12 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph by Kadel & Herbert 



FIFTH AVENUE) LOOKING NORTH FROM 

 FORTY-SECOND STREET 



This great thoroughfare has been preempted 

 by Fashion and the Shopper. Heavy traffic is 

 rigidly excluded. 



new ideas purchased from this source 

 designs for wall paper, rugs, print dress- 

 goods, etc., and were delighted to obtain 

 them. 



the preponderant foreign element 

 in new York's school army 



When one reflects that seven out of 

 every nine children of school age in New 

 York are of immigrant parentage, a situa- 

 tion is disclosed that might be termed 

 startling, especially when it is remem- 

 bered that the school army of Greater 

 Gotham is so large that if it marched ten 

 abreast in close formation the front rank 

 would be boarding a North River ferry- 

 boat when the rear guard was crossing 

 the Schuylkill out of Philadelphia. 



It is a staggering task which confronts 

 the city in Americanizing such huge num- 

 bers of youthful foreigners. Indeed, did 

 it not happen that New York is so rich — ■ 

 with assessed values greater than those 

 of the next seven cities in America com- 

 bined — it might well call upon the na- 

 tional government for aid. But with 

 such wealth it is bearing the burden alone 

 and is doing it admirably. 



One might go on to the length of a 

 whole article writing about striking fea- 

 tures of the New York public schools, 

 which stand first among all the agencies 

 for Americanizing the immigrant's chil- 

 dren. How these schools take seventy- 

 odd tongues and substitute good English ; 

 how they not only labor to fit boys and 

 girls for intelligent and useful places in 

 the country's great industrial system, but 

 also through employment bureaus bring 

 the trained pupil and the open job to- 

 gether ; how they provide every year for 

 the children of an added population equal 

 to that of Memphis, Tennessee — none of 

 these achievements or problems can be 

 described here. 



new york's guardianship of the 

 people's health 



Next to the education of its children 

 for their life work and the maintenance 

 of order, a community's most important 

 task is to care for the public health. 

 And here again the big city shines. 



If there ever was a city on the face of 

 the globe which to superficial judgment 



