enforced by some special local conditions which are deemed, by those 

 responsible for the arrangement, to be unfortunate. The reason for 

 this is probably found chiefly in the fact, that it is a plan which is 

 readily put on paper, easily comprehended, and easily staked out; it 



makes the office of an Engineer or Surveyor at theoutsel almost a sine- 

 cure, as far as the exercise of professional ability is concerned, and fa- 

 cilitates the operations of land speculators. 



Its apparent simplicity on paper is often fallacious, and leads either 

 to unnecessary taxation or to great permanent inconvenience. It is 

 obviously incomplete, and wholly unsuited to the loading and un- 

 loading of goods which require storage, but, where it can be well car- 

 ried out, offers very great advantages for the transportation of mer- 

 chandise between distant points. It is also well adapted to equalize 

 the advantages of different parts of a town, and thus avoid obstruc- 

 tions to improvement which mercenary jealousies might otherwise in- 

 terpose. 



In our judgment, advantages such as these have hitherto been pur" 

 sued far too exclusively, but, as the presumption is always strong 

 against any considerable innovation upon arrangements which have 

 been long associated with the general conditions of prosperity and pro- 

 gress of all civilized communities, we desire, before giving reasons for 

 this conviction, first, to remove any reasonable prejudice against the 

 introduction of the entirely new elements into the street plan of Brook- 

 lyn, which Ave shall have to propose, by showing under what condi- 

 tions of society and with reference to what very crude public require- 

 ments, compared with those which now exist, our present street 

 arrangements have been devised. 



WHY ORDINARY ARRANGEMENTS ARE INADEQUATE TO PUBLIC 

 REQUIREMENTS. 



At present, large towns grow n\> because of the facilities they offer man- 

 kind for a voluntary exchange of service, in the form of merchandise ; but 

 nearly all the older European towns of importance, from which we have 

 received the fashion of our present street arrangements, were formed 

 either to strengthen or to resist a purpose involving the destruction of 

 life and the plunder of merchandise. They were thus planned origin- 

 ally for objects wholly different from those now reckoned important by 

 the towns which occupy the same sites, and an examination of the 

 slow, struggling process by which they have been adapted to the 

 present requirements of their people, may help us to account for some 

 of the evils under which even here, in our large American towns, we 

 are now suffering. 



