STATE POMOLOCICAI. SOCIKTV. 10/ 



renowned for its beauty? I wish time could be taken to tell of 

 the eight miles length of Euclid avenue, with its tour rows of 

 arching elms, the well-kept lawns between the trees ; the beauti- 

 ful residences of John Hay, John D. Rockefeller and many other 

 well-know men. 



It seems unnecessary to multiply examples of what has been 

 already accomplished b}^ this new civic awakening. The move- 

 ment in Washington, that already most beautiful city, by the 

 appropriation of $15,000,000 by Congress for the erection of new 

 public buildings, parks, monuments, etc., is only another evi- 

 dence of the hold this idea has upon all classes and conditions. 



There is practically no limit to the channels by which the clubs 

 have shown their interest in the work — not all have the same 

 necessities ; not all the same interests. We must choose our 

 work according to locality, needs and possibilities — enough has 

 been cited of what pluck and perseverance can do to encourage 

 the faintest heart, even when we cannot begin at the beginning 

 of things — the laying out of the city or town. To quote from 

 "Modern Civic Art," the "Bible of Believers in the City Beauti- 

 ful," as Mr. Robinson is called : "As when the heavens rolled 

 aw^ay and St. John beheld the New Jerusalem, so a vision of a 

 new London, a new Washington, Chicago or New York breaks 

 with the morning sunshine upon the degradation, discomfort and 

 baseness of modern city life." "There is born a new dream and 

 a new hope. Within these is the impulse of civic art. Cities 

 grow in splendor. There are new standards of beauty and dig- 

 nity for towns." What inspiration these words give to the hope- 

 ful worker. What has been effected in other states and cities can 

 be made applicable to our own — the greatest factor in the work 

 is the education of the citizen to demand for himself the best 

 there is, for as one has said, "The people still rule." The value 

 of beauty as an asset is recognized by even the great commercial 

 institutions as w^e have seen. It would be like the play Hamlet, 

 with Hamlet left out, to close this talk without allusion to the 

 great work undertaken by St. Louis. 



St. Louis has been preparing for a fair in which they hope to 

 interest all nations and it would be a spectacle for them to pre- 

 sent to their visitors, the condition of things in which St. Louis 

 found herself. When Prince Henry of Germany made a visit to 

 St. Louis it took $60,000 to put her streets alone in a presentable 



