COMPETITIVE DESIGN FOR THE UNION CLUB-HOUSE, NEW YORK

Aside from the fact that the entrance is too far removed from Fifth Avenue, the plan shows the greatest skill and good judgment especially exemplified in the clever way the lack of symmetry is overcome in the long narrow lounging-rooms.

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EFORE proceeding to a consideration of municipal art and its application to Chicago, it is necessary to define our terms. Art consists primarily in performing the necessary tasks of life in a beautiful manner. It is not in any way antagonistic to or apart from practical things, but is the meeting of practical needs in a beautiful way. Municipal art is the application of this principle to corporate life. The most direct way to secure a beautiful city is by solving such practical everyday problems as the handling of freight, the conduct of all our industries, transportation of our people in a manner at once practical and beautiful.

In attacking the problems which concern Chicagoans, it is necessary for us first to become iconoclasts. Until we tear out our smoke-producing boilers and abate that nuisance, which destroys not only our civic beauty but our civic character as well, we cannot hope for much progress.

ART AND POLITICS.

The same is necessary in regard to our political system. Art is essentially ethical, and until people who really desire the welfare of Chicago can become practical politicians and substitute better methods for those now in vogue with both of our governing parties, we cannot expect to create and maintain a municipal ideal. It will never do for reformers to preach to politicians; instead they must become politicians and endeavor to put the city's business upon a basis of equity and enlightenment.

The second step is positive in its nature, and demands the acquiring of a knowledge of conditions. It is necessary to understand Chicago's situation commercially and in reference to the business and the world's natural supplies. It is necessary to study her in relation to her immediate surroundings, and her local activity, taking into account the activities of all classes of people. It is necessary to study other cities and learn of the obstacles which they surmounted, and the manner in which they did their work. This should be done, not for the purpose of copying other cities, but to enable us to realize our present and our possible conditions and to encourage us in our work.

PLAN OF OPERATIONS.

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Assuming that the data is at hand, the next step is to plan our city-plan it just as definitely as if it were all to be executed at once. A plan is a study of a proposed operation, generally expressed graphically, and if thoroughly done, gives to that operation the advantages of forethought and of anticipation of future needs points out a line of action which may be carried on definitely toward a certain goal, and at the same time it permits constant revision of details. In our case such a plan should include Greater Chicago. It should not be limited by the political boundaries of the city, but should include all of that territory which is of daily concern to Chicagoans. This would take in practically all of Cook County, and in some directions it would go beyond the county limits. This plan should be made with reference to all of the needs of intramural transportation, to the receiving and shipping of all kinds of merchandise, to all manufacturing processes, to all official business, to the interests of all kinds of education, to recreation and to the embellishment of our streets and open spaces. It should include regulations for buildings-for their appearance in the aggregate as well as for their safety. Such problems as municipal water, light, sewerage, telephone and telegraph, pneumatic tube service, etc., would of course demand an important place in these considerations.

BIG SUBWAY PLAN.

Such a plan, if made, would include, as I see it, a complete system of subways for all surface and elevated transit lines. It would dispense with our downtown surface and elevated loops. It would make a central subterranean station from which all lines of cars would radiate. By similar extensions it would bring suburban lines from all depots to the centre of the city; it would provide short cross lines for rapid transfer from one part of the business district to another. Subways may be arranged so that they will be perfectly lighted and ventilated; by the use of glazed tiles they may become beautiful, and shops along their lines may add another story to their available space by connecting their basements with the subways.