HOME AND FLOWERS 



Vol. XIII 



DECEMBEE, 1902 



No. 2 



The More Beautiful New York 



INTERVIEIV WITH MAYOR SETH LOIV 

 "By Harry Steele Morrison 



[This is the second of a series of illustrated interviews secured for Home and Flowers 

 by Mr. Morrison on the esthetic needs of the present day.] 



THE mayor of Greater New York is 

 well known as an advocate of all 

 that is beautiful. He has many 

 plans for the esthetic improvement of New 

 York. At the time of my visit he was 

 not ready to make them public, but from 

 our conversation it was evident that he is 

 giving the subject much earnest thought. 



"It is very easy to talk about the ideal 

 city/^ he said, at the beginning of the 

 interview. "A great many people talk 

 about it without having any very definite 

 idea of what they want. We go up and 

 down New York, open-eyed and open- 

 mouthed, eager to observe and loud in our 

 expressions of disapproval. But what is 

 it that we want? What are our ideals, 

 about which we talk so much? 



"Abstract disapproval is very easy, and 

 usually does not help. Almost any one of 

 us can condemn, but, when bidden to 

 specify, to give details, difficulties at once 

 appear. We see that, although certain 

 buildings and some whole streets are eye- 

 sores, they cannot be removed or made 

 over altogether, and for many reasons it 

 isn't easy to improve them. There are 

 some public buildings in New York which 

 should never have been erected in the first 

 place, but, now that they're up, we cannot 

 tear them down, at any rate, not immedi- 



ately. They detract from the good ap- 

 pearance of the city, and, in some cases, 

 they spoil the architectural effect of neigh- 

 boring structures which would be perfect 

 amid different surroundings, it is true. 

 But, although it is sometimes hard to ac- 

 complish improvements in a city as rapidly 

 as we would like, it is always possible to 

 prevent it growing uglier, and here in 

 New York the Municipal Art League and 

 other worthy organizations are careful 

 that no more eyesores are constructed with 

 the public money. We can also preserve 

 unharmed the few masterpieces which we 

 have at present. There is a scheme on foot 

 to enhance the beauty of the City Hall by 

 removing some of the nearby buildings, 

 and when it is carried out this beautiful 

 structure will be more admirable than ever. 



"Of course, the ideal city will be one 

 in which the people are given as much 

 pleasure as possible in the way of music 

 and entertainments. Our free concerts in 

 New York have been more popular during 

 the past summer than ever before, and, 

 now that the bands have retired, the Board 

 of Education will shortly begin its courses 

 of free lectures. It is a good thing to 

 educate people to appreciate good music, 

 and I wish that we had more of it than we 

 have. Some of the street music could be 



COPYRIGHT, 1902, BY THE FLORAL PUBLISHING COMPANY 



