Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 115, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 May 1911 — LOSS TO METROPOLIS [ARTICLE]

LOSS TO METROPOLIS

Says Population of London Will Shrink. Englishman Declares Opening Up of New Residence Districts Away Out From City Will Take Many People. London. —Much Interest was aroused in the report of the London traffic branch of the board of trade recommending 100 miles of new roads leading out of and around London. Sir Herbert Jekyll couples the scheme with the provision of new “garden suburbs" in the districts traversed by these roads. He urges Its Immediate adoption on the ground that, heavy as the cost will be now, it will be twice aa heavy seven or eight years hence. The report thus opens the prospect ot what London may be like in 1920. The Labor party la in favor of the proposed roads being put in hand as soon as possible. “They would find work," said a Labor M. P. yesterday, “for thousands of men now walking about half-starved." One of the oldest West End real estate agents, discussing the report, said: “1 foresee the time when London proper, the business and shopping quarters, will be as deserted at night time as the city is today. I have seen this change coming for a long time. The difficulty of letting houses in the West End Increases every year. People who can afford to live farther ont simply will not stay in town. "The scheme of the report if it is ever carried ont, will make every one able to afford It Then, instead of streets blocked by every kind of vehicle, there will be plenty of room In the center for the necessary traffic. “There is clearly a great future for garden suburbs. The better kind of people will not live In the ordinary builder’s house how. They want something more distinctive, nicer to look at I take It there will be gar*

den villages pretty well all round London. Along the wide avenues leading out east and west there will pass every morning thousands of men from homes as far as out as Brentford and Uxbridge, between Ealing and Uxbridge, between Brentford and Romford, there are stretches of country only waiting to he inhabited. Fortunately, the town planning act will prevent them from being ’developed’ by the speculative builder In the bad old way. “I am not among those who think the population of London will go on increasing. As people lease the town, therefore, the houses they have given up are likely either to remain empty or to be turned Into warrens for the lowest class. It Us a serious outlook for those who own land or who have long leases on bouse property. I do not suppose that Belgravia wIU ever recover, for example. “Factories are going out ot London, too. There Is a regular ‘empty belt* round the city, especially in South London, which used to be busy till Its machines and work people wers whisked off into the country.”