118 COMMISSION ON BUILDING DISTRICTS 



alter the character and ruin the beauty of this section would be a public 

 calamity affecting not only the whole city, but it would be felt and deplored 

 by the entire nation, which is bound up to this retail centre of the country 

 by many commercial ties and which has a just pride in its most famous 

 and historic thoroughfare. 



Other districts more suitable for factories 



The logical place for factories would seem to be in the neighborhood 

 where the workers live. New York City is fortunate in having a tremen- 

 dous waterfront where shipping facilities are of the best. Whether it be 

 possible to move the factories to or near the waterfront is doubtful, but 

 it is unquestionably possible to have factories near the places where the 

 people live. The great east side, parts of the west side, the Bronx, Brooklyn 

 and Queens, as well as Richmond, give plenty of opportunities for the 

 erection of factories at not too great a distance from the workers. It is 

 quite possible to have the various industries located in groups. Let the 

 clothing industry be in one section of the city, the printing industry in 

 another, the leather industry in still another, and so on. This has been 

 accomplished in certain European cities. In our own cities, trades and 

 businesses already congregate in groups. We find the wholesale district, 

 the silk district, the coffee district, the drug district, the leather district, 

 and so on, in well defined localities, and there is no reason whatsoever to 

 doubt that the industries could be grouped in a similar way. 



If the garment factories are to remain in the Fifth avenue district at 

 all they are far better off below 23d street, assuming that proper buildings 

 will be constructed there, than they are above it, in the district from which 

 the Fifth Avenue Association has requested that they be excluded in future, 

 for the following reasons, among others : 



1. Because they would be arousing no opposition or hostility on the 

 part of the public, the city and the business interests from 23d to 59th 

 Streets. 



2. Because they could not do any harm there to values, appearances 

 and in other ways that has not already been done. 



3. Because they would fit in with the general city plan and there have 

 a district of their own. 



4. Because it would help to solve the problem of the transportation of 

 employees and a very large percentage of the workers would be within 

 walking distance of their homes. 



5. Because the vehicular congestion is infinitely less there than in the 

 district above, and the transportation of goods to terminals could be more 

 easily and quickly effected. 



6. Because rentals are cheaper below 23d Street. 



Between 12th and 23d Streets buildings used exclusively as offices or 

 salesrooms bring the rental of about 85 cents per square foot on the avenue 

 and 70 to 75 cents on the side streets. Manufacturers pay between 65 and 

 75 cents per square foot. From 23d to 34th Street, office buildings and 

 salesrooms pay about a dollar to $1.20 per square foot on the avenue. 



Police power 



It requires hut little thought or study to see that every one of the argu- 

 ments covered above, save that of " Proximity of Buyers," is based directly 

 on one or more of the elements of the police power, such as the public health, 

 safety, comfort, convenience and general welfare. They may be grouped 

 roughly as follows : 



