Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 202, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 August 1910 — Skyscraper City [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Skyscraper City

HE mayor of Skyscraper City had been laboring the whole day with many of the problems that devolved upon him as one responsible for the welfare of ten or twelve thousand people. All these had been problems different from those which commonly arise in

the administration of the affairs of a municipality. In the first place, Skyscraper city had no unemployed to provide for. It had no prisons, no poorhouses, no hospitals, nor any of the many other public institutions that are part of the average American city. And, furthermore, it was not periodically rent by political strife. The population, nevertheless, was a most exacting one and in this respect Skyscraper City was unlike the average American municipality. In most communities the people will stand idly by and see the politicians divide the loot of officeholding without even looking to their personal interests. In Skyscraper City, however, let a window be broken, let the voice of a radiator be raised in plaintive protest against too much steam, or let the water supply be affected by too little pressure and the mayor is instantly besieged by angry constituents demanding this or that official’s removal from office. These were some of the annoyances that had wearied Skyscraper City’s chief magistrate. Even while he sat back in his chair, gazing at the celling and pondering upon the designs In the decorations, the chief of police walked in and announced that he was so unfavorably impressed with the people at No. 1511 Fifteenth street that he would recommend their enforced departure. “They are always breaking some law or other,” he exclaimed indignantly, “and I want to get rid of them. They haven’t paid their taxes, either, lor the last month, and, what’s more, they have a barrel of gasolene in their possession, which is a violation of the law." So a writ of deportation was issued and the chief of police withdrew exultantly, making wav for the head of the health board. "In Tenth street,’ 1 said that dignitary, “I find there is u leak in the sewer pipe. I am having the sanitary squad remedy it” The mayor was still endeavoring to determine which individual design in the celling would hit him on the nose were it to fall, or which particular design his n&le would hit if he were to rise and meet tl\e. ceiling, and the health board officer went out.

And then the fire chief came in with a grievance, and the head of the department of water, gas and electricity and other officials. So the whole day passed, and so does the whole year pass for the mayor of Skyscraper City. “A strange sort of place indeed, this city,” you will say. "Where is it?” Skyscraper City, to enlighten you, is a übiquitous community located in every part of the TJiited States where land has become so valuable that, instead of capitalists building over a large area, they build in a limited space, and straight toward the clouds. In plain words, it is none other than the great modern skyscraper, with its population as great, in many cases, as that of a third class municipality. “But the mayor,” you will say. "Who ever heard of a mayor of a building?” Yes, the mayor. You have heard of a superintendent of a building, and if the superintendent of a skyscraper housing from five to twelve thousand people has not as much right to the title of mayor as the chief executive of a community of, say one thousand, spread along a couple of streets, where the city limits are marked out by fence rails and stone walls, then the United States is not a democratic country. Building operations can’t go on with the spirit of emulation that now holds between contractors without the Skyscraper City of a few years hence being in sore need of a real munclpal administration, with a mayor, aldermen and all the other public servants that make annual elections necessary. It has them all now under different names. , There are, for instance, the members of the health department, which sanitary body consists of a corps of able bodjed women, equipped with mops and palls and compelling voices. That corps of women alone is Sufficient to suggest an analogy between Skyscraper City and a representative American municipality, and should give the former a lasting right to the name of a thriving city.

Policemen on Patrol.

Then there are the members of the police department, whose main duty in the suppression of criminality is to see that no one walks off with any part of the buftding or its contents. These are the watchmen, who patrol continuously night and day, and the main differences between them and the police of your recognized city are that they are paid less and are, perhaps, not subject to periodical charges of graft. Nor do they have to parade for composed of the electricians and aswho stand out In the sun, doffing their hats and smiling approvingly, the while patting each other on the back in appreciation of the department they have developed. What mors heroic and picturesque body is there than the fire department, with its red shlrted or blue shirted, or any other color shirted, men, ready and eager to grapple with flames or anything else, under any conditions and at every moment? In Skyscraper City the fire department consists of an efficient band of men as well trained as the firemen of a large municipality and equipped with all the latest devices for combating flames. And there is the department of water, gas and electricity, the latter composed of the elecrlcians and assistants in the engine room. These large buildings do not depend upon outside sources for their electricity. They have thoroughly equipped plants for manufacturing their own. As far as the water department is concerned, one New York skyscraper has a pumping station that is capable of supplying sufficient water to furnish a city of 350,000 people. Now here is where the similarity between the skyscraper and the recognized city is made strongly apparent. Skyscraper City often has within its boundaries establishments which can supply every need of a hungry, thirsty, dirty, naked citizen. No need to die of starvation were you to be confined for life In Skyscraper City while its restaurants are able to get a dinner together. Its case would banish all fear of longing for something to render the throat and stomach more comfortable without hope of receiving It. Its haberdashery and tailor could clothe you in the latest fashion; its shoe store would attend to the task of keeping your feet well shod. Its baths would be ever ready to open their arms to you. Your every want for things procurable only in a confectioner’s shop would be filled, while you would merely have to go downstairs should you feel that your happiness might be enhanced by

a fragrant cigar. The fruit stand is on the main floor, left. Suddenly in the course of a busy afternoon the confectionery which you might have bought at Skyscraper City’s progressive shop might cause some restlessness on the part of your teeth. You merely have tq go to 12th street, which is Skyscraper City’s twelfth floor, and have the trouble remedied by the dentist. Or perhaps some fruit from the stand below might result in a little disturbance in your interior mechanism; you will find a doctor on Bth street. An occasion might arise where you might require the services of a lawyer—a bad account or any of the many little things that simply will crop up in everyday life. Skyscraper City just swarms with these eminent practitibners. The law will always be sure of Interpreters so long as Skyscraper City rears upward.

Population Over 10,000.

All the stores in this “city” are located in Main street—nothing unusual for municipalities of its size. In one particular case this street is more than three hundred feet in length, and is traversed daily by thousands of people. More than twelve hundred residences are located in this “city,” each being labelled on the front door with the name of the inhabitant and his business. These residences are specifically termed offices, and each one is visited a number of times during the day J)y the postman. Of course, it would take one postman a good many hours to cover the entire route of the “city.” Consequently the streets are divided into territories, so Skyscraper City may be said' to have its own postofflee department In this particular “city” one street Is inhabltated by more than seven hundred people. This “city” has fortyone streets, the entire population being more than ten thousand. There is one thing in this same city of which the Inhabitants may well be proud. It is the transportation system. It consists of twenty-three ele vators, the combined capacity being about ten thousand people an hour. Transportation in these cases is both quick and safe. There is no mortality in connection with this transit system. An elevator in one of the latest of New York’s skscraper municipalities travels 648 feet into the air, all the way up to the fortieth street, and this without the inconvenience of changing cars, which is more than can be said of New York City’s car lines at times. These elevators can carry twenty-five hundred pounds at a speed of six hundred feet a minute, which means rising with some rapidity. Again, In the method of summoning the fire department or the police department the similitude between a municipality and Skyscraper City is maintained. In the big cities, when a policeman is desirous of bringing about a meeting between some recreant citizens and the Judge at the court he summons an appropriate conveyance by ringing up headquarters from a little box on the corner. The fire department may be required, and it is similarly called. In one Skyscraper City in Chicago there it a system of signals, possible of operation from any part of the premises, which permits of an official getting in touch with his subordinates at any instant. And so far as the postal department is concerned, there is the letter chute, running to every floor, which might be said to correspond to the letter boxes installed at various points throughout American cities. So the Immense building operations of the times are surrounding residents of real cities with these twentieth century municipalities, with all the officers and laws, in different form, of a regularly chartered city. There is nothing missing, not even the facilities for traveling home from work, without leaving the confines of the buildings, for some of these skyscrapers have private entrances to subway and elevated lines. And all must not necessarily be work here any more than in any other city. If the inhabitants of this modern institution wish to take recreation some Skyscraper cities afford an opportunity by having palm gardens laid out on the roof.