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TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY 



lire, traffic, and walkinjj. The economic 

 argument has its place ; but I feel sure 

 that the profession ought to place its 

 chief reliance on other considerations, — 

 considerations which I believe determine 

 much more human action than economics 

 determine. These considerations relate 

 to the promotion of human welfare and 

 happiness. The Declaration of Inde- 

 pendence declares that all men have a 

 right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of 

 happiness. Now it is the pursuit of pub- 

 lic happiness which, I think, should be 

 the main standby of this profession in 

 urging the public to use the landsca]ie 

 art, to seek its benefits, and to employ 

 its artists. All worthy art contributes to 

 the pursuit of happiness, that is, to the 

 pursuit of durable joj's and satisfactions ; 

 and the profession you practice, gentle- 

 men, is an art, and a fine art. It will not 

 do to advocate its works exclusively on 

 economic grounds. Its advocates should 

 insist that it contributes largely to the 

 winning of the natural and durable joys 

 and satisfactions of life. 



If I were asked to mention the most 

 important public movement of the last 

 twenty years. I should say that it was 

 the movement to obtain for all classes of 

 society — indeed, for the entire popula- 

 tion — better means of health, rational 

 enjoyment and real happiness. Much 

 sympathy has been expressed in these 

 later years for the unhappy condi- 

 tion of large elements of the popula- 

 tion. Much public effort has been made 

 to improve the condition of the less for- 

 tunate classes ; and among all these ef- 

 forts there is none more important than 

 the efTort to counteract the evils which 

 have arisen from congestion of popula- 

 tion. This congestion is a phenomenon 

 of the last fifty years in this country, fol- 

 lowing, of course, the introduction of the 

 factory system on a large scale. Now it 

 is already demonstrated that economic 

 considerations alone cannot deal success- 



fully with the actual congestion of popu- 

 lation, or remedy the hideous evils which 

 result from congestion. The desires and 

 beliefs of the congested population with 

 regard to happiness, as they understand 

 it, must be taken into account. For in- 

 stance, there was lately a public exhibi- 

 tion and discussion of the miserable con- 

 dition of the women that make shirt- 

 waists and similar articles of clothing in 

 New York City. One would have sup- 

 l)osed from the descriptions then given of 

 the mode of life of the shirt-waist mak- 

 ers that they were suffering from eco- 

 nomic conditions, and that the remedy 

 would be economic. Their wages were 

 low in proportion to their needs ; and 

 they suffered in their crowded lodgings 

 and narrow streets from lack of fresh air 

 and sunlight. Every one of these women 

 could have transferred herself within 

 twenty-four hours to a wholesome coun- 

 try life, had she been willing to be so 

 transported. There were thousands of 

 families scattered through the Middle 

 West that were in great need of house- 

 hold servants, and were ready to pay 

 high wages. There was a complete 

 economic remedy; but the remedy was 

 not consistent with the ideas of happiness 

 which the sufferers in New York enter- 

 tained, and those ideas determined their 

 conduct. Probably not one of those dis- 

 tressed shirt-waist makers would have 

 consented to transfer herself and her be- 

 longings to a country or small-town life, 

 although she knew that all her economic 

 straits would have been immediately re- 

 lieved. Something more than economic 

 remedies must be found for the great 

 evils which beset modern society, and 

 ])articularly for the diseases, physical and 

 moral, which are caused by congestion 

 of population. This profession is called 

 upon to deal with all these problems of 

 congestion. You must take account of 

 the desires and hopes, tastes and pur- 

 poses of the population to be relieved; 



