In connection with the above table of costs, the difference in the first cost of constructing improvements in a city like Washington, where the soil is advantageous to excavate, where the streets are broad and where there is no difficulty in changing subsurface improvements, is in marked contrast to the cost of executing similar work in a city like New York, where the material to be excavated is most difficult, where the streets are congested and where there are numerous and extensive subsurface improvements to be cared for.

Speed of Operation

In the matter of speed of operation of improvements under these varying conditions, it is well to bear in mind that for street surface railroads in congested portions of great cities the average speed does not exceed 8 miles per hour. In the less dense districts of a city this speed is increased to II or 12 miles per hour, but the average speed for street trolley railroads in cities will not exceed 91⁄2 miles per hour. Similar electric trolley service in outlying districts on private right of way will average somewhere between 12 and 15 miles per hour. Local service on elevated railroads or subways or in open cut, with stations approximately 1,200 feet apart, will operate at an average speed of about 15 miles per hour. Express service on subway or elevated railroads or in open cut, with express stops spaced about 2 miles apart, will oper

ate at an average speed of about 25 miles per hour, while steam railroads operating rapid transit suburban service, with stops. at longer intervals, have an average operating speed of 30 to 35 miles an hour, depending on the district served and the frequency of stops.

The spacing of stations on any type of rapid transit railroad is an important factor as affecting train operation and development of the district. The demand by operating railroad officers, in the interest of the general traveling public, is to increase the length between express stops and so increase the average speed, and, at the same time, to throw increased and more equitable burden onto the local lines. On the other hand, the constant demand by real estate promoters is to ruin the entire high-speed express service by introducing frequent. stops on the express lines, thereby, to a large extent, reducing the express service to little better than is provided by the local trains.

For the best operation and to stimulate growth in outlying districts, no high-speed service should have stations at nearer intervals than 2 miles, and preferably 3 or 4 miles, in the territory immediately between the concentrated commercial center and the outlying suburban sections.

The foregoing summary is from a paper on "Provision for Future Rapid Transit: Subway, Elevated or Open Cut, and Their Influence on the City Plan," presented at the Sixth National Conference on City Planning, Toronto, May 26, 1914.

W

E believe that a city possessing a waterfront has a heritage of incalculable value for every citizen. We believe that such a waterfront should be owned by the citizens in a corporate capacity the fee simple rarely if ever passing from them to private parties.

We also believe that this great heritage should be administered for the fullest benefit of every citizen individually and corporately from generation to generation.

Mr. Gourlay is the representative of the Toronto Board of Trade on the Board of Harbor Commissioners of that city. This summary of general principles is from an address by him before the National Conference on City Planning, at Toronto, May, 1914.

We also believe that in these days of urban development, with consequent congestion and ever increasing cost of living, a waterfront heritage should be utilized for the purpose of making living conditions for all citizens healthier, happier, cheaper and better from the standpoint of home, business or recreation.

We also believe that due regard must be paid to making the administration, development and maintenance of such a heritage, if not profitable, at least self-sustaining or of such little cost to the citizens at large as to make the development absolutely worthy of civic support.

WATERFRONT

provide ample warehouse accommodation where freight can be housed for a day or a year when required, at lowest possible cost for storage, insurance or handling.

We believe that there should be coördination of steam-rail, water-borne and radial freight handling on every important dock; in a word, link up every railroad with all boats and all radial lines, so that the transfer of a package or carload may be direct service with cartage or handling at smallest cost and with little or no interswitching delays and outlays.

other manufacturers are locating there in order to utilize the supply of labor. This means an influx of 10,000 people and more.

The establishment of a model community near the factory has the unqualified approval and backing of the officials of the shops, who desire, as much as the workmen, to secure good living conditions. Land is as yet cheap, though much of it has been exploited and is no longer attractive to the operatives.

Options were placed on a tract of 57 acres, favorably located, adjoining the North Billerica station and the present village center, where schools and other public buildings make immediate development possible. This lies less than a mile from the shops, and, furthermore, a free workingmen's train carries the men directly from the North Billerica station into the works.

The cost of this property is far below that demanded by real estate operators farther from the works and with much less attractive surroundings.

The accompanying plan of the tract shows the proposed type of development along advanced garden suburb lines, with an average of five to six families per acre. Of special esthetic value are the river frontage and a large grove of pines in the southwest section. The underlying gravel and sand furnish abundant material for concrete construction, and greatly simplify the grading of roads and sanitary problems. Water is already piped upon the estate, supplying sixteen houses, now in the southeast corner, which yield an income of $1,600

per annum, sufficient to pay all carrying charges not chargeable to development.

We have here a combination of advantages-demand for many homes, cheap land,

and low construction cost-and the moral support of the Boston & Maine officials is added assurance of its success from the start. Many operatives have already signified their intention of living on the tract.

The 57 acres held under option have been taken over and a company formed, including as two of its directors the Superintendent of the Boston & Maine shops and the President of the local Board of Trade, who has actively promoted the establishment of the suburb from the start. A portion will be turned over to a co-partnership society for development by that method. In another section houses will be sold outright on installments, each owner taking up ten per cent of value in stock. In a third section houses for rent will be built, and in the fourth district the company will construct special buildings as the demand arises for shops, lodgings, boarding houses, etc.

Briefly stated, the company proposes to solve permanently the increasingly difficult. housing problem on the areas under its control-by elimination of speculative profits, distributing the payments for the home, wholesale operations, constructing houses of durable materials, limiting the number of houses per acre, scientific planning along advanced garden suburb lines, providing community buildings and playgrounds, laying out allotment gardens, and promoting the formation of a co-partnership society.