THE CITY
There is no adequate literature of cities in America. Some of the larger cities possess guide-books and local histories; but the most valuable illuminations on the history and development of the American city lie buried in contemporary papers, narratives of travel, and speeches. The reader who wishes to explore the ground farther should dip into volumes and papers drawn from all periods. The recent editions of “Valentine’s Manual” should be interesting to those who cannot consult the original “Manual of the Common Council of New York.” During the last twenty years a great many reports and surveys have been printed, by city planning commissions and other bodies: these are valuable both for showing the limitations of the established régime and for giving hints of the forces that are working, more or less, for improvement. “The Pittsburgh Survey” (Russell Sage Foundation) is the great classic in this field. A compendious summary of American city developments during the last generation is contained in Charles Zueblin’s “American Municipal Progress” (Macmillan). Standing by itself in this literature is a very able book by Paul Harlan Douglass, called “The Little Town,” published by Macmillan. (A book which shall deal similarly with the Great Town is badly needed.) The best general approach to the city is that of Professor Patrick Geddes in “Cities in Evolution” (Williams and Norgate, London.) Those who are acquainted with Professor Geddes’s “A Study in City Development” or his contributions to “Sociological Papers” (Macmillan, 1905, 1906, 1907) will perhaps note my debt to him: I hasten heartily to acknowledge this, as well as my debt, by personal intercourse, to his colleague, Mr. Victor V. Branford. If the lay reader can learn nothing else from Professor Geddes, he can learn the utility of throwing aside the curtains of second-hand knowledge and studying cities and social institutions by direct observation. The inadequacy of American civic literature will not be altogether a handicap if it forces the reader to obtain by personal explorations impressions which he would otherwise get through the blur of the printed page. Every city and its region is in a sense an exhibition of natural and social history. Let the reader walk the streets of our cities, as through the halls of a museum, and use the books that have been suggested only as so many tickets and labels. Americans have a reputation in Europe as voracious sightseers. One wonders what might not happen if Americans started to see the sights at home—not the Grand Canyon and the Yosemite, but a “Broadway,” and its back alleys, and the slums and suburbs that stretch beyond. If observation led to criticism, and criticism to knowledge, where might not knowledge lead?
L. M.