H ouse and Garden 
American cities contribute nothing valuable 
to life; on the contrary it sadly disturbs 
our peace of mind and destroys that repose 
within us which is the true basis of all con¬ 
tentment. 
A'French painter, who spent some time 
in this country, in discussing American life 
with me was quite enthusiastic about many 
features of it, but the thing that he missed 
the most after the day’s work was a quiet 
and aimless stroll through the streets of the 
city, which had become a part of his daily 
life at home (such a stroll as we often take 
across the country or through the woods), 
not knowing and not caring where he was 
going, but sure to find at every turn some¬ 
thing to interest him and to rest his tired 
mind. In New York, he said, people run ; 
they have but one object—to arrive as quickly 
as possible at their destination, because there 
is nothing in transit to attract their attention 
or to make it worth while to linger. 
In the case of the painter who sits by his 
easel all day long, it was the evening hour 
that was dull and stupid, but in the case of 
most of us who are out and about much of 
the day, the loss is even more serious. 
I want to dwell on two more points which 
seem to me of the greatest importance and 
which are generally lost sight of by those 
having charge of municipal improvements, 
namely, the value of art from the economical 
point of view and the wisdom and real econ¬ 
omy of investing public money in municipal 
art, provided that it is done with good ar¬ 
tistic judgment and with forethought and 
restraint. The whole of Europe bears testi¬ 
mony to this fact. 
My second point is the absolute necessity 
of planning broadly in advance of the re¬ 
quirements and of developing gradually on 
the general lines thus established. It is ob¬ 
vious that whether we are undertaking the 
development or remodeling of a whole city 
or the improvement of an avenue or any 
improvement large or small, that a complete 
plan or layout should be first prepared deal¬ 
ing not only with the special problem, but 
with every other feature directly or indirectly 
dependent thereon, so that it may form the 
basis for consistent and healthy growth and 
development. 
Mr. Maltbie, the Secretary of the Art 
Commission of the City of New York, in 
THE CLEVELAND GROUP PLAN 
A Bird' s-Eye View from above the Lake 
