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 Address by Charles E. Wacker| 
 at a Meeting of the Chicago 
 Plan Conunission. 
 

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 ADDRESS 
 
 by 
 
 CHARLES H, WACKER 
 
 at a Meeting of the Cmcago Plan 
 
 Commission, held at the 
 
 Hotel Sherman on 
 
 November 4» 
 
 1926. 
 
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ILLIK08S hi^lORkLAL 5UkvEY 
 
ADDRESS 
 
 by 
 
 CHARLES H. WACKER 
 
 at a Meeting of the Chicago Plan 
 
 Commission, held at the 
 
 Hotel Sherman on 
 
 November 4, 
 
 1926. 
 
 Die 3 1 1926 
 
 If 
 
/ 1 1. I -? 
 ADDRESS by CHARLES H. WACKER 
 
 at a Meeting of the Chicago Plan Commission 
 
 Held at the Hotel Sherman on 
 
 November 4, 1926 
 
 Gentlemen of the 
 
 Chicago Plan Commission: 
 
 In resigning as chairman of the Chi- 
 cago Plan Commission — a post which I 
 have had the honor of holding since the 
 Commission was organized in 1909—1 
 feel I should review the work on the 
 Chicago Plan from its beginning until 
 the present. In doing so I shall address 
 myself particularly to the members who 
 have become associated with us recently. 
 
 It is indeed a matter of much gratifi- 
 cation to me that Mayor Dever has 
 appointed so splendid a body of young 
 men to membership, for it is they who 
 will have to carry on the work after we 
 older men have laid it down. 
 
 In pondering over the events of the 
 past, certain things have impressed them- 
 selves very forcibly upon my mind, and 
 I think it appropriate to report at some 
 length upon these things even at the risk 
 of being criticized for repeating myself 
 and for citing many quotations. 
 
 There are salient factors in producing 
 and promoting a city plan which cannot 
 be repeated too often, because they are 
 fundamental. When in retrospect we 
 consider the kaleidoscopic changes that 
 have taken place in the city of Chicago 
 we wonder at the comprehensiveness of 
 the Chicago Plan and that it should look 
 so far into the future. It was prepared 
 by Daniel Hudson Burnham and Edward 
 H. Bennett and a technical staff of the 
 best experts, assisted further by Jules 
 Guerin, Charles Moore, and Walter L. 
 Fisher. The technicians and their col- 
 
 laborators worked under the auspices of 
 The Commercial Club of Chicago, an 
 organization composed of about one hun- 
 dred of Chicago's most practical and suc- 
 cessful business and professional men. 
 
 In an article on "City Planning In- 
 struction in American Colleges and Uni- 
 versities," published July, 1925, in CITY 
 PLANNING, the official organ of the 
 American City Planning Institute and 
 the National Conference on City Plan- 
 ning, Charles W. Eliot 2nd, says: 
 
 "There is no college of city planning 
 in America, no school nor special place 
 where city planning is the only subject 
 of study, and only one in which it can 
 be made a major subject. As yet there 
 is no separate profession of city planning. 
 It has often been said that city planning 
 is a cooperative undertaking in which the 
 architect, business man, engineer, land- 
 scape architect, lawyer, politician, real- 
 tor, and people of many other pursuits 
 properly have a part." 
 
 He closed his article by saying: "The 
 time is apparently not far distant when 
 a separate school devoted primarily to 
 city planning will be needed. Such a 
 school would best be at one of the larger 
 universities where courses in specialized 
 related fields are available. Indeed, it 
 should be through a cooperation of tech- 
 nical schools of landscape architecture, 
 architectural engineering, law, social eco- 
 nomics, etc., as the subject itself requires 
 a cooperation of these and many more 
 activities. The theory and technique of 
 city planning are rapidly developing, and 
 instruction sufficient for active technical 
 
work in the field will soon become a 
 recognized public need." 
 
 I am in full accord with this thought, 
 except that I believe the time is at hand 
 right now for the immediate introduction 
 of such schools as a public need. 
 
 In the same magazine I found another 
 article with which I was so much im- 
 pressed that I feel called upon to quote 
 from it also. The title of this paper was 
 "The Philosophy of City Planning," and 
 it was written by the Hon. James M. 
 Curley, Mayor of Boston, who said: 
 
 "What we term 'City Planning,' is the 
 thought, discussion, and study which 
 bring a knowledge of actual conditions 
 home to us and by which we can plan 
 and provide for the changes, transforma- 
 tions, and improvements that will bring 
 the community approximately closer to 
 the ideal. It has taken the world a long 
 time to learn the mere rudiments of what 
 constitutes real civilization, and to un- 
 derstand that while perfection in things 
 human is an irridescent dream, no ap- 
 proach to that ideal can be made as long 
 as humanity refuses to recognize that 
 the spiritual and the material elements of 
 life are inseparable. Man does not live 
 by bread alone. Man consists of body 
 and soul; to feed the body and starve 
 the soul is to court disaster; the nourish- 
 ment of both is necessary to a full, 
 rounded, vigorous life, individual and 
 communal; and if bread be the food of 
 the body, beauty, art, the intangible and 
 immaterial things of life, are the food of 
 the soul; and the strength, happiness, 
 and contentment of the soul are reflected 
 in the vigor, vitality, and efficiency of 
 the body. 
 
 "City Planning is the sanest philosophy 
 and the most far-reaching influence in 
 modern municipal life and government; 
 it is a rising tide of wisdom which gives 
 promise of overflowing from the cities 
 into the state and the republic, fertiliz- 
 ing all with its beneficent results. Its 
 fundamental principle, lying under all 
 its healing activities, is the betterment 
 of humanity by the betterment of its 
 environment." 
 
 Raymond Unwin, Chief Architect to 
 the British Ministry of Health, in speak- 
 ing on "The Art of City Planning," in 
 this same publication, says: 
 
 "City Planning, it seems to me, is an 
 activity which beyond most others de- 
 pends for its success on the application 
 of the faculty of imagination to the prob- 
 lems involved. Before we can safely or 
 fairly leave the practical people to add 
 building to building, street to street, or 
 to devote their energies to perfecting the 
 processes of their factory or the organiza- 
 tion of their business, there should have 
 been a vision of what the whole city 
 might be, and a design or plan providing 
 for the best grouping of the places for 
 work, for business, for living, and for 
 play, to realize that vision. With the 
 guidance and advice of the practical men, 
 taking full advantage of their knowledge 
 and experience, the men of artistic tem- 
 perament should prepare the way, giving 
 expression to their vision in a compre- 
 hensive design capable of realizing it 
 upon the ground ; and moreover doing it 
 in such a way that the order, the relation 
 between the parts, their proportion and 
 grouping, will themselves become an ex- 
 pression of the life of the community in 
 the form of a beautiful city." 
 
 Mr. Unwin continues, "I am contend- 
 ing for the recognition of the practical 
 importance of the artistic faculty in 
 human life; and the realization that city 
 planning is not only a science but is 
 equally an art, calling for the exercise of 
 trained imagination and the creative 
 faculty. For I believe that only in this 
 manner can the city be planned so as to 
 become a beautiful setting for our civic 
 life, and to confer upon us the greatest 
 benefits of communal culture." 
 
 From sources like these, and from our 
 general knowledge, we know that much 
 progress has been made toward recogniz- 
 ing city planning as a science and an art. 
 In the United States, where over half the 
 people live in cities, it has now come to 
 be generally perceived that city planning 
 is a vital need of the day, and it is inter- 
 esting to note that in the nation-wide 
 practice of city planning the most ap- 
 proved methods of today are similar to 
 those which we have followed since the 
 beginning. 
 
 How was it, then, when we started? 
 
 We were pioneers, trail blazers so to 
 speak, with a very unsympathetic public 
 which considered city planning only a 
 fad. The public of that day had not been 
 
educated to a realization of the manifold 
 benefits to be derived from a practical, 
 scientific, and comprehensive city plan 
 which provides for both the economic 
 and humanitarian needs of the city 
 dweller. Lincoln once said, "Public opin- 
 ion is everything; with it nothing can 
 fail, without it nothing can succeed." We 
 did not have public sentiment with us 
 when we started. 
 
 Therefore, after the Chicago Plan 
 Commission had been created in 1909, we 
 soon found that it would be necessary to 
 launch a thorough educational campaign. 
 To that end we organized a lecture 
 bureau in 1910, and afterwards we de- 
 velop>ed an illustrated lecture which we 
 gave free of charge. It might be inter- 
 esting to you to know that at this time 
 we drew our inspiration and examples 
 from European cities, often expressing 
 the hope that the time would come when 
 we could substitute American examples 
 instead. I might tell you that today our 
 lecture is purely American without a 
 single foreign view in it. 
 
 At first our talks were listened to 
 coldly, but in later years they have been 
 received with enthusiasm and apprecia- 
 tion, and we often received a rising vote 
 of thanks for the message we brought. 
 
 One of my early public addresses on 
 the Chicago Plan was delivered before 
 the Chicago Association of Commerce on 
 June 8, 1910. In it, among other things, 
 I said: 
 
 "To my mind this is one of the most 
 important meetings ever held in the in- 
 terests of the Chicago Plan, because an 
 unqualified endorsement by this asso- 
 ciation—the most powerful and the most 
 influential organization Chicago has ever 
 had — and its hearty cooperation in carry- 
 ing out the Plan will be most potent fac- 
 tors in clothing our endeavors with suc- 
 cess. This work, as you know, has the 
 powerful support of the press, and I trust 
 that we shall also be able to gain the 
 cordial approval and active assistance of 
 the Chicago Association of Commerce. 
 
 "It has been stated at different times 
 that the Plan is not a practical one and 
 is not democratic enough; that it is a 
 visionary plan and a dream. Gentlemen, 
 don't you know that all progressive men 
 have some time or other been dubbed 
 'dreamers,' and that all monumental 
 
 undertakings have been called dreams? 
 
 "Have the pessimists ever accom- 
 plished any great constructive work? Is 
 it a sign of strength to doubt your own 
 power and your own possibilities? The 
 optimist is the man who pushes ahead 
 himself, his business, and his community. 
 
 "Four years have been devoted to the 
 preparation of the Plan of Chicago; no 
 money has been stinted ; the best expert 
 talent obtainable has been at work upon 
 it; and behind this plan, giving their 
 time and thought, stood and still stand 
 not dreamers, but our foremost and most 
 successful business and professional men. 
 
 "This plan is not presented as a hard 
 and fast plan, but more as a suggestion 
 of the possibilities of our situation to be 
 used in the development of an official 
 plan as the best judgment of this com- 
 munity may determine. 
 
 " 'It is a picture plan,' they say. Yes, 
 it is a 'picture plan' — just such a picture 
 as the Blackstone Hotel presents in com- 
 parison with the Tremont House which 
 was good and sufficient in its day; a pic- 
 ture just as the new City and County 
 Building will appear as compared with 
 former ones; a picture such as the new 
 Northwestern Railroad Station will ap- 
 f>ear compared with the old one — such a 
 picture is the Plan of Chicago: A picture 
 of progress, convenience, symmetry, and 
 good order. 
 
 "We have had artists at work upon the 
 Plan because it was necessary to have 
 their expert vision and assistance; but 
 the 'man behind the gun,' and the 'power 
 behind the throne,' were hard-headed 
 business men whose interests are bound 
 up with the industrial and commercial 
 growth of the city. 
 
 "We cannot afford to grow haphaz- 
 ardly any longer; we cannot afford to 
 leave it to land owners and real estate 
 speculators to decide for us how and in 
 what direction our city is to grow. Even 
 though no plan has as yet been adopted, 
 the good effect of this work is already 
 apparent. There is a tacit understanding 
 that no public work of any kind shall be 
 undertaken without reference to the Chi- 
 cago Plan Commission. We want to 
 economize in our expenditures; we want 
 to obtain the greatest result at the least 
 
possible expense, and the only way to do 
 it is by the adoption of a plan. 
 
 "Now is the time to consider and 
 adopt such a plan, and I am glad it was 
 not done before, because if we are dubbed 
 'dreamers' today what would have hap- 
 pened to any man who dared to predict 
 that Chicago would within a very short 
 time become a city of several millions of 
 inhabitants; and what would they not 
 have done to a man who had the temerity 
 to propose at that time such a plan for 
 the future as the Plan of Chicago is? 
 
 "Don't you think it is well for us to 
 look around and see what others are do- 
 ing? The business man who will not fol- 
 low the march of progress and who thinks 
 that what was good enough yesterday 
 will also be good enough for tomorrow, 
 will soon be left behind and crowded out. 
 
 "History has taught us that the de- 
 mand for better surroundings, better 
 utilities, better public improvements, 
 and more comfort, will follow in the foot- 
 steps of increased commercial activity 
 and wealth. This is not a plan particu- 
 larly for the rich and the aristocratic; 
 without a city plan they can get beauty, 
 comfort and health in their homes in the 
 city and in the country, too. This plan 
 is primarily for the benefit of those who 
 cannot afford to leave the city and who 
 cannot afford to get that which this plan 
 proposes to give to every inhabitant of 
 the city of Chicago, be he rich or poor. 
 We do not want a cheap plan. The 
 cheapest is not the best, but we do want 
 an economical plan for an adequate de- 
 velopment of our magnificent home city 
 
 • 
 
 "The greatest stumbling-block in the 
 way of carrying out our great plans for 
 the future in a community like ours is 
 the financial question, but I have every 
 faith in my fellow citizens of Chicago 
 that if we can but show them the advan- 
 tages of this plan, they will not only per- 
 mit us to put it through but they will 
 rise and demand that it be done with the 
 least possible delay. 
 
 "This plan will concern itself with the 
 rearrangement of streets and arteries of 
 traffic wherever that is demanded by 
 intolerable conditions of congestion and 
 inconvenience; and will further lay down 
 a plan for the growth of the city — 
 its parks and boulevards — along proper 
 lines, but it cannot enter into adminis- 
 
 trative functions such as the inaugura- 
 tion of hygienic measures for the amelio- 
 ration of the living conditions of our peo- 
 ple, which should be left to experts for 
 study and recommendation and to the 
 proper authorities for execution. The 
 minute you burden the Chicago Plan 
 with all sorts of desirable and undesir- 
 able, tried and untried ideas foreign to 
 the clear-cut idea herein presented, you 
 will endanger its final adoption." 
 
 I closed my remarks upon this occa- 
 sion by saying: 
 
 "Delay and procrastination always 
 mark the beginning of the end. You 
 believe in your own future and in the 
 future of your own city; therefore, prove 
 it by joining forces with those who pre- 
 dict that Chicago's future will be even 
 greater than its past; that this city, the 
 capital of the Middle West with its sixty 
 million people, will, ere long, step for- 
 ward into the place for which nature has 
 destined it; namely, the largest, the most 
 convenient, the most healthful, and the 
 most beautiful city on the American 
 continent." 
 
 Well do I remember that the Gold 
 Room of the Congress Hotel was filled 
 with listeners who were attentive, al- 
 though my talk was a long one lasting 
 over two hours; but I also remember 
 very well that I sensed a feeling which 
 seemed to pervade the audience — a feel- 
 ing of doubt and misgiving whether so 
 large and comprehensive a plan could 
 ever be realized. Personal friends ad- 
 vised me not to "hitch my wagon to a 
 star," or to engage in work which, as 
 they thought, was without any prospect 
 of success. I, however, felt that with 
 the Chicago Plan Commission — the most 
 truly representative body of citizens ever 
 appointed here, including in its mem- 
 bership men from every part of the city 
 and every walk of life; with the press 
 and the municipal authorities cooper- 
 ating so magnificently; and with a 
 thoroughly well organized promotional 
 bureau (although always with limited 
 means), the good people of Chicago 
 would not only aid us in our efforts but 
 would insist that the improvements in 
 the Chicago Plan be consummated. 
 
 I recall also what I said to the Chicago 
 Plan Commission in accepting its chair- 
 manship on November 4, 1909. I said at 
 
that time, "Our task is indeed a great 
 and difficult one, yet not at all so seem- 
 ingly hopeless as was to our fathers the 
 problem of rebuilding a large city laid in 
 ashes and re-establishing homes and for- 
 tunes that were swept away over night 
 by fire; nor is it so difficult a task as our 
 fathers achieved when they raised the 
 level of the entire city approximately 
 fourteen feet in order to provide drain- 
 age." 
 
 It might be well to bring to the people 
 of the present day the thoughts that ani- 
 mated those who were responsible for 
 formulating the Plan of Chicago back in 
 1908. To this end I shall quote from an 
 article which I wrote prior to the first 
 meeting of the Plan Commission: 
 
 "When in ten, twenty, or fifty years 
 Chicago shall stand transformed in ac- 
 cordance with these plans into one of the 
 most attractive of cities, could it possess 
 a greater moral asset for future genera- 
 tions than this example of lofty yet prac- 
 tical ideals realized through the far- 
 sighted wisdom, the unfaltering courage, 
 and the faith of its citizens which made 
 such great undertakings possible? Will 
 not this example of civic unity and civic 
 enterprise foster in Chicagoans a love for 
 their birthplace and a confidence in its 
 possibilities and in their own power of 
 achievement which could be aroused in 
 no other way? Herein lies, perhaps, the 
 most imperishable asset created by the 
 Plan of Chicago." 
 
 In looking back over the forces which 
 brought about the creation of the Plan 
 of Chicago, we find that in 1901 Mr. 
 Franklin MacVeagh suggested to The 
 Commercial Club of Chicago the advis- 
 ability of making a comprehensive plan 
 for building the Chicago of the future, 
 and we find that the club appointed a 
 committee to consider the subject. Little 
 progress was made, however, until 1906, 
 when Charles D. Norton, then president 
 of The Merchants Club, succeeded in 
 having that club appoint a committee 
 with the same object in view. 
 
 In 1907 The Merchants Club united 
 with The Commercial Club and the work 
 thenceforth was carried on by The Com- 
 mercial Club and was financed by that 
 organization and a few other public- 
 spirited citizens, not members of the 
 
 * Deceased. i 
 
 club, whose names are mentioned in the 
 Plan of Chicago report. 
 
 The first Commercial Club committee 
 on the Plan of Chicago was composed of 
 Messrs. Charles D. Norton,* chairman; 
 Charles H. Wacker, vice-chairman; 
 Frederic A. Delano, secretary; Walter H. 
 Wilson, treasurer; and Edgar A. Ban- 
 croft,* Adolphus C. Bartlett,* William 
 L. Brown, Daniel H. Burnham,* Edward 
 Butler, Benjamin Carpenter, Clyde M. 
 Carr,* Edward F. Carry, Leslie Carter,* 
 William J. Chalmers, Charles H. Con- 
 over,* Charles G. Dawes, Thomas E. 
 Donnelley, John V. Farwell,* John V. 
 Farwell, Jr., David R. Forgan, James 
 L. Houghteling, Charles H. Hulburd,* 
 Charles L. Hutchinson,* Chauncey Keep, 
 Rollin A. Keyes,* Victor F. Lawson,* 
 Franklin MacVeagh, Cyrus H. McCor- 
 mick, Harold F. McCormick, John J. 
 Mitchell, Joy Morton, Martin A. Ryer- 
 son, John G. Shedd,* Albert A. Sprague,* 
 Albert A. Sprague II, Homer A. Still- 
 well,* Charles L. Strobel, Charles H. 
 Thome, Frederick W. Upham.* 
 
 The remarkable achievements of the 
 Chicago Plan Commission have been 
 recorded in detail in the minutes and 
 annual reports of the Commission, but 
 not the manner in which we proceeded 
 to win the citizens of Chicago to the 
 Plan. Therefore, in order to complete 
 the records it seems proper to set forth 
 herein the methods used by the Commis- 
 sion for the purpose of gaining public 
 favor. I should like at this point to em- 
 phasize that we have been operating 
 from the start on the basis of the best 
 methods of today. 
 
 The first big gun to be fired was a pub- 
 lication entitled, "Chicago's Greatest 
 Issue — An Official Plan," printed in 
 June, 1911. One hundred and sixty- 
 five thousand copies of this pamphlet 
 were distributed broadcast throughout 
 the city. It portrayed what Chicago 
 had, what it owed, what it was worth, 
 what it was gaining, what it needed, 
 and what it should do. It was designed 
 for easy reference in order that the reader 
 might acquaint himself readily with the 
 Plan of Chicago. 
 
 This booklet sets forth in strong terms 
 that if we are to become prosperous we 
 should now direct our attention earnestly 
 to solving the many perplexing problems 
 
which have crowded in upon us seem- 
 ingly all at once: The building of a sub- 
 way, the construction of an outer harbor, 
 the realization of a proper housing plan, 
 and the development of the city as a 
 whole. The Plan of Chicago aflfords the 
 solution of practically all of these things, 
 and the Chicago Plan Commission — a 
 patriotic, non-political, non-partisan, 
 non-sectional, and non-sectarian body of 
 three hundred and twenty-eight sound, 
 hard-headed business and professional 
 men drawn from all classes and repre- 
 senting all interests — is working today 
 to benefit all the people of Chicago for 
 generations to come. 
 
 The Greatest Issue booklet contains a 
 map (reproduced from the Plan of Chi- 
 cago), of a system of outer roads and 
 highways encircling the city and radi- 
 ating from it and connecting the vari- 
 ous parts of Chicago with each other, 
 with the center of the city, and with 
 outlying sections. 
 
 When I showed Fred A. Busse, then 
 Mayor of Chicago, this plan for the de- 
 velopment of a comprehensive system of 
 highways in and around Chicago, he said 
 to me that if all the money which had 
 been expended upon the Plan of Chicago 
 had resulted in that one map only, it 
 would have been well spent. At that 
 time ninety-five per cent of this system 
 of exterior highways was in existence, 
 and it needed only five per cent more to 
 be complete. Now, thanks to the cooper- 
 ation of the officials of Cook County, the 
 remaining links in this outer highway 
 system within Cook County have been 
 approved by the county road authorities 
 and will be improved within the next 
 year or two. 
 
 We had an outer highway committee 
 in the early days of the Plan Commis- 
 sion, and although this committee was 
 unable to secure cooperation then from 
 the authorities outside Chicago and 
 Cook County, yet today, as a result of 
 our years of educational effort directed 
 toward making all the . people of the 
 Chicago region understand and cooper- 
 ate with the Chicago Plan, the Chicago 
 Regional Planning Association finds it 
 less difficult than it would otherwise 
 have been to obtain the cooperation 
 of the officials of the various outlying 
 communities. 
 
 The educational effort of the Plan 
 Commission has comprised every form 
 of publicity, including articles in news- 
 papers, magazines, special publications, 
 trade journals, and special advertising 
 used by some of the largest industrial 
 and commercial concerns of the city. 
 There have also been pamphlets of 
 many kinds and descriptions, a motion 
 picture, the illustrated lecture already 
 referred to, radio talks, and a school 
 text book first issued in 1912 and re- 
 vised several times since. This text 
 know and appreciate municipal prob- 
 book was designed for the dual purpose, 
 first, of training our future citizens to 
 lems and the solution offered in the 
 Plan of Chicago, and second, of reach- 
 ing the parents through the children. 
 
 The school text has been of material 
 value in helping to establish the Plan of 
 Chicago and the Chicago Plan Commis- 
 sion in the public mind. When I en- 
 gaged our late managing director, Mr. 
 Walter D. Moody, he asked me what was 
 the initial thing to do, and I replied, 
 "Establish the Chicago Plan." Mr. 
 Moody conceived the idea of this text 
 book and prepared the material it con- 
 tains — a service for which we cannot 
 give him too much credit. The steady 
 coop>eration which we have had from the 
 successive Boards of Education, the 
 several superintendents, and from the 
 teachers who have taught the Plan 
 Manual in the eighth grade of our 
 schools has been of inestimable value 
 in establishing Plan work in the minds 
 of the younger generation. 
 
 Our next publication was entitled 
 "Gaining Public Support for a City 
 Planning Movement." It was a reprint 
 of an address delivered by me before the 
 Fifth National Conference on City Plan- 
 ning in session in Chicago in May, 1913. 
 
 A fundamental thought in this address 
 is to be found in Henry Drummond's 
 declaration that, "To make cities is what 
 we are here for. For the city is strategic ; 
 it makes the towns; the towns make the 
 villages; the villages make the country. 
 He who makes the city makes the world. 
 After all, though men make life, it is the 
 cities which make men. Whether our 
 national life is great or mean, whether 
 our social virtues are mature or stunted, 
 whether our sons are moral or vicious, 
 
whether religion is possible or impossible, 
 depends upon the city." 
 
 In this talk I maintained that, "The 
 American city planner is a pioneer set 
 down in a very complex civilization. He 
 must be an exhorter. He must show his 
 fellow citizens that city planning is the 
 greatest issue confronting the American 
 people. He must begin with an appeal 
 to the best instincts of the citizens of a 
 city and win them to his standard by 
 sound, logical, and intelligent arguments. 
 He must use Europe's civic lessons, and 
 he must banish pessimism." 
 
 I also quoted the following, which I 
 felt to be particularly appropriate: 
 
 "An individual never attains any very 
 great size, mentally or morally, except 
 as he attaches himself to a great idea; 
 and that idea, being worthy, grows with 
 him until the stature of the man becomes 
 equal to the stature of the idea to which 
 he has attached himself." 
 
 I asserted at this time that "for suc- 
 cess in sane city development there must 
 be no room for doubt, suspicion, and 
 unjust criticism; we must abhor these 
 negative characteristics of citizenship 
 which in a greater or less degree appear 
 whenever progressive efforts for public 
 improvement are attempted." 
 
 I said further that "the health, happi- 
 ness and general prosperity of the people 
 are of far greater importance than the 
 petty whims and bickerings of any class, 
 or the selfishness of any individuals;" 
 and I proclaimed public spirit to be a 
 fundamental necessity for success. 
 
 I stressed the fact that our experience 
 in Chicago had given us the strongest 
 conviction that the plan of a city must 
 be in no way indefinite, by saying, "Be- 
 fore a city starts to create good order in 
 its physical arrangement, its people must 
 believe that their plan will stand every 
 test of time and circumstance. The 
 entire foundation upon which the super- 
 structure will rest must be completed 
 before a single effort is made to secure 
 public support for the city plan." 
 
 I said to these technical people: 
 "Minor details may be changed in the 
 course of years as the plan is worked 
 out; but its great, basic, underlying 
 foundation and broad framework must 
 
 be created, tested and proved by the 
 physical necessities which in each city 
 must be determined upon as local con- 
 ditions warrant. 
 
 "Knowing the Plan of Chicago to be 
 a good plan, comprehensive in its scope 
 and scientifically worked out, we had 
 faith to get behind it. That faith we 
 officially voiced in our creed, which was 
 adopted February 13, 1913, at our third 
 annual meeting, and which reads: 
 
 'We are to make the Plan of Chicago 
 our ideal and keep it before us — dare to 
 recognize it — believe in it and build for it. 
 
 'We are to look forward to the time 
 when it will seem as extraordinary not 
 to have an official plan toward which 
 to direct the growth of the city as it now 
 seems that Chicago was ever permitted 
 to grow in an orderless and formless 
 manner. 
 
 'We are to establish by the influence 
 and work of a united citizenry the power 
 of law necessary for Chicago's advance- 
 ment, commensurate with its greatness. 
 
 'We are to recognize that it requires 
 only sufficient community patriotism to 
 substitute order for disorder; and reason, 
 common sense, and action for negligence, 
 indifference, and inertia.' " 
 
 I told this audience, "As I look back 
 over our years of activity, I see very 
 clearly that the first fundamental is to 
 have a scientifically correct plan. The 
 next thing of importance is to educate 
 the people through a proper promotional 
 effort. 
 
 "We soon realized that promotion 
 must be followed by object lessons so 
 that the people might see the value in 
 improving a city, not only in the way of 
 increased property values and improved 
 facilities, but also in the way of more 
 attractive and healthful surroundings." 
 
 I maintained then and I still maintain 
 that "whenever an improvement en- 
 hances the value of property more than 
 it costs, then it is a good business invest- 
 ment and not an extravagance. Greatly 
 increased property values have followed 
 every Chicago Plan improvement, and if 
 a fair and equitable assessment is made 
 against these increases the city can de- 
 rive a much greater income and the 
 owner, too, is greatly benefited." 
 
In this address I pointed out that "the 
 Plan of Chicago is Chicago's notice to 
 the world that the indomitable energy 
 which built Chicago in a generation is 
 still our energy; the genius which created 
 the unrivaled beauty of the World's Fair 
 is still our genius; and, above all, the 
 spirit that has made progress the symbol 
 of our commercial life has stamped I 
 WILL upon the progress of our civic 
 life." And I also said: 
 
 "The Plan of Chicago aims simply at 
 the moral uplifting and physical beauti- 
 fying of Chicago for the good of not one 
 class of people or of one section of the 
 city, but for the good of all Chicagoans — 
 for the good of all Chicago. 
 
 "The physical and moral deterioration 
 of the human race under the bad condi- 
 tions of city life is one of the great prob- 
 lems of the age. The defective and de- 
 linquent records of Chicago, as well as 
 the records of premature mortality, show 
 that there are certain districts in which 
 misery, vice, and early death are con- 
 gested. Those sections furnish an un- 
 answerable indictment of the conditions 
 under which we permit some of the 
 people to exist. 
 
 "Proper housing, proper sanitation, 
 air, and sunlight are the first rights of 
 humanity, and when we permit them to 
 be denied we must accept responsibility 
 for the inevitable result. A city built on 
 rational and orderly lines means more 
 comfort, more health, and more oppor- 
 tunity for the physical and moral devel- 
 opment of its people. We repeat what 
 the Romans used to say, 'A healthy body 
 brings about a healthy mind.' We de- 
 clare that that is perhaps more true in 
 regard to a community than it is of the 
 individual." 
 
 It is interesting to note that I pointed 
 out during this talk that "as to the ideal 
 which inspired the creation of the Plan 
 of Chicago, the July, 1909, issue of The 
 Outlook contains the following: 
 
 " 'In this country the city planning 
 movement owes its inspiration chiefly to 
 the World's Fair of 1893 in Chicago. 
 When the people witnessed the impres- 
 sive grouping of beautiful buildings at 
 the Fair, they began to ask why their 
 cities might not be made more perma- 
 nently beautiful. Since the holding of the 
 
 World's Fair in Chicago practically all 
 the larger and many of the smaller cities 
 of the country have had studies made 
 and plans suggested for remodeling in 
 accordance with orderly notions of de- 
 velopment, with a view to promoting 
 both utility and beauty.' " 
 
 If the World's Fair was the inspira- 
 tion, we ask why should not our city also 
 be the leader in demonstrating what can 
 be done in this field? 
 
 Is it a mere coincidence that Daniel 
 Hudson Burnham, whose ideas are repre- 
 sented in the Plan of Chicago, is the 
 same man who planned the World's Fair 
 of 1893 with its beautiful buildings and 
 landscape effects — that selfsame World's 
 Fair the preparations for which the 
 people of the country watched with 
 great doubt and misgiving, openly say- 
 ing that Chicago might produce a fair on 
 a large scale but that it would lack artis- 
 tic merit in every particular. And when 
 it was opened ! Had anything equal to it 
 ever been produced before, or has any- 
 thing equal to it been produced since? 
 
 The broad vision of Daniel Hudson 
 Burnham is nowhere more strikingly 
 shown than in the famous utterance of 
 his which has been quoted so often by 
 everyone interested in city planning, yet 
 which cannot be quoted too often. Truly 
 he spoke with the voice of a prophet 
 when he said: 
 
 "Make no little plans; they have no 
 magic to stir men's blood, and probably 
 themselves will not be realized. Make 
 big plans; aim high in hope and work, 
 remembering that a noble, logical, dia- 
 gram once recorded will never die, but 
 long after we are gone will be a living 
 thing, asserting itself with ever-growing 
 intensity. Remember that our sons and 
 grandsons are going to do things that 
 would stagger us. Let your watchword 
 be order, and your beacon beauty." 
 
 Another evidence of Mr. Burnham's 
 directing foresight and wisdom is the 
 content of the Plan of Chicago. Not 
 only does the Plan provide for traffic and 
 transportation, terminal development, 
 increased recreational facilities, a major 
 street plan and other street improve- 
 ments, parks and forest preserves; but 
 it also includes small parks, bathing 
 beaches, the development of the lake 
 front, harbors (a great transfer harbor 
 
on the shore of Lake Michigan, and the 
 Calumet industrial harbor), barge facili- 
 ties and barge terminals, river straight- 
 ening, fixed bridges, a new post office, 
 subways, regional planning and water- 
 ways to the Atlantic Ocean and the 
 Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 Is it a coincidence that many of the 
 men who helped achieve the success of 
 the World's Fair of 1893 (which placed 
 Chicago in the ranks of the metropolitan 
 cities), are the same men who today are 
 working for the Plan of Chicago? Chi- 
 cago is now coming to recognize that 
 John V. Farwell spoke truly when he, as 
 president of The Commercial Club, said 
 at one of the regular meetings (January 
 5, 1908): 
 
 "The very foundation and aim of the 
 whole idea is to develop the enduring 
 prosperity of Chicago, and in order to 
 do that, all the elements which go to 
 make up a great city must be considered. 
 Just as all exalted characters must be 
 well-rounded men — men who are devel- 
 oped on all sides of their character, phy- 
 sically, mentally, morally, and spiritu- 
 ally — so large cities, if they wish to be 
 great, must be developed on all sides, 
 must develop their commerce, their 
 beauty, and their morals. This Plan 
 means all that to Chicago and if the 
 Plan is carried out it will give us a city 
 in which the people, rich and poor, will 
 prosper, and in which everybody will 
 desire to live." 
 
 The Commercial Club in 1909 pre- 
 sented the finished Plan of Chicago to 
 Mayor Fred A. Busse with the sugges- 
 tion that the City Council of the City of 
 Chicago be requested to authorize the 
 appointment of a commission on the 
 Plan. The purpose and function of the 
 commission were clearly and concisely 
 defined in the mayor's message to the 
 council of July 6, 1909, which concludes 
 as follows: 
 
 "I respectfully recommend that your 
 honorable body authorize the mayor to 
 appoint such a commission to be com- 
 posed of members of your honorable 
 body and citizens, whose duty it shall 
 be to take up this question (the develop- 
 ment of Chicago in accordance with the 
 Plan of Chicago), to the end that the 
 whole city and all elements in it may be 
 fully informed as to what is contem- 
 
 plated in this Plan for the future, so that 
 an official Plan of Chicago may be pro- 
 duced that will have the endorsement 
 and support of the entire municipality." 
 
 Pursuant to this message the City 
 Council took favorable action, where- 
 upon the mayor appointed the Chicago 
 Plan Commission, the members of which 
 were confirmed by the City Council on 
 November 4, 1909. The Commission 
 was made a regular department of the 
 city government, with limited functions 
 comprising advisory, but not executive, 
 power. 
 
 May I repeat here what I have said 
 before that "in Chicago we proceed upon 
 the assumption — an assumption which I 
 believe is amply justified — that the aver- 
 age man in a public position is a man 
 devoted to the faithful performance of 
 his duty, and devoted to the welfare of 
 his city." 
 
 In December, 1918, a pamphlet was 
 issued which contained the Reconstruc- 
 tion Platform of the Chicago Plan Com- 
 mission, and in which we said: 
 
 "This is Chicago's gravest hour of 
 need and its moment of greatest oppor- 
 tunity. Chicago's first reconstruction 
 duty is toward its returning soldiers. 
 Work must be provided for them, and 
 the proper employment of labor should 
 be our first consideration. The best op- 
 portunity for this is work on Chicago's 
 great public improvements." 
 
 We went on to say that the Plan of 
 Chicago should have the aggressive sup- 
 port of Labor, and I am glad to say here 
 that it always has had this support. The 
 Plan stands for the highest standards of 
 living, for better working conditions, 
 more recreational facilities, and the 
 stamping out of conditions of over- 
 crowding with their attendant evils. 
 Work at adequate wages, not charity, 
 is the right of labor. Public improve- 
 ments carefully thought out, offer a 
 splendid opportunity of providing labor 
 with employment, particularly if plans 
 are laid in advance so that construction 
 work can be carried on during periods of 
 unemployment. 
 
 Our feeling in this matter has been 
 voiced by Governor Frank O. Lowden, 
 and President Woodrow Wilson. Gov- 
 
ernor Lowden said, "I feel strongly that 
 public authorities should do and do thor- 
 oughly the preliminary work necessary 
 to enable us, immediately upon the close 
 of the war, to proceed intelligently and 
 vigorously upon public work." 
 
 President Wilson said, "There will be 
 a large floating residuum of labor which 
 should not be left wholly to shift for it- 
 self. It seems important, therefore, that 
 the development of public work of every 
 sort should be promptly resumed." 
 
 During the war our slogan was, "Pre- 
 pare in war for peace." Now our slogan 
 is, "Prepare in times of prosperity for 
 adversity." In times of unemployment 
 following periods of prosperity the same 
 situation will arise as grew out of the 
 war. Let us then prepare to avoid the 
 mistake observed by the late Joseph H. 
 Choate, that "the American plan is al- 
 ways to go in first and get ready after- 
 ward." 
 
 In the reconstruction platform we 
 enumerated twenty-three Chicago Plan 
 improvements which we considered so 
 vital to Chicago's progress that we rec- 
 ommended their prosecution with un- 
 abated vigor. 
 
 Next came a pamphlet issued Febru- 
 ary 3, 1919, entitled, "Economic Read- 
 justment from a War to a Peace Basis," 
 with the subtitle, "The Employment of 
 Labor is the Vital Issue." In this bro- 
 chure I claimed that the great war had 
 had its lessons, that the greatest lesson 
 of all was accomplishment by unity of 
 action, and that the effective part taken 
 by the United States in the war, was 
 made possible by the united effort of the 
 whole people who, with singleness of 
 purpose, devoted their money, material, 
 and influence to winning the war. That 
 is what brought victory. Then I in- 
 quired if the lesson of unity of action 
 had been mastered, and said that "if the 
 people will now turn their united and un- 
 divided attention to the restoration of 
 industry with the same zeal, fervor, and 
 patriotism with which they devoted 
 themselves to the war, the same brilliant 
 record might be made for peace and 
 prosperity." 
 
 In the same booklet I also asserted 
 that "the future of democracy is co- 
 operation and above all cooperation be- 
 tween capital and labor. Capital and 
 
 labor should march forward shoulder to 
 shoulder, supporting each other. They 
 are synonymous." 
 
 Early in 1921 we had the privilege of 
 announcing to the people of Chicago the 
 generosity of Mr. William Wrigley, Jr. 
 and the Trustees of the Ferguson Fund, 
 who contributed $60,000 respectively for 
 four groups of statuary which are to em- 
 bellish the Michigan Avenue bridge 
 houses. This announcement was made 
 in the form of a folder entitled, "The 
 Public Spirit of the Citizens of Chicago 
 Still Lives and Therein Lies the Promise 
 of the Future." In it we pointed out 
 that with the money thus provided it 
 would now be possible to make these 
 bridge houses artistically beautiful and 
 historically significant, and we expressed 
 the hope that the standard of beauty 
 thus set would serve to stimulate the 
 private developments along Wacker 
 Drive and eventually along the north 
 bank of the Chicago River. 
 
 In December, 1921, "An Appeal to 
 Business Men," was issued. This book- 
 let was divided into three parts, the first 
 of them entitled, "Provide Work Now 
 for the Unemployed;" the second, "Re- 
 lation of National Prosperity to City 
 Planning;" and the third, "Business and 
 the Chicago Plan." 
 
 In the first section of this appeal I said 
 that "to provide jobs for the unem- 
 ployed, public works should be started 
 immediately." 
 
 The substance of the other two sec- 
 tions can be summarized as follows: 
 
 Lack of foresight in matters of general 
 concern is a prevailing American failing. 
 That is why we are never prepared for 
 an emergency. That is why we never 
 act decisively until a disaster has oc- 
 curred, or an economic situation arisen 
 so grave that it makes the foundations 
 of our commercial and industrial struc- 
 ture totter. Then we act feverishly with- 
 out sufficient knowledge of the cause 
 that produced the effect, and without 
 time enough to work out adequate plans. 
 This results in hasty, superficial, and in- 
 effective remedial measures. What a 
 contrast to private business efficiency! 
 
 The only way fully to meet the situ- 
 ation is to create a public sentiment so 
 powerful and so effective that it will con- 
 
 10 
 
demn wastefulness, carelessness, and 
 shortsightedness; and demand foresight, 
 wise economy, and conservation. Why 
 should the Plan Commission urge the 
 business men of Chicago to interest 
 themselves in national conservation, the 
 reclamation of arid and inundated lands, 
 the elimination of waste, and the exer- 
 cise of foresight? A moment's thought 
 will give the answer. It is for the very 
 good reason that city planning depends 
 upon national prosperity. Without na- 
 tional prosperity cities cannot be pros- 
 perous, and without prosperous cities 
 city planning cannot go forward. Busi- 
 ness has for its very foundation the na- 
 tural resources of a country. The waste- 
 ful use of such resources places an un- 
 necessary hardship upon every form of 
 business. 
 
 We need speak only of the essentials of 
 our national prosperity, i. e., agriculture, 
 fuel and timber — to prove the assertion 
 that we are the most wasteful people on 
 earth. Our abundant resources will not 
 save us forever. We are living on our 
 capital. Our resources are rapidly di- 
 minishing. We must appreciate beyond 
 peradventure that our woeful lack of 
 foresight, our extravagance, our waste- 
 fulness, and our superficiality will lead 
 to disaster unless we profit by our expe- 
 rience and the experience of other coun- 
 tries. Unless we repair these short- 
 comings immediately in a broad, intel- 
 ligent, and patriotic way we cannot 
 remain prosperous. 
 
 The way in which economic losses and 
 waste increase the cost of living will be 
 apparent to anyone who will consult the 
 statistics of our annual fire loss, includ- 
 ing the loss caused by forest fires; and 
 those showing the depletion of our na- 
 tural resources. Our failure to reforest 
 has already resulted in our having to 
 obtain more than a third of the pulp 
 wood which we use from Canada, where 
 reforestation laws prevail. It is of prime 
 importance also that we should set about 
 restoring to fertility exhausted farm 
 lands and reclaiming millions upon mil- 
 lions of acres of arid and inundated land. 
 
 Chicago is carrying out the Plan of 
 Chicago with commendable zeal. But 
 the very foundation upon which the 
 Plan rests is the prosperity of the city, 
 and this in turn depends upon the welfare 
 of the nation. Hence, if the Plan of Chi- 
 
 cago is to fulfill its highest usefulness it 
 is time that our business men should 
 safeguard their own interests and the 
 city's welfare by devoting constant, in- 
 telligent, and active attention to na- 
 tional affairs; and by interesting them- 
 selves actively and with due foresight in 
 national conservation, reclamation pro- 
 jects, and the elimination of every kind 
 of waste. 
 
 Another thought from the "Appeal to 
 Business Men," was that "business to- 
 day needs freight terminals and other 
 improvements so good that it will be im- 
 possible for other industrial points to 
 offer better facilities for the location of 
 industry than Chicago can offer. Indus- 
 tries must find every reason for moving 
 into Chicago and no reason for moving 
 out." 
 
 The "Appeal" was followed in 1924 by 
 "An S O S to the Public Spirited Citizens 
 of Chicago," which starts with the fol- 
 lowing quotation from Daniel Hudson 
 Burnham, which in my judgment can- 
 not be repeated too often: 
 
 "The spirit of Chicago is our greatest 
 asset. It is not merely civic pride; it is 
 rather the constant, steady determina- 
 tion to bring about the very best condi- 
 tions of city life for all the people, with 
 full knowledge that what we as a people 
 decide to do in the public interest we can 
 and surely will bring to pass." 
 
 The SOS was in the form of a warn- 
 ing to the citizens not to lag in their 
 support of the Chicago Plan, asserting 
 that we must push the projects in the 
 Plan to a speedy completion. I reiter- 
 ated therein that business man and 
 banker, employer and employee, artisan 
 and laborer all have interests in common, 
 and that the Plan Commission realizes 
 that our national well-being (with which 
 that of our city is bound up), is depen- 
 dent upon wise legislation, cooperation, 
 and community of action. 
 
 The booklet went on to say: "Chicago 
 knows what it needs — of this there can 
 be no question. It needs the fundamen- 
 tal improvements in the Plan of Chicago 
 to make it not only the metropolis of 
 this country, but also a healthful, com- 
 fortable, and attractive place for all its 
 people to live and work in ; so attractive 
 indeed, that it will draw the people of 
 
 11 
 
the world continually to its doors, bring- 
 ing in much with them and taking away 
 nothing that will leave the city poorer. 
 
 "There is a tendency always to adopt 
 the line of least resistance. The function 
 of the Chicago Plan Commission, how- 
 ever, is to see that Chicago gets what it 
 needs. In exercising its function and 
 making its recommendations, the Chi- 
 cago Plan Commission tolerates no guess 
 work, no makeshifts, and no 'line of least 
 resistance' policy. It stands firmly, 
 squarely, and unequivocally upon a plat- 
 form of improvements which shall be 
 adequate not only for today but also for 
 the future. 
 
 "I stress adequacy particularly, be- 
 cause one of the hardest things we as a 
 Commission have to do is to convince 
 people of the necessity of making im- 
 provements large enough not only for 
 today but also for future needs. Chica- 
 goans are given to talking continually 
 about making Chicago the greatest city 
 on the North American continent, while 
 at the same time they tolerate a persist- 
 ent efi"ort to cut down and restrict im- 
 provements. When we all genuinely ap- 
 preciate what Chicago is destined to be 
 — when we free ourselves of the idea that 
 we are still living in horse-and-buggy 
 days, then we shall insist upon improve- 
 ments that are amply large for future 
 needs in order that Chicago may be what 
 we all want it to be— a great and better 
 city, insuring to all of the people eco- 
 nomic and social benefits of incalculable 
 value." 
 
 In this document I stated that "the 
 Plan Commission enjoys to a remarkable 
 degree the confidence of the people of 
 Chicago. It has the loyal and unstinted 
 support of the present city administra- 
 tion under Mayor William E. Dever, as 
 it has had that of all the administrations 
 through which it has passed — the admin- 
 istrations of Mayors Busse, Harrison, 
 and Thompson — and of all other govern- 
 mental bodies with which it has come in 
 contact." 
 
 I said further that "the Chicago Plan 
 is a scientific and thorough analysis of 
 the present and future needs of our city. 
 It is a practical and economical plan for 
 the mighty task of remodeling Chicago 
 in an orderly and systematic way. 
 
 "The need for a plan grew out of the 
 changed conditions which belong to the 
 twentieth century, and out of the marvel- 
 ously rapid growth of the city. Without 
 guidance Chicago's development will be 
 in accordance with the extravagant, un- 
 intelligent, haphazard and disjointed 
 manner of the past. The Plan of Chi- 
 cago furnishes the guidance. Every city 
 should have a sound, practical and scien- 
 tifically prepared plan, embodying fun- 
 damental principles to guide its physical 
 development. Because of the rapidly 
 changing conditions in our American 
 cities, however, all city plans are neces- 
 sarily subject to modification from time 
 to time to meet modern requirements. 
 
 "The Chicago Plan points out the 
 great possibilities for improving and 
 beautifying this city. The Plan stands 
 out today as fresh and suggestive as it 
 ever was, although seventeen years have 
 elapsed since it was presented to the city 
 as a gift from The Commercial Club 
 of Chicago. 
 
 "It testifies to the keen foresight and 
 wisdom of Daniel Hudson Burnham and 
 proves that he and his collaborator, Mr. 
 E. H. Bennett (our present consultant), 
 who, with their able co-workers, pro- 
 duced the plan, possessed a vision far 
 in advance of their time. 
 
 "All those who are active in the work 
 of the Chicago Plan, and who are keep- 
 ing it constantly abreast of the times, 
 never cease to wonder at its clearness, 
 definiteness and comprehensiveness in 
 dealing with the fundamental problems 
 of the future as well as the present. 
 
 "Every one of the Plan improvements 
 under way could stand alone as fully 
 worth all its cost; but when the improve- 
 ments are regarded collectively, both 
 those under way and those proposed, 
 then it appears how closely they dovetail 
 and how efficiently they function to- 
 gether. There you have the essence of 
 the Plan of Chicago: Unity, order, con- 
 venience, economy. 
 
 "The Plan is a standard of ideals. 
 'Ideals are like the stars; we cannot 
 touch them with our hands, but like the 
 storm-tossed mariner on the troubled 
 seas, we may follow them and ultimately 
 reach our destiny.' 
 
 12 
 
"President Grover Cleveland once 
 said, 'In all practical affairs mere idealiz- 
 ing, however earnest, accomplishes noth- 
 ing. To be of value it must carry with 
 it a definite program which the ordinary 
 citizen can understand.' The Chicago 
 Plan meets these requirements fully. 
 The Plan is not only ideal, but it is prac- 
 tical. It is economically sound. It car- 
 ries with it a definite program. It is 
 easily understood by all. If consum- 
 mated, the Plan will enrich in the high- 
 est human way every man, woman and 
 child in Chicago." 
 
 Before leaving the S O S, I should 
 like to point out that it said, "The pedes- 
 trian finds that he has fewer and fewer 
 rights in our streets. The sidewalk, at 
 least, should be his undisputed domain, 
 but even his rights to the sidewalk are 
 being curtailed. In Chicago it is now 
 seriously proposed (has, in fact, actually 
 been done in several instances), to nar- 
 row the sidewalks in order to make wider 
 roadways for street traffic. The Chicago 
 Plan Commission positively disapproves 
 any such makeshift, plainly foreseeing 
 the whole future reaction to a course of 
 action so unsound economically and so 
 unfair to the pedestrian." I would like 
 to add to this, however, that I do not 
 refer to exceptional instances where the 
 narrowing of sidewalk space may be 
 justifiable. 
 
 The pamphlet also called attention to 
 the lack of a convention hall in this city. 
 It said: "There is no division of opinion 
 with regard to yet another need in Chi- 
 cago, and that is for a convention hall of 
 a size adequate to take care of the largest 
 conventions." This need still exists and 
 is becoming more marked, as other cities 
 are providing suitable halls for great con- 
 ventions. Chicago ought not to lag be- 
 hind in this matter. 
 
 This pamphlet called attention to the 
 legal obstacles to the development of the 
 Plan of Chicago as contained in the legal 
 opinion appended to the Plan of Chicago 
 Report of The Commercial Club (in 
 1909), which can be summarized here 
 as follows: 
 
 1. Restrictions imposed by Federal 
 and State constitutions with regard to 
 the acquisition of private property for 
 public projects. 
 
 2. Limitations in the constitution of 
 Illinois pertaining to (a) the amount of 
 indebtedness which any municipal body 
 may incur — five per cent of the assessed 
 value of taxable property therein — and 
 (b) the impossibility of issuing long term 
 bonds by limiting bonds to a twenty- 
 year term. 
 
 3. The necessity of obtaining the con- 
 sent of the Federal War Department 
 and the State Division of Waterways 
 in the case of improvements involving 
 Lake Michigan or the Chicago River, 
 as these agencies exercise joint control 
 over waterways. 
 
 The value of Chicago Plan improve- 
 ments and the benefits derived from 
 them have been established beyond ques- 
 tion. The problem henceforth is how to 
 finance them. 
 
 For the past two or three years it has 
 been the practice of the Chicago Plan 
 Commission, in view of the financial con- 
 ditions of the city, to bend its efforts 
 largely toward the advancement of those 
 Chicago Plan projects already under way 
 rather than to suggest new projects. 
 Moreover, our own income is limited, but 
 even if it were large enough to permit a 
 much larger output of technical work 
 that would be of little immediate avail, 
 because the city has almost exhausted 
 its bonding power and does not have 
 even sufficient money to pay for the im- 
 provements to which it has obligated 
 itself. 
 
 Nevertheless it must be borne in mind 
 that private developments, which are in- 
 dependent of the city's financial condi- 
 tion, are constantly going forward, many 
 of them upon a huge scale and some of 
 them certain to have an important and 
 lasting effect upon Chicago's develop- 
 ment. If they are not carried out in har- 
 mony with the general scheme of city 
 development, they may make it im- 
 possible to carry out numerous vitally 
 necessary public improvements; so that 
 to delay public improvements always 
 means the possibility of obstruction by 
 private projects. Delay also means added 
 cost, with the risk that desirable im- 
 provements may become so costly as to 
 be beyond the possibility of realization. 
 
 We have the Plan of Chicago and we 
 know what we need. Therefore we may 
 expect to be blamed and justly blamed 
 
 13 
 
if we do not carry out the public projects 
 in the Plan with the utmost speed com- 
 patible with thoroughness, and if we do 
 not carry them out on a scale adequate 
 for future demands, and add to them 
 from time to time as growth in popula- 
 tion and business may require. 
 
 So I say it is in the highest degree im- 
 portant to the future of our city that 
 adequate financial and legislative relief 
 be obtained as quickly as possible. Then 
 when the city has been placed in a better 
 financial position the Chicago Plan Com- 
 mission should be given much larger 
 annual appropriations than at present, 
 in order that it may accomplish the 
 maximum good. 
 
 It is not that Chicago lacks financial 
 resources. We have them in large meas- 
 ure, but the city is so restricted by con- 
 stitutional limitations upon its debt in- 
 curring power that it cannot use them. 
 
 I referred to this condition at the 
 twenty-fifth anniversay meeting of the 
 Chicago Association of Commerce, on 
 November 20, 1925 ; and I told this effec- 
 tive and influential body that I believed 
 it was the best organization to undertake 
 to devise and recommend to the city 
 ways and means whereby the necessary 
 funds can be secured for the fulfillment 
 of the major projects in the Chicago Plan 
 in the present generation. I suggested 
 four ways in which funds might be 
 raised, as follows: 
 
 First: Although the city proper is up 
 to the limit of its bonding power there 
 are municipalities in this area, particu- 
 larly the park boards, which are not. 
 Therefore my first suggestion was to 
 ascertain what the unused bonding 
 power of these agencies is, and to formu- 
 late a plan whereby a substantial part 
 of that power could be used for the great 
 improvements in the Chicago Plan. 
 
 Second, to increase the public reve- 
 nues by a more equitable system of 
 assessment and taxation. 
 
 Third, to increase the debt incurring 
 power of Chicago and other municipali- 
 ties in this area by changing the basis of 
 assessed valuation from one-half to the 
 entire value of taxable property. 
 
 Fourth: Municipalities in Illinois are 
 limited to an indebtedness not to exceed 
 
 five per cent of the assessed value of 
 taxable property. Therefore I suggested 
 considering the advisability of amending 
 the state constitution to permit in- 
 debtedness to at least ten per cent. 
 
 In addition to the above suggestions 
 which were made to the Association of 
 Commerce, I should like to point out 
 that it might be desirable to advocate 
 the issuance of bonds for a longer term 
 than the twenty-year period now per- 
 mitted by law. 
 
 The New York state legislature re- 
 cently adopted a constitutional amend- 
 ment by which the bonding power of 
 New York City has been increased $300,- 
 000,000, although on April 4, 1926, New 
 York City had an unexpended margin of 
 $127,922,770. 
 
 The great advantage of other cities 
 over Chicago in the ability to borrow 
 money to make needed improvements, is 
 shown by the following table. The fig- 
 ures for all the cities but Chicago, are 
 from the Federal Department of Com- 
 merce. They show the bonded per 
 capita debt for the ten largest cities of 
 the country, as of December 31, 1925. 
 It will be noticed that Chicago, second 
 in population, is TENTH in size of debt: 
 
 New York $212.76 
 
 Philadelphia 151.65 
 
 Detroit* 144.91 
 
 Cleveland 141.64 
 
 Pittsburgh 138.68 
 
 San Francisco* 138.47 
 
 Baltimore 127.27 
 
 Boston 120.31 
 
 Buffalo* 109.92 
 
 CHICAGO 58.96 
 
 *June 30, 1925. 
 
 The Chicago item includes the bonded 
 debt of the city, the schools, the county 
 (within the city), the forest preserves 
 (within the city), and the sanitary dis- 
 trict (within the city). 
 
 The amount of tax caused by Plan 
 of Chicago improvements is not large. 
 While taxes have increased considerably 
 in the last few years, only a very small 
 proportion of this increase has been be- 
 cause of Chicago Plan improvements. 
 Special assessments are sometimes re- 
 garded as taxes, but this is to misunder- 
 stand the case. Taxes are expenses, 
 
 14 
 
while special assessments are investments 
 which increase property values. When 
 you spend money for any purpose that 
 will add to the value of your property, 
 you are investing that sum and adding 
 it to the total of your holdings, just as 
 surely as if you had placed it to your 
 credit in the bank. Surely any property 
 owner can afford to pay a small propor- 
 tion of the increased value toward the 
 cost of an improvement which made his 
 property so much the more valuable! 
 
 Improvements make surrounding prop- 
 erty worth more. They increase the 
 number of uses to which it can be put, 
 and they increase the revenue which the 
 owner derives from it. Why, then, 
 should any one complain about the city's 
 obtaining a small share in the form of 
 taxes of that increased income which has 
 resulted solely from what the city did in 
 making the improvement? Especially, 
 when as a general rule the city has borne 
 half the cost of the improvement. The 
 answer should be obvious: There can be 
 no legitimate complaint that higher taxes 
 follow improvements when the making 
 of the improvements has greatly in- 
 creased the income from the property. 
 
 It should also be borne in mind that 
 fine improvements and places of interest, 
 making a city attractive, are well-paying 
 investments that bring people and busi- 
 ness to a city. It has been well said that 
 a traveler leaves his money behind him 
 in the cities he visits and takes away 
 with him nothing that leaves the city 
 any poorer. 
 
 I deem it a matter for sincere con' 
 gratulation that in the seventeen years 
 experience of the Chicago Plan Commis- 
 sion not one single bond issue which the 
 Commission has advocated has been de- 
 feated at the polls, but that on the con- 
 trary, each succeeding issue has been 
 approved by larger majorities. Votes on 
 bond issues are, in effect, referendums on 
 the questions involved. To my mind 
 these favorable votes prove beyond the 
 question of a doubt that the people of 
 Chicago really want the improvements 
 in the Plan of Chicago and are willing 
 to pay for them. 
 
 The Chicago Plan Commission stands 
 for a width of 100 feet or more for all sec- 
 tion line streets, and 86 feet for half- 
 section line streets. It has been shown 
 
 of late years that large cities must pro- 
 vide great trunk lines or super-highways. 
 Detroit is an outstanding example of a 
 city that is developing a system of such 
 arteries. In Detroit a street is being 
 widened every three miles to 120 feet, 
 and six miles or so out from the center 
 of the city these widened streets are 
 widened yet more into super-highways 
 204 feet in width. It is streets of this 
 character that are contemplated in the 
 major street plan upon which our tech- 
 nical staff is now at work. 
 
 I desire to warn Chicago against per- 
 mitting districts with inadequate street 
 facilities to develop in the intensive man- 
 ner in which the so-called Streeterville 
 district is developing. It is futile to 
 spend millions of dollars in widening 
 streets in one district in order to remove 
 congestion, and then to permit an ad- 
 jacent district to develop with thorough- 
 fares which are obviously inadequate. 
 Both the Streeterville district and the 
 area of the Illinois Central's air right 
 development should have adequate street 
 facilities, and there should be two con- 
 nections between them across the Chi- 
 cago River east of Michigan Avenue; 
 otherwise the same condition of conges- 
 tion which now hampers the loop will 
 be created in each of these areas. 
 
 Our Chicago Plan appeal, however, is 
 not by any means entirely a commercial 
 appeal. It is a practical appeal in order 
 to secure the interest and the sympathy 
 of an eminently practical people, and, in 
 a larger way, it is a human appeal, a 
 moral appeal, an appeal to make Chicago 
 better, not for the money that is in it, 
 but for the sake of the higher mental, 
 moral and physical development of the 
 people that a perfectly arranged city 
 will bring about. Men in the mass will 
 do more for ideals than they will do 
 for dollars. Let me quote Professor 
 Nathaniel Butler, of the University of 
 Chicago, who said, in commenting upon 
 the Chicago Plan: 
 
 "There is another and deeper motive 
 in planning for the future greatness of 
 our city than its splendid material up- 
 building. This is of significance only as 
 it expresses the actual social, intellectual 
 and moral upbuilding of the people; and 
 so far as, in turn, it opens the way for 
 further development of this higher type. 
 
 15 
 
Who is there among us who is not lifted 
 above mere sordid industrial existence 
 into the realm of the beautiful and 
 ennobling things of life by attractive 
 surroundings?" 
 
 City building means man building. 
 Environment moulds character for either 
 good or bad. Beautiful parks, fine monu- 
 ments, well laid out streets, relief from 
 noise, dirt and confusion — all these 
 things and many others contemplated 
 in the Plan of Chicago make not only 
 for the future greatness of the city, but 
 for the happiness and prosperity of 
 its people. 
 
 I have always laid great stress upon 
 the humanitarian side of our work, plac- 
 ing more emphasis upon this feature 
 probably than I would otherwise have 
 done because of the knowledge which I 
 gained during my fourteen years' service 
 with the Chicago Relief and Aid Society 
 and the United Charities. 
 
 For the past seventeen years the Chi- 
 cago Plan Commission has asserted that 
 city planning is the greatest issue con- 
 fronting the American people, because 
 haphazard city growth results inevitably 
 in congestion, and congestion creates 
 conditions that undermine health, foster 
 vice and crime, and decrease the effici- 
 ency of workers. There is a direct rela- 
 tion between crowding and disease and 
 crime. It is cheaper to help people to 
 live decently in freedom than idly in jail 
 or suffering in hospitals. Parks are bet- 
 ter investments than cemeteries. Slums 
 must be wiped out, and in their stead 
 there must be created districts made 
 healthful by sunshine, invigorating by 
 fresh air, and pleasant by places of re- 
 creation. 
 
 The Chicago Plan Commission has 
 consistently maintained that city plan- 
 ning, zoning, and housing were interde- 
 pendent and should be developed con- 
 currently, but that each component part 
 of this trio was sufficiently important to 
 deserve a separate organization. We 
 have in Chicago today the Chicago 
 Housing Commission. Membership in a 
 national movement for more and better 
 homes, which has been started by an 
 organization of public officials and citi- 
 zens, is open also to Chicago people. 
 
 Since April, 1923, a zoning ordinance 
 has been in force in Chicago. Prior to 
 the passage of the ordinance there was 
 the Chicago Zoning Commission, the 
 duties of which were to produce the zon- 
 ing ordinance and to provide for the 
 equitable application of the terms of the 
 ordinance by the establishment of a 
 Zoning Board of Appeals. The Chicago 
 Plan Commission maintained the im- 
 portance of zoning from the beginning, 
 and did all it could to bring public at- 
 tention to bear upon the need for a zon- 
 ing ordinance. We reasoned that if it 
 were not known how a given district was 
 going to develop, the improvements 
 which were made in that district might 
 prove within a short time to be unadapt- 
 ed to an altered trend of growth. They 
 might be found to be too large, or too 
 small, which in either case would be 
 wasteful. 
 
 In addition to its own work upon the 
 Plan of Chicago, the technical staff of 
 the Plan Commission has often rendered 
 assistance to other city departments. 
 Conspicuous among activities of this 
 kind can be mentioned the preliminary 
 work upon the airplane landing fields, 
 done before the appointment of the Chi- 
 cago Aero Commission; activities in con- 
 nection with negotiations between the 
 city and various railroad companies in 
 such matters as the Atchison, Topeka & 
 Santa Fe and other ordinances; and, 
 more recently, activities in connection 
 with the river-straightening matter and 
 the opening of streets through the south 
 side terminal area — both of which pro- 
 jects were initiated by the Chicago Plan 
 Commission during the time the West 
 Side Union Station negotiations were 
 under way (1912). 
 
 We have always felt called upon to 
 cooperate to the fullest extent with all 
 other city departments and governmen- 
 tal agencies; such as the park boards, the 
 sanitary district, the county, and the 
 state and federal governments — in all 
 matters of mutual interest, even though 
 they were matters which might not come 
 directly within the province of the Plan 
 Commission. 
 
 Besides being chairman of the Chicago 
 Plan Commission, I have had the honor 
 of being a member of the Citizens' Plan 
 Committee of the Forest Preserve Board, 
 
 16 
 
the body which has selected all the areas 
 that have been purchased for preserves; 
 a trustee of the Chicago Zoological 
 Garden, secretary of the Chicago Zoning 
 Commission, and a member of the Chi- 
 cago Aero Commission. 
 
 From its inception until the present, 
 the Plan Commission has followed this 
 invariable rule of procedure: First, we 
 make a thorough study of a contem- 
 plated improvement. We have always 
 sought constructive criticism of our plans, 
 and whenever suggestions have been 
 made that our studies have shown to be 
 better than our own ideas, we have cheer- 
 fully adopted those suggestions in substi- 
 tution for our original ideas. Next the 
 technical staff submits to me a joint re- 
 port, signed by all the associated tech- 
 nicians, who must be able to say in it 
 that the plan which they recommend 
 therein is the best that they know how 
 to work out, taking all conditions and 
 circumstances into consideration. 
 
 This report is then submitted to the 
 executive committee, where it receives 
 painstaking, able, and thorough consid- 
 eration. If the improvement is favorably 
 passed upon by that body, it is then pre- 
 sented to the entire Plan Commission for 
 official approval. When this has been 
 given, our recommendation is submitted 
 to the mayor and the City Council for 
 action by whatsoever municipal agency 
 may have jurisdiction. After all this has 
 been done, the Plan Commission stands 
 firm upon its recommendation and places 
 upon those in authority the responsibil- 
 ity for making changes, if any are made. 
 
 As an indication of the thoroughness 
 with which our technical staff works, I 
 may say that during the entire lifetime 
 of the Plan Commission, no error neces- 
 sitating amendment in our recommenda- 
 tions has been discovered in any of the 
 things which the Commission has advo- 
 cated. The knowledge which our people 
 have acquired during the past seventeen 
 years, and the vast amount of data which 
 we have at hand cannot help being of 
 great value to the city, and we are, in 
 fact, often called upon by various offi- 
 cials to make reports not strictly within 
 our line, because those officials know that 
 they will receive accurate and unbiased 
 information from us. This has had its 
 part in establishing the Chicago Plan, so 
 that today we can truly say that the Plan 
 
 has stood the test of time, notwithstand- 
 ing the great economic and other changes 
 that have occurred since it was made. 
 
 We have not allowed ourselves to be 
 influenced in any of our efforts by selfish- 
 ness, sectionalism, political bias, and nar- 
 row policies; we have stood consistently 
 upon the platform, "The greatest good 
 of the greatest number;" and I want to 
 say here, with the strongest emphasis at 
 my command, that if the time ever comes 
 when the Chicago Plan Commission be- 
 comes political, shows sectional favorit- 
 ism, or serves private interests or selfish 
 purposes — then it will cease to be an 
 asset to the city and will become a 
 liability. 
 
 We have always encouraged the for- 
 mation of civic organizations for the pro- 
 motion of the Plan. We have encouraged 
 their active participation in Plan pro- 
 jects. They have been scattered all over 
 the city. One such was created for the 
 purpose of advocating the Michigan 
 Avenue improvement and of assuring 
 the highest and best development of the 
 improved thoroughfare. This body was 
 known as the North and South Side 
 Boulevard Property Owners' Associa- 
 tion, and was the nucleus of the North 
 Central Association of today. Another 
 organization for the promotion of a Chi- 
 cago Plan improvement is the Wacker 
 Drive-South Water Street Property- 
 Owners' Association. We have always 
 given such organizations assistance when- 
 ever we have been called upon to do so, 
 in order to help in creating a public 
 opinion favorable to the improvements 
 proposed in the Chicago Plan. 
 
 In no case have we ever refused any 
 agency our aid and cooperation when it 
 was requested. On the contrary, we 
 have solicited invitations to be present 
 at the meetings of other agencies, in 
 order to safeguard the Plan of Chicago. 
 
 We have spoken whenever called upon 
 to do so, and have averaged about one 
 talk per week throughout the entire 
 seventeen years in which the Commis- 
 sion has been functioning. We have 
 written many articles not only upon the 
 Plan of Chicago but upon city planning 
 in general and regional planning as well. 
 We have sent our literature upon request 
 and have conducted a voluminous corre- 
 
 17 
 
spondence with all parts of the world. I 
 doubt if Chicago has ever had any greater 
 medium for favorable advertising than 
 the Chicago Plan. 
 
 In all of its educational efforts the 
 Chicago Plan Commission has persist- 
 ently called attention by word and by 
 picture to the importance of relieving 
 congestion, facilitating transportation, 
 and providing means for the preservation 
 of life. From the beginning we have 
 favored the establishment of separate 
 organizations for special projects — such 
 as transportation, railway terminals, 
 river-straightening, post office construc- 
 tion, harbor development, zoning, avia- 
 tion, and the like — and whenever such 
 official bodies have been organized, the 
 Chicago Plan Commission, in order not 
 to duplicate effort and expense, has con- 
 fined its activities to cooperation with 
 such bodies, and with all commissions 
 which have had for their object the fur- 
 therance of the Chicago Plan work or 
 the welfare of the city, attempting al- 
 ways to safeguard the interests of the 
 Plan of Chicago. 
 
 I have often said publicly that it is 
 regrettable in the extreme that the cost 
 of public improvements should be in- 
 creased far more than is proper because, 
 when it becomes known that an improve- 
 ment is to be made, speculators rush in, 
 buy property, and force the prices up; 
 these prices forming the market value 
 that must be paid for the property at the 
 time the assessment roll is filed in court. 
 
 I have also frequently pointed out that 
 another serious difficulty in the way of 
 making public improvements is caused 
 by "contingent fee" lawyers, who induce 
 property owners to file objections to im- 
 provements upon an agreement to share 
 with them any reduction in assessment or 
 increase in award. This is often a de- 
 plorable practice because it adds to the 
 cost of improvements both to the prop- 
 erty owners and the public for the reason 
 that the deficiency created by these re- 
 ductions in assessments and increases in 
 awards must, in the long run, be made up 
 by supplemental special assessments and 
 supplemental public benefits. 
 
 The value of the work which the Plan 
 Commission is doing is exemplified in the 
 careful scrutiny which we give to all pro- 
 posed street vacations. We have felt it 
 
 our duty, whenever any vacation was 
 proposed that would have interfered 
 seriously with the Plan of Chicago or the 
 proper development of our street system, 
 to inform the city authorities and to use 
 our influence to prevent the making of 
 a mistake. 
 
 Majorities are not always right. When 
 facts and figures prove the majority to 
 be wrong, a persistent fight should be 
 made to correct the wrong, even if ma- 
 jority protests hold up work for one year. 
 This requires courage, but nothing can 
 be accomplished without courage. Be 
 sure you are right and then go ahead. 
 
 Whenever it has been important to 
 have splendid private developments to 
 complete the appearance of public im- 
 provements and to serve as object lessons 
 and inspiration to other property owners, 
 I have endeavored to encourage the erec- 
 tion of buildings which would harmonize 
 with the setting. One of many such 
 examples is that of the property at the 
 northeast corner of Michigan Avenue 
 and Randolph Street. The treatment 
 of this property will make or mar the 
 development surrounding Grant Park. 
 Imagine the beautiful effect to be achieved 
 by the proper architectural treatment of 
 the Illinois Central air rights on the 
 north edge of Grant Park, together with 
 the corner I have just mentioned; then 
 the diversified facades of the buildings 
 along Michigan Avenue from Randolph 
 Street south to Roosevelt Road; and 
 then, fronting on Roosevelt Road, the 
 new Illinois Central terminal alongside 
 the Field Museum and harmonizing 
 architecturally with it! 
 
 I wish to take this occasion to affirm 
 my belief that the park authorities 
 should begin as soon as possible to place 
 in our parks copies of celebrated works 
 of art, so that in the course of time a 
 general interest in and taste for art may 
 be aroused and stimulated. 
 
 I wish also to recommend that the 
 Plan Commission continue its practice 
 of giving a dinner to the members of the 
 City Council at appropriate intervals, or 
 whenever enough new members have 
 been elected to make it desirable again 
 to present the Plan work to them. A 
 good method of presentation would be 
 to give them the Plan of Chicago lecture, 
 to which could be added as much addi- 
 
 18 
 
tional descriptive material as might be 
 desirable. 
 
 I should like also to call attention here 
 to the fact that the Federal Government 
 has not been generous in its treatment of 
 Chicago. It is a commendable custom 
 for the people of a nation, state or city 
 to strive to express the importance and 
 spirit of their government through the 
 imposing architecture of their public 
 buildings. A beautiful public building 
 is not only an inspiration to the people 
 in an aesthetic way, but it serves to 
 represent to them the stability of their 
 government. Our public buildings sym- 
 bolize our public spirit and our interest 
 in public affairs, and should be looked 
 upon as a great asset. What has ever 
 appealed more to the conscious ideals of 
 the people of all countries than the dig- 
 nity of the nation as expressed in the 
 substantial beauty of government build- 
 ings? 
 
 It is, therefore, much to be regretted 
 that present indications are that the pro- 
 posed new post office will apparently not 
 be constructed upon the recommended 
 site between the Chicago and North- 
 western terminal and the Union Station, 
 because of limitations upon the amount 
 of money that may be spent for a site. 
 There would have been a fine oppor- 
 tunity to place a government building 
 on this location, practical for postal pur- 
 poses yet of appropriate architecture to 
 harmonize with the adjacent railway ter- 
 minals; the whole forming an imposing 
 group of buildings of great impressive- 
 ness and public usefulness, and also a 
 fine skyline along the west bank of the 
 river (Canal Street). 
 
 Wherever the post office may be lo- 
 cated, it should be set back at least far 
 enough from the present building line 
 on all sides to enable the streets around 
 it to care for the additional burden of 
 traffic which the business of the post 
 office will thrust upon them. 
 
 "The railroad made the town," is a 
 familiar Americanism which acknowl- 
 edges the obligation of the average town 
 to the railroads. The time soon comes 
 in the life of a town that the obligation 
 becomes mutual and the railroad is 
 expected to make provision for safety at 
 crossings, to keep its right-of-way sightly 
 and to lay out yards and erect buildings 
 
 that do not interfere with the street sys- 
 tem of the town. A further improvement 
 has been electrification, which was first 
 used by New York City terminals and 
 along the thickly-settled route of the 
 New York, New Haven & Hartford 
 Railway. 
 
 In Chicago the Illinois Central Rail- 
 road has just completed electrification of 
 its suburban service. How it came to 
 electrify is part of the history of the lake 
 front development. Without this im- 
 provement the vegetation in Grant Park 
 and the new lake front park would be 
 retarded. With the improvement, the 
 reclamation of the lake front can proceed 
 with all reasonable speed, the develop- 
 ment of the South Side is encouraged, 
 property values are increased, and life 
 in the section penetrated by the Illinois 
 Central is made more attractive. 
 
 The Chicago Plan Commission had 
 the foresight to advocate electrification 
 of the Illinois Central as a part of the 
 agreement between the railroad and the 
 city, whereby riparian rights were settled 
 preliminary to the construction of the 
 new lake front park. The Commission's 
 foresight has now been justified, and will 
 be further justified when the other rail- 
 roads in Chicago decide to follow the 
 example of the Illinois Central. 
 
 Life in Chicago would have greater 
 charm, and health and efficiency would 
 be promoted, if we could abolish super- 
 fluous noises. There are enough neces- 
 sary noises in a great city without sub- 
 jecting ourselves to the slow tortures of 
 those which are unnecessary. Nothing 
 but a compelling public demand for sur- 
 cease from noise will cure the condition, 
 which is really an uncivilized one. 
 Visitors from abroad all speak of it and 
 wonder how we endure it. 
 
 It is absurd to talk about a "city beau- 
 tiful," and at the same time submit to 
 the smoke nuisance. What shall it 
 profit us to have fine architecture if it 
 is obscured by soot? Or fine parks if 
 the vegetation is stunted by smoke? We 
 may be an efficient and a convenient city 
 but we can never be a beautiful city until 
 we abate the smoke nuisance, and if we 
 are not a beautiful city we shall not in 
 the long run readily be a world leader. 
 We have a bad name for smokiness now, 
 surpassed by only one other American 
 
 19 
 
city, and apparently our public is not 
 yet sufficiently alive to the evil to de- 
 mand its correction. The native Chi- 
 cagoan is used to the condition and good- 
 naturedly accepts it. But it is within 
 his power if he will but exert it, to have 
 clean air, to save his health and his per- 
 sonal property from the ravages of smoke 
 and dirt, and to remove the stigma that 
 now attaches to Chicago's reputation. 
 
 In this connection we should not over- 
 look the ever-growing menace to health 
 from the fumes emitted by the thousands 
 upon thousands of automobiles that tra- 
 verse our streets each day. 
 
 Sooner or later investigation and con- 
 structive measures may become neces- 
 sary to overcome the evil from this 
 source. 
 
 We all know that Chicago is a great 
 railroad center and a great central mar- 
 ket, as well as a great center of popula- 
 tion. Relatively few people, however, 
 have any idea how Chicago has advanced 
 in the matter of cultural development 
 until it is today a great center of educa- 
 tion, culture and religion, with its many 
 universities, schools of various kinds, 
 churches, libraries, museums, art insti- 
 tutes, and the like. Contributing to this 
 cultural development are such projects 
 as the proposed Zoological Garden to be 
 established in the forest preserves near 
 Riverside on land a part of which was 
 donated for the purpose by Mrs. Rocke- 
 feller McCormick; the Joy Morton 
 Arboretum a little farther west; the John 
 G. Shedd Aquarium, to be constructed 
 near the Field Museum and Soldiers' 
 Field; and the Julius Rosenwald indus- 
 trial art museum in Jackson Park. In 
 this connection we should all be glad 
 that the old Fine Arts Building, which, 
 architecturally speaking, is one of the 
 finest buildings in the world, is to be 
 properly restored. It will serve as a 
 suitable memento of the great World's 
 Columbian Exposition of 1893. 
 
 In the course of the Plan Commis- 
 sion's seventeen years of activity, there 
 have been certain outstanding occasions 
 which I believe should be noted in a 
 resume of this kind. Therefore I shall 
 list them as follows: 
 
 The dinner of The Commercial Club 
 to the Plan Commission on January 8, 
 
 1910. At this meeting the continued 
 cooperation of The Commercial Club 
 was pledged. 
 
 The meeting on February 3, 1912, pre- 
 sided over by the late Ella Flagg Young, 
 to which all the school principals and 
 eighth grade teachers were invited, and 
 at which the Chicago Plan and the school 
 text book were explained. From this 
 meeting dates the splendid cooperation 
 which we have had from our educators. 
 
 The dinner to state, county and city 
 officials on January 24, 1913. 
 
 The trip of inspection, December 4, 
 1915, made by a group of eighth grade 
 teachers and conducted by Plan Com- 
 mission officers. The tour of Chicago 
 Plan improvements concluded with a 
 lecture at the Lane Technical High 
 School which served to stimulate inter- 
 est in teaching the Plan manual. 
 
 The dinner given on October 29, 1919, 
 to the leaders of both political parties, 
 shortly before the election at which the 
 $28,600,000 issue of bonds for Chicago 
 Plan improvements was voted upon. 
 This dinner brought together the leaders 
 of every political faction in the city, each 
 of whom agreed to support the bond is- 
 sue proposals. The outcome of this 
 united support was that the bond issues 
 passed by large majorities. This inci- 
 dent is cited to show that it is possible 
 to gain the cooperation of all parties in 
 great improvements in the public interest. 
 
 And the dinners given from time to 
 time to the members of the City Council, 
 as the membership of that body has 
 changed. 
 
 A crucial test came during the period 
 when the Plan Commission waged a 
 strenuous campaign to secure increased 
 bonding power for Chicago in order to 
 make possible the issuance of $28,600,- 
 000 of bonds. The campaign was a suc- 
 cess, and the bonds were approved by 
 the voters on November 4, 1919. Fail- 
 ure in this efifort would have meant the 
 cessation of all Chicago Plan work. In 
 order to secure this increased bonding 
 power it was necessary to get the state 
 legislature to pass sixty-nine bills chang- 
 ing the basis of assessment from one- 
 third to one-half of the assessed value, 
 and reducing every tax rate proportion - 
 
 20 
 
ately, so that the amount of taxes should 
 not be increased except as additional 
 taxes might be required from time to 
 time to provide the sinking fund and in- 
 terest on bonds issued. The success of 
 this legislation is all the more note- 
 worthy because these bills had all to be 
 passed in the closing hours of the session, 
 and each required a roll call. 
 
 We have been very fortunate indeed in 
 having had the effective and whole- 
 hearted support of Governors Charles S. 
 Deneen, Frank O. Lowden, and Len 
 Small, and their respective administra- 
 tions, who have helped us over many a 
 serious difficulty. 
 
 I wish also to acknowledge our indeb- 
 tedness to the successive Boards of Cook 
 County Commissioners with which we 
 have worked; likewise to the successive 
 War Department Engineers assigned to 
 Chicago. 
 
 This report could not possibly be con- 
 sidered complete if it failed to include 
 special reference to and marked appreci- 
 ation for the cordial and exceedingly 
 effective personal and official coopera- 
 tion of Mayor Fred A. Busse (1907- 
 1911), Mayor Carter H. Harrison (1911- 
 1915), Mayor William Hale Thompson 
 (1915-1923), and Mayor William E. 
 Dever (1923 to the present), and the 
 splendid aid of the members of their ad- 
 ministrations, including all departments 
 thereof, particularly the Boards of Local 
 Improvements, the Corporation Coun- 
 sels and Assistant Corporation Counsels, 
 the Law Department of the successive 
 Boards of Local Improvements, and the 
 Commissioners of Public Works and their 
 respective Departments. Each mayor in 
 his turn has advanced the Plan of 
 Chicago. 
 
 The City Council, during each of these 
 administrations, has sensed the needs of 
 the city and has whole-heartedly co- 
 operated with the Plan Commission by 
 taking favorable action on the recom- 
 mendations which we have submitted 
 to it. 
 
 Permit me a word of appreciation also 
 for the cooperative spirit displayed by 
 all the employees of every public body 
 who have been engaged at any time on 
 Chicago Plan projects. 
 
 We have had the unswerving support 
 of every newspaper in Chicago without 
 exception and without interruption for 
 
 seventeen years, and this includes the 
 foreign language press. This has been of 
 inestimable value to the advancement of 
 our work, and without it I venture to 
 say little could have been accomplished. 
 I have already remarked that favorable 
 public opinion is indispensable to the 
 success of our efforts, and it is owing in 
 large part to the kind of support which 
 we have received from the Chicago press 
 editorially and otherwise that we won 
 public confidence early in our course and 
 that we enjoy it today. 
 
 The women of Chicago deserve espe- 
 cial commendation. They gave us en- 
 couragement even before the men did, 
 and in everything that the Plan Com- 
 mission has recommended, the women of 
 this city — individually and through their 
 organizations — have stood solidly behind 
 our efforts to improve conditions here. 
 
 Labor, too, has always effectively and 
 continuously supported the work we 
 have undertaken to do. 
 
 Our headquarters — for four years in 
 the Hotel LaSalle, and for the past ten 
 years in the Hotel Sherman — are and 
 always have been open to any one at 
 any time. It is a cardinal principle with 
 us to give everyone a full hearing on any 
 matter he wishes to present, and to treat 
 everyone transacting business with our 
 headquarters, with the same courtesy 
 and consideration. 
 
 I wish to express my appreciation of 
 the civic spirit displayed by the two 
 hotels in providing the Plan Commission 
 with free space for its headquarters. 
 
 I should think myself very unfeeling 
 if I did not here publicly express my deep 
 sense of gratitude to all those who have 
 so materially assisted me in our Chicago 
 Plan endeavors, and to the people who 
 by their favorable vote on bond issues, 
 have made progress possible. In every 
 branch of the work I have had the most 
 cordial and effective cooperation from all 
 those associated with me. I desire to em- 
 phasize that I have been backed up and 
 encouraged by men not only of great 
 loyalty, but also of enthusiasm and abil- 
 ity. During the seventeen years that I 
 have been chairman of the Chicago Plan 
 Commission, very few changes have been 
 made in the personnel of the organiza- 
 tion, and at no time have I ever found it 
 necessary to urge it to greater efforts. 
 
 21 
 
I cannot speak too highly of vice-chair- 
 man Frank I. Bennett, who was my inti- 
 mate associate in this work from the 
 beginning, November 4, 1909, until his 
 death on December 20, 1925. He served 
 without compensation of any sort, as do 
 all the members of the Plan Commission, 
 its executive committee, and its officers. 
 Mr. Bennett's experience in public and 
 private affairs qualified him admirably 
 to be an officer of the Plan Commission. 
 You all know the devotion, sagacity, 
 and skill with which this fine modest 
 gentleman discharged the duties of his 
 office. In his passing not only I, but the 
 Chicago Plan Commission lost our wisest 
 counselor, and the city and state a dis- 
 tinguished and unselfish public servant. 
 
 Next I wish to express my thanks to 
 Mr. Henry Barrett Chamberlin, whom 
 we were fortunate enough to have serve 
 us as secretary of the Commission from 
 1909 to 1911, when he resigned. He had 
 much to do with effectively launching 
 and shaping the work of the newly 
 organized Plan Commission. 
 
 I am sorry that space does not permit 
 me to dwell at length upon the qualities 
 of the other men upon whom I have 
 depended for aid and advice during the 
 past seventeen years. There are many 
 federal, state, county, city and other offi- 
 cials — many groups, organizations, com- 
 mittees and individuals whom I should 
 like to mention and in doing so to tell 
 what each did for the Chicago Plan, but 
 I find that impossible because there are 
 so many of them. It has been my prac- 
 tice during the past seventeen years to 
 acknowledge personally the aid of indi- 
 viduals at the time it was given. 
 
 In 1911, we engaged Walter D.Moody, 
 then general manager of the Chicago 
 Association of Commerce, as our man- 
 aging director. Mr. Moody brought 
 with him from the same organization, 
 Mr. Eugene S. Taylor, our present effi- 
 cient manager. A more able, zealous, 
 idealistic, enthusiastic and indefatigable 
 worker than Walter D. Moody could not 
 have been selected. His heart and soul 
 were in his work. He knew no hours. 
 He inspired those with whom he came 
 in contact with enthusiasm, a quality 
 vitally necessary in bringing to fruition 
 work of the character of ours. His death 
 in 1920 was lamented by all. 
 
 Mr. Eugene S. Taylor, with nine 
 years of practical experience back of 
 him, with a remarkable grasp of details, 
 and an enthusiastic love for his work, 
 became the logical candidate to succeed 
 Mr. Moody. He was, therefore, ap- 
 pointed manager, and the wisdom of 
 this choice has since been demonstrated 
 by the conspicuous achievements of 
 his management. 
 
 In 1921, Miss Helen Whitehead be- 
 came a member of the headquarters 
 staff. We soon found that she had had 
 an unusually well-rounded education, 
 and that the work laid out strongly 
 appealed to her. We also discovered 
 that her previous experience enabled her 
 to handle with tact, ability and good 
 judgment the many people who are con- 
 tinually coming to our office for infor- 
 mation. Therefore, I appointed her 
 secretary of the Commission, knowing 
 that we need have no anxiety with re- 
 gard to her ability to discharge satis- 
 factorily the duties of that position. 
 
 The manager and the secretary are 
 our entire headquarters staff, and I am 
 sure that the amount of promotional 
 work which is turned out is extraordi- 
 narily large in proportion to the size of 
 the office staff. The expenses, too, of the 
 Plan Commission have been kept down 
 to a minimum. 
 
 Acknowledgment of the aid of those 
 who have collaborated with me in the 
 work of the Plan Commission referred 
 to above, would be incomplete without 
 recognition of the invaluable assistance 
 of my wife. For many years she has 
 been my trusted and sympathetic co- 
 worker in the Chicago Plan and to her 
 counsel, suggestions and encouragement 
 I am indebted more than I can ever 
 express. 
 
 We are called upon so often by alder- 
 men and other public officials and muni- 
 cipal and other governmental authori- 
 ties for technical data, drawings and 
 information that we found it necessary 
 in 1920 to establish an engineering 
 department which is now located in 
 Room 1534 of the Burnham Building. 
 
 In looking about for someone to head 
 our engineering staff, we concluded that 
 we could select no better man than 
 Hugh E. Young, then engineer of bridge 
 
 22 
 
design for the city of Chicago. I found 
 upon investigation that his abiHty as an 
 engineer was generally recognized as un- 
 usual, that his honesty and integrity 
 were unquestioned, and that his person- 
 ality eminently fitted him for our work. 
 In checking up since from time to time 
 to learn what satisfaction the efforts of 
 our representatives were giving, I have 
 always found his work highly com- 
 mended. He has worked in close co- 
 operation with our consultant, Mr. E. 
 H. Bennett, and every recommendation 
 submitted to the Plan Commission since 
 his appointment has had his approval 
 and that of Mr. Bennett. 
 
 It is indeed fortunate for us that 
 Edward H. Bennett, a graduate of 
 L'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, a prominent 
 member of the American Institute of 
 Architects, and Daniel H. Burnham's 
 associate in the preparation of the origi- 
 nal Chicago Plan — has been and still is 
 our consultant, and that he has so able a 
 body of associates as is comprised in the 
 firm of Bennett, Parsons and Frost. 
 Mr. William E. Parsons was associated 
 with Mr. Burnham in laying out the 
 plans for Manila, P. I. Mr. Harry T. 
 Frost had charge of preparing the plats 
 and drawings used in the preparation of 
 the Chicago Zoning ordinance, and sub- 
 sequent to the passage of the ordinance 
 he has served as secretary of the Zoning 
 Board of Appeals. Mr. Clarence W. 
 Farrier of Mr. Bennett's office was also 
 associated in the zoning work, and is 
 now acting as secretary of the Zoning 
 Board of Appeals during Mr. Frost's 
 absence from Chicago. 
 
 By nature and training, Mr. Bennett 
 is pre-eminently qualified for his posi- 
 tion. We get the benefit of his ability 
 and experience in the Chicago Plan work, 
 plus the benefit of the knowledge which 
 he has accumulated in preparing plans 
 for other cities; but the outstanding rela- 
 tionship between the Chicago Plan Com- 
 mission and our consultant is the entire 
 confidence which we are justified in 
 having in the opinions which he and his 
 associates have rendered on matters per- 
 taining to the Chicago Plan, because of 
 his ability, independence, integrity and 
 honesty of purpose. 
 
 Although we have no regular legal 
 staff, all our legal work has been handled 
 
 * Deceased. 23 
 
 by Mr. Henry P. Chandler. He has al- 
 ways been an ardent supporter of the 
 Chicago Plan, and he rendered most 
 effective service in Springfield in connec- 
 tion with the legislation changing the 
 basis of assessed valuation, required in 
 order to enable Chicago to increase its 
 bonding power. Mr. Chandler has often 
 spoken on the Chicago Plan and in other 
 ways has given spontaneous and gener- 
 ous assistance, of which I have always 
 been greatly appreciative. 
 
 To the members of the executive com- 
 mittee of the Plan Commission I wish to 
 say that I feel deeply grateful for the in- 
 valuable assistance and guidance they 
 have always so cordially given me. The 
 men who have served on this committee 
 and those who are now serving are the 
 following: Adolphus C. Bartlett,* Frank 
 I. Bennett,* James B. Bowler, Edward 
 B. Butler, Clyde M. Carr,* Anton J. 
 Cermak, John J. Coughlin, Frederic A. 
 Delano, William E. Dever, Winfield P. 
 Dunn, John V. Farwell, Albert J. Fisher, 
 Milton J. Foreman, Andrew J. Graham,* 
 Richard C. Hall, Dennis A. Horan, Ed- 
 ward J. Kaindl, William D. Kerfoot,* 
 Joseph O. Kostner,* Theodore K. Long, 
 Joseph B. McDonough, Dr. J. B. McFat- 
 rich,* Joy Morton, William R. O'Toole, 
 William Nelson Pelouze, John Powers, 
 Peter Reinberg,* John A. Richert, Julius 
 Rosenwald, John F. Smulski, Bernard 
 W. Snow, Daniel J. Schuyler, U. S. 
 Schwartz, James Simpson, Francis W. 
 Taylor,* Charles H. Thorne, John 
 Toman, Harvey T. Weeks,* Harry A. 
 Wheeler, William A. Wieboldt, Walter 
 H. Wilson, Ross A. Woodhull, and 
 Michael Zimmer. 
 
 The vision and imagination of our 
 technical experts have been put to the 
 test of the practical knowledge and ex- 
 perience of these very successful men — ■ 
 men of broad vision and public spirit 
 many of whom are nationally known and 
 some of them internationally. As a re- 
 sult the improvements recommended by 
 the executive committee have, without 
 exception, met the approval of this splen- 
 did Commission, the members of which I 
 wish to thank sincerely for the staunch 
 manner in which they have always stood 
 behind Chicago Plan work. This is a 
 true example of cooperation of effort 
 crystallized in unity of action. 
 
 To the men and women of Chicago 
 
who have supported Chicago Plan pro- 
 jects with their votes upon every oppor- 
 tunity I wish to oflfer my heartfelt 
 thanks, and to say that as a citizen of 
 Chicago who has helped to develop the 
 Plan of Chicago from its inception, I 
 have the utmost faith in the civic am- 
 bitions and the civic idealism of the aver- 
 age Chicago man and woman. 
 
 I wish now to suggest that in addition 
 to completing the improvements in the 
 Chicago Plan which are now under way, 
 there are certain other important ele- 
 ments which I feel should be realized 
 without delay. Many of the projects I 
 shall touch upon have already been 
 studied by our staff. 
 
 1. When the Plan Commission was 
 created it was specified that one of its 
 duties should be to produce a plan which 
 might be officially adopted by the city. 
 It is my belief that we have now pro- 
 gressed to the point where such a plan 
 can properly be worked out and sub- 
 mitted to the City Council for official 
 adoption, in order as far as possible to 
 prevent the construction of buildings 
 which would encroach upon Plan im- 
 provements and increase the expense and 
 difficulties of realizing them. 
 
 2. Work should be pushed with the 
 utmost speed upon our major street plan ; 
 a plan for the improvement of our prin- 
 cipal, or major, arteries of traffic, which 
 will form part of the official plan. This 
 is very important in connection with a 
 regional plan for the Chicago district, 
 because of the relationship between city 
 streets and country roads. 
 
 3. Steps should be taken to hasten the 
 adoption by the city authorities of the 
 through-traffic street plan submitted to 
 the City Council last December (1925). 
 This is a plan providing forty-four 
 through routes from end to end of the 
 city in all directions. All it requires in 
 order to function is paving and repairing 
 a small number of thoroughfares, mark- 
 ing each route, placing "stop" signs at 
 street intersections, and providing "stop- 
 and-go" signals at important crossings. 
 It would be one of the least expensive 
 measures, and yet one of the most effec- 
 tive, that Chicago could take to improve 
 street traffic conditions. 
 
 4. Aviation has been developed since 
 
 the Chicago Plan was formulated, but 
 provision for aviation facilities has been 
 subsequently included in the Plan. The 
 Plan now provides for flying fields both 
 inland and upon the lake shore to en- 
 courage aviation and meet its needs. I 
 desire to express my belief that there will 
 be a great development of aviation for 
 commercial purposes in the next twenty- 
 five years, and that Chicago should pre- 
 pare early to secure its proper share of 
 this traffic. 
 
 Therefore, the provision for aviation 
 fields to which I have referred and which 
 I am informed is considered adequate by 
 competent authorities, should be pressed 
 to execution. Chicago should be ready 
 with facilities, not merely on paper, but 
 actually existing, to meet the increase in 
 aeroplanes for commercial use, which is 
 sure to come. Because of its geographi- 
 cal location Chicago is the natural center 
 for airplane traffic as it is for railroads, 
 and we must not lose this advantage of 
 location by failure to furnish suitable 
 facilities. 
 
 5. The last trip of inspection which 
 Vice-Chairman Frank I. Bennett and I 
 took before his death, was over the route 
 of the 200-foot-wide super-highway which 
 he had proposed — a project which can be 
 realized by the improvement of South 
 Park Avenue and Indiana Avenue from 
 Washington Park to the southern city 
 limits. (See map on page 25.) This 
 route will give direct and conveni- 
 ent access to the heart of the city to 
 traffic entering Chicago from the south 
 and southeast, including traffic to and 
 from such important communities as 
 Chicago Heights, Hammond, Gary, East 
 Chicago, Steger, Flossmoor, Homewood, 
 Markham, Harvey, and Blue Island. 
 Ten thoroughfares of interstate and na- 
 tional importance, including the prin- 
 cipal highways to and from the East and 
 South (such as the Lincoln and Dixie 
 Highways), converge at the south end 
 of this improvement near the city 
 limits. Under no circumstances should 
 the South Park Avenue improvement 
 be of less width than South Park- 
 way between 23rd Street and Wash- 
 ington Park — 198 feet — because it will 
 have to carry the combined traffic of 
 these ten highways. It will also be one 
 of the most important routes in the city 
 for the reason that through-bound traffic 
 
 24 
 
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will find it convenient to pass through 
 Chicago along the desirable lake shore 
 route which South Park Avenue, in con- 
 nection with the lake front drives and 
 Sheridan Road, will afford. Therefore it 
 would be an egregious mistake to create 
 a "choke in the bottle," at any point 
 along the route. Our technical staff has 
 given this project much study and is 
 about ready to submit its joint report. 
 In my opinion it should be one of the 
 next things recommended by the Chi- 
 cago Plan Commission. 
 
 6. We have suffered a temporary set- 
 back in the plan to widen Kimball Ave- 
 nue to 86 feet between Palmer Square 
 and the proposed connection of Kimball 
 Avenue (extended) with McCormick 
 Road at Devon Avenue. Nevertheless I 
 feel that the Commission should renew 
 its efforts to develop this street into a 
 main route between the West Side park 
 and boulevard systems, the North Side 
 and the north shore suburbs — provided 
 it is connected with McCormick Road. 
 Complete reports and plans of this im- 
 provement are on file in this office. The 
 Kimball Avenue-McCormick Road route 
 will greatly relieve congestion on Sheri- 
 dan Road, as it will divert traffic now 
 entering Chicago from the north and 
 northwest over such important highways 
 as Lincoln Avenue, Peterson Avenue, 
 Devon Avenue, and the like; and will 
 enable this traffic to make a direct con- 
 nection with the West Side boulevard 
 system. The rapidly growing Northwest 
 Side is in great need of a through north- 
 and-south traffic artery. For this pur- 
 pose no other street is so strategically 
 located as Kimball Avenue (see map on 
 page 27), which extends through the 
 center of this area and which is, more- 
 over, the only through north-and-south 
 street without a street car line upon it 
 between Sheridan Road on the east and 
 the western city limits. This improve- 
 ment would provide the needed through- 
 street facilities at less expense than they 
 could be provided by widening Mil- 
 waukee Avenue, Lincoln Avenue, or 
 Clark Street. If the people of this dis- 
 trict only realized the importance of 
 this improvement they would demand 
 immediate action. This is an improve- 
 ment which will have to be made some 
 day. Delay means added cost. 
 
 7. Another much needed improve- 
 ment is the development of a high-level 
 
 speedway in line with Avondale Avenue 
 from Milwaukee Avenue and the North- 
 west Highway at the northwestern city 
 limits to the loop, parallel to the Chicago 
 and North Western tracks, and with a 
 supplemental connection to Michigan 
 Avenue and the outer lake front drive 
 (Lake Shore Drive) parallel to and at 
 some distance north of the main channel 
 of the Chicago River. (See map on 
 page 27.) This route will relieve traffic 
 congestion on Milwaukee Avenue and 
 will furnish a direct, high-level connec- 
 tion uninterrupted by cross traffic, be- 
 tween the downtown district of Chicago 
 and the northwestern limits of the city 
 where eight important country high- 
 ways converge. Connections with the 
 normal street system will be provided at 
 intervals of approximately a mile, and 
 have been so planned that left-hand turns 
 will not be necessary. Avondale Avenue 
 developed as proposed will have a capa- 
 city equal to that of seven of the ordinary 
 66-foot streets, and thus will be able to 
 care for the traffic from the county high- 
 ways with which it will connect. This 
 improvement would serve as an object 
 lesson and would be certain to lead to 
 similar improvements where like condi- 
 tions exist. 
 
 8. The plans for the proposed Outer 
 Drive connection between Grant Park 
 and Lake Shore Drive have been care- 
 fully worked out by our technical staff 
 and will be submitted to the Plan Com- 
 mission at its next meeting. (See map 
 on Page 25.) The matter was submitted 
 to the people at the election on Novem- 
 ber 2, 1926, when public approval of the 
 issuance of bonds to carry out the pro- 
 ject was asked. The completion of this 
 section of the outer drive will provide a 
 continuous route, uninterrupted by cross 
 traffic, from Lincoln Park south into 
 Grant Park and thence to a connection 
 with South Parkway at 23rd Street. This 
 route will take about 20,000 vehicles a 
 day off Michigan Avenue and will pro- 
 vide facilities for the future growth of 
 vehicular traffic. 
 
 9. I foresee that it will not be long 
 before this outer drive will have to be 
 supplemented by extending McClurg 
 Court south from Ohio Street across the 
 river and the Illinois Central property to 
 Randolph Street, where the extension 
 
 36 
 
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 27 
 
will connect with the outer drive in 
 Grant Park. 
 
 10. An important plan for traffic relief 
 and one upon which our technicians have 
 done considerable work is the develop- 
 ment of an 80-mile-long outer circuit 
 boulevard around the city. (See map 
 on Page 29.) This circuit boulevard 
 should have a width of at least 150 feet. 
 Its course will include Peterson Avenue, 
 Rogers Avenue, the line of the old Indian 
 Boundary, Wolf Road, 147th Street, 
 South Park Avenue, the outer lake front 
 drive, and Sheridan Road. This circuit 
 will have the same relationship to the 
 radial highways entering and leaving 
 Chicago that the already established 
 boulevard system connecting the North, 
 West and South Side Parks has to the 
 interior thoroughfares. 
 
 11. Our staff has also prepared plans 
 for a street along the north bank of the 
 main channel of the Chicago River, har- 
 monizing with Wacker Drive along the 
 south bank. (See map on Page 31.) 
 Eventually this thoroughfare along the 
 north bank of the river is to extend from 
 the outer drive (Lake Shore Drive) west 
 to Canal Street. Its western section will 
 embody an improvement provided for in 
 the Union Station ordinance, and one 
 which the city should carry out without 
 delay, i. e., a high-level connection be- 
 tween Orleans Street near the north end 
 of the Franklin-Orleans Street bridge, 
 and Canal Street. This is greatly needed 
 to by-pass through-bound traffic around 
 the congested down-town district, and 
 will serve the important purpose of con- 
 necting the West and North Sides with- 
 out passing through the loop. Two sec- 
 tions of the north bank street improve- 
 ment — the one between Rush Street and 
 Dearborn Street, and the other between 
 the north branch of the river and Wells 
 Street — are on Chicago and North West- 
 ern Railway Company property, and 
 this company has expressed its willing- 
 ness to co-operate with us in the devel- 
 opment of the proposed improvement. 
 At the present time there are few ob- 
 stacles in the path of this improvement. 
 Therefore it is a favorable time for the 
 Commission to consider it in connection 
 with a study of the entire district be- 
 tween the river and Ohio Street. 
 
 12. A joint report from the technical 
 staff, covering the improvement of Persh- 
 
 ing Road (39th Street) from the edge of 
 Lake Michigan through the city for a 
 distance of nine miles to the western city 
 limits, is about ready. (See map on 
 Page 33.) From the city limits the 
 opening of this street west to the forest 
 preserves, the new Zoological Gardens, 
 the Joy Morton Arboretum, and on to a 
 connection with Ogden Avenue, is part 
 of Cook County's program of road im- 
 provement for which bonds were asked 
 at the November (1926) election. The 
 plan for one section of the Pershing 
 Road improvement (where the street has 
 been closed for years), is ready for im- 
 mediate action by the Plan Commission, 
 after which it can be laid before the 
 municipal authorities. This is the sec- 
 tion between Halsted Street and Ashland 
 Avenue which, when opened, will create 
 a through route from one end of the city 
 to the other and will serve traffic until 
 such time as the widening can be carried 
 out. This section should be among the 
 improvements to be recommended soon 
 by the Plan Commission. The complete 
 Pershing Road improvement will be one 
 worthy of its name. Its importance is 
 indicated by the fact that there is no 
 other east-and-west street open continu- 
 ously through the city between 22nd 
 Street on the north and 63rd Street on 
 the south. 
 
 13. Another matter in which I have 
 taken much interest is the plan worked 
 out by our technical staff to separate the 
 grades of Western Avenue and Marshall 
 Boulevard at 31st Street — across the 
 Sanitary Canal, the Illinois and Michi- 
 gan Canal, and the Atchison, Topeka & 
 Santa Fe Railroad's right-of-way. (See 
 map on Page 34.) So far we have been 
 successful in inducing all except two of 
 the authorities affected to agree to do 
 their share in carrying out this plan. I 
 wish to recommend that the effort be con- 
 tinued to bring about this important 
 improvement as soon as possible. 
 
 14. The straightening of the Chicago 
 River will bring with it the opportunity 
 to open a number of streets, both east- 
 and-west and north-and-south, through 
 the square-mile area south of the loop 
 that has been absorbed by railroad occu- 
 pancy for so many years. I say again 
 here, as I have publicly said already, that 
 too much credit cannot be given to the 
 Citizens' Committee on River Straight- 
 
 28 
 
CHIMO PLAN OOM/AK 
 
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 ■■* - ■- ■ 
 
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 29 
 
ening for the splendid results it accom- 
 plished in working with the city and the 
 railroad officials. This again demon- 
 strates the splendid results which can 
 be accomplished by close cooperation 
 between the public and private interests. 
 General plans showing the possibilities of 
 street development in the south side ter- 
 minal district have been drawn, but these 
 plans cannot be completed in detail until 
 it is definitely known where and what 
 kind of railway terminal development 
 will take place in this area. One street, 
 however, figured in the agreement be- 
 tween the city and the various railroad 
 companies involved in straightening the 
 river. This is Market Street-Franklin 
 Street (merged, because of the course of 
 the river), which is to be extended 108 
 feet wide through the terminal area. 
 
 Another street which should be given 
 careful consideration in connection with 
 the South Side terminal development 
 plan, is Polk Street. Polk Street at the 
 present time is open at the normal street 
 level from State Street west to Wells 
 Street. Here there is an offset, on ac- 
 count of the fact that between Canal 
 Street and Wells Street Polk Street is 
 carried on a viaduct which makes a 
 right-angle turn at Wells Street in order 
 to get down to normal street level. The 
 width of Polk Street varies considerably. 
 Between State and Dearborn Streets it is 
 86 feet wide; between Dearborn and 
 Clark Streets, 90 feet ; and between Clark 
 Street and the south branch of the Chi- 
 cago River, only 40 feet. The viaduct 
 between the river and Canal Street has 
 been widened to 80 feet, and proceedings 
 are now under way to widen Polk Street 
 to 80 feet between Canal and Halsted 
 Streets. West of Halsted Street Polk 
 Street is open at a width of 66 feet 
 nearly to the western city limits. There- 
 fore the street lends itself to improve- 
 ment all the way west through the city 
 and adjacent suburbs to a connection 
 with the county exterior highways. 
 
 Polk Street is little used today 
 throughout most of its length, but it 
 is so situated that a proper improvement 
 would supply a greatly needed east-and- 
 west street through the city from one 
 end to the other and making contacts 
 with the proposed railway terminals 
 along part of its route. 
 
 15. As yet no adequate memorial to 
 Mr. Burnham has been provided. The 
 unceasing effort of this Commission (by 
 resolution and otherwise), to have the 
 new lake front park now being built by 
 the South Park Commissioners named 
 "Burnham Park," has not been success- 
 ful. I should like to urge the Commis- 
 sion to endeavor again to have this park 
 named as first suggested in a resolution 
 adopted by the Commission on July 16, 
 1912, shortly after Mr. Burnham's death. 
 
 16. It must be patent to everybody 
 that with our constant increase in popu- 
 lation, in building, and in the number 
 of vehicles in the city — ^traffic in the 
 downtown district (from North Avenue 
 to 22nd Street, and from Lake Michigan 
 to Halsted Street), is steadily becoming 
 more congested. Every obstacle to the 
 easy flow of traffic in this section should 
 be removed, and this means that the 
 street car tracks should be removed from 
 the normal street level in so far as is 
 possible. Before this can be done, how- 
 ever, a very careful study should be 
 made to determine the most practical 
 way of facilitating this traffic and to 
 consider the possibilities of accomplish- 
 ing this end overhead or underground, 
 by subways or double-level streets, or 
 by a combination of both. 
 
 17. It seems to me also that within 
 this same district galleries should be pro- 
 vided for the public utilities, so that our 
 streets need not forever be torn up on 
 account of repairs, changes, and exten- 
 sions to the gas, water, telephone, elec- 
 tric light, and other facilities. 
 
 18. May I take this occasion, too, to 
 reiterate my often expressed hope that 
 the street improvements in the district 
 bounded by Harrison Street, Roosevelt 
 Road, Canal Street, and Halsted Street 
 may be pushed to early completion. 
 There are five of these improvements and 
 they are all in court. Property in this 
 district used to be of very low value, but 
 values have risen to a marked degree in 
 anticipation of these improvements, since 
 they will enable that area to develop into 
 a commercial and warehouse district of 
 the first magnitude. 
 
 19. I hope likewise that the Plan 
 Commission will agitate the develop- 
 ment of a boulevard along the shore of 
 Lake Michigan from Chicago all the way 
 to Milwaukee, and that all the cities 
 
 30 
 
31 
 
affected will cooperate wholeheartedly in 
 such a movement. 
 
 20. In designing Wacker Drive it was 
 realized that a splendid opportunity for 
 artistic embellishment of a notable char- 
 acter existed in connection with the large 
 plaza formed at the Wabash Avenue in- 
 tersection. Therefore I took the matter 
 up with the trustees of the Ferguson 
 Fund, the secretary of which informed 
 me that the trustees were very much in- 
 terested in the proposal to erect some 
 type of monument at this intersection, 
 that they had given instructions to list 
 this site for a future monument, and 
 that they would be glad to have sug- 
 gestions as to the historic event which 
 might be commemorated by a monu- 
 ment on this site. I accordingly con- 
 ferred^with the Chicago Historical So- 
 ciety, which suggested seven historical 
 subjects for consideration, whereupon I 
 
 referred them to the trustees of the 
 Ferguson Fund. This is a matter which 
 I feel the Plan Commission might prop- 
 erly follow up until an appropriate 
 work of art has been assured for this 
 plaza. 
 
 In conclusion may I say that there is 
 great inspiration for those who are today 
 engaged in the work of improving Chi- 
 cago, in a look backward over the city's 
 history. I earnestly urge each and every 
 citizen to respond to this inspiration, be- 
 cause he will derive from it a stimulus to 
 great efforts for the future. As he looks 
 back he will see examples of united effort, 
 permeated by a faith in the destiny of 
 the city which has never swerved. If the 
 spirit of 1871 and 1893 animates the 
 younger generation, then we old war 
 horses may, as we depart, confidently 
 entrust to the shoulders of our sons the 
 burdens we have borne. 
 
 Respectfully submitted, 
 
 32 
 
(See page 28) 
 
 33 
 
CHlC\CO PLAN COMMlVJOiN 
 
 VEiyXElC/l BOULENARD 
 IMPKVLMLNT 
 
 JJWf JVCTWK, POOPCVTD 
 
 C£ACL jrS»a^\0/i AT THE 
 
 I AAID M CAAiAU ACV BEDGL/CWEE 
 
 THE. .^VHTAITt' CAnaL , A/© VDCAfl^; 
 
 or THE RAlLVAr»AJB^«i' 
 
 (See page 28) 
 
Chicago Plan Commission 
 
 Room F, Hotel Sherman 
 
 TELEPHONE FRANKLIN 2100 
 
 ROSTER OF MEMBERS 
 
 OFFICERS 
 
 Mayor William E. Dever Honorary President ex-officio 
 
 Charles H. Wacker Chairman 
 
 Eugene S. Taylor. Manager. 
 Helen Whitehead, Secretary. 
 
 E. H. Bennett, Consultant. 
 Hugh E. Young, Engineer. 
 
 Charles H. Wacker, Chairman 
 Edward B. Butler 
 John J. Coughlin. Aid. 
 Frederic A. Delano 
 John V. Farwell 
 Albert J. Fisher 
 D. A. Horan. Aid. 
 Edward J. Kaindl, Aid. 
 
 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 
 
 Theodore K. Long 
 
 Joseph B. McDonough, Aid. 
 
 Joy Morton 
 
 Wm. R. O'Toole, Aid. 
 
 Wm. N. Pelouze 
 
 John Powers, Aid. 
 
 Julius Rosenwald 
 
 Daniel J. Schuyler 
 
 James Simpson 
 John F. Smulski 
 Charles H. Thome 
 Harry A. Wheeler 
 Walter H. Wilson 
 Ross A. Woodhull, Aid. 
 Michael Zimmer 
 
 ABBOTT. W. R. 
 
 212 W. Washington St. 
 ADAMKEWICZ, STANLEY, ALD. 
 
 1029 Milwaukee Ave. 
 ADAMOWSKI. MAX. ALD. 
 
 2812 FuUerton Ave. 
 ALBERT, ARTHUR F., ALD. 
 
 1938 N. Halsted St. 
 AM BERG, WALTER ARNOLD 
 
 116. 29 S. La Salle St. 
 ANDERSON, LOUIS B.. ALD. 
 
 2821 Wabash Ave. 
 ARMOUR, J. OGDEN 
 
 208 S. La Salle St. 
 ARVEY. JACOB M.. ALD. 
 
 1337 Independence Blvd. 
 AUSTRIAN. ALFRED S. 
 
 208 S. La Salle St. 
 BAKER. ALFRED L. 
 
 141 S. La Salle St. 
 BAMBAS. JAMES F. 
 
 2346 S. Kedzie Ave. 
 BARBEE. ROBERT E.. ALD. 
 
 6910 Went worth Ave. 
 BARDONSKI. V. 
 
 1256 Noble St. 
 BARNES. CLIFFORD W. 
 
 10 S. La Salle St. 
 BARTLETT, FREDERICK H. 
 
 69 W. Washington St. 
 BEIDLER, GEORGE 
 
 40 N. Dearborn St. 
 BERLIN, ROBERT C. 
 
 19 S. La Salle St. 
 BILLINGS, DR. FRANK 
 
 1550 N. State Parkway 
 BOEHM, JOHN J. 
 
 1901 S. Halsted St. 
 BOND. WILLIAM A. 
 
 25 N. Dearborn St. 
 BOUTELL. FRANCIS L., ALD. 
 
 134 S. La Salle St. 
 BOWLER. THOMAS J.. ALD. 
 
 5048 Addison St. 
 BOYLE, JAMES T. 
 
 847 Larrabee St. 
 BRIESKE, LEO M.. ALD. 
 
 3037 Lincoln Ave. 
 BRITTAIN. JOSEPH K. 
 
 35 N. Dearborn St. 
 BROOKS. ROBERT E. L. 
 
 10101 Ewing Ave. 
 
 BROWN. EVERETT C. 
 
 57-59 Exchange Bldg. 
 BRYANT. EDWARD F. 
 
 Pullman Trust & Savings Bank 
 BUDINGER. JOHN 
 
 2449 Wentworth Ave. 
 BUDLONG, JOSEPH J. 
 
 184 N. Wabash Ave. 
 BUNDESEN. DR. H. N. 
 
 Commissioner of Health, City Hall 
 BURNHAM, DANIEL H. 
 
 160 N. La Salle St. 
 BUSCH. FRANCIS X. 
 
 Corporation Counsel, City Hall 
 BUTLER, EDWARD B. 
 
 Randolph Street Bridge 
 BYRNE. THOS. F.. ALD. 
 
 6743 S. Irving Ave. 
 CARPENTER, BENJAMIN 
 
 430 N. Wells St. 
 CARROLL. JOHN A. 
 
 5300 Lake Park Ave. 
 CARRY. EDWARD F. 
 
 Pullman Building 
 CARSON. E. B. 
 
 208 S. La Salle St. 
 CEPAK, JOSEPH, ALD. 
 
 2813 S. Spaulding Ave. 
 CERMAK, ANTON J., President County Board 
 
 3347 W. 26th St. 
 CERVENKA. JOHN A. 
 
 2438 S. Lawndale Ave. 
 CHAMBERLIN, HENRY BARRETT 
 
 21 N. La Salle St. 
 CHANDLER. HENRY P. 
 
 30 N. La Salle St. 
 CHAP. IGNATIUS 
 
 555 W. 31st St. 
 CLARK, SHELDON 
 
 332 S. Michigan Ave. 
 CLARK. JOHN S.. ALD. 
 
 215 S. Cicero Ave. 
 CLARKSON, RALPH 
 
 410 S. Michigan Ave. 
 CLOIDT. FRANK X. 
 
 175 W.Jackson Blvd. 
 CLOW. WILLIAM E. 
 
 534 S. Franklin St. 
 COHEN, EDWARD 
 
 East End Park Hotel 
 CONNERY. J. T. 
 
 McCormick Bldg. 
 
 35 
 
CONNERY, JOSEPH F. 
 
 740, 230 S. Clark St. 
 CONROY. JOHN J. 
 
 5540 S. Racine Ave. 
 COONLEY, HENRY E. 
 
 II S. La Salle St. 
 COUGHLIN, JOHN J., ALD. 
 
 1 7 N. La Salle St. 
 CRONSON, BERTHOLD A., ALD. 
 
 4603 Woodlawn Ave. 
 CROSS. ERNEST M., ALD. 
 
 10200 Avenue L. 
 CROWE, ALBERT J. 
 
 S13 Chamber of Commerce Bldg. 
 CROWE, DORSEY R.. ALD. 
 
 66 W. Oak St. 
 CUNEO, LAWRENCE 
 
 1200 W. ISth St. 
 DASSO. PAUL 
 
 814 N. Harding Ave. 
 DAVIS, ABEL 
 
 69 W. Washington St. 
 DAWES, CHARLES G. 
 
 125 W. Monroe St. 
 DEFREES, JOSEPH H. 
 
 105 S. La Salle St. 
 DELANO, FREDERIC A. 
 
 Hibbs Bldg., Washington, D. C. 
 DEUTHER, TOMAZ F. 
 
 1152 N. Ashland Ave. 
 DEVER. HON. WM. E. 
 
 5901 Kenmore Ave. 
 DICKINSON, J. M.. JR. 
 
 231 S. La Salle St. 
 DIXON, GEORGE W. 
 
 425 S. Wells St. 
 DONNELLEY, THOMAS E. 
 
 731 Plymouth Court 
 DUNNE, EDWARD F. 
 
 538 The Rookery 
 DUPEE, EUGENE H. 
 
 69 W. Washington St. 
 DWEN, ROBERT G. 
 
 8 E. Huron St. 
 EATON, CHAS. S., ALD. 
 
 7 S. Dearborn St. 
 ECKHART, BERNARD A. 
 
 1300 Carroll Ave. 
 ECKHART, PERCY B. 
 
 38 S. Dearborn St. 
 ERICSON, JOHN E. 
 
 City Engineer, City Hall 
 FAHERTY, MICHAEL J. 
 
 2735 Pine Grove Ave. 
 FARLEY, EDWARD P. 
 
 6 N. Michigan Ave. 
 FARWELL, JOHN V. 
 
 1137. 208 S. La Salle St. 
 FELIX, BENJAMIN B. 
 
 340 W. Huron St. 
 FICK. HENRY L., ALD. 
 
 559 Roosevelt Road 
 FIELD. STANLEY 
 
 231 S. La Salle St. 
 FINN, JOHN C. 
 
 9348 Cottage Grove Ave. 
 FISHER, ALBERT J. 
 
 7206 Princeton Ave. 
 FISHER, WALTER L. 
 
 134 S. La Salle St. 
 FLYNN, ALBERT J. 
 
 2440 Logan Blvd. 
 FOREMAN, MILTON J. 
 
 38 S. Dearborn St. 
 FOREMAN, OSCAR G. 
 
 30 N. La Salle St. 
 FORGAN, JAMES B., JR. 
 
 38 S. Dearborn St. 
 FORGAN, DAVID R. 
 
 134 S. La Salle St. 
 FOWLER, W. A. 
 
 343 S. Dearborn St. 
 FRANKHAUSER, E. I., ALD. 
 
 5517 Winthrop Ave. 
 FREUND, LOUIS P. 
 
 1656 Garfield Blvd. 
 FYFFE. COLIN C. H.. Pres. Public Library Board 
 
 III W. Monroe St. 
 GALLAGHER, THOMAS 
 
 522 S. Sangamon St. 
 GATZERT, AUGUST 
 
 4901 Greenwood Ave. 
 GETZ, GEO. F. 
 
 332 S. Michigan Ave. 
 GILLAN, REV. JOHN C. 
 
 2542 Wallace St. 
 
 GLACKIN, EDWARD J. 
 
 Sec'y Board of Local Improvements 
 745 Lytle St. 
 GLESSNER, J. J. 
 
 606 S. Michigan Ave. 
 GOODMAN, MILTON F. 
 
 212 W. Monroe St. 
 GORDON, REV. FRANCIS 
 
 1825 N. Wood St. 
 GOVIER, SHELDON W., ALD. 
 
 11350 Forrestville Ave. 
 GRIESEMER, CHARLES J. 
 
 329 N. Lotus Ave. 
 GRUND, CHARLES H. 
 
 3511 Archer Ave. 
 GUERNSEY, GUY, ALD. 
 
 6044 Vernon Ave. 
 GUNTHER, DR. FR.ANK E. 
 
 1801 W. 35th St. 
 HAGEY, DR. HARRY H. 
 
 800 W. 78th St. 
 HALL. RICHARD C. 
 
 209 S. La Salle St. 
 HARPER, DR. WM. E. 
 
 6541 Yale Ave. 
 HARRISON, CARTER H. 
 
 2100 Lincoln Park West 
 HARTKE, EMIL A. 
 
 7742 N. Paulina St. 
 HAUGAN. HENRY A. 
 
 State Bank of Chicago 
 HEBEL. OSCAR, HON. 
 
 1342 N. Dearborn St. 
 HECHINGER, C. E. 
 
 180 N. Dearborn St. 
 HEISER, A. C. 
 
 3535 Archer Ave. 
 HERLIHY, DANIEL J. 
 
 2743 N. Albany Ave. 
 HILL, FREDERICK A. 
 
 5638 W. Lake St. 
 HILL, JOHN W. 
 
 1453 Monadnock Block 
 HINES, EDWARD 
 
 1324 Otis Bldg. 
 HOELLEN, JOHN J., ALD. 
 
 1938 Irving Park Blvd. 
 HOOKER, GEORGE E. 
 
 800 S. Halsted St. 
 HORAN, ALBERT J., ALD. 
 
 3347 W. Congress St. 
 HORAN, DENNIS A., ALD. 
 
 1914 S. Ashland Ave. 
 HRODEJ, JOS. T. 
 
 1352 S. Crawford Ave. 
 HRODY, JOSEPH T. 
 
 208 W. Madison St. 
 HULTIN, N. H. 
 
 3176 N. Clark St. 
 JACKSON, DAVID H. 
 
 Pres., Lincoln Park Commissioners. 
 Ill W. Monroe St. 
 JACKSON, ROBERT R., ALD. 
 
 3300 S. State St. 
 JANISZESKI, FRANK H. 
 
 1373 W. Chicago Ave. 
 JENSEN. CHRIST A., ALD. 
 
 4226 N. Sawyer Ave. 
 JOHNSON, GEORGE E. Q. 
 
 77 W. Washington St. 
 JOHNSON, NELS 
 
 4401 W. North Ave. 
 JUDD, EDWARD S. 
 
 40 N. Dearborn St. 
 KAINDL, EDWARD J., ALD. 
 
 2600 W. Chicago Ave. 
 KELLY, EDWARD J. 
 
 President South Park Commissioners 
 910 S. Michigan Ave. 
 KELLY, JOHN 
 
 Private Secretary to the Mayor, City Hall 
 KILBOURNE, L. B. 
 
 45 South Water Market 
 KING. LAWRENCE F. 
 
 President Sanitary District of Chicago 
 910 S. Michigan Ave. 
 KOCH, FRANK J. 
 
 2603 S. Halsted St. 
 KOHN, W. C. 
 
 Concordia Teachers' College 
 River Forest, 111. 
 KRABOL, O. O. 
 
 1740 N. Maplewood Ave. 
 KREUGER, WILLIAM F. 
 
 2176 Canalport Ave. 
 KRUETGEN. ERNEST J. 
 
 917 N. Franklin St. 
 KRULEWITCH, ERNEST 
 
 709 Independence Blvd. 
 
 36 
 
KUNDE, ERNEST 
 
 2025 S. Halsted St. 
 KUNSTMANN, E. J.. ALD. 
 
 3611 S. Wood St. 
 LA MARRE. REV. JOSEPH V. 
 
 3836 S. California Ave. 
 LAUB, ALBERT 
 
 2222 S. Halsted St. 
 LEGNER, WM. G. 
 
 S36 East 27th St. 
 LEININGER, DR. GEO. 
 
 1856 W. North Ave. 
 LE TOURNEUX. EDWARD D. 
 
 600 Blue Island Ave. 
 LIPPS, W. F. 
 
 2119 Touhy Ave. 
 LITSINGER. EDWARD R. 
 
 Conway Bldg. 
 LITTLER, H. E. 
 
 2505 N. Washtenaw Ave. 
 LOESCHER, ALBERT E., ALD. 
 
 2159 Lewis St. 
 LONG, THEODORE K. 
 
 New Bloomfield, Pa. 
 LEUDER, ARTHUR C. Postmaster 
 
 358 Federal Bldg. 
 LURYA, ISAAC 
 
 2301 S. Crawford Ave. 
 LYNCH, JOHN A. 
 
 134 S. La Salle St. 
 MAC CHESNEY. NATHAN WILLIAM 
 
 30 N. La Salle St. 
 MAC VEAGH, FRANKLIN 
 
 333 W. Lake St. 
 MAMEK, GEO. 
 
 1724 Racine Ave. 
 MAMER, CHRISTOPHER 
 
 501 Throop St. 
 MANG, ALBERT G. 
 
 125 W. Monroe St. 
 MARK, CLAYTON 
 
 Conway Bldg. 
 MAYPOLE, GEORGE M., ALD. 
 
 3523 Fulton St. 
 McCORMICK. HAROLD F. 
 
 606 S. Michigan Ave. 
 McCULLOCH, CHARLES A. 
 
 Ill W. Adams St. 
 McDONOUGH, JOSEPH B., ALD. 
 
 551 W. 37th St. 
 McJUNKIN, WM. D. 
 
 5 S. Wabash Ave. 
 McKINLAY. DONALD S.. ALD. 
 
 Conway Bldg. 
 MENDEL. JOSEPH A.. ALD. 
 
 1424 W. 18th St. 
 MEYERING, WM. D., ALD. 
 
 7341 Cottage Grove Ave. 
 MEYEROVITZ. DR. M. 
 
 3136 Douglas Blvd. 
 MILLS, E. EDWIN 
 
 1440 S. Racine Ave. 
 MILLS, WILEY W., ALD. 
 
 19 S. La Salle St. 
 MITCHELL, JOHN J. 
 
 Illinois Merchants Trust Company 
 MODERWELL. CHARLES M. 
 
 332 S. Michigan Ave. 
 MORAN, TERENCE F., ALD. 
 
 5634 Ada St. 
 MORTON, JOY 
 
 717 Railway Exchange Bldg. 
 MUELHOEFFER, EDWARD 
 
 1325 Clybourn Ave. 
 MULDOON. JOHN A. 
 
 1201 W. Lake St. 
 MURPHY. J. R. 
 
 6107 Kenmore Ave. 
 NANCE. DR. WILLIS O. 
 
 1836 E. 72nd St. 
 NASH, JOHN S. 
 
 6 N. Clark St. 
 NELSON. OSCAR F., ALD. 
 
 1725, 160 N. La Salle St. 
 NERING, JOHN 
 
 324 S. La Salle St. 
 NICHOLS, CHARLES F. W. 
 
 14 E. Jackson Blvd. 
 NIMMONS, GEO. C. 
 
 122 S. Michigan Ave. 
 NOEL, JOSEPH R. 
 
 1601 Milwaukee Ave. 
 NUSSER, EUGENE L.. ALD. 
 
 3554 Dickens Ave. 
 O'BRIEN. ARTHUR 
 
 Mayor's Office, City Hall 
 O'BRIEN. PETER J. 
 
 4 N. Cicero Ave. 
 OLANDER, VICTOR A. 
 
 166 W. Waehington St. 
 
 OSTROWSKY. HENRY 
 
 3301 Douglas Blvd. 
 OSWIANZA, ABRAHAM 
 
 1834 S. Central Park Ave. 
 O'TOOLE, WM. R., ALD. 
 
 1102 W. 55th St. 
 OTT, HERMAN A. 
 
 3757 N. Kostner Ave. 
 PAGE, WALTER 
 
 5942 Normal Blvd. 
 PALMER, HONORS 
 
 80 E. Jackson Blvd. 
 PALT, FRANK J. 
 
 3205 S. Morgan St. 
 PELIKAN, D. 
 
 91 Cowley Road, Riverside, 111. 
 PELOUZE, WM. NELSON 
 
 232 E. Ohio St. 
 PENDARVIS. ROBERT E. 
 
 1018 Ashland Block 
 PETERSON. WM. A. 
 
 1032, 30 N. La Salle St. 
 PETLAK, JOSEPH, ALD. 
 
 1600 W. North Ave. 
 PETRU. FRANK J. 
 
 1441 W. 18th St. 
 PHELAN, REV. JOSEPH E. 
 
 St. Anne's Church 
 
 55th and Wentworth Ave. 
 PHELPS, CHARLES A. 
 
 519 First National Bank Bldg. 
 PONTOW. WM. H., ALD. 
 
 1922 Summerdale Ave. 
 PORTER, GEORGE F. 
 
 1009 First National Bank Bldg. 
 POTTER, EDWIN A. 
 
 Guaranty Trust Co., 
 New York City 
 POWELL, ISAAC N. 
 
 4649 Cottage Grove Ave. 
 POWERS. JOHN, ALD. 
 
 1284 Macalister Place 
 RAWSON, F. H. 
 
 Union Trust Bldg. 
 REHM, WILLIAM H. 
 
 1525 Astor St. 
 REVELL, ALEXANDER H. 
 
 141 S. Wabash Ave. 
 REYNOLDS, GEO. M. 
 
 Continental & Commercial National Bank 
 RINGA, FRANK R., ALD. 
 
 3400 N. Lawndale Ave. 
 RINGLEY, FRED J. 
 
 621 Plymouth Court 
 ROBERTSON. DR. JOHN DILL 
 
 President West Park Board, 
 3435 W. Monroe St. 
 ROBINSON, THEODORE W. 
 
 208 S. La Salle St. 
 ROESCH, J. ALBERT, JR. 
 
 129 S. Jefferson St. 
 ROSENWALD, JULIUS 
 
 Horaan and Arthington Aves. 
 RYAN, PATRICK F.. ALD. 
 
 7015 S. Carpenter St. 
 RYERSON. EDWARD L., JR. 
 
 2558 W. 16th St. 
 RYERSON, MARTIN A. 
 
 134 S. La Salle St. 
 SCHIAVONE. P. 
 
 Halsted and Taylor Sts. 
 SCHULZ, OTTO 
 
 711 Milwaukee Ave. 
 SCHUYLER, DANIEL J. 
 
 Illinois Merchants Bank Bldg. 
 SCHWARTZ, CHARLES P. 
 
 79 W. Monroe St. 
 SCOTT. JOHN W. 
 
 366 W. Adams St. 
 SEIF. GEORGE. ALD. 
 
 1608 N. California Ave. 
 SHANAHAN. DAVID E. 
 
 115 S. Dearborn St. 
 SHANAHAN, DENIS S. 
 
 141 W. Austin Ave. 
 SIEWERT. HENRY J. 
 
 3865 Milwaukee Ave. 
 SILVERMAN, LEWIS J. 
 
 920. 110 S. Dearborn St. 
 SIMPSON. JAMES 
 
 219 W. Adams St. 
 SINEK, WM. J. 
 
 33 S. Clark St. 
 SKALA, FRANK J. 
 
 966-970 W. 18th St. 
 SKINNER. EDWARD M. 
 
 528 S. Wells St. 
 
 37 
 
SLOAN. JOHN J. 
 
 President Board of Local Improvements, 
 City Hall 
 SMITH. JOS. H.. ALD. 
 
 2305 W. Superior St. 
 SMULSKI. JOHN F. 
 
 1201 Milwaukee Ave. 
 SPRAGUE. ALBERT A. 
 
 Commissioner of Public Works, 
 City Hall 
 STAVER. HARRY B. 
 
 12 W. S5th St. 
 STROBEL. CHARLES L. 
 
 1744 Monadnock BIdg. 
 STROM. AXEL A. 
 
 6039 Sheridan Road 
 STUBE, JOHN H. 
 
 1905 Morse Ave. 
 SUNNY. BERNARD E. 
 
 212 W. Washington St. 
 SWIFT, EDWARD F. 
 
 Union Stock Yards 
 SZYMANSKI, WALENTY 
 
 1907 Blue Island Ave. 
 TAYLOR, GRAHAM 
 
 955 Grand Ave. 
 TEICH, MAX L. 
 
 328 S. Clark St. 
 THOMPSON, CHARLES F. 
 
 332 S. Michigan Ave. 
 THOMPSON. JOHN R. 
 
 350 N. Clark St. 
 THOMPSON. JOHN R., JR. 
 
 350 N. Clark St. 
 THOMPSON, WILLIAM HALE 
 
 3200 Sheridan Road 
 THORNE. CHAS. H. 
 
 30 N. Michigan Ave. 
 TINSMAN. HOMER E. 
 
 1350 First National Bank Bldg. 
 TOBIN, T. M. 
 
 9332 South Chicago Ave. 
 TOMAN. JOHN. ALD. 
 
 4141 W. 21st Place 
 
 TOUHY, JOHN J.. ALD. 
 
 1339 W. Adams St. 
 TRAYLOR, MELVIN A. 
 
 38 S. Dearborn St. 
 VOPICKA, CHARLES J. 
 
 3251 Washington Blvd. 
 WACKER, CHARLES H. 
 
 2340 Commonwealth Ave. 
 WACKER. FREDERICK G. 
 
 549 W. Washington St. 
 WEHRWEIN. A. C. 
 
 6129 Prairie Ave. 
 WETTEN, EMIL C. 
 
 800, 108 S. La Salle St. 
 WHEELER. HARRY A. 
 
 Union Trust Bldg. 
 WIEBOLDT. W. A. 
 
 Belden Hotel 
 WILDER. JOHN E. 
 
 1038 Crosby St. 
 WILLIAMS, DR. J. F. 
 
 311 Center St. 
 WILLIAMS, THOMAS 
 
 3940 N. Francisco Ave. 
 WILSON. JOHN P., ALD. 
 
 3144 Lowe Ave. 
 WILSON, WALTER H. 
 
 1166 The Rookery 
 WOODHULL, ROSS A., ALD. 
 
 2116 E. 71st St. 
 WOOLLEY. C. F. 
 
 2937 Archer Ave. 
 WRIGLEY. PHILIP K. 
 
 400 N. Michigan Ave. 
 ZANDER, HENRY G. 
 
 27 W. Washington St. 
 ZELEZNY, JOHN G. 
 
 3856 W. 26th St. 
 ZIMMER, MICHAEL 
 
 Cook County Hospital 
 ZIMMERMAN. EARLE J. 
 
 3047 Carroll Ave. 
 
 Ik 
 
 ■ ii'i: 
 
 DtC 3 1 1926 
 
 JM0JS 
 
 38 
 

 
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UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 711.73C432W C002 ^^^ 
 
 ADDRESS BY CHARLES H WACKER AT A MEETIN ^^'^^^