works into adjacent territory, improvement and changes in public utilities and lines of transportation, by surface and water; the location, widths and grades of highways necessary for the best treatment of the city; the development and improvement of the waterfront, with the seawall and wharves; the location and design of public buildings and municipal decoration and ornamentation and such further extension of and addition to the park and boulevard system as may be deemed advisable. The city plan proposed by such City Plan Board, when adopted by vote of the electors of the city in such manner as may be prescribed by ordinance, shall constitute the plan to be followed by the municipality and its officers in the permanent improvement and development of the city of St. Augustine, until modified or amended at some subsequent election, and all expenditures of funds for, per manent improvements shall be restricted to such purposes as are contemplated under the plans of the City Plan Board which may have been approved and adopted as herein provided for.

Frederick Law Olmsted has been retained as the expert under this provision.

Building Zones and Restrictions in New York City.-The New York law of April 20, 1914, authorized (Ch. 470) the Board of Estimate and Apportionment of New York City to divide the city into districts and to regulate the heights of buildings, the area of courts and open spaces, the location of trades and industries, and the erection of buildings designed for specified uses. As a preliminary to the exercise of this authority, a commission on building restrictions and districts was appointed in June, 1914, with Edward M. Bassett, chairman; Lawson Purdy, vice-chairman; Robert H. Whitten, secretary; and George B. Ford, consultant. The commission with thoroughness undertook the exceedingly complicated studies necessary for an intelligent report and wisely secured coöperation from the various departments of the city government, as well as from the commercial and civic organizations of the city, and from financial, real-estate and other interests. Two reports (one tentative, dated March 10, 1916, and a final report dated June 2, 1916) were issued setting forth in detail the conclusions reached and the action recommended. On July 25 the Board of Estimate and Apportionment passed what is locally called the "Building Zone Resolution," regu

lating and limiting the height and bulk of buildings hereafter to be erected in New York. In addition to restricting skyscrapers, there are many important features affecting living and business conditions in every part of the city. The law is designed to check the invasion of retail districts by factories and residence districts by factories and business; to prevent an increase of the congestion of streets and of subway and street-car traffic in sections where the business population is already too great for the sidewalk and transit facilities; to prevent the overcrowding by manufacturing concerns of sections where the streets are insufficient for the vehicular traffic, and at the same time to concentrate manufacturing in locations where its products can be handled most efficiently and where its presence will not destroy real estate for residential and retail-business purposes; and to prevent congestion of street and transit facilities caused by housing a large population on a small area in a skyscraper. Restricting the size of buildings is a necessity from the standpoint of light and air, which are impaired by buildings of excess height, so the fundamental principle of providing air and light is followed out in building restrictions in all parts of the city. This ordinance is described by one student of city planning as the "greatest and most far reaching thing New York has ever done." (See also XXIX, Architecture.)

Zone Ordinance in Berkeley. Berkeley, Cal., also has adopted a zoning ordinance which is regarded as an important contribution. It defines eight classes of districts or zones which may be formed by the passage of later ordinances, each locating a definite geographical district in which all property would be specifically limited to the use of the class designated. The only improvements permitted in these districts will be as follows: Class I, single-family residences; Class II, single or two-family dwellings; Class III, single or two-family or group dwellings with separate ground floor entrances and not more than two stories in height; Class IV, single, two-family or group dwellings

and boarding houses and clubs (of which there are a great number surrounding the University of California, located in Berkeley); Class V, all buildings permitted in Classes I, II, III and IV, and apartment houses, hotels and restaurants without display windows; Class VI, public bu::dings, such as churches, schools, parks, etc.; Class VII, ordinary industries, that are not obnoxious; Class VIII, industries of the heaviest type, which might prove obnoxious because of odors, smoke or noise. Sacramento is another city which had adopted a zone ordinance.

Police Power of Cities to Establish Zones. In a case of far reaching importance involving the legality of an ordinance of the city of Los Angeles prohibiting the operation of brickyards within a certain district, the Supreme Court of the United States in upholding its validity took occasion to review the respective rights of individuals and of the community. The Court in effect said (Hadacheck v. Sebastian, 36 Sup. C. Rep., 143):

Governments often bring hardships on the individual. Men must give up their lives in battle that their government may live. Vast amounts of property of individuals are annually destroyed for the benefit of the community. The exercise of the police power frequently tramples under foot the right of a citizen for the benefit of other citizens. We cannot complain, for the government must be maintained. Otherwise, our citizenship would be held for naught. A certain law-abiding citizen buys a piece of land near the corporate limits of a growing city. His land contains valuable deposits of clay suitable for brickmaking. He develops such an industry. The city continues to prosper, and extends its boundaries to include his brickyards. Other citizens build fine homes in his locality, and finally, acting in a public spirit, they seek to suppress the manufacture of brick in the locality, because of the annoyance to them. A municipal ordinance is enacted in good faith as a police measure, prohibiting brickmaking within this designated area. Our first citizen has lost a profitable business in order that the community may enjoy a purer atmosphere. He appeals to the courts, and finally his contention reaches the Supreme Court, which says: "There must be progress, and if in its march private interests are in the way, they must yield to the good of the community. The logical result of petitioner's contention would seem to be that a city could not be formed or enlarged against the resistance of an occupant of the ground, and that. if it grows all, it can only grow as the environ

ment of the occupations that are usually banished to the purlieus.

City - Planning Conferences. - The eighth annual National Conference on City Planning was held in Cleveland on June 5-7, with the largest attendance in the history of the Conference. More than 60 cities and communities were represented by delegates; more public officials, including mayors, city engineers, and planning commissioners, were present; and real-estate interests were represented. The prominent operators of large subdivisions in more than a dozen cities were either present in person or were represented by their engineers or architects.

The principal ideas advocated were thus summarized by the American City:

1. Districting by municipal regulation as to height, area and use of buildings is coming to be generally recognized as a being done by the Commission on Buildfundamental of city planning. The work ing Districts and Restrictions in New York City is worthy of emulation as to method of procedure; but other cities will make a serious mistake if they copy in their plans the actual restrictions proposed for New York.

2. The automobile has become a factor to be reckoned with most seriously in city planning. Width of streets, character of paving and methods of regulating traffic must be planned with increasing attention to the requirements of motor trucks and pleasure vehicles.

3. Progressive real-estate subdividers recognize the value of applying cityplanning principles to land development. They recognize, too, that their own planning and restrictions can be made much more effective if coördinated with well considered plans for the city as a whole. 4. As the great majority of cities have less than 100,000 population, the Conference devoted two sessions to the problems of such cities. By planning now for future growth, the present generation can increase its own welfare and save the next generation the cost and discomfort of many surgical operations to the city plan.

5. City planning is only partly effective unless correlated with country planning. There is much to be said for the desirability of having in each state a central authority to prepare a statewide plan and to coordinate in some degree the town-planning work of the various municipalities.

Frederick Law Olmsted, of Brookline, Mass., was again chosen president; Nelson P. Lewis, of New York, vicepresident; and Flavel Shurtleff, of Boston, secretary.

Massachusetts holds a city- and

The Reconstruction of Belgium.At the same meeting the question of rebuilding Belgium (A. Y. B., 1915, p. 232) was discussed. The convention was in agreement upon the following points:

1. That a general plan of Belgium be drawn up, including

(a) A plan of roads, railways, and canals;

(b) A plan of the towns partially destroyed;

(c) A plan of the towns and villages entirely destroyed.

4. Any reconstruction whatever of the whole or part of a town which has been destroyed should be preceded by the drawing of a plan of lay-out, of extension and of improvement, which should determine the arrangement and the disposition of the different quarters, should fix the direction and width of the streets, the situation and area of the squares, public gardens, parks and other open spaces, should indicate those parts whether wooded or otherwise, to be used for hygienic or athletic purposes, and any other necessary conditions.

3. That the application of the existing laws and the form of the laws to be

6. The distribution of State grants should be made subject to the adoption and execution of plans of lay-out, extension and improvement.

Housing Reports.-Commenting on the housing reports of the year 1915-6 in the course of a review in the National Municipal Review, John Ihlder says:

In adding this supplement to the list of reports on housing conditions which have already appeared in the National Municipal Review, the most significant point to note is the variety of sources from which these reports come, evidence of our growing realization that housing is a factor of first importance in many social and economic problems. Similar evidence is given in recent books on social and economic subjects.

First place belongs to social and civic organizations, which first awakened to the fact that we were creating slums in our cities which were a social and civic menace. So nearly exclusively did such reports once occupy the field, that housing has been, in the minds of many people, only a slum problem. Second place goes to government publications, for the U. S. Bureau of Labor, long before it became a Department, issued reports on housing problems. Now it is joined in this work by the Children's Bureau. These publications reflect public interest. Among the state governments, Massachusetts is a leader. Its Homestead Commission, starting with a peculiar care for workingmen as a class, has already given evidence that it recognizes in

housing more than a class problem. Its report on government aid antedated that of the U. S. Department of Labor. Its annual conferences of city- and town-planning boards, for the creation of which it was responsible, show its growth.

Another evidence of the broadening interest in housing is given by the commercial organizations which have made investigations. The Cleveland Chamber of Commerce has long given attention to the subject. More recently the Minneapolis Civic and Commerce Association, the Passaic, N. J., Board of Trade, the Akron, O., Chamber of Commerce have entered the field. Business men are beginning to see that a well housed working population promises certain definite advantages to business.

It is only within the past two years that anti-tuberculosis societies have really awakened to the importance of good housing standards in their crusade. Among them is the Plainfield, N. J., league, which joined with the local charity organization society in financing a housing investigation. The Henry Phipps Institute has published a study of the housing and social conditions in selected districts of Philadelphia.

There is one other group of reports that must be specifically mentioned, those issued annually by agencies, of