القرن التاسع عشر ، رقم ١٨٢، أبريل ١٨٩٢ [ظ‎‎٣‎٣] (٢٤٤/٧١)

556
THE NINETEENTH CEN April
a flat-shored lake, on the edge of an enormous plain, Chicago has not
within some hundred miles of it any physical features of beauty
or attraction. There is no 'country' round Chicago, nothing but
an endless monotony of level plain. To atone for this, the designers
of the city have determined to inclose within its boundaries as many
areas of open ground as possible, and to give to those areas the
greatest semblance of rural beauty that they can. They have
encircled the city with a splendid ring of boulevards, expanding here
and there into magnificent parks, so that no district of the city is
without its own breathing-space, its own playground. To-day these
boulevards are outside the city proper, or at least form its outer
boundaries. To-morrow—in five or six years—they will be within
its actual limits as they are already within its theoretical. For the
nominal boundaries of the city are miles away out on the prairie.
They were made, as Napoleon made streets in Paris, by ruling lines on
a map with a big pencil, and even at its present rate of growth
Chicago will take a generation or two before she fills out to them.
For the comfort of the residents it may be hoped that this desired
result may be long delayed. A city of the actual size of Chicago
some eight or nine miles long by four or five wide, is big enough to
satisfy all reasonable aspirations. If the citizens could only know the
drawbacks of greatness, could realise the hideous inconveniences, for
instance, arising from the size of London, they would not be in such
a hurry to extend their boundaries.
Fortunately, there is one direction in which Chicago cannot grow,
and that is toward the lake. Think how much London would be
improved were it set by the side of the sea, with sea-breezes coming
up to clear away the smoke and fog—the soft coal burnt in Chicago
produces a grimy smoke that would do credit to Manchester or Leeds
—and to temper, occasionally, the blazing heat of July and August.
On the northern side of the town, full advantage is taken of this one
natural beauty of the town, for a stately road and promenade have
been constructed along the beach. Along the lake side of the southern
portion, unfortunately, a main railroad line has been allowed to take
possession, so that this, the chief part of the town, has lost what
might have been its greatest attraction.
The business quarter of Chicago is [like a colossal Manchester.
Prevented from expanding in one direction by the lake, hampered in
its expansion in another by the river, it has been compelled to grow
upward. The result has been some really fine buildings, imposing
from their mere magnitude, some of the most monstrous and offensive
constructions that the wit of man has yet devised. Still, they are
all admirably suited for their purpose, which is to concentrate within
the smallest possible area the largest possible amount of humanity.
There must, I suppose, be more people gaining their living in the
central square half-mile of Chicago, than in any other area of equal