Arden Press of Philadelphia

Citizenship In Philadelphia (1919)

By J. Lynn Barnard, Ph.D. and Jessie C. Evans. A. M.

Summary
This book presents practical information about the workings of the city of Philadelphia, including the public school system, waste disposal, elections, city planning, etc.

Table of Contents
Chapter 1 - Philadelphia—A Community
Chapter 3 - The Water Supply
Chapter 4 - Street Cleaning and Waste Disposal
Chapter 7 - The Lighting Of The City
Chapter 10 - City Planning
Chapter 12 - Getting A Living In Philadelphia
Chapter 13 - Charities
Chapter 14 - The Courts And Law Officers
Chapter 17 - Civil Service
Chapter 18 - Parties And Elections
Publication Details

Chapter 1 - Philadelphia—A Community

Two centuries ago Philadelphia was a small village on the edge of the Delaware, with only a few hundred inhabitants and with none of the big buildings or the paved streets or the parks and playgrounds or the libraries and museums that we see to-day.

As this little village grew larger and larger, the necessity for the people to work together to meet common wants became ever more pressing. This chapter tells how various efforts were made to satisfy these wants. No attempt is made to sketch even a brief history of Philadelphia, but only to trace its early growth along a few lines in order to illustrate the way in which this particular community developed civically from a village into a city.

One citizen will be discovered, the great Benjamin Franklin, who was so alive to civic needs, so clever in thinking out ways to meet them, and so enterprising in getting his ideas carried out, that he serves as the embodiment of civic spirit and civic achievement—as an ideal of the good citizen. As you read a brief story of his service to Philadelphia, you will understand why it is necessary for people to do things together as a community. You will see, too, how important it is for all citizens to take an interest in public affairs, to pay their share willingly, and to do some things that may be personally inconvenient in order that their community activities may be successful. Accordingly, his story will be told in some detail. And this introductory chapter will end at that point, for its purpose will have been fulfilled if the boys and girls who read it shall have gotten some idea of community growth and of the kind of citizenship that alone makes such growth possible.

The City of Penn — In an interesting pamphlet published in 1685, Penn gives us a clear picture of his new city as it emerged from the "cave-dweller" epoch. He describes it as two miles long and a mile wide, with High Street (now Market) and Broad Street each a hundred feet in breadth, and with eight streets parallel to High Street and twenty cross-streets parallel to Broad Street. And he adds that the names of these streets were "mostly taken from the things that spontaneously grow in the country, as Vine, Mulberry, Chestnut, Walnut, Strawberry, Cranberry, Plum, Hickory, Pine, Oake, Beach, Ash, Poplar, Sassafras, and the like." Many of these names are still in use, though not always applied as in Penn's time.

Thomas Holme, surveyor general of the province, who had come over in 1681 to lay out the city and locate building lots, gives us some additional information about the original plan. "In the centre of the city is a square [now Penn Square] of ten acres; at each angle are to be houses for public affairs, as a Meeting House, Assembly or State House, Market House, School House, and several other buildings for public concerns. There is also in each quarter of the city a square of eight acres to be for the like uses as the Moorfields in London." And he further informs us that all the streets except High and Broad are fifty feet in width.

The Schuylkill River did not become as important commercially as Penn had thought it would; the town grew but slowly toward the west, and so "Center Square" (now Penn Square) was too far away for a location for the "houses for public affairs." A meeting-house was finally erected near the square, Watson tells us in his "Annals of Philadelphia," but "it was so far out of town that it was not used and so fell into decay." The founders of the city built their homes mostly on Front Street, facing the Delaware; and for the first quarter-century a resident west of Seventh Street might well feel himself a suburbanite—if not a "commuter"!

The earliest footways, we are told, were of brick and gravel, or gravel only, and the streets were invariably either muddy or dusty. The first paving of roadways was apparently of pebbles, which the inhabitants often voluntarily placed in front of their premises, from the "kennel" (gutter) to the middle of the street. Not till the eighteenth century was half over was there united effort at paving, and then lotteries were made use of to pay for it. And throughout the century numerous "dirty places" were complained of by successive grand juries.

Watson assures us that for a few years after the founding of the city no public precautions were taken against fire. And the first act of the legislature with this in view strikes one as picturesque rather than effectual. House-holders were not to clean their chimneys by firing them, nor allow them to take fire, under penalty of forty shillings; each householder was to keep at hand a swab twelve to fourteen feet long, and a bucket or pail, under penalty of sixteen shillings; and, finally no one was to smoke tobacco in the streets, night or day, under penalty of one shilling. The fines collected were to buy leather buckets, ladders, and engines.

In John Russell Young's "Memorial History of Philadelphia," Vol. I, we read that education was begun in Philadelphia by the Council of the Colony on December 26, 1683. And the following quaint extract is given from the minutes of that date. "The Govr and Provll Council having taken into their Serious Consideration the great Necessity there is of a School Master for ye Instruction & Sober Education of Youth in the towne of Philadelphia, Sent for Enoch flower, an Inhabitant of the said Towne, who for twenty year past hath exercised in that care and Imployment in England to whom haveing Communicated their Minds, he Embraced it upon these following termes: to leame to read English 4s by the Quarter, to Leame to read and write 6s by ye Quarter, to leame to read, Write, and Cast accot 8s by Quarter; for Boarding a Scholler, that is to say, dyet, Washing, Lodging, & Scooling, Tenn pounds for one whole year." How could education have had a more delightful start in the City of Penn?

For the next half-century Philadelphia grew rapidly, and with this rapid growth in population there was increasing need for the town itself to look after all sorts of civic interests that could no longer be properly attended to by private citizens. Unfortunately, the town government proved unequal to the task. The legislative body, known as the "Common Council," was unbusinesslike, and there was no efficient administrative department. Precious time was wasted, and such public works as were found necessary were built extravagantly. Streets, police and fire protection, taxation, all alike suffered from lack of leadership and business ability.

Fortunate it was for Philadelphia that at the close of this period the city should have found itself possessed of a citizen of rare civic insight, who was beginning to see the need for collective action and who knew how to go about securing it. The story of this man's remarkable civic activities will perhaps best illustrate how Philadelphia came to realize itself as a "Community" and to appreciate what it meant to be a "citizen."

Franklin, the Civic Statesman — Philadelphia is to-day a proud city of a million and three-quarters of inhabitants and an area of 129 1/2 square miles. It is hard for us to realize that in the days when the great Benjamin Franklin walked its streets it was little more than a country village, where the government was weak and inefficient, and where each householder looked after his own interests and had not learned to coöperate with his neighbors for the common good. In fact, had it not been for their remarkable fellow-townsman, the citizens would have learned the community lesson later than they did. In his Autobiography, which every school boy and girl ought to read, Franklin pictures the growth of public spirit in Philadelphia, and shows how one function after another came to be regarded as a matter of common concern in which all should coöperate. Suppose we let him tell us the story so far as possible in his own delightful fashion.

"And now [about 1730] I set on foot my first project of a public nature, that for a subscription library. I drew up the proposals, got them put into form, procured fifty subscribers of forty shillings each to begin with and ten shillings a year for fifty years, the term our company was to continue. We afterwards obtained a charter, the company being increased to one hundred; this was the mother of all the North American subscription libraries, now so numerous." Thus was the present Philadelphia Library, now at Locust and Juniper Streets, with its 400,000 volumes, which, while not a part of the free library system of the city, is a valuable adjunct to it.

And now a new want manifested itself to Franklin; the town had no adequate police force and no fire department. Hear his quaint description of the situation. "The city watch was one of the first things perceived to want regulation. It was managed by the constables of the respective wards in turn; the constable warned a number of housekeepers to attend him for the night. Those who chose never to attend, paid him six shillings a year to be excused, which was supposed to be for hiring substitutes, but was, in reality, much more than was necessary for that purpose, and made the constableship a place of profit; and the constable, for a little drink, often got such ragmuffins about him as a watch, that respectable housekeepers did not chose to mix with. Walking the rounds, too, was often neglected, and most of the nights spent in tippling. . . . I proposed as a more effectual watch the hiring of proper men to serve constantly in that business; and as a more equitable way of supporting the charge, the levying of a tax that should be proportioned to the property. This proposal paved the way for the law obtained a few years after." Such was the simple beginning of a police department.

Franklin next discussed publicly the question of fires and the need of their prevention; and soon afterwards, in 1736, he organized the Union Fire Company, which lasted for over fifty years. "Our articles of agreement," he tells us, "obliged every member to keep always in good order, and fit for use, a certain number of leather buckets, with strong bags and baskets for packing and transporting of goods, which were to be brought to every fire; and we agreed to meet once a mouth and spend a social evening together, in discoursing and communicating such ideas as occurred to us upon the subject of fires, as might be useful in our conduct on such occasions." The small fines paid by members absent from these monthly meetings were used for the purchase of fire-fighting apparatus, so that Franklin came to doubt whether there was a city in the world better equipped than Philadelphia. Thus began the system of volunteer fire companies, to be succeeded in time by a paid fire department splendidly equipped and disciplined.

It is not strange that Franklin should have turned his thoughts toward the education of youth, and have become the founder of an academy in 1749, a combination of pay and free school under private control. This academy was later developed into the University of Pennsylvania; and Franklin notes with pride, in later life, that he had been continued one of its trustees for forty years.

Library, police and fire departments, University—what a list of public enterprises for one man to help originate! But still his civic spirit and keen discernment of civic needs spurred him on to further accomplishment. A close friend of his, a physician, had tried in vain to start a hospital for "poor sick persons, whether inhabitants of the province or strangers." But not until the influential Franklin lent the project his aid was the hospital financed and incorporated.

Soon after this he determined to see what could be done about the streets in the way of paving, cleaning, and lighting. Franklin complains in his Autobiography that "in wet weather the wheels of heavy carriages plough'd them [the streets] into a quagmire, so that it was difficult to cross them; and in dry weather the dust was offensive." And he goes on to tell us: "I had liv'd near what was called the Jersey Market, and saw with pain the inhabitants wading in mud while purchasing their provisions. A strip of ground down the middle of that market was at length pav'd with brick, so that, being once in the market, they had firm footing, but were often over shoes in dirt to get there. By talking and writing on the subject, I was at length instrumental in getting the street pav'd with stone between the market and the brick'd foot-pavement, that was on each side next the houses. This, for some time, gave an easy access to the market dry-shod; but, the rest of the street not being pav'd, whenever a carriage came out of the mud upon this pavement, it shook off and left its dirt upon it, and it was soon cover'd with mire, which was not remov'd, the city as yet having no scavengers." This is what Franklin did about it.

"After some inquiry, I found a poor, industrious man, who was willing to undertake keeping the pavement clean, by sweeping it twice a week, carrying off the dirt from before all the neighbors' doors, for the sum of sixpence per month, to be paid by each house." Thereupon Franklin wrote and printed a paper setting forth the advantages that would accrue to householder and storekeeper alike from keeping the streets clean, and followed this up with a successful house-to-house canvass. "All the inhabitants of the city were delighted with the cleanliness of the pavement that surrounded the market, it being a convenience to all, and this raised a general desire to have all the streets pav'd, and made the people more willing to submit to a tax for that purpose."

Later Franklin drew up a bill for paving the city, and introduced it in the Assembly. This was passed, "with an additional provision for lighting as well as paving the streets, which was a great improvement." To another citizen of Philadelphia Franklin gives credit for the lighting idea, reserving for himself only the credit of substituting ventilated four-sided lamps that would not smoke for the London type of globe lamp that would not do much of anything else. These new lamps "continued bright till morning, and an accidental stroke would generally break but a single pane, easily repaired."

While in England Franklin suggested to a friend of his a simple method of sweeping the London streets, and one phase of that plan will bear repetition for Philadelphia's benefit now. It was simply this, that the streets should be swept "before the shops and windows of houses are usually opened, when the scavengers, with close-covered carts, shall also carry it all away." If alive to-day, Franklin would be insisting on the use of vacuum cleaners and air-tight carts, or else underground chutes into which all debris should be driven and by which it would be carried to the dumping grounds.

Oh, for a Franklin as Efficiency Engineer in each city of this land of ours! Safety, health, education, communication, public works—all the functions of a modem municipality were foreseen and foreshadowed by this one man. Always a generation or more in advance of his times, this many-sided citizen embodied in his own life the growth of Philadelphia as it took on one civic function after another, until it emerged as the largest and finest city in the American colonies.

Chapter 3 - The Water Supply

A long time ago, when Philadelphia was a small town, every family had to depend upon a well for water. Pictures still exist showing pumps standing in Market and Chestnut Streets. It was very inconvenient. as we may imagine, to have to go into the yard or street and fill a heavy pail every time that one had use for water. Besides the inconvenience, when the town grew into a city, well water became dangerous to health. This was because the presence of so many people caused a large amount of waste water, and as this water passed into the ground it made the well water impure. Impure water is one of the chief causes of disease, especially of typhoid fever Soon after the Revolution the problem of supplying the people with sufficient pure water to meet the ever increasing demands began to trouble the city officers.

Our first city water system consisted of a pumping station which pumped water from the Schuylkill River to a reservoir on the present site of the City Hall. Philadelphia's next water works were in Fairmount Park, near the Green Street entrance. The old buildings with their rows of gray columns are still standing on the edge of the river. The city now maintains an aquarium there. The districts outside of the original city were served by separate plants, some built by the district governments, some by private companies. After the consolidation of the city, in 1854, Philadelphia came into possession of the water works which were publicly owned and later the city purchased from the companies the private plants. When the filtration system was started in 1900, the city had several pumping stations, some on the Schuylkill, and some on the Delaware.
Need of Filtration — As Philadelphia grew, other towns above us on the two rivers were growing and sending larger and larger amounts of sewage and factory waste into the rivers from which we drew our water. If we look at the map of Pennsylvania we shall see that Burlington, Bristol, and Trenton are all above us on the Delaware, while Norristown, Bridgeport, Pottstown, Phoenixville, and Reading are above us on the Schuylkill. Of course some of the filth from those towns and cities sinks to the bottom of the river or is purified by the action of the air, but enough remains to make the water unpleasant and unsafe. Even a portion of our own sewage backs up the rivers to the place where we draw our water.

The subject of purifying Philadelphia's water supply had been under consideration since 1858, but it was not until 1899 that any agreement was reached. During the last twenty years of the nineteenth century the situation had been very serious. Philadelphia had the unenviable reputation of having a higher death rate from typhoid fever than any other large city in the United States. The water was often so filthy that a coating of mud would settle in the bottom of a basin or bath tub. Those who could afford to do so always bought their drinking water by the bottle from water dealers, who throve on the city's distress. The poor either boiled the muddy water or ran the risk of dying of typhoid fever. Acting on the recommendations of a committee which had studied the problem of water supply, Councils in January, 1900, authorized the construction of filtration plants within the city limits. Down to the present time more than $67,000,000 have been spent on this work.

The Filtration System — It took nine years to complete our five filtration plants, but as each one was finished the effect upon the death rate from typhoid fever was noted at once. The rates for the city as a whole during the years before and after the introduction of filtered water are sufficient proof of the value of the system.

The fluctuations were partly due to other causes, but the general decrease of the rate is clearly due to the improvement of the water.

These five filtration plants clean more than 300,000,000 gallons of water every day. If you can imagine a huge water tank made big enough to contain City Hall, tower and all, that would represent the amount of water filtered in sixty-seven hours, or less than three days. More important than the amount of water is the fact that it is clear and clean and contains a very small number of harmful bacteria. It is only after a severe storm which has stirred up the rivers that we are troubled with cloudy water. At the laboratories of the Bureau of Water, expert chemists test the water every day to see that it is good. To clean so much water in a day is a great task, and it is very interesting to see how the work is done. If we look at the little map of the filtration system we shall see that we have four plants on the Schuylkill River called the Upper Roxborough, Lower Roxborough, Belmont, and Queen Lane filtration plants. Each one is located on the high land above the river and is supplied with water by a pumping station on the bank below. The first two are fed by the same pumping station. The two Roxborough plants furnish water to Roxborough, Manayunk, Germantown, and Chestnut Hill; the Belmont plant supplies West Philadelphia, and the Queen Lane plant supplies Tioga and the surrounding districts. All of these together produce only one-third of the water for Philadelphia. The main part of Philadelphia receives its water from the gigantic Torresdale filtration plant on the Delaware River to the north, the largest one of its kind in the world. This plant alone furnishes our city with as much water as is supplied to the entire city of London.

The Torresdale Plant — Let us pay a visit to Torresdale and see how the work is done. As we approach the river we see a group of yellow brick buildings with tall chimneys close to the bank, and next to them a large green field dotted over with little brick houses set in even rows. The buildings are the offices and engine rooms and the little houses are the entrances to the sand filter beds, of which there are sixty-five. Let us first go down to the river bank to see where the water comes from. Half a mile up the river is a great reservoir which is called the "sedimentation basin," because the water is allowed to stand there to settle. It is on a level with the river and the dirty water flows into the sedimentation basin through a screen. While the water stands, most of the mud sinks to the bottom of the basin. The somewhat clearer water is drawn off from the top of the basin, after it has stood for twelve hours, and is pumped up the hill to the filter beds. In the large building on the river's edge are the great engines which do this work.

The water is passed on through a conduit eleven feet in diameter to buildings called "preliminary filters," where it goes through tanks containing gravel and sand. There are one hundred and twenty of these filters. The filters strain off still more of the mud. From this the pipes carry the water to one of the many "slow sand filters," where the final clearing is done. These filters are like vaulted cellars, built under the ground, and having for their entrances the little yellow brick houses which we saw as we approached the place. At the bottom of these filters is a layer of broken stone covered with gravel, and on top of the gravel a thick layer of fine brown sand. The water from the preliminary filter is allowed to run in slowly and sink down through the layers of sand, gravel, and broken stone until it passes out through pipes at the bottom. It must go slowly, so that all of the dirt and most of the bacteria may be removed. The pipes from the slow filters run to "the clear water basin," where the water is kept under cover until it passes out to the homes of the people.

The Torresdale plant, unlike the others, has two pumping stations. This is made necessary by the fact that the filter beds are near the level of the river. After the water has been filtered it has to be pumped up to a higher level, so that it will flow into the buildings of the city. The pumping station for the filtered water is on the river bank a short distance below at Lardner's Point.

The district served by the Torresdale plant has the Oak Lane reservoir at Fifth Street and Chelten Avenue for a reserve supply. The amount of water used is irregular, and sometimes water is needed faster then the pumps supply it. In case of extra need, 70,000,000 gallons stored there may be drawn upon.

The removal of the bacteria from the water is hard to understand. We know that bacteria are very small—so small that we can see them only through a very strong microscope—and that some of them are very dangerous, causing diseases like typhoid fever. Passing the water through the sand could not strain out the bacteria as it does the particles of mud, because the bacteria are too small. What is it then that happens in the filter to remove them from the water? It has been discovered that a layer of good bacteria forms on the surface of the sand like a coating of jelly, after the filter has been running for two or three days. These good bacteria kill the bad ones as they come through and so purify the water from disease germs. The action of the good bacteria is what makes the sand filter so successful in reducing the danger from typhoid and other diseases.

High Service Stations — Certain portions of the city are so high above the filtration plants that the ordinary water service will not reach them. To meet this need there are four "high service stations," which pump filtered water into standpipes, thus securing enough elevation to supply these districts. The George's Hill Station serves Overbrook, the Wentz Farm Station serves Frankford, and the Mt. Airy and Roxborough Stations serve the districts of the same name.

A Great Industrial Plant — As it stands to-day, Philadelphia's water system represents an investment by the city of more than $67,000,000. In addition to being owned by the city, this valuable industrial plant is operated by the city. It is an example of efficient and successful "municipal ownership and operation" of a public utility. The operation of this great plant necessitates the steady employment of more than 2,000 men, the payment of more than $1,300,000 a year for salaries and wages, and the payment of about $1,000,000 a year for other expenses, exclusive of interest on borrowed money. The branch of the city government which operates and manages the water system is known as the Bureau of Water, one of the several bureaus comprising the Department of Public Works; and the official responsible for the operation and management of the system is known as the Chief of the Bureau of Water and is subordinate to the Director of the Department of Public Works, who is appointed by the Mayor.

In accordance with the most approved ideas concerning the operation of a business enterprise by a government, the aim has been to make the water system self-supporting—that is, to collect from the consumers of the water at least enough money to cover the expense of collecting, purifying, and distributing the water, and to cover interest on such of the cost of the system as has not been paid for. Notwithstanding the smallness of the charges which the city makes for the water which it supplies, and notwithstanding the great wastage of water by the water consumers, Philadelphia's water system supports itself and pays a profit.

At present the city charges for its water on several plans. Some consumers are charged flat rates—that is, they are charged so much per year according to the number and kinds of water-consuming fixtures on their premises, upon the uses to which the water is put, or upon the size of the connection to the water main. Others are charged meter rates—that is, they are charged according to the quantity of water delivered to their premises through water meters, the rates being graded according to the sizes of the connections to the water mains or according to the uses to which the water is put.

Owing to the great wastage of water by many of those who pay flat rates—the annual water bill being the same no matter how much water they use or waste—and because charging for water according to the quantity which a consumer draws through his premises is fairest to all, the city is requiring new consumers and certain classes of old consumers to adopt the meter plan and is encouraging others to do likewise, with the result that the flat rate plans are rapidly being superseded by the meter plan.

Fire Protection —There is a close connection between the water supply and our protection from fire. The firemen are dependent upon the Bureau of Water to give them enough water to fight fires. Most of the fireplugs which you see on the streets are connected with the regular mains of filtered water. In the portion of the city near the Delaware River, where the largest mills and warehouses are located, there is a special water supply called the "high-pressure system." A pumping station at Race Street and Delaware Avenue pumps water directly from the river. Another at Seventh Street and Lehigh Avenue takes it from the old Kensington reservoir, filled from the Torresdale filtration plant. The pumps are worked by high-power gas engines which can be started very quickly and which send great streams of water with tremendous force. There are special fireplugs in these districts for the high-pressure system. Hose connected with these will send streams of water into the tenth story of a building. (See chapter on fire fighting and fire prevention.)

Water Waste —The great problem which is facing the Bureau of Water continually is how to provide enough water to meet the demands of the city. The population and industries are both growing very rapidly. Recently the situation became so acute that the pressure was insufficient in several sections of the city. Additional supplies are especially needed in South Philadelphia. This lack of water was made one of the excuses for the dirty condition of the streets, since the chief of the water bureau was obliged to forbid, at times, the use of water for flushing the streets. There was fear of an insufficient supply for fire fighting.

The daily output of more than 300,000,000 gallons would seem to be enough when you consider that it means a per capita supply of almost 200 gallons. New York's per capita supply is 103 gallons, Boston's 157, and Cleveland's 104.

The Chief of the Bureau of Water claims that our shortage is partly due to waste. An investigation undertaken by the bureau in 1913 showed that there were leaking faucets and hydrants everywhere. One institution alone was found to be wasting 1,000,000 gallons every day. It seems rather foolish for the city to spend so much money to clean water which runs right into the sewers. It is not good business.

What remedies are proposed to prevent our having to spend more millions for more filtration plants to keep up with the increasing demands for water? The first and simplest thing would be to oblige the owner of every house and business building to install a meter and pay by the gallon for the water he uses. That would make them more economical. A beginning has been made, as stated above, by requiring certain classes of consumers to install meters. Many householders and business men have done so voluntarily and thus helped to save water. A second remedy would be to educate the people of Philadelphia to realize that it is their money which is being wasted when they let the faucets and hydrants run, and get everybody to help to save the property of the whole community. This is one of the matters in which children can help their city directly.

Water Supply and Sewage —The more than 300,000,000 gallons per day pumped and filtered flows through the pipes and faucets of the city's buildings, out again through the waste pipes and sewers, and back into the rivers. The volume of sewage is increased by the rain which falls in the streets and runs off through the sewer inlets at the corners. To dispose of this enormous quantity of dirty water makes another problem for the community.

The waste pipes under the street are made of terra cotta, brick, or concrete, and empty into large sewers. The volume of waste is so great that these sewers are often like tunnels, and are so large that men can walk through some of them standing erect. One of the newest, the Wingohocking Creek sewer, is nineteen feet in diameter, large enough to drive a horse and wagon through. The main sewers empty into either Frankford Creek, the Delaware, or the Schuylkill River. Their mouths are supposed to be far enough down the river so as not to interfere with the intake of water for the city's water works. As a matter of fact, a portion of our sewage does back up so far as to affect the source of our water supply. The planning and locating of the sewers are done by the Bureau of Surveys, of the Department of Public Works, but they are built by contractors under direction and inspection by that bureau.

When towns were small and population was scanty, there was little objection to sending the sewage into the rivers. The action of the friendly bacteria soon purified it. But the more dense the population, the more dangerous it becomes. We have to clean from the river water the refuse of the towns above us on the river banks, as has been explained. We in turn pollute the river which flows on down to Chester and Wilmington.

The Chief of the Bureau of Surveys estimated in 1915 that 400,000,000 gallons of sewage daily are emptied into the Delaware River. The river water carries not only filth but disease germs. It menaces health, is unpleasant to look at and to smell, and deposits slime upon the bottom, thus helping to fill up the channel. The United States Government and the city government are constantly working to keep the channel clear of mud so that large sea-going vessels may not have difficulty in coming up to the wharves of Philadelphia. It is poor policy to add to the mud which the government must remove. In view of these facts, the State Legislature in 1905 passed a law forbidding any town or city to discharge sewage into the watercourses of the state. Every city must file plans for sewers and sewage disposal with the Department of Health at Harrisburg.

Philadelphia already has one such sewage disposal plant on the Pennypack Creek sewer in the northeastern part of the city, which cares for 2,000,000 gallons daily and so prevents pollution of the Delaware near the Torresdale water works. At the Pennypack Creek plant the process is somewhat like the filtration of the city's water described above. The sewage first enters large sedimentation tanks. It remains there for two hours while the solid materials are settling to the bottom The water then flows off from the tanks, and is passed through a "trickling filter," where it falls as a spray on broken stone thus being aerated and subjected to the action of friendly bacteria Then it is disinfected to destroy disease germs and returned to the river. The superintendent of the plant claims that the water is perfectly clean. The solids are taken from the tanks, dried and used for fertilizers.

The Bureau of Surveys conducted a study of the problem for over ten years, examining the methods in use in cities abroad as well as in the United States. In 1915 they made a report to Councils which has been approved by the state and is Philadelphia's plan for the future.

The report advocated the construction of three great sewage disposal plants: one on the Delaware River below Bridesburg, one on the Delaware in the lower part of the city near Greenwich Point, the third in the southern part of West Philadelphia near the mouth of the Schuylkill River on the "Cannon Ball Farm.'' The plants were to be completed by 1950 and the estimated cost by that time was $34,000,000. That cost includes not only construction of the plants but purchase of the sites and the building of very large collecting sewers to conduct the sewage to the disposal centers. It will cost $500,000 a year to maintain the system after it is built.

Citizens have it in their power to decrease this expense in the same way that they may decrease the cost of filtration of water. Philadelphia wastes much of its water and this waste not only adds to the cost of the Bureau of Water but increases the sewage to be disposed of.

Conclusion —We have seen how the people of Philadelphia have secured a water supply from the days of wells and pumps to the present time, yet the first problem is still with us: how to secure enough water for the rapidly growing city. Not only is the population increasing but the uses for water are more every year. One great manufacturing plant to-day demands more than the whole city in the days of the first water works in Center Square. Modern standards of living demand water in every house and at least one bathroom to a family. Modern methods of street cleaning require that the streets should be flushed at least once a week. Let us hope that the problem of a sufficient water supply will soon be solved.

Chapter 4 - Street Cleaning and Waste Disposal

The chapter on health shows how pure air is necessary to preserve the health of the community. Yet we have often walked along the street on a windy day when dust, swept up by the wind and whirled along in clouds, filled our eyes, nose, and mouth. The more we had studied about health matters the less we liked this. We knew that the bacteria and microbes which carry disease were mixed in with that dust; each particle was a "germ airplane."

Who Litters the Streets? —Why do we have so much dirt in the streets? A walk along Broad Street will tell us. As we approach Arch Street we find the workmen busy paving it with wooden blocks. Piles of sand are heaped beside be street for use in the work. The wind catches the sand and spreads a little of it on the asphalted surface of the street. At Cherry Street we see a new automobile palace in process of erection; bricks are piled beside the street, bags of cement, packing boxes with excelsior cropping out of them, and ashes and sand for making a pavement are scattered around.

In the next block a boy is sweeping out a shop. He sweeps the dirt across the sidewalk and deposits dust, shavings, and papers in the gutter for the wind to scatter. A contractor's wagon passes with a load of sand. The driver has filled it to the top, and as it jolts along it leaves a fine trail of sand behind it.

As we pass Mount Vernon Street a gust of wind brings out pieces of newspaper, wall paper, and a rag or two. Where does it come from? It is the day for collection of ashes and rubbish. In front of each house is a motley collection of baskets, boxes, and cans. Some are good strong galvanized iron cans, others are frail peach baskets lined with newspapers and leaking ashes at every opening.

On one corner there is a very shabby man with some big bags. He pokes a long hook into bundles and tears them all to pieces trying to find some salable rubbish. He puts the scraps into his bag and moves on to tear up the contents of another box or can.

A little later the city rubbish and ash collectors pass. The rubbish collectors have large wagons with high sides so that they may carry a large amount of material which is light and bulky. They take the contents of the boxes and bundles but leave the scattered fragments behind.

On certain days, also, the garbage pails will be out waiting for the collectors. Unless the cans are covered, the neighborhood dogs go through the contents and scatter them on the pavement. The garbage collectors are likely to be careless and leave remnants of food on the sidewalk. If the wagons are overfilled they add to the general dirt of the street as they pass along. Every residence street, unless the houses open at the rear on a small street or alley, is mussed up for one or two days in the week by setting out waste for collection. If by accident the collectors do not come on the appointed day, the number of days of dirt and muss is increased.

The Laws —It is easy to see where all the dirt which we notice in the street comes from. One naturally asks why things are not better done. As a matter of fact, the city and state governments have been concerned about these matters and have passed laws and ordinances to prevent the littering of the streets. In 1917 the city government issued a card of warning to citizens, giving the brief statement of the laws as follows:

Penalty: For each violation of this law, five (5) dollars.

Use of Proper Ash, Rubbish, and Garbage Receptacles
Act of State Assembly, April 11, 1915: Requires that "the occupant or tenant of every dwelling, and of each apartment in a two-family house, the lessee or conductor of every rooming house, and the conductor of every tenement-house, shall provide for each apartment under his supervision a suitable non-absorbent, non-leakable, covered receptacle for garbage, and a receptacle of approved kind for ashes. All occupants or tenants of buildings of the foregoing classes shall securely bundle all rubbish, waste paper and like refuse in such manner as to prevent it from causing a nuisance upon the property or upon the street when the collectors are taking it away."

Under the authority of this law, the Resolution of the City Board of Health, May 19, 1916: Requires that

Ash Receptacles : Shall be substantial, tight containers, preferably of metal, and should not have a capacity of over 5 cubic feet; and they should not be filled higher than 3 inches below the top of the receptacles.
Rubbish, Waste Paper and Like Refuse: Shall be securely bundled or placed in tight receptacles in such a manner as to prevent them from causing a nuisance upon the property or upon the street.
Garbage Receptacles : Shall be of metal, tightly made, and shall be covered with close-fitting covers.

Penalty: For the first violation of this law, five (5) to fifty (50) dollars. For the second violation of this law, twenty-five (25) to two hundred (200) dollars or sixty (60) days or less imprisonment or both.

Act of State Assembly, April 20, 1905: Forbids any person or persons, "to interfere with, scatter or disturb the contents of any receptacle or receptacles containing ashes, garbage, household waste, or rubbish, which shall be placed on any street or sidewalk for the collection of the contents thereof."

Penalty: For each violation of this law, ten (10) dollars.

Penalty: For each violation of this law, twenty (20) dollars.

Penalty: For each violation of this law, ten (10) dollars.

Penalty: For each violation of this law, twenty (20) dollars.

Penalty: For each violation of this law, twenty (20) dollars.

In addition to these requirements, anyone who wishes to put bricks, sand, or other building materials in the streets must secure a permit from the Bureau of Highways. For this privilege a charge is made. The bureau has been very generous with its permits, granting 12,000 in the year 1917 alone. Building material is piled along some streets for weeks at a time. Recently an ordinance has been passed requiring the applicant for a permit to pay according to the space used and the length of time the material is left in the street. This will undoubtedly bring about great improvement.

The reason for most of these regulations is plain. It may not be so clear, however, why the different kinds of waste material must be put into separate receptacles. Garbage must be kept by itself because the contractor who removes it takes it to a reduction plant to be made into oils and fertilizer. The ashes are needed to fill in lowlands and marshes. For such a purpose clean ashes are preferable. The rubbish is taken to separate dumps. At the dumps an effort has been made to have the rubbish sorted and various articles picked out—such as old felt hats, rubber, iron, and tin cans, which have a value because they can be sold; but in Philadelphia, at present, this is left to scavengers.

Why the Laws Are Not Obeyed —It is perfectly evident that our streets would be kept clean if the laws were obeyed. Some people do not care; others make money by obstructing the streets. Our policemen can easily discover most of the offenders, and our courts can punish them, but public opinion would not support the enforcement of the law. A writer in the Public Ledger, November 5, 1916, said that in New York in one year 5,951 people were arrested for littering the streets, and of these 4,759 were fined or imprisoned. Hardly any arrests are made in Philadelphia. We shall have clean streets as soon as we insist that the laws shall be obeyed.

Waste Disposal — Instead of dumping the ashes and rubbish in low places, some cities have plants where everything that can be burned is used as fuel to furnish power for lighting the city. Minneapolis lights and heats a public hospital and the workhouse building by the burning of its refuse, and in addition lights over thirty-one miles of streets. Several other cities operate such plants. The power derived does not entirely pay the cost of disposal of the waste but reduces it considerably. The cost of running the Minneapolis plant is $29,000 and the income received from it is $12,000. Philadelphia paid in 1916, $867,000 for the disposal of ashes, rubbish, and garbage. Even a portion of that would be worth saving.

Most of the garbage is hauled to the Schuylkill River, and, dumped into barges which carry it down to the plant of the reduction company. A visit to this plant would show a large group of buildings close to the river bank. At the water's edge is one of the barges from up the river. The unpleasant mass is being unloaded by a steam shovel that reaches down into the boat, seizes a ton or two at one bite and lifts it over the dock above a great funnel, where it drops the load. Apple peelings, bread, corn husks, meat scraps, and all the rest pass down the funnel into a moving trough which carries the mass into the upper stories of the building. As it moves upward boys pick out tin cans, bottles, and other objects which should not be put into garbage pails.

Climbing to the third story of the building, we see the next step in the process. There we find ourselves at the top of a row of enormous cylindrical iron tanks, two stories high and each of a capacity of several hundred gallons. From the moving trough of garbage each tank is filled, and the covers are then clamped down. Steam is turned on through pipes opening into the tanks, and the garbage is cooked from five to eight hours until it is reduced to a paste.

Down again we go to the first floor to see where the tanks are emptied. Through a funnel-shaped opening the cooked mass passes into horizontal cylinders where a piston-like arrangement presses out grease and liquid. The grease is refined by a gasoline process until it is clear and pure. In its different stages it is sold for commercial purposes. The presses are opened and the pressed material or "tankage" is carried on moving platforms to ovens where it is dried until it becomes a scorched brown powder. Boatloads of this material are sent South to be used as the basis of fertilizer.

The cost to the city of getting its garbage removed has steadily grown, from about $275,000 in 1914 to nearly $725,000 in 1919. Why this remarkable increase should have occurred even with the rise in wages and other expenses of production, is hard to see when the products of the garbage disposal process have steadily increased in value. The work must be done well, for decaying garbage in a city is a menace to health. Tons of it accumulate every day, and if left it becomes a source of unpleasant odors, especially in the summer time, and is a breeding place for flies, which spread disease. The question which Philadelphians should consider is whether the work is being done economically and efficiently.

There are several reasons for the high cost of garbage removal here. Prior to the revision of the city charter in 1919, the law required that a contract for removing and disposing of the garbage for one year should be awarded to the lowest bidder. In Philadelphia there was but one garbage disposal plant, therefore only one bidder, because outside contractors would not consider it worth while to build a plant for a one-year term. Sometimes, as in the fall of 1917, the bid was refused because the Director of Public Works thought it was too high. When he did this, he ran the risk of having no one to remove the garbage, but usually the company anticipated this and was able to make a small reduction and get the contract.

The new charter has provided a remedy for this bad state of affairs. Section 5 of Article XX of the charter bill reads: "After the 31st day of December, 1920, the repair and cleaning of the streets, the collection of ashes, waste, rubbish and garbage within the limits of the city and the disposal of street sweepings, ashes, waste, rubbish and garbage shall be done directly by the city." But there is a provision "that any such work may be done by contract when authorized by the Council by a vote of a majority of all the members, with the approval of the Mayor." The time-limit has been removed and the city may contract any work for any length of time, but may end any contract after four years. The city is given the power to lease or construct plants to be used in connection with any of the purposes mentioned in the above section.

Experiments are being made in various cities with public ownership of plants for the disposal of garbage. It is likely that honest and efficient business management will find a way to save a considerable portion of the half million dollars now paid for this service. It is clear that the city might save the profit now made by the contractor and the value of the by-products derived from the garbage.

Street Cleaning —It is evident that much of the dirt which collects in the streets could be prevented. The removal of the dirt is one of the largest items of expense in the city's accounts for the year.

Let us go back to Broad and Mount Vernon Streets, where we watched the collectors of ashes and rubbish at work. Mount Vernon Street is paved with asphalt at this point, so we shall observe the method of cleaning which is adapted to smooth pavements. First in order comes a sprinkler wetting down the dust. It is followed by a squeegee. This street-cleaning machine has a roller covered with projecting bands or "fins" of rubber. The principle is the same as that of the rubber squeegees which are used in cleaning windows. As the horses draw it, the roller turns, and the dirt is scraped from the smooth surface of the street. The roller is placed diagonally between the wheels so that as it turns and scrapes the surface, the dirt is thrown to one side of the street. After the squeegee comes a "gang" of men in white uniforms with brooms to sweep into piles the dirt left by the squeegee. Then follow men in brown uniforms, with shovels and wagons, who take up the piles. It is important that the whole group shall work together, because if the refuse is left in the street it will be scattered by the wind and traffic. The contract allows no longer than an hour before the dirt is removed.

Now if we go around into Sixteenth Street we shall find the gang cleaning by the method required for a street paved with granite blocks. The surface is rough, so the squeegee could not clean the mud out of the cracks. It is therefore replaced by a machine broom which has a roller like the squeegee, but the rubber fins on it are replaced by brushes made from splints of wood.

While we are watching, a man in a gray uniform arrives on a bicycle and gives some orders to the workers. He is the gang superintendent whose duty it is to see that the work is done properly. Each workman and each wagon and piece of apparatus has a number, so that an inspector can report any delinquency or any need of repairs. Citizens, also, in reporting any failure in duty on the part of the street-cleaning force should always give the number of the district and the number of the man who is criticized, as well as the day and hour if possible.

If we were watching a street-cleaning gang nearer the center of the city we should see different methods used. Some gangs are furnished with high-pressure motor flushers. These are like large motor sprinklers which give enough force to the water to flush the dirt from the streets into the gutters. They are generally followed by men who sweep the water into the sewers. Many narrow streets and alleys are cleaned by men with hand brooms and hand hose. In the region from Vine Street to Washington Avenue and east of Broad Street and also on Market Street, west to the river, it is required that the machine street cleaning shall be done at night, except in winter time. The object of this is to avoid interference with the heavy traffic in the daytime and annoyance to the crowds which throng these streets.

Everywhere throughout the city between the regular cleaning times you will see the "blockman" at work. According to the specifications for 1917, his outfit should consist of a can carrier on wheels, bags or cans, a scraper, a broom, a wrench to open the water plugs, a hand watering pot, and a shovel. It is his business to sweep up the refuse as fast as it collects, put it in a bag or can, and leave it at a specified spot for the man who comes around with a dirt cart. Each man is assigned to one or more blocks. The more crowded the section; the shorter the route given to him.

For the purpose of cleaning our more than 1,700 miles of streets and roads the city is divided into nine districts The work in each district is carried on by a contractor paid by the city. No contractor is allowed to have more than two districts. The arrangement is intended to secure better work and to keep several firms in the field so that it may not become a monopoly as in the case of the garbage disposal. Ostensibly the firms bidding against each other help to keep down the price; it is quite possible for one contractor to control several firms appearing under different names and so evade the law.

The Bureau of Street Cleaning issues specifications each year, giving full details of the work to be done by the contractors. These tell which streets must be cleaned every day, every other day, every week, etc. They also state the number of men of each classification for each district, and the kinds of apparatus to be used. Another important item is a statement of the fines to be paid by the contractor for failing to live up to the specifications.

The Bureau of Street Cleaning of the Department of Public Works prepares the specifications and supervises the work. Its inspectors go throughout the city and report to district offices any violations of the specifications which they find. The work is very hard to supervise because the operations are so many and varied and so widely scattered. It has been estimated that it would require one hundred and twenty men to do it thoroughly. The city affords only thirty-five.

The method of punishment by fines for failure to keep the terms of the contract does not work very well. Occasionally the Director of the Department of Public Works deducts from the monthly payments to the contractor considerable sums of money, but the contractor often saves more money by omitting to do the work than he loses in fines.

These minute directions, the employment of inspectors and many other members of a Bureau of Street Cleaning, and the expenditure of two and one-half millions of dollars per year ought to give us clean streets. We could easily observe why the streets are littered; it is not so easy to decide why they are not cleaned. Yet it is true that the newspapers are full of complaints of the dirty streets, and one does not have to go far with open eyes to see that these complaints are well founded. The Evening Ledger said in an editorial, June 18, 1917: "The dirtiness of our streets has become a byword. Citizens take the condition for granted. If their children are stricken down by infantile paralysis or other diseases of which dirt is the carrier, they weep their tears and lay their flowers on the graves of the innocents, bewailing their evil fortune. Better might their consciences smite them and their tears beg pardon of the dead for their own negligence in having permitted the continuance of conditions which they knew, or ought to have known, were a constant invitation to death. We sympathize no more with communities which are visited by yellow fever or smallpox, for we know that only negligence permits either to get a hold. No more can sympathy be deserved by communities which in this day of scientific sanitation countenance highways of filth and accept as inevitable these breeding places and carriers of disease."

There are two ways of administering the cleaning of city streets. One is to have the city let the contract for the work to a private firm and then employ inspectors to see that the contractor does his work properly. The other way is to have the work done by employees of the city under the direction of city officials. Our city has used the first method for a long time, but the new charter directs the city to do this work after December 31, 1920, unless a majority of the Council decide to have it done by contract.

New Methods in Street Cleaning —There are certain new devices which are beginning to be seen in Philadelphia. Among these are motor-driven rubbish and ash wagons, motor squeegees and brushes, scrubbing machines, street rubbish cans, and vacuum cleaners. It has been the policy of the bureau to require in the specifications each year a larger number of motor-driven pieces of apparatus, so that the contractors might gradually replace those drawn by horses. In Cleveland it has been shown that an electric street flusher cleans a mile of street for seventy-five cents, while it costs $4.50 to do the same with a horse-drawn flusher. In 1917 the contractors began to experiment with an automatic motor cleaner; it sprinkles, brushes up the dirt, and gathers it into a receptacle all in one process. It has been claimed that such a machine can clean as much pavement in one hour as a horse-drawn sweeper in six hours.

Paving —There is a direct connection between paving and street cleaning—so direct that the two subjects are usually treated together. It is only smooth pavements which can be readily cleaned. The squeegee or the vacuum cleaner can pass quickly over them and there are no cracks to catch and hold the dirt. Wood block pavements when in good condition are about as smooth as asphalt. Streets which have very heavy traffic are paved with granite blocks, as these resist wear longest. The new granite block paving presents a fairly smooth surface, but brushes must be used to take the dust from the cracks. Where streets are of the old-fashioned rough blocks, or are out of repair, only hand sweeping is satisfactory. The dirt collects in the depressions and is hard to clean out. It is evident that good paving is economical, for the large machines cost much less to use than a gang of hand sweepers.

Removal of Snow —The greatest emergency which the Bureau of Street Cleaning has to meet is a heavy snowfall. If snow is allowed to accumulate in the streets, all transportation is delayed, workers are late to shop and factory, and the city's business is interfered with or stopped altogether. Those who stay at home suffer too, for the coal man, the milkman, the butcher, and the baker cannot make deliveries, and thus many may be actually cold and hungry with supplies only a few blocks away. The most serious of all the dangers is the danger of fire. Fire and police alarm wires may be broken by the storm and the streets so blocked by snow that repair wagons cannot reach the wires or the engines reach the fire. The hydrants too may be covered, so that precious time must be wasted in digging them out. At a fire every second counts.
Not so very long ago cities waited until a storm was well started and a blockade beginning and then suddenly became excited and sent the officials hurrying around to collect men and wagons to clear away the snow. Now there is a well-recognized method for dealing with such emergencies. In the street-cleaning contracts in Philadelphia the contractors are obliged to agree to turn their forces from their usual work to the removal of snow, and to begin as soon as the snow begins to fall. Additional contracts were made in 1916 and 1917 in advance for the removal of the snow from the central part of the city. The traction company cooperates by running trolley snowplows to keep the tracks clear. Greater speed has been secured by dumping the snow through manholes into the sewers instead of carrying it to the rivers.

There is a law requiring each householder to remove the snow from the sidewalk in front of his house to within three feet of the curb within six working hours of the time that the snow ceases falling. The observance depends largely upon the vigilance of the police, who are supposed to serve notice upon people not complying with the law.

Clean-Up Week — In 1913 the Director of the Department of Public Works and the Chief of the Bureau of Highways inaugurated the plan of an annual clean-up week. It was believed that the city contained a great deal of dirt and rubbish that was not removed by the ordinary methods, and so announcement was made that during the week from April 28th to May 3d, any quantity of rubbish would be removed free of charge by the city collectors. Clever posters were placed upon the billboards all over the city, attractive slides were shown in the moving picture houses, and circulars with pictures and rhymes were given out in the schools, distributed from house to house, and pasted on the windows of the trolley cars.

If all youngsters were as energetic as were Johnny and Mary, parents would be put to shame by their children and Philadelphia would be spick and span. William Penn was shorn of his dignity and represented as wielding a broom from his perch on City Hall tower.

The results were good. Perhaps the best was the education of the public in cleanliness. The bureau had underestimated the amount of rubbish which would be discovered, and the wagons were busy all of the following week carrying it away. In some congested sections of the city the sidewalks were almost impassable for days with the piles of all sorts of cast-off things. It was a marvel how all of the rubbish had been concealed in the houses and the cellars. It was estimated that the fire risks of the city were greatly decreased and that health conditions were improved. Because of this success, "Clean-Up Week" has been made an annual event.

Chapter 7 - The Lighting Of The City

The Beginning of Street Lighting —The lighting of the streets of Philadelphia by the city government, like so many other good things in our city, seems to have had its origin in the clever and active brain of wise Benjamin Franklin. It appears to have been largely owing to his efforts that the city passed an ordinance in 1751 "for establishing a night watch and for enlightening the city." Oil lamps were placed at regular intervals. Thus we see that it was realized then as now that lighting of streets was a quiet and certain ally to the police in securing the safety of the city by night.

By 1802 it was urged that the streets would be safer for night travel if they were lighted by gas, which was then beginning to be used in some European cities as an illuminant. There was violent opposition from many citizens to this new method of lighting, and for more than a generation fear of it was so strong that no improvement in lighting was made. In 1835, after an investigation of methods used in European cities, Councils passed an ordinance for the construction and management of the Philadelphia gas works.

The Gas Trust —In 1836 these works were completed and the public streets began to be lighted by gas. The capital to construct the works was raised by private subscription, but the ordinance provided that the city might at any time arrange to pay back the money and become the owner of the works. Select and Common Councils were each to elect six members of a board of twelve trustees to construct and manage the works and to make annual reports to Councils. In 1841 the city took over the gas works, but the trustee system was continued. So Philadelphia became one of the first of American cities to practice municipal ownership of a public utility. By this we mean that the city itself owned and operated a service which was useful to all the people.

The experiment was not successful. For many years the gas was of a very poor quality and was uncertain in its delivery. At the time in the evening when most gas was needed the pressure was so weak that some houses could not get light at all. This was due to the small size of the pipes, which were not large enough to carry the volume of gas needed. For the poor gas and poor service the people paid a very high price. As late as 1887 they paid $1.40 for a thousand cubic feet, and this was in spite of the fact that the expense of manufacturing had been much decreased in all cities by the use of new inventions. Too many men were employed. Money which was paid for gas was not used to provide larger and better pipes or to renew machinery when it grew old, but was diverted to other purposes. What was called by-products of the making of gas—that is, the left-overs, such as coke, tar, and ammonia—were not sold profitably and the money saved for the improvement of the service, but were allowed to go to favorites for small prices. All of this bad management was the fault of the people of Philadelphia, of course, because they did not keep charge of their own government and see that things were done properly. In 1885 the people did wake up, under the leadership of a group of men called the "Committee of One Hundred," and secured the passage by the Legislature of a new city charter called "the Bullitt Act." By this charter the gas works were placed under the management of the Department of Public Works, and a city ordinance was then passed creating a Bureau of Gas to take charge of the business.

The Bureau of Gas —Under the new arrangement extensive improvements were made immediately. The amount of gas produced in a day was increased, the quality of the light was much improved, and the cost was reduced to eighty-nine cents per thousand cubic feet. Over 800 unnecessary employees were discharged. But after the first burst of reform, things became gradually almost as bad as under the gas trustees. The same evils as those mentioned above appeared again.

Lease to the United Gas Improvement Company—At the end of ten years of city management the condition of the gas works was so bad that it would have required many millions of dollars to bring it back to a high standard. In September, 1897, the Mayor suddenly sent to Councils an offer from the United Gas Improvement Company to rent the gas works, which was accepted before the people fairly realized what was being done. So the gas works which belonged to the people were rented for a period of thirty years to a private company to operate for its own profit. Under the management of the company the old works were thoroughly repaired and renovated, businesslike methods were introduced, a better quality of gas was furnished, and the service was improved in every way. The experience of Philadelphia would seem to prove that a city cannot run its own gas works, but in many cities the plan has succeeded and perhaps when the thirty years are up the city may know better how to manage its affairs.

The terms of the gas lease by which the works were turned over to the U. G. I. are briefly as follows:
1. The lease was for a period of thirty years (until December 31, 1927).
2. The city was to receive $10,000 annually from the company towards the payment of the expenses of the Bureau of Gas.
3. The company agreed to supply gas of at least twenty-two candle power or to pay the city a penalty of $500 for each day it failed to do so.
4. The Chief of the Bureau of Gas (called Inspector of Meters) was to test all the gas.
5. The company agreed to supply the city, without charge, gas for the lighting of public buildings, and for all the street lamps in use at the beginning of the lease. It also agreed to supply 300 new lamps each year.
6. The price of gas was to remain at $1.00 per thousand cubic feet, but the company agreed to pay out of this 15 cents to the city until 1913, then 20 cents till 1918, then 25 cents till 1928. Thus the city was to get an increasing tax on the sale of gas.
7. The company promised to spend at least $15,000,000 in improvements before the end of the lease.
8. The city might, at the end of the first ten years, take back the gas works if it chose to do so, provided it paid for all of the improvements made by the company.
9. At the end of thirty years the works were to be returned to the city without cost.

A fuller statement of this lease may be found in the Manual of Council.

The promises made by the United Gas Improvement Company seem so fair, and its service has been so good that it is a little hard to see why some people say that the city made a great mistake in renting the gas works. The reason is that the business is very profitable, and these people would like to see the profits go to the city to be used in reducing the price to consumers.

The first ten years expired in 1907, and the city could then have taken back its property; but, alas, there was no money to pay the bill. The company tried in 1905 to get the city to extend the lease to seventy years, but this time the people were awake to the meaning of the lease and objected so strongly that the request was refused.

As was shown in the terms of the gas lease, the city is really taxing the people through the price of gas. At present everyone is paying $1.00 per thousand cubic feet of gas, but of this the company returns twenty-five cents to the city. This brings to the city a tax revenue of more than $1,000,000 every year. If the city would give up that money we might have seventy-five cent gas, and the City Council has the power to decide to do this. The trouble is that if that money were given up the people would have to be taxed in some other way to help meet the city's expenses. Some people think that another kind of tax would be better because this bears more heavily on the poorer classes of people than on the well-to-do.

Electric Lighting —In 1881 a new form of lighting was introduced, electricity, which soon began to replace gas for street lighting and then was used extensively in the homes of the people. The Philadelphia Electric Company put up the first street lights in that year and has ever since done a rapidly increasing business for the city. Here we have a case quite different from that of the gas works. A private company started the business itself and gradually secured the city for one of its biggest customers. Electric lights have proved so superior for street lighting that gas has been abandoned entirely on the larger streets. We have no long-term agreement with the electric company, but buy electricity by contract for a year, just as we do coal for heating the public buildings. The law requires that in buying anything the city must ask for bids and then give the contract to the company making the lowest bid. When bids are made for coal there are usually several companies offering to supply us. When bids are made for electricity there is always only one company bidding, the Philadelphia Electric Company. The reason can easily be found. To offer to bid, another company would have to invest millions of dollars in wires and poles and machinery. The Philadelphia Electric Company, since it has its equipment already, has a monopoly of the business in Philadelphia.

In 1913 the Director of Public Works began to investigate the prices paid for electric lights in other cities. He found that while Philadelphia was paying an average of $84 per arc light, Chicago was paying $75, Cleveland $49, Detroit $46, Toledo $45, St. Louis $49, Spokane $48. He asked the Philadelphia Electric Company to reduce its prices but it refused. In that year the State Legislature passed a law creating a Public Service Commission. This is a body of men appointed by the Governor, whose duty it is to protect the interests of the people against unjust treatment by the companies which supply light, water, telephones, and transportation. The Director appealed to the Commission to decide whether or not the electric company was charging too much for its services. At intervals for nearly two years lawyers representing the Director and the company argued before the Commission. Experts were brought from other cities to tell of the cost to produce electricity and the price charged elsewhere. In the end, the company saw that the case was going to be decided against it and agreed to adopt a lower scale of prices. By this agreement the city saves on its street lighting about $100,000 a year. Lower prices were made for all consumers, and the people of Philadelphia were saved altogether about $1,000,000 a year. The company profited too, for its business increased at the lower rate. During the war, however, the Commission granted temporary permission for an increase in some of the rates.

Gasoline Lighting —There is still a third kind of lighting in use in the city streets, and that is by gasoline. These lights are placed in back streets and alleys where there are no gas mains or electric light wires. Gasoline lights are expensive and old-fashioned. Philadelphia is behind the times in using such a light. They are now being reduced in number and it is to be hoped will soon disappear.

Cost of Lighting —In 1915 the city paid over $2,000,000 for lighting, and that does not include the gas lights which are furnished free by the U. G. I. This money went for electric lighting of the streets and public buildings to the Philadelphia Electric Company, for gasoline lights to the Welsbach Company, for extra gas lights to the U. G. I., and for gas lights to the Northern Liberties Gas Company. The last-named company was founded before the consolidation of the city, to supply light to the district north of what was then the city. Its charter of 1844 gives it the exclusive right to supply gas to the Eleventh, Twelfth, and Sixteenth Wards, but it is bound by no duties to the city such as are found in the contract with the other gas company, which is said to control it. It will be seen that our light business is a big one and rather complicated.

City Bureaus —There are many confusing things about the government of Philadelphia, some of which were simplified by the new city charter, but many remain unaltered. Nothing requires rearranging more than the care of the city's lights. Three bureaus now divide it. The Bureau of Gas, which once had full charge of the city gas works, has nothing to do but test the gas to see that the U. G. I. provides gas of a proper quality and settle disputes over bills between the company and its customers. The chief is called Chief Inspector of Meters. The Electrical Bureau has for its principal work the maintenance of the fire alarm and police telephone system, and the telephones for all the city departments; but to this it adds the supervision of the electric lighting done for the city by the Philadelphia Electric Company. The Bureau of Lighting, which by its name would seem to have all the work to do, is only concerned with the supervision of the placing of the new lights in proper places throughout the city. To make things more confusing the Bureau of Gas and the Bureau of Lighting are in the Department of Public Works, while the Electrical Bureau is a part of the Department of Public Safety. The Chief Inspector of Meters and the chiefs of the other bureaus confer about their work, but it would be so much simpler to have it done by one bureau as well as cheaper for the taxpayers of Philadelphia.

In spite of the fact that the lights are all supplied by privately owned companies there is a great deal to be done by the city bureaus. The contract of the Philadelphia Electric Company states that it is liable to pay fines for allowing the street lights to be out. The lease to the U. G. I. requires that each street light shall be equal to twenty-two standard candles in lighting power. Otherwise the company must pay a fine for each weak light. It requires a good deal of work for the light inspectors to keep track of these failures of the three lighting companies. The gas and gasoline lights must be tested according to a method prescribed by the contracts, and this requires a great deal of scientific knowledge. There is the question too of the kind of light provided. The city officers not long ago persuaded the gas company to put incandescent mantles on its lights, and to replace thousands of gasoline lights by gas lights. About the same time it was brought to the attention of the electric company that they were using an old-fashioned arc light which had been discarded by other cities. Since then powerful modern lights are being gradually installed at the company's own expense.

Lighting for Civic Beauty —City Hall is beautifully lighted at night. The ring of twenty-eight ornamental lamp-posts around the building, each bearing a cluster of twenty-eight lights, commemorates the twenty-eight districts which united with old Philadelphia to form the present city in 1854. These lamps were established in the year of the great celebration of the founding of the city (1908). Each is a monument to one of the old districts and bears its name and seal upon the base. High above the ring of lights rises the tower, shining with the reflected glow from great batteries of lights concealed at the corners of the roof. Highest of all, the statue of William Penn. shines above a circle of arc lights. On every holiday occasion or. when some convention comes to Philadelphia, the Electrical Bureau exercises its ingenuity in ornamenting the hall with great colored designs to celebrate the occasion. These are usually over the four main entrances. Great improvements have been made in recent years in the electric lighting of our main thoroughfares. The brilliancy of the lights has been increased and an ornamental type of poles adopted The finest of these new poles are those in the center of Broad Street.

Gas and Electricity in the Home —So far we have been speaking only of the public use of gas and electricity. Probably every one is much more interested in their use in the home. No woman who has used a gas stove returns willingly to a coal range. If the housekeeper is so fortunate as to have an electric vacuum cleaner she would consider it a great misfortune to have to go back to sweeping with a broom, with all its accompaniments of dust and confusion. The reduction in the prices of gas and electricity make possible all sorts of appliances to render housekeeping pleasant and easy. It seems likely that in the homes of the future coal will not be used at all. It is a nuisance from the time that the delivery wagon spills black dust over the pavement and cellar to the time when the ash man gives a coating of gray to the premises in removing the waste. If gas can be produced cheaply enough it will be much better to heat our houses and cook our food with it. At the same time the use of electric appliances is following closely behind the use of gas. The time may come when we shall do our cooking and heating, as well as our cleaning, by electricity. Both improvements are going to make our homes much pleasanter to live in.

Cheaper Gas and Electricity —At present the high prices prevent many of us from taking advantage of these comforts. So all Philadelphia is interested in the prospect of the reduction of prices. There are several ways in which this reduction may come about. Scientific men are constantly discovering new methods of manufacture which tend to make production cheaper. In the second place, the public utility companies are showing greater willingness to reduce prices because in this way they secure more business. Thirdly, the state now has a Public Service Commission which has done us good service in showing that the electric rates should be lowered and is likely to help in other matters. As a last resort, Philadelphia could do as many other cities have done and supply itself with both gas and electricity. In that case profits could be cut out and the people served at cost. Whatever the future may bring, the people of Philadelphia are going to be much interested.

Chapter 10 - City Planning

Penn's Plan —When William Penn and the Quakers first came up the Delaware Bay and river they were seeking a good site for a town. The spot where Philadelphia now stands was selected for two reasons: because it is here that the Schuylkill flows into the Delaware, and because this site is the first stretch of high ground to be found in ascending the river. The choice proved to be a very wise one. The two rivers gave the great stretch of water front which has made Philadelphia one of the foremost commercial cities of the United States; moreover, the high land gave a healthful, well-drained location.

Penn made what seemed then an ambitious plan for his little city. It was laid out to extend from South Street to Vine between the two rivers. There was to be one main street running from the Delaware to the Schuylkill. This was High, now Market, Street. Then about midway between the two rivers there was to be a north and south street at right angles to Market Street. This was Broad Street. Each was to be about one hundred feet wide. All the other streets were to be fifty feet wide and parallel to one or the other of these two. Penn planned for five little parks in the space between the two rivers. They are now Franklin, Washington, Logan, Rittenhouse, and Penn Squares. Penn Square, now occupied by the City Hall, was formerly called Center Square. He intended that Philadelphia should be a "faire greene country towne." By this he meant that there should be trees growing along the streets, yards around the houses, and parks among the blocks of dwellings.

We are grateful to our founder for the good points in his plan. He was the true idealist, desiring for his people not only a haven from persecution in this virgin land, but also a home which was satisfying in its beauty. Forest and meadow were not to be replaced by dingy and narrow streets like those of the London he knew. He would "Let brotherly love continue" amidst gardens and shaded avenues. His two broad streets are still our main thoroughfares, proving none too ample in these days of dense population. Four of his five squares remain, and are valued breathing spaces in the heart of the city.

The Faults of Penn's Plan —Few cities were so well planned as Philadelphia in early times, but we can now see three serious faults in the original scheme. William Penn mapped all streets running north and south or east and west, on the "gridiron plan," to give the city an appearance of order and regularity. The map resembles a checkerboard. The effect was ugly and monotonous. Traffic was hindered, for movement in a diagonal direction had to be accomplished by going around two sides of a triangle. The original plan of the City of Washington, which was made a century later in 1791, was quite different. Major L'Enfant, the French engineer engaged to make the designs for the new capital of our country, took the Capitol and the White House as focal points for his scheme and made a group of spacious avenues radiate from each like the spokes of a wheel. Pennsylvania Avenue connected the two centers. The intermediate streets were on the gridiron plan, but were intersected by the radial avenues. As the city grew, other centers were to be established with other diagonal streets, so that every part of the city would be connected with the rest by direct routes. Where the avenues crossed, open spaces were naturally created, which were used as small parks. The streets of Washington are very wide, and splendid settings are provided for the fine public buildings. The plan of Major L'Enfant has been in the main adhered to up to the present time, and is considered the most complete and artistic city system ever carried out. Other cities are now adopting, so far as they can, the ideas of wide diagonal avenues and park spaces, both for beauty and for convenience.

A second mistake in Penn's plan was that of making the streets too narrow for modern times, so that now traffic is impeded and only a one-way single track trolley line can be laid on most of the streets. Chestnut Street, for instance, is becoming almost impassable for vehicles. The city before long will have to go to the expense and trouble of tearing down buildings to widen some of the streets in the business section.

A third thing which proved a mistake was making the city blocks so large that as population grew and land values increased, the temptation was great to cut them up by many small streets and alleys. This was an invitation to bad housing conditions. Many people think that Philadelphia has no housing problem because we have few high tenement houses like New York. A very little observation will show that this is a false view of the situation. In the older parts of the city we find in the center of the large blocks many small houses built on the rear of the lots of the houses which front on the streets. These houses are reached only by alleys and narrow courts. There is very little light, and the air cannot circulate through. In summer time they are insufferable, and the inhabitants are obliged to sleep on the roofs or the pavements. People are crowded together, often several families in a house meant for one, under very bad sanitary conditions. Such conditions encourage disease and crime. It is the business of the planners of our city to see that they are made impossible.

Penn's original plan applied, of course, only to the little city of his day. After his time other settlements sprang up nearby, such as Germantown, Manayunk, Southwark, and Frankford. As time went on the country between these villages and Philadelphia was settled, and it became evident that a far larger city had really grown up around the City of Penn. In 1854 the Act of Consolidation was passed by the Pennsylvania Legislature which incorporated twenty-eight surrounding boroughs and districts with the city proper. This gave to the City of Philadelphia the same boundaries as the county of the same name. These outside villages had not been planned at all, and an effort tract to be made to connect the main streets of the city with those of the new districts.

In both the original city and the districts new streets were opened with no thought of lining them with trees, the yard space of the older houses was largely covered with buildings, and there were many solid blocks of houses without any land being set aside for parks. So Penn's "faire greene country towne" became an ugly crowded city.

Philadelphia's Present Plans —Philadelphia must have many things to make it a beautiful, healthful, and convenient city to live in. The work of tearing down buildings and widening streets involves so much expense and inconvenience, and it is so important that mistakes in the future development of the city should be avoided, that the changes to be made must be carefully planned as a whole. Every progressive American city at the present time has a group of experts making designs for the city's present improvement and future development. We call this work "city planning."

It was in 1909 that a group of representative citizens came together at the request of the Mayor and authorized him to appoint a committee to study all the plans then in existence for the improvement of the city. The suggestions which had been made from time to time by enthusiastic citizens were collected, and elaborate and beautiful designs were prepared by competent engineers in 1911. In 1912 the Permanent Committee on Comprehensive Plans was appointed to continue the work. Under the revised charter of 1919 the city is given the power to create by ordinance a City Planning Commission which will undertake a definite but complete job of preparing a plan for Philadelphia. It is contemplated that when this is done, and the plan has been approved by the Council, the carrying out of the plan will be vested in a division of the Bureau of Surveys of the Department of Public Works. The plans of the Permanent Committee have been changed in many respects since 1912, and so we shall consider them as they are at present.

The ideal of the committee has been "a more healthy, convenient, prosperous and beautiful Philadelphia." To secure these aims they had to consider the free and quick movement of traffic to and from the center of the city, the provision of suitable areas for business and residence, the opening of the river shores to more seagoing ships, the location of railroad terminals, more open park and plaza spaces, and artistic buildings properly situated.

1. Traffic Circuit and Radial Averages —Philadelphia's area is very large in proportion to its population, and a great part of the people spread out over its 129½ square miles want to go into the middle of the city every day. So City Hall becomes the center of many great streams of traffic. Recent years have seen an enormous increase in motor traffic, both of automobiles and of delivery trucks. The Superintendent of Police estimated in 1918 that 50,000 motor cars entered the central part of the city every day. Thus our old-fashioned narrow streets are in some places becoming so crowded as to be almost impassable.

It is fortunate that our two chief streets, Broad Street and Market Street, were made fairly wide in the beginning. Fortunately too, Philadelphia has a few radial avenues, such as Ridge, Baltimore, and Passyunk Avenues. We have these, not because they were planned, but because they were originally country roads leading out from the little city to surrounding villages. They are always crowded with wagons and automobiles, for they offer shorter cuts to many places than the regular streets.

It is planned to improve these existing avenues, open others, and join them to a central traffic circuit. This would mean the widening of four streets so as to form a large rectangle in the center of the city—Seventh, Locust, Nineteenth, and Vine Streets. With this arrangement some of the east and west traffic could be shifted from Market Street to Locust and Vine Streets, and some of the north and south traffic from Broad Street to Seventh and Nineteenth Streets. Thus the delay and crowding around City Hall would be relieved. These wide thoroughfares would connect the four central squares, Washington, Rittenhouse, Logan, and Franklin. The district enclosed in this rectangle is the natural business center of the city. It is filling rapidly with great hotels, banks, and stores. Traffic into it and out from it is bound to increase very rapidly.

Then there are to be radial avenues, branching off at the corners of the rectangle, which would shorten the time necessary to make trips from the outlying parts of the city to the center, and relieve crowding in the narrow streets. From Franklin Square we should have Ridge Avenue running across the city in a northwesterly direction, skirting the Schuylkill to Manayunk. Another radial avenue has been planned from the same point in a northeasterly direction to the Delaware. This is called the Richmond-Aramingo route. From Rittenhouse Square we should have a diagonal street leading in a southwesterly direction, if we cut through Gray's Ferry Road from South Street to Locust. Finally, from Logan Square we should have our finest diagonal street of all, the Parkway. This runs from City Hall to Fairmount Park in a northwesterly direction, and is rapidly being completed. Unlike the other radial avenues, which will be chiefly business streets, the Parkway is to be the civic center of Philadelphia, lined with trees and magnificent public buildings.

When the Parkway and its buildings are completed, we shall be able to stand at the northwest corner of City Hall and look across the open Plaza, along the Parkway to the tall trees in Logan Square. On the left will be the new Pennsylvania Railroad Station probably moved back beyond Fifteenth Street, leaving the space where it now stands as a part of the open Plaza. Then will come the Bell Telephone Building, and beyond that the Wills Hospital and the Academy of Natural Sciences. On the right will be the buildings of the United Gas Improvement Company, the Young Men's Christian Association, and possibly a new building for one of the departments of the municipal government.

If on that future day, we walk to Eighteenth Street we shall find the Parkway cut through Logan Square and the square much enlarged by the addition of land on the south. In the center of the square the driveway will divide, making a great circle about a central monument. Beyond the square the Parkway widens out from 140 to 250 feet, and from there we may look between the double rows of trees bordering the wide avenue to the great white marble Art Gallery with its pillared porches in the Greek style, crowning the hill called "Fairmount," which blocks the end of the Parkway. On the right at Logan Square we shall see the Roman Catholic Cathedral, while at Nineteenth Street will stand the magnificent Public Library. At Twenty-first Street there will probably be a large Convention Hall where national gatherings may meet, and at Twenty-third Street the new Episcopal Cathedral. On the left, beyond Logan Square, will be seen the "Palace of Justice" to house the city courts, and the new home of the Franklin Institute, one of the city's famous scientific societies. Possibly the Commercial Museum will have a place there also.

It is hoped that all of these new buildings will be of light stone or marble, in the classic style, and that they will be set at a distance from each other with trees and grass between. When the Parkway is completed it will be one of the great streets of the world.

2. Local Civic Centers —The Parkway will be the civic center for the whole city, but in a community of so large an area as ours there should be many minor centers. If in each neighborhood the branch library, the public school, the recreation center, the sub-station of the post-office, and other public buildings front on a public square and are of harmonious design, each one will show to greater advantage and the whole neighborhood will be benefited. All of these smaller public buildings which have been built in recent years are a credit to the city. The Carnegie branch libraries are all different, but each of a handsome modern type. The new school buildings, which should be next to the libraries, are so splendid that the Board of Education has sometimes been criticized as extravagant. But where could it be more fitting to set examples of beauty, spaciousness, and good taste than in these "colleges of the people" where the rising generation will have its ideals shaped? One of these new schools forms the best part of a "civic center." If, according to the new ideas of the use of the school house, it is open all the time for the use of the parents as well as the children, it becomes the logical place for neighborhood gatherings. One of the best of the civic centers which has been suggested will be located at the intersection of Passyunk Avenue, Gibson Avenue, and Sixty-eighth Street in southwest Philadelphia.

3. New Type of Street Plans —The local civic centers will be naturally developed as a result of the plans for laying out new streets now being used by the Bureau of Surveys. In the undeveloped sections of the city advantage is taken of the existing radial avenues, such as Gray's Ferry Road and Passyunk Avenue, and corresponding new radial avenues are mapped crossing the north and south streets. Where radial avenues cross each other there will be a circle or a park, which is a natural place for a civic center. (See illustrations on pages 209 and 246.)

The very long block, intersected by alleys and back streets, which has been a bad feature of the old street plans, is being avoided. The shorter block gives more large streets and consequently more light and air for the houses. Builders generally take advantage of the opportunity to put up houses of the new type, with grass-plots and porches in front and yards at the rear enclosed by open iron railings instead of the hideous high board fences once so common. A whole block of these open yards, with grass and flowers, makes a very attractive view.

All streets are wider than in the older sections. The city has a force of men constantly at work planting the residence streets with trees. The same kind of tree is planted for several blocks and all are cared for alike. If flowering trees were planted, the effect would be especially beautiful. Rochester, New York, has a famous street planted with pink magnolias. One of our suburban towns is lining its streets with white dogwood trees.

Where new areas are being developed the Bureau of Surveys sometimes adopts a plan of parked intermediate streets. Before a builder undertakes a new operation the bureau has to plan the new streets needed. The builder is then persuaded to set aside a small park space in the center of his land. The city assumes control of this and promises to give it perpetual care. The first of these to be finished was Ringgold Square.

In the center of the city, where the narrow streets have become so congested, it is very necessary that some means should be taken to widen them. This is very difficult where the buildings are already erected. Some years ago an ordinance of Councils required that when any new building was erected on Chestnut, Arch, or Walnut Street in the business section, or any building was altered, the front must be placed five feet further back than before. This results in a very ragged building line at present, but will finally end in a great improvement.

4. Bridges —The viaducts which carry the tracks of the railroads over the city streets were formerly thought a necessary evil, and only strength was considered in their construction. The recent policy of the city has been to make all bridges ornaments instead of mere obstructions to the view. One of the best of the smaller bridges is the viaduct which carries the Philadelphia and Newtown Railroad over Third Street. Our most picturesque bridge is the one which carries Walnut Lane over the valley of the Wissahickon, rising 147 feet above the bed of the stream in a single arch.

5. The Boulevards —Two fine avenues included in the comprehensive plans have already been completed. The Northeast Boulevard runs from Broad Street at Hunting Park in a northeasterly direction for seven miles, and forms part of the Lincoln Highway between Philadelphia and New York. It is a triple roadway, bordered by grass-plots and trees. Winding over the hills, it crosses two lovely little valleys, Tacony Creek Park and Pennypack Creek Park, and opens up a new region for suburban homes. Several branches of the Boulevard have been planned.

On the south, Broad Street has been widened into a boulevard running from Oregon Avenue to League Island Park. The northern entrance from Broad Street is formed by the Plaza. This is a sort of park lying between Oregon Avenue and Bigler Street and Thirteenth and Fifteenth Streets. A part of this area is enclosed by a balustrade, within which there are walks and grass-covered spaces. The Boulevard runs through the center and is here 70 feet wide. From the Plaza southward to League Island Park the Boulevard is 300 feet wide, and consists of a central driveway and two service driveways, the remaining space being used for footways and tree and lawn areas.

6. Park System —Philadelphia began an extensive park system in 1828 by starting to acquire the lands along the Schuylkill for park purposes. Beautiful Fairmount Park, the city's largest playground, is the result of this wise policy.

Up to the year 1888 Philadelphia had in all its vast area only sixteen small parks. In that year the City Parks Association was founded and began its efforts towards saving vacant tracts in districts which were being built up. In some cases land was presented by the owners, in some cases it was bought by the city for park purposes. Largely because of the work of this association, the number of small parks has now increased to over ninety. The addition of small parks is now a settled policy of the city government.

The city plan includes the increase of the number of parks on the borders of Philadelphia and their connection with each other and with Fairmount Park by wide tree-planted boulevards. Boston, Chicago, and Kansas City lead all American cities in the development of what is called a "Park System." We shall not be at all behind when our plans are carried out.

Philadelphia has many beautiful little streams running through picturesque valleys near its outer boundaries, and many of these have been set aside as parks. In West Philadelphia there is Cobb's Creek Park, and toward the northeastern part of the city there are Pennypack and Tacony Creek Parks, not to forget the beautiful Wissahickon which joins Fairmount Park. More of these valley lands should be purchased by the city in the next few years, or the real estate men will buy them, chop down the beautiful trees, and start to erect rows of brick houses. It has been calculated that it is actually cheaper for the city to buy the little valley creeks on our borders and keep them as parks than to go to the expense of filling in the land to the level of the streets around them.

7. Transportation —Boulevards, radial avenues, and traffic circuits will be great aids to motor traffic, which is assuming such importance in all modern cities but the greater number of the vast throng which pours into the center of the city every morning and out again every night travel by street car or by train. Since the comprehensive plans were first drawn up a thorough study has been made of our transportation problems, plans have been adopted, and construction started. So vital does this matter seem that a whole chapter has been devoted to the subject. (Chapter IX.)

8 Water Fronts —A study of the map of Philadelphia will show that we have a remarkably long water front. The Schuylkill is navigable for large boats only as far as the Walnut Street Bridge, but its upper course is useful for water power. The whole Delaware front is available for sea-going vessels. Few cities in the world have such an opportunity for the building of docks and wharves.

When the Committee on Comprehensive Plans made its first report, great emphasis was laid upon the development of the water front. It was recommended that the city build municipal docks and secure the rearrangement of railway lines in South Philadelphia, so as to serve better in the distribution of freight arriving at and leaving the piers.

The Committee further suggested that the project of a wide commercial avenue along the Delaware, which had been considered ever since the time of Stephen Girard, be carried out without delay. More than four miles of this has now been completed, extending from Hoyt Street on the extreme south to Fairmount Avenue. Structures along the water's edge were removed and a paved road from 100 to 250 feet wide constructed. It was odd that $500,000 of the expense came from a bequest left by Girard for the purpose in 1831. This improvement is to be continued all the way to the city limit at Poquessing Creek. The northern portion, from Tacony upwards, is to be a boulevard passing the city property at Holmesburg and Torresdale, where the bank of the river is occupied by the Torresdale filtration works, the House of Correction, and the Home for the Indigent. When Delaware Avenue is finished it will extend for seventeen miles, from League Island to Poquessing Creek.

The city planners devoted the Delaware bank chiefly to business. Its beauty was to consist in a broad, well paved thoroughfare and well-built docks. The new municipal docks set a high standard by their dignified and handsome style, which is being copied by the corporations which erect new docks. The Committee's treatment of the Schuylkill was different. The lower portion was also to have municipal docks, but the upper banks were to be considered with an eye to beauty chiefly. Any Philadelphian who has visited the Riverside Drive in New York understands what can be made of a river bank. On one side are fine residences and beautiful apartment houses and on the other the sparkling river. Winter and summer you may see hundreds of people seated on the tops of motor busses riding up and down this beautiful thoroughfare. Other hundreds are walking along the footways, or sitting on benches under the trees. Philadelphia could also have such a drive. New York, London, and Paris are cities situated like Philadelphia, on rivers, and all of these cities have laid out wide avenues along their river banks thus adding greatly to their beauty.

Philadelphia so far has only improved the banks of the Schuylkill within Fairmount Park. The plan is to extend the improvement south to Bartram's Gardens by constructing what are; known as the "Schuylkill Embankments," or boulevards along both sides of the river. The boulevard would be built at a higher level than the railroads and the docks, supported by steel and concrete framework. At the present time the banks of the Schuylkill between the Spring Garden Street and the Gray's Ferry Bridges present a very mean appearance and there is little shipping there. The "Schuylkill Embankment" would pass the Art Gallery at the entrance to the Parkway and so connect with that radial avenue.

9. Business and Residential Sections: Zoning Commission —Every busy and growing city must have a part of its area devoted to business, a part to manufacturing, and a part to residences. The manufacturing area should be convenient to the railroad terminals and to the water front. The business section grows up naturally in the center of the city where the transportation lines come together. A large part of the city, however, must be given up to the homes of the people.

As the city grows, manufacturing and business districts constantly increase in size, encroaching on the older residence neighborhoods. Everyone is familiar with some section of the city where houses are gradually being replaced by offices, shops, or factories. When the Declaration of Independence was signed, Sixth and Chestnut Streets was a fashionable residence neighborhood. Now, Chestnut Street as far west as the Schuylkill is in the last stages of the change to a business street.

It is natural that the central and older part of towns should be taken by business. The newer regions, however, might in many cases be used either for business or for homes. Who is to decide? The decision has been left to chance; with results that were often not desirable. Let us suppose that an area of well-built and comfortable houses, where many residents of moderate means own their own homes, begins to be invaded by factories. These bring smoke and noise and immediately the neighborhood becomes a less desirable place to live in. The dwelling houses in this area decrease in value. The city should safeguard its residential areas, yet also make provision for new manufacturing enterprises.

Many cities have solved this difficulty by dividing their areas into districts, making provision for business, manufacturing, and residential districts. The Legislature of Pennsylvania has passed a law allowing Philadelphia to appoint a Zoning Commission, whose business it shall be to see to this part of the city plan. The Philadelphia Zoning Commission was accordingly appointed and is at work upon this problem.

The city plan will not be complete until provision is made for satisfactory residence districts for people of small incomes. In the United States we are just beginning to realize that no community can prosper as it should unless its work-people are happy and healthy. Disease, crime, and inefficiency are fostered by bad housing conditions. High-grade laborers will not live in a place where housing is inadequate. American cities have been slow to recognize this, but many business corporations have built model villages for their employees as a business measure. One such is located at Marcus Hook, near Philadelphia. Since the United States has gone into the business of making ships and munitions it has undertaken to provide good homes for its working people. Congress has appropriated many millions to build houses in several localities in the Eastern States.

In England the people have made a good start in this matter. They have begun the construction of what are called "garden cities," where small but convenient, beautiful, and sanitary houses are built among trees and gardens. The houses are either near a great industrial plant where the men work, or near a transportation line which will take them to work for a very small fare.

10. Regulation of Buildings —The law says that this Zoning Commission may recommend regulations "for the location, size, and use of buildings." This is so that we may prevent the erection of the very high buildings called "sky-scrapers." If there are high buildings on both sides of a narrow street the street is very dark and many of the rooms in the buildings are dark. Where the center of a city is occupied by such large buildings it also causes difficulty in transportation arrangements. A host of people have to come into the buildings to work about nine o'clock in the morning and go home again about five o'clock in the evening. Even with all the surface cars, subway and elevated trains, and ferry boats taking these crowds home, it is impossible to avoid much delay, discomfort, and danger.

Regulation of buildings from the point of view of the architect and artist is also very important. We know that a number of fine and appropriate buildings are to be erected on the Parkway. But if there should be even a few unsightly and unsuitable buildings erected there they would seriously mar its beauty. Fortunately a law permits our Fairmount Park Commissioners to regulate the location, size, and use of buildings which come within 200 feet of any park, parkway, or playground under their care.

We are further assured of the future beauty of the Parkway and of all other parts of the city by the powers given to the Art Jury by act of the Legislature in 1907. This body of men is composed of several citizens prominent in architecture and art, appointed by the Mayor. Plans for all buildings, fountains, sculptures, tablets, paintings, and bridges to be presented to the city or purchased with the city's money must first be submitted to the Art Jury. The approval of the jury is also required for any structure belonging to any person or corporation which shall be erected upon or extend over any highway, square, park, or any public place within the city.

These regulations apply, of course, only to new structures. It is to be wished that power could be given to compel the removal of old and unsightly objects. The general powers given to these city bodies to control buildings are not as great as the power possessed in New York, and they should be enlarged.

More should be done to preserve our famous old buildings. The Bureau of City Property has completed a fine piece of work in restoring Independence Hall, Congress Hall, and Independence Square to their original appearance, even to the old colonial lamp-posts. The installation of automatic sprinklers also gives us assurance that these treasures of patriotic association and of architectural beauty will not be lost. It would be well for the city to rescue Carpenters' Hall from its obscurity behind ugly modern buildings, and to see that it and Christ Church, the Betsy Ross House, and other precious old places are surrounded by open spaces to protect them from fire and to give them a better setting.

Metropolitan Planning —We have seen that the city Bureau of Surveys has been making careful designs for the development of the portions of southwest Philadelphia not yet built up. Between that region and the city of Chester the country is rapidly filling with great industrial plants and suburban villages. These are growing up in an entirely miscellaneous and unregulated fashion. If Philadelphia had the power to extend her street plan to meet that of Chester this development might be made orderly, convenient, and beautiful. There is a similar need for extension toward the north and the west. In speaking of the outer park system it was suggested that Philadelphia should reach out into the surrounding country to save the valleys of the streams for park purposes. All the outlying regions should be planned with a view to a general park system. For these reasons it has been suggested that the city boundaries should be enlarged to make a greater Philadelphia, to include Bristol on the north and Chester on the south; or else that a "metropolitan area" should be created by act of the Legislature, including Philadelphia and the surrounding land for purposes of city planning.

Financing the City Plans —It will require a great many millions of dollars to make all the dreams of a "more healthy, convenient, prosperous, and beautiful Philadelphia" come true. Thirty or forty years may pass before we can afford to have all that has been planned. The advantage of planning is that whatever the city builds will form part of a harmonious whole.

It is not true, however, that all the expense of construction must come out of the pockets of the taxpayers. There are modern methods of making improvements pay for themselves which have not yet been tried in Philadelphia. Some of these are: assessing the costs of improvements against the properties benefited, excess condemnation and resale, and taxation of the unearned increment. These methods of financing will be explained in Chapter XVI.

Many of the improvements, such as the subway, the elevated electric roads, and the municipal docks, can be made to pay for themselves and finally yield a profit to the city.

Conclusion —When the financial problem seems too great and we are tempted to turn aside from the vision of a beautiful Philadelphia let us remember the advice of a famous city planner, Mr. Daniel H. Burnham: "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 diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we have gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever growing insistency. Remember that our sons and grandsons are going to do things that would stagger us. Let your watchword be order and your beacon beauty."

Chapter 12 - Getting A Living In Philadelphia

Business in Philadelphia —Philadelphia has many claims for recognition as one of the greatest cities of the country. In population it ranks third; it is also third in the value of the products of its industries; again, it is third in the value of the goods imported and second in the value of the goods exported; it stands among the first five in the richness of its financial resources. To grasp some idea of the magnitude of the business life which involves so many people engaged in the manufacturing and distributing of such wealth, it is necessary to classify the business carried on in Philadelphia and notice each class briefly.

Industries —Philadelphia owes its present industrial greatness to many factors. Our nearness to the sources of supply of coal and iron, the abundance of cheap labor available because of the great number of immigrants who came to our port, the various kinds of transportation that could be used—all combined to promote the growth of the manufacturing that began so early in Pennsylvania, and all served to induce other manufacturers to settle in our city. New industries are being continually attracted to Philadelphia for another reason too. Perhaps in no other single locality in the United States is there gathered together such a great body of skilled labor—mechanics, artisans, workers in all crafts. The skilled laborer is not usually a wanderer; he more often owns his own home and is not easily drawn from it and his family, so the industry must come to him.

In approximately 9,000 manufacturing establishments in Philadelphia, over 250 varieties of industry are represented. The war has made many changes in the relative importance of our industries, but the following are among the most important in the value of output: shipbuilding, clothing, textiles, iron and steel products, printing and publishing, sugar refining, leather (tanned, cured, and finished), petroleum refining.

There are some products of Philadelphia industries for which we are noted the world over. In the manufacture of locomotives our city holds first rank. Philadelphia-made felt hats are worn by men in every country from Canada to Australia. The mechanics and workmen of every country use saws, files, and other tools made in Philadelphia. The street railway cars for most cities of the world are built here.

Other products also have helped by their quality or value to make Philadelphia famous, but the story of our industrial greatness cannot be discussed further in this chapter. The Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce is issuing a comprehensive series of pamphlets, each of which gives an account of the processes in one of the industries which helps to make the city one of the world's greatest workshops.

Commerce —That Philadelphia should rank high in commerce is a natural outcome of its good location. The raw material for many local industries, such as textiles and sugar refining, come by way of the port of Philadelphia, and there is a big business in the handling of other imports. In 1916 the value of all goods imported here was nearly $100,000,000. In the value of exports Philadelphia ranks second only to New York, the goods exported in 1916 being valued at approximately $200,000,000. A great deal of this trade is in the raw materials found near the city. From this port is sent coal from the mines of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Grain, lumber, and oil, both crude and refined, are shipped in large quantities. Exports of iron and steel from the sheet-metal mills of the state are heavy; and the commerce in the disposing of the products of our own factories is a vast business in itself. Besides these commercial lines which result from our industries and nearness to raw materials, Philadelphia has others which seem to be attracted here simply because of the volume of business. The wholesale paper trade is an example.

Because of our large population, our retail trade is enormous. In addition to the innumerable small retail stores, Philadelphia has five department stores which rank among the largest in the world.

The opportunity for securing our large population as a market, and the task of placing before a more distant public the products of Philadelphia manufacturers, account for the establishment in this city of the headquarters of the greatest firm of advertising agents in the country, while other advertising firms maintain offices here.

Finance —An industrial and commercial life of such proportions requires adequate banking facilities. Philadelphia has played a leading part in the financial history of the country, from the time of Robert Morris in the Revolution, Stephen Girard in the War of 1812, and Jay Cooke in the Civil War, down to the floating of the last Liberty Loan. Some of our banking firms date far back into the last century, and have a world position. The banks and trust companies number over a hundred, and have a capital of $200,000,000. For every day's business the transactions aggregate $40,000,000—fully $1,000,000,000 per month. Because of the volume of financial operations in this city, Philadelphia was made the center of one of the Federal Reserve districts. Our Federal Reserve Bank is in the Hornor Building, on Chestnut Street above Ninth Street.

What Philadelphia Offers in Occupations —Even this brief consideration of the wide range of business in Philadelphia would suggest the thousands of different jobs that are to be filled in order to get the work done and the products distributed.

Perhaps in no other city of the world, certainly in no other city in the United States, is there such a wide variety of choice of occupation as in Philadelphia.

1. Industrial Occupations —Even in one factory there are literally hundreds of different kinds of work, from the tasks that require only the commonest and most unskilled labor to the work that demands skill, training, and efficiency. In the highly specialized industries of to-day each worker performs but one process in the making of the product. For instance, in the shirt-making industry (included above under clothing) each process is performed by one person who does that one thing only, whether it is the guiding of an electric cutting machine or the tying up of the boxes in which the finished shirt is packed.

2. Commercial Occupations —In this very factory, besides the industrial workers, you will note a number of people whose work is connected in some way or other with the buying and selling of the raw materials and the finished products that are turned out from them. The task of transporting the raw materials into the city, either by rail or by ship; of unloading and carrying to the place of business; of carrying the finished product from the factory to the wharf or freight yard from which the vessel or train bears it from the city makes in itself a line of business which gives employment to many. The transportation of the population in street cars, trains, ferries, and automobiles is a slightly different commercial line offering employment. Much of the manufactured material made in our factories is sold right here in our own city, through the various wholesale and retail stores. The big department stores not only sell directly to the people of our city and those who come in from the outlying districts, but do an immense mail-order business. Many different kinds of occupations, with fine opportunities for advancement, are open to those whose ability lies along commercial or business lines. The agencies concerned in the collection and distribution of food, furniture, clothing, books and papers, and luxuries employ thousands of workers in a large city like ours.

3. The Professions —Many young men and women do not wish to enter either the industrial or the commercial world, but are attracted by the opportunities for further study and wider training and experience offered by the various professions. In this populous city there is a great field for the service of doctors, lawyers, ministers, teachers, and social service workers.

4. Agricultural Occupations —Not many people realize that fully one-third of the land within our city limits is under cultivation, though everyone knows that the part of Pennsylvania within a fifty-mile radius of our city is one of the finest farming sections in the state. Here is an opportunity for those who do not like the confinement of factory or office, but would rather be out of doors. Dairying, truck farming, the raising of flowers or fruit, poultry raising, and gardening are possible occupations for those who are fond of country life.