fac- 
 tory, tallow rendering establish- 
 ment, (tannery, glue factory, pub- 
 lic laundry, washhouse, brick 
 yard or lumber yard." 
 
 The 1916 ordinance limits still 
 further the kind of industries and 
 adds to the list of prohibited indus- 
 tries the following: 
 
 "Crushed stone yard or bunker, 
 rock, sand or gravel loading, dis- 
 tributing or receiving station, 
 machine shop, planing mill, foun- 
 dry, livery stable, riding academy, 
 hay barn, wood yard, coal yard, 
 briquette yard, brick kiln, brew- 
 ery or plant for the distillation of 
 ■alcoholic liquors." 
 
 The ordinance permitting the 
 cr^tion of residence exception dis- 
 tricts provides that on the petition 
 of a person or corporation wishing 
 
 to establish an industry not in- 
 cluded in the prohibited list in the 
 residence district, the City Council 
 may create such a district, provid- 
 ed that the City Council may in its 
 discretion require a petition, giv- 
 ing consent, signed^ by the owners 
 of sixty per cent of the frontage 
 where' such estaJDlishments, works 
 or factory is proposed to be erected 
 and also signed by. the owners of 
 sixty per cent of the property of 
 the frontage on the opposite side of 
 the street in the same block. If 
 such a business or industry is pro- 
 posed to be erected or established 
 on a corner lot, a petition- is re- 
 quired signed by the owners of ^ixty 
 per cent of the owners of property 
 frontage on both s-ides of each street 
 contained within a four hundred 
 foot square and if such business or 
 industry is established on property 
 comprising more than sixty per 
 cent of -the block, a petition must 
 be signed by the owners of sixty 
 per cent of the property frontage 
 on both sides of each street within 
 one hundred and fifty feet of the 
 sides of said block. The City Coun- 
 cil has always required such fron- 
 tage consent petitions before per- 
 mitting a "residence exception" dis- 
 trict to be established. 
 
 The ordinances of Los Angeles 
 are specially significant because 
 their validity has been upheld both 
 by the California Supreme Court 
 and the United States Supreme 
 Court as a reasonable exercise by 
 a municipality of its police power 
 and because under the provisions of 
 these ordinances this city has forced 
 obnoxious industries and business, 
 which had been established, out Of 
 the residential zone. 
 
 MINNEAPOLIS. 
 
 Under the provisions of an act 
 passed by the Minnesota legisla- 
 ture in 1913, the City of Minne- 
 apolis is authorized to create resi- 
 dential and industrial districts up- 
 on petition of fifty per cent of the 
 property owners within the district. 
 
A number of such districts have 
 been established by action of the 
 property owners and the City Coun- 
 cil. In the ordinance passed Feb- 
 ruary, 1913, seven industrial dis- 
 tricts were created. The kind of 
 business and industrial establish- 
 ments permitted differ in one dis- 
 trict from another. 
 
 Two residential districts are also 
 created by this ordinance. All 
 business or industrial development 
 is excluded in these districts, and 
 only single family dwellings, apart- 
 ment buildings, hotels, churches, 
 libraries, art museums and schools 
 are peifmitted. Since the first ordi- 
 nance was passed in 1913, a num- 
 ber of other ordinances reserving 
 areas for residential purposes have 
 been passed. Large sections of the 
 city are not affected by the ordi- 
 nances passed, as districts can be 
 established only upon the initiative 
 of the property owners and a com- 
 mission of the City Council is now 
 working on a comprehensive zoning 
 plan which will include the whole 
 city. 
 
 MILWAUKEE. 
 
 The legislature of Wisconsin in 
 1913 granted City Councils of all 
 cities having a population of over 
 25,000 (Milwaukee, Green Bay, La- 
 crosse, Madison, Oshkosh, Racine, 
 Sheboygan and Superior) to estab- 
 lish exclusively residential zones. 
 Cities are empowered to create dis- 
 tricts to be used exclusively for 
 residential purposes, to prohibit 
 absolutely the location of factories 
 in such districts and to require per- 
 sons wishing to establish stores and 
 other businesses to secure the con- 
 sent of a majority of property own- 
 ers and residents in such districts. 
 The Wisconsin law differs from 
 that of Minnesota in that it gives 
 the City Council power to take the 
 initiative in establishing residen- 
 tial districts. 
 
 Several ordinances have been 
 passed under the provisions of this 
 act by the Milwaukee City Council, 
 
 the first one in 1913. Recently the 
 city attorney gave a legal opinion 
 to the effect that the ordinances 
 were invalid as they did not provide 
 for compensation in cases where 
 property rights were affected, and 
 the City Council has repealed the 
 zoning ordinances passed. Ordi- 
 nances passed in 1913 by the city 
 of Milwaukee prohibits slaughter 
 houses, rendering plants and rag 
 shops within the city limits and 
 require the consent of the owners 
 of two-thirds of the frontage with- 
 in three hundred feet of where it 
 is proposed to establish garages 
 used for the keeping of automo- 
 biles for hire, gas reservoirs or 
 holders, livery boarding and sales 
 stables, paint, oil and varnish works 
 and salesrooms for automobiles. 
 The ordinance is similar to an ordi- 
 nance in force in Chicago requiring 
 frontage consents except that the 
 prohibition in Milwaukee applies to 
 the entire city outside of a business 
 district defined hy ordinance, while 
 in Chicago the prohibition applies 
 only to a block in which more than 
 one-half of the frontage is used 
 for dwellings. 
 
 hlCHMOND, VIRGINIA. 
 
 The City of Richmond is the only 
 city which has passed an ordinance 
 establishing a building line in cer- 
 tain sections of the city. The ordi- 
 nance passed in 1908 provided that 
 whenever two-thirds of the prop- 
 erty owners on any street shall pe- 
 tition the Committee on Streets of 
 the City Council to establish a 
 building line on the side of the 
 street upon which their property 
 fronts, the committee shall estab- 
 lish such a line not less than five 
 feet nor more than thirty feet from 
 the lot line. This ordinance made 
 it mandatory for the City Council 
 to establish such a building line 
 upon the filing of a petition. It 
 was in the discretion of the City 
 Council, however, to determine 
 (1912, Chapter 334) within the 
 limits above stated the distance 
 
50 
 
 back from the lot line the building 
 line was to toe placed. This ordi- 
 nance was attacked in court on the 
 ground that it delegated powers as 
 to , the use of property to other 
 property owners in the block and 
 this view was taken by the United 
 States Supreme Court in declaring 
 the ordinance invalid. Subsequent- 
 ly, in 1913, a new ordinance was 
 passed authorizing the City Council 
 to establish building lines in its dis- 
 cretion in particular blocks or 
 areas. The ordinance has not been 
 attacked in the courts. 
 
 A number of other American 
 cities have passed ordinances cre- 
 ating residential and industrial 
 zones, and in the past few years 
 several of our large cities, notably 
 Philadelphia and St. Louis, have se- 
 cured enabling legislation permit- 
 ting them to direct the location of 
 various types of buildings in the 
 city by districts. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 •The City of Philadelphia at the 
 last session of the legislature se- 
 cured authority under the provis- 
 ions of the Town Planning Act to 
 regulate the location, size and use 
 of buildings and a resolution au- 
 thorizing the appointment of a 
 commission consisting of represen- 
 tatives of the city government and 
 of civic and real estate organiza-r 
 tions has been recently passed to 
 prepare th^ code of regulations in 
 , accordance to the City Council. The 
 substance of the law passed by the 
 state legislature of Pennsylvania is 
 as follows: 
 
 ■"That for the purpose of pro- 
 moting the public health, safety, 
 order and general welfare, cities 
 of the first class may regulate the 
 location, size and use of build- 
 ings therein, and may make dif- 
 ferent regulations for different 
 districts thereof. The Park- Com- 
 mission of any city of the first 
 class may make such regulations 
 as to the location, size and use 
 
 of buildings, any portion of which 
 shall come within two hundred 
 feet of any park, parkway, play- 
 ground or other public place un- 
 der its care or management, and, 
 . upon their approval by the coun- 
 cils of such city, said regulations 
 shall have the same effect as if 
 originally made by said councils." 
 
 ST. LOUIS. 
 
 The "Home Rule" charter adopted 
 by the city of St. Louis in 1914 gave 
 the City Council of that city power 
 to prescribe limits within which 
 business, occupations and pr^actices 
 liable to be nuisances or detrimental 
 to the health, morals, security or 
 general welfare of the people may 
 lawfully be established, conducted 
 or maintained, and to define and 
 prohibit, abate, suppress and pre- 
 vent or license and regulate all acts, 
 practices, conduct, business, occu- 
 pations, calling, trades, uses of 
 property, and all other things what- 
 soever detrimental or liaible to be 
 detrimental to the health, morals, 
 comfort, safety, convenience or wel- 
 fare of the inhabitants of the city 
 and all nuisances and causfts thereof. 
 The City Council bas, however, up 
 to the present passed no zoning 
 regulations or ordinance's. 
 
 BALTIMORE. 
 
 The Forest Park residential dis- 
 trict in Baltimore was created by a 
 special act of the legislature in 1912. 
 The houses in this district must be 
 unattached buildings. In the case 
 of frame buildings, they must be 
 twenty feet apart and stone and 
 brick buildings are required to be 
 at least ten feet apart, the areas re- 
 served for dwelling houses excltP" 
 sively. This is a case of a district 
 in which certain citizens called upon 
 the legislature to give them a de- 
 gree of protection they felt unable 
 to secure by private agreement 
 alone. 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 An act governing cities in Massa- 
 chusetts other than Boston permits 
 
51 
 
 such cities to regulate by districts 
 the height, size, ,loc9,tion and use 
 of buildings. Such regulations must 
 be designed for the prevention of 
 fire and the protection of life, 
 health and morals of the com- 
 munity. 
 
 This act does not apply to the city 
 of Bostons That municipality in 
 1907 passed an ordinance regulating 
 the height of buildings by zones. 
 This ordinance was declared valid 
 and the principle of regulation of 
 buildings by districts sustained by 
 the Massachusetts Supreme Court 
 and the United States Supreme 
 Court. The City Planning Board of 
 Boston, after a study of conditions 
 in East Boston, has recommended 
 legislation so that industrial and 
 residential zones may be established 
 in that section of Boston. 
 
 FOREIGN CITIES. 
 
 Regulations as to the use and 
 location of buildings by zones or 
 districts has long been an estab- 
 lished policy in niany of the German 
 cities. In some municipalities it 
 has been in operation for over thirty 
 years. The greatest development 
 has taken place in such cities as 
 Frankfort, Munich, Leipzig, Dresden, 
 Cologne, Dusseldorf, Berlin, Ulm. 
 The German zone building ordi- 
 nances regulate the character of 
 buildings and the use to which they 
 may be put, in accordance with a 
 city plan adopted by the munici- 
 pality. The city plan lays out the 
 streets, locating the principal busi- 
 ness and trafTic streets, parks, local 
 transportation system and size of 
 lots. The city prescribes the chiar- 
 acter, location and intensity of 
 building with reference to this plan. 
 These regulations prescribe, first, 
 definite areas in which buildings 
 devoted to a particular use (busi- 
 ness, residential or industrial) may 
 be located, and second, prescribe 
 the height, percentage of lot cov- 
 ered and size of building which 
 varies from district to district, so 
 that buildings in the outlying sec- 
 
 tions must be built further apart 
 and' not to as great a height as in 
 the more centrally located zones. 
 The amount of concentration or 
 density of buildings in the built-up 
 areas allowed is higher than in the 
 sections which have not yet been 
 built up or developed. Frederick 
 Howe, an authority on the govern- 
 ment of European cities, speaking 
 before the National Conference on 
 City Planning, in 1911, said: 
 
 "German cities are divided into 
 building zones, in each of which 
 the height of buildings and the 
 amount of land which rnay be 
 covered 'by improvements is 
 strictly prescribed. These build- 
 ing zones are like the fire zones 
 ' of our cities, but are prescribed 
 to prevent fcongestion and the re- 
 appearance of the tenement. They 
 are hygienic regulations insuring 
 beauty as well as proper sanita- 
 tion. A larger area can be cov- 
 ered by structures in the business 
 section than, in' the outlying zones, 
 the percentage being determined 
 by the uses to which the land 
 would naturally be put. In 
 Frankfort,- in the inner city, 
 building may cover from one-half 
 to five-sixths of a lot and have 
 a maximum height of sixty-five 
 feet six inches. Usually they are 
 limited in height to the width of 
 the street upon which they front. 
 Tn the inner zone, the residence 
 section, buildings must have a 
 minimum ST>ace between them of 
 nineteen and one-half feet; a 
 maximum height of flfty-nine feet 
 and a maximum number of 
 stories of three above the ground 
 I story. In the outer zone of the 
 residence section, buildings must 
 have a minimum space between 
 them of twenty-six feet, a maxi- 
 mum height of sixty-eight feet, a 
 maximum of stories of two above 
 the ground story and may not ex- 
 ceed the width of the street. On 
 certain streets only one or two- 
 story houses are permitted. In 
 Cologne the lot area which may 
 
52 
 
 be occupied ranges from twenty- 
 five to sixty per cent, depending 
 upon the location of the lots, the 
 maximum being allowed in the 
 business district, then building 
 regulations preclude the reap- 
 pearance of tenement conditions 
 and insure beautiful and har- 
 monious development with a uni- 
 form skyline in each zone of the 
 city. 
 
 Within certain limits munici- 
 palities control the nature of sub- 
 urban development. Fadtories 
 whioh in any way offend the 
 neighborhood may be. required to 
 move to the suburbs, on the 
 general theory that a man must 
 so use his property that it does 
 not interfere with a like use on 
 the part of his neighbor. Muni- 
 cipal by-laws also control the 
 factory and industrial areas. This 
 is done by the building regulation 
 referred to as well as by the 
 natural proximity to railways, 
 docks and harbors. The territory 
 immediately adjoining the railway 
 is dedicated to industrial uses and 
 factories are required in many 
 cities to locate on that side of the 
 city away from the prevailing 
 winds. .This reduces the smoke 
 nuisance to a minimum. These 
 regulations are not made arbi- 
 trarily, but are fixed by obvious 
 conditions. In territory sur- 
 rounding an industrial area, house 
 building regulations are adjusted 
 to workingmen's homes as are 
 street plans." 
 
 Swiss and Scandinavian cities 
 have followed the long and success- 
 ful experience of German cities 
 and have put into effect regulation 
 of buildings by districts. The city 
 of Vienna has also carried out a 
 zoning plan. 
 
 In 1909, the English Town Plan- 
 ning Art. giving cities of England, 
 Scotland and Wales control over the 
 development and use of land in 
 suburban areas, was passed. This 
 act permits the city to regulate the 
 
 location of buildings and the use to 
 which land which is in the course 
 of development is likely to be used 
 for building purposes, within the 
 limits of the city. It does not affect . 
 areas in the city which have been 
 already developed. The English 
 act provides for the control of the 
 character of the buildings to be de- 
 fined for use for certain purposes 
 such as manufacturing or residen- 
 tial. Th'e city may also control the 
 number of buildings per acre so as 
 to prevent congestion in newly de- 
 veloped sections. In the first four 
 years of operation of this act, 
 twenty-seven municipalities had 
 adopted plans for development of 
 suburban areas which were ap- 
 proved by the Local Government 
 Board and are now in effect. 
 
 In Canada the principle of regu- 
 lation by districts has made con- 
 siderable progress. Nearly all of 
 the provinces have passed laws 
 permitting cities in Canada to con-- 
 trol their ibuilding development. 
 The recent act passed by the 
 province of New Alberta provides 
 that a city may determine tHe num- 
 ber of buildings on >a, given area, 
 and may limit the number^ at its' 
 discretion. The city may regulate 
 the space about buildings, their 
 character, residential, business, in- 
 dustrial, and height and may make 
 a reservation of vacant land for 
 parks and open spaces in all new 
 subdivisions up to five per cent of 
 their area with compensation to the 
 landlord. 
 
 The city of Toronto, under the 
 provisions of the province of On- 
 tario municipal act, has created 
 exclusively residence neighborhoods, 
 excluding frrfm them even apart- 
 ment houses and garages. The city 
 of Toronto and other cities in the 
 province of Ontario may also pro- 
 hibit and control the location and 
 use of livery boarding or sales 
 stables, stables for horses for de- 
 livery purposes, laundries, butcher 
 shops, stores, factories, blacksmith 
 
53 
 
 shops and forges. ' The consent of 
 two-thirds of the members of the 
 City Council is necessary for the 
 passage of such an ordinance. 
 
 WHAT HAS BEEN DONE IN ILLINOIS. 
 PATCH-WORK LEGISLATION IN ILLI- 
 NOIS NOT EFFECTIVE. 
 
 The Cities and Villages Act, gov- 
 erning cities in Illinois, passed in 
 1872, recognized the need for con- 
 trolling the location of various 
 types of industries and businesses 
 and gave the City Council of all 
 cities in the state authority to direct 
 the location and regulate the use 
 and construction of packing houses, 
 renderies, tallow plants, bone and 
 soap factories, tenements, , brew- 
 eries, distilleries, livery stables, 
 blacksmith shops and foundries in 
 the city, and to regulate and pro- 
 hibit the keeping of any lumber 
 yard and the placing or selling of 
 lumber and other combustible ma- 
 terial within the fire limits. The 
 Act also gave the City Council pow- 
 er to prohibit the erection of wood- 
 en buildings within fire zones or 
 districts. 
 
 A bill-board ordinance was en- 
 acted in 1910. In 1911, cities were 
 empowered to direct the location 
 of machine shops, garages, board- 
 ing and sales stables, laundries, 
 second hand stores and junk stores 
 and yards in the city, and to pro- 
 hibit the keeping of coal as well as 
 lumber in yards within the fire 
 limits. 
 
 The City Council of Chicago, act- 
 ing under this authority, has by 
 ordinance provided that the follow- 
 ing industries or businesses may 
 not be conducted in blocks in which 
 more than one-half of the buildings 
 are used exclusively for residence 
 purposes, without the written con- 
 sent of owners of one-half of the 
 frontage in the block; 
 
 "Billf boards or any building or 
 place used for a gas reservoir, 
 packing house, rendering plant, 
 ■soap factory, tannery, blacksmith 
 
 shop, foundry, smelter, metal 
 refinery, machine shop, factory 
 combined with a foundry, laundry 
 to be run by machinery, livery 
 stable, boarding stable, sale stable, 
 medical dispensary, second hand 
 store or yard, smoke house or 
 place where fish or meats are 
 smoked or cured." 
 
 The city has also exercised the 
 power to limit the height of build- 
 ings, and in 1910 fixed the maximum 
 at two hundred feet. Two hundred 
 sixty feet had previously been per- 
 mitted. 
 
 In the meantime the city had be- 
 gun to appreciate the importance 
 of systematic development. The 
 Chicago Plan was presented to the 
 city in 1909. The Chic'ago Plan 
 Commission was organized by the 
 municipality in the same year. In 
 1907 the Harbor Commissioji was 
 created. In 1913 the Railway Ter- 
 minal Commission came into exis- 
 tence. In 1914 the City Club pre- 
 pared an elaborate study pf 
 through-routing in which attention 
 was directed to the importance of 
 organized municipal expansion. The 
 Msrket Commission reported in 
 1914 upon other and not dissimilar 
 problems. 
 
 This patch-work policy has noi 
 been efl"ective as has been pointed 
 out, in preventing the breaking 
 dwvn of, residence districts and in- 
 appropriate uses of land in this city. 
 A bill giving the city more compre- 
 hensive power to create residential, 
 business and industrial districts 
 was presented to the Legislature in 
 1913. The bill, which was approved 
 by the City Council of Chicago, was 
 as follows: 
 
 "The City Council shall have 
 power to establish and create ex- 
 clusively residential districts, to 
 prohibit the erection therein of 
 ~ buildings other than residences 
 and the usual outbuildings ap- 
 purtenant to residences, to pre- 
 scribe the general character of 
 residence buildings to be erected 
 
54 
 
 in such districts, and to prohibit 
 the carrying on of any business 
 in such districts except upon the 
 consent of cdl or any specified 
 major fraction of the owners of 
 lands therein, measured by street 
 frontage, within the limits of the 
 city or village. 
 
 To direct the location and regu- 
 late the construction and main- 
 tenance of factories, manufactur- 
 ing or business establishments, 
 and stores, in residence districts 
 in ivhich a majority of the street 
 frontage is used exclusively for 
 residence purposes. 
 
 To direct the location and regu- 
 late the use and o'onstniction of 
 breweries, distilleries, livery, 
 boarding or sale stable, black- 
 smith shoips, foundries, machine 
 shops, garages, hangars, laun- 
 dries, bathing beaches, planing 
 mills, flour mills, box factories, 
 lead factories, steel factories, 
 iron factories, ice plants, either 
 for the manufacturing or storing 
 of ice, factories or other manu- 
 facturing establishments using 
 machinery, or emitting offensive 
 or noxious fumes, odors, or 
 noises, and storage and ware- 
 houses within the limits of the 
 city or village. 
 
 To regulate, direct the location 
 of, and prohibit the keeping of, 
 any lumber or coal yard, and the 
 placing or piling or selling any 
 lumber, timber, wood, coal, or 
 other combustible material, with- 
 in the limits of the city or vil- 
 lage. 
 
 To regulate, direct the location 
 of and prohibit the placing, keep- 
 ing, piling or storing of building 
 or other material, junk, or_ nox- 
 ious matter, upon vacant prop- 
 erty, and to regulate the use of 
 such property within the limits^^ 
 of the city or village. 
 
 Tn regulate the sale of meats, 
 poultry, fish, butter, cheese, lard, 
 vegetables and all other provis- 
 ions, to provide for place and 
 
 manner of selling the same, and 
 to direct the location thereof. 
 
 To regulate and direct thS lo- 
 cation of places of amusement. 
 
 (Amendments to law as proposed 
 in bill are in italics.) 
 
 The Legislature passed the bill, 
 but it was vetoed by the Grovernor 
 on the ground that such legislation 
 was unoonstitutional. The veto was 
 based upon an opinion of the At- 
 torney-General, who said: 
 
 "In my opinion, tlhe General 
 Assembly cannot be vested with 
 power arbitrarily to single out 
 certain portions of the city and to 
 prohibit the erection therein of 
 buildings other than residences, 
 and to prescribe the general 
 character of residence buildings 
 to be erected in such districts. So 
 far as the public health, public 
 safety or public welfare is not af- 
 fected, the o'wner of private 
 property may use and enjoy such 
 property freely and without in- 
 terference on the part of the mu- 
 nicipal or other authorities. 
 
 In my opinion, the bill under 
 consideration is an unreasonable 
 attempt to limit the proper use of 
 private property and is, as to the 
 amendatory provision aibove re- 
 ferred tq, unconstitutional and 
 void." 
 
 Since that time, however, much 
 progress has been made in the di- 
 rection of judicial sanction for such 
 acts. In a notable case (Hadacheck 
 vs. Los Angeles, 239 U. S. 394), the 
 Supreme Court of the United States 
 upheld the districting ordinance of 
 the city of Los Angeles. In this 
 case the city ordinance prohibited 
 the operation of brick yards or 
 kilns within a certain area. The 
 Supreme Court of California and 
 the Supreme Court of the United 
 States sustained the city's ordinance 
 in sweeping terms. The court said : 
 "We think the conclusion of 
 the court is justified by the evi- 
 dence and makes it unnecessary 
 to review the many cases cited by 
 
55 
 
 petitioner in which it is decided 
 that the police power hf a state 
 cannot be arbitrarily exercised. 
 The principle is familiar, but in 
 a given case it must plainly ap- 
 pear to apply. It is to be remem- 
 bered that we are dealing with 
 one of the most essential powers 
 of government, one that is least 
 limitable. It may, indeed, seem 
 harsh in its exercise, usuajly is 
 on some individuals, tout the im- 
 pe]*ative necessity for its exis- 
 tence precludes any limitations 
 upon it when not exerted arbi- 
 trarily. A vested interest cannot 
 be asserted against it because of 
 conditions once obtaining. Chi- 
 cago & Alton R. R. V. Tranbarger, 
 238 U. S. 67, 78. To so hold 
 would preclude development "and 
 fix a city forever in its primitive 
 conditions. There must be pro- 
 gress, and if in its march private 
 interests are in the way they 
 must yield to the good of the 
 community. The logical result 
 of petitioner's contention would 
 ■seem to be that a city could not 
 be formed or enlarged against 
 the resistance of an occupant of 
 the ground and that if it grows at 
 all it can only grow as the en- 
 vironment of the occupations that 
 arfe' usually (banished to the pur- 
 lieus." 
 
 In Reinman vs. Little Rock (237 
 U. S. 171, 19,14) the Supreme Court 
 of the United States sustained a 
 municipal ordinance prohibiting 
 the maintenance of livery stables in 
 certain districts. Speaking of sucih 
 ordinance, the court said: 
 
 "While such regulations are 
 subject to judicial scrutiny upon 
 fundamental grounds, yet a con- 
 siderable latitude of discretion 
 must be accorded to the law- 
 making power, and so long as the 
 regulation in question is not 
 shown to be clearly unreasonable 
 and arbitrary, and operates uni- 
 formly upon all persons similar- 
 ly situated in the particular dis- 
 trict, the district itself not ap- 
 pearing to have been arbitrarily 
 
 selected, it cannot be judicially 
 declared that there is a depriva- 
 tion of property without due pro- 
 cess of law, oria denial of the 
 equal protection of the law with 
 the meaning of the fourteenth 
 amendment." 
 
 Districting legislation cannot 
 rest, in accordance with the pre- 
 cedents thus far established by ' 
 our courts, upon the impairpient 
 of property values or upon the 
 desirability of the orderly and 
 systematic development of the 
 community. Either of these ar- 
 guments would quickly encounter 
 the judicial objection that such 
 action would interfere with the 
 rights of private property. Nor 
 can the unsightliness of areas or 
 buildings be judicially relied upon 
 as a basis for justifiable legisla- 
 tive action. 
 
 See Commonwealth' vs. Boston 
 Advertising Co., 188' Mass. 348. 
 
 Also Case and Comment, XVIII, 
 357, for 6. 
 
 Decisions. Haller Sign Works 
 vs. Physical Culture Sdhool, 249, 
 111., 436. 
 
 The creation of such districts 
 rests upon the "police power" the 
 chief characteristics of which are 
 defined by Prof. Freund' as follows : 
 
 "It aims directly to secure and 
 promote the general welfare and 
 it does so by restraint and com- 
 pulsion." 
 
 Under this authority, a mass of 
 legislation has been enacted and 
 judicially sustained. The creation 
 of "fire" districts, the prohibition of 
 certain industries with and without 
 frontage consents, bill board regu- 
 lations, limitations of the height of 
 buildings, and a wide variety of 
 building restrictions and regula- 
 tions commonly grouped together 
 as a "building code," have all been 
 upheld under the "police power." 
 
 The creation of building "dis- 
 
 1. EJrnst Freund, Police Power, 3. 
 
56 
 
 tricts" or "zones" is warranted as 
 a regulation designed to promote 
 public health, safety and welfare. 
 
 Expert testimony has been pro- 
 duced to show that the proposed 
 districting would reduce fire hazard, 
 diminish accidents to children, 
 tend to produce cleaner streets, 
 purer air and more quiet homes. 
 Upon these points, the opinions of 
 insurance engineers, public sani- 
 tarians and street cleaning author- 
 ities are all readily available. 
 More broadly considered, the "dis- 
 tricting" plan tends to conserve the 
 health and safety of the community 
 through the improvement of hous- 
 ing conditions. 
 
 It can readily be shown that the 
 disease and death rates are highest 
 in those areas where lack of re- 
 striction has caused the "transition 
 stage" in which the value of prop- 
 erty for its original residential pur- 
 poses is blighted, while its indus- 
 trial uses have not yet fully de- 
 veloped. It is precisely in these 
 regions that the sanitarian can show 
 a arising tide of disease and death. 
 Many cities have expended millions 
 of dollars in the reconstruction of 
 such areas, for the purpose of pro- 
 moting the general health and 
 safety. These municipalities have 
 recognized the menace to the safety 
 of the inhabitants of these sections 
 and to the city as a whole; and 
 have acted accordingly for the pro- 
 tection of the public. 
 
 The zoning system is a compre- 
 hensive and systematic method of 
 safeguarding the welfare of the 
 community, which is protected by 
 building codes on a smaller scale. 
 But it rests upon the same under- 
 lying principle, namely, the exer- 
 cise of the police power in the in- 
 terest of the public health, safety, 
 comfort and convenience. 
 
 Dr. Woods Hutchinson has 
 graphically shown in his discussion 
 
 of public health under the new ur- 
 ban conditions, that the druggist 
 can no longer fill the physician's 
 prescriptions in many cases, but 
 that the community itself must be 
 called upon. If the physician pre- 
 scribes pure air, sunlight, a rea- 
 sonable degree of quiet, no one but 
 the city, through its police power, 
 can assist the patient. 
 
 The "districting" system is an 
 attempt on a larger and more com- 
 prehensive scale to cure or prevent 
 those conditions in modern cities 
 which all public sanitarians agree 
 are the most prolific sources of ill- 
 health— the greatest menace to 
 public safety and the general, wel- 
 fare. 
 
 The advance from the abatement 
 of the nuisance at common law to 
 the, creation of building districts 
 under the police power comes with 
 the new urban and industrial con- 
 ditions, with the discoveries of the 
 public health expert, with the sys- 
 tematic large scale method of deal- 
 ing with modern problems, both in 
 private and public corporations. 
 The safety, health, comfort, con- 
 venience and general welfare of the 
 whole community is the underlying 
 purpose in both and the legal war- 
 rant for collective action in both. 
 
 Entirely aside from aesthetic 
 considerations, from the conserva- 
 tion of property values, from the 
 advantages of a well considered city 
 plan of residential and industrial 
 development, which have not thus 
 far been regarded as falling under 
 the police power, there are con- 
 clusive considerations of health, 
 safety and comfort, which afford a 
 sound basis for including the crea- 
 tion of building or zoning districts 
 within the scope of the police pow- 
 er of the state. The purpose and 
 effect of an intelligent plan for the 
 growth of the municipality is the 
 conservation of human values — ^the 
 supreme concern of all government. 
 
Cornell University Library 
 NAC 768 .C43A2 
 
 Building districts and restrictions :a b 
 
 3 1924 024 454 559