A great
deal has been already accomplished, such as the widening of the leading
avenue, the addition of acres upon acres to the park space on the lake
shore, the establishment of an efficient small park system; but it is only
the beginning of a scheme that thinks of Chicago as a city that will some
day hold ten millions of people. The prophecy of one statistician (now of
New York) predicts for Chicago a population of thirteen million two
hundred and fifty thousand souls in 1952; [Footnote: Bion J. Arnold,
"Report of the Engineering and Operating Features of the Chicago
Transportation Problem," pp. 95, 96.] and the great railroad builder,
James J. Hill, has estimated that "when the Pacific coast shall have a
population of twenty millions, Chicago will be the largest city in the
world."
The specific plans for its improvement have been developed by a small body
of public-spirited citizens, but they are simply that great urban
democracy thinking and speaking, trying to express itself. It has
developed with less interference or compulsion on the part of the State
than any other great city of America, and now it is moving voluntarily to
the noblest as well as the most practical of improvements.
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