TheMoreBeautiful London 



THE L01{p IfAYOI{^ ^BES IT 



By Harry Steele Morrison 



[The following is the first of a series of interviews on the present esthetic needs of the 

 world, particularly of the United States, illustrated interviews secured for Home axd 

 Flowees by Harry Steele Morrison, the famous "boy reporter." The second in the series 

 (to appear in December) will be an interview with Hon. Seth Low, mayor of New York, 

 as to what that metropolis is doing in the way of civic betterment.] 



THE present lord mayor of tlie world's 

 metropolis is a typical Londoner, for 

 he has spent his life within sight of 

 St. Paul's Cathedral. His father belonged 

 to a well-known Quaker family which had 

 for generations been engaged in business 

 in the city, and when Sir Joseph was born 

 he was conductins: a bank not far from the 



SIR JOSEPH DIMSDALE 

 Lord Mayor of London. 



Mansion House. "I'm a real native Lon- 

 doner/' said Sir Joseph Dimsdale, when I 

 called to interview him, "and you can un- 

 derstand how I should be thoroughly in 

 love with this grand old city." 



"There have been a great many changes 

 in London since my last visit in 1900," I 

 remarked. "Evidently the authorities 



have been aroused to the necessity of mod- 

 ernizing the metropolis." 



"Yes," said Sir Joseph, "you would 

 hardly believe the number of great im- 

 provements which are in progress." This 

 remark of his gave me the opportunity for 

 which I had been waiting. "What I've 

 come for, especially," I said, "is to find 

 out about these improvements, and I hope 

 you've the time to tell all you know." Sir 

 Joseph smiled, and settled back in his 

 chair. "I don't know that we can give you 

 Americans any ideas which you haven't 

 already thought out for yourselves," he 

 said, "and when I've told you what we are 

 doing in London you will probably have 

 heard nothing new." 



Then he began to talk, in an eas}^, 

 friendly way, as though I had always 

 known him. 



"Many years ago," he began, "the gov- 

 ernment of London (by which I mean the 

 numerous districts composing the metrop- 

 olis) was the worst in Great Britain — un- 

 representative, backward, dishonest, a by- 

 word amongst provincial rulers. Hp to 

 the year 1889 the great city had no cen- 

 tral, representative, governing authority. 

 Previous to that, since 1885, the Metro- 

 politan Board of Works conducted such 

 general government as there was. This 

 system was by no means satisfactory, for 

 the incompetence of the board was mani- 

 fest in many ways, and it was the despair 

 of progressive citizens. The present Lon- 

 don County Council, which has brought 

 about a new order of things, is composed 

 of men of the highest character and ex- 



