PLANNING FOR
CITY, STATE, REGION
AND NATION
1936
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF PLANNING OFFICIALS
From the collection of the
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Prelinger
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San Francisco, California 2006
PLANNING FOR
CITY, STATE, REGION
AND NATION
PROCEEDINGS OP
THE JOINT CONFERENCE ON PLANNING
MAY 4, 5, AND 6, 1936, RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
American City Planning Institute
American Planning and Civic Association
American Society of Planning Officials
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF PLANNING OFFICIALS
850 EAST FIFTY- EIGHTH STREET CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
COMMITTEE ON PROGRAM AND PROCEEDINGS
FLAVEL SHURTLEFF, Director of the Conference CHAIRMAN
FOR THE AMERICAN CITY PLANNING INSTITUTE
RUSSELL VANNEST BLACK, President HOWARD K. MENHINICK, Executive Secretary
FOR THE AMERICAN PLANNING AND Civic ASSOCIATION
FREDERIC A. DELANO, President HARLEAN JAMES, Executive Secretary
FOR THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF PLANNING OFFICIALS
ALFRED BETTMAN, President WALTER H. BLUCHER, Executive Director
CONTENTS
PAGE INTRODUCTION Alfred Bettman 1
THE CITY
City Planning Extends Its Boundaries L. Deming Tilton 3
City Planning and the Urbanism Study L. Segoe 7
Large-Scale Housing and the City Plan . . Russell VanNest Black 13 Effect of Certain Significant Characteristics of City Housing Projects of All Kinds Upon City Planning Procedure in Locating Such
Projects Frederick Bigger 17
Discussion 22
Revision of Zoning Ordinances Arthur C. Comey 27
Discussion 31
The City Official Needs the Plan . . . . ^ . .. . Clifford W. Ham 35 EXPERIENCE WITH CITY PLANNING PROGRAMS
The Gymnastics of Municipal Planning Procedure . . . . '.. '. -. ,'.t
Charles B. Bennett 40
How City Planning Programs Are Made S. R. DeBoer 44
Richmond's Experience in City Planning .... G. M . Bowers 47
THE COUNTY
AN APPROACH TO COUNTY PLANNING
Chairman's Introduction Marshall N. Dana 53
County Planning in Iowa P. H. Elwood 54
Distinctive Features of Planning Procedure in Clackamas County, Oregon L. C. Stoll and V. B. Stanbery 59
COUNTY AGRICULTURAL ADJUSTMENT PLANNING . Bushrod W. Attin 66
INTER-COUNTY ORGANIZATION
The Georgia Eastern Coast District Henry T. Mclntosh 72
Tennessee Counties . Gerald Gimre 75
THE STATE
STATE PLANNING PROGRESS
Massachusetts Elisabeth M. Herlihy 81
South Dakota W. R. Ronald 87
Florida C. B. Treadway; Read by Mrs. M. M. Ebert 91
New Jersey Charles P. Messick 94
vii
viii CONTENTS
Virginia PAGE
Chairman's Introduction Willard Day 95
State Planning and Education . . . ... . . . Sidney B. Hall 96
State Planning and Conservation and Development
Wilbur C. Hatt 97
State Planning and Legislative Planning . . William R. Shands 101
THE REGION
REGIONAL PLANNING
Incentives and Objectives in Regional Planning . George T. Renner 105 Political and Administrative Aspects of Regional Planning ....
Marshall E. Dimock 1 1 1
Accomplishments in Regional Planning .... Charles W. Eliot, 2d 116
THE NATION NATIONAL PLANNING
Emerging Population Problems Frank Lorimer 123
Industrial Resources Gardiner C. Means 126
Planning for Public Works Fred E. Schnepfe 132
Highlights of the National Water Resources Study . . Abel Wolman 138
RESOLUTION OF THE CONFERENCE 146
ADDRESSES DELIVERED AT THE BANQUET
Chairman's Introduction Morton L. Wallerstein 149
A Permanent National Resources Board .... Maury Maverick 149
Chairman's Introduction 157
State Planning George C. Peery 157
Chairman's Introduction 162
Planning and Progress Frederic A. Delano 163
Citizen Support for Planning ...... Samuel P. Wetherill, Jr. 164
Introduction
By ALFRED BETTMAN, Cincinnati, Ohio President, American Society of Planning Officials
THE annual planning conference is now entered into jointly by the three organizations which resulted from the reorganization a year or so ago of the planning movement, namely : the American City Plan- ning Institute, the American Society of Planning Officials and the American Planning and Civic Association, representing respectively, in a general way, the professional group, the group which is officially connected with the making or administration of plans, and the group which is engaged in promoting the movement and creating popular support for it.
I think it may be said that it will not be necessary for each of us as we speak to define planning, especially as we have been spending many years unsuccessfully in arriving at a definition, but in general we mean the sort of thing we have done in city planning, the designing of the uses of land for human purposes and for the protection of human wel- fare. That may be said to have been begun in the field of the city thirty-five years ago. I believe it grew out of two streams of recognition of the problem. Those who had had some experience with city adminis- tration began to realize the wastes of uncoordinated, unplanned effort in the different administrative departments and the different adminis- trative activities of the city.
I doubt whether at the beginning the social objectives were con- sidered. I think this first sense of the need of coordination and adjust- ment by means of design- and program-making was felt rather as an economic than as a social activity idea. But, at any rate, there was here and there throughout the cities this sense of the need of having the street and recreation activities and so on programmed so as to assure each department getting itself under way and keeping its end up.
The second stream, so far as organizing the movement is concerned, was that which we call zoning, which was simply urban land-use classi- fication in the case of privately owned land. It developed with the growth of the automobile, which involved the invasion of residential districts by garages, and to some extent also out of special experiences such as that of New York's Fifth Avenue with the invasion of the tex- tile industry into that fine shopping street. These two streams and possibly others came together to produce the city planning movement.
As we discussed and talked we began to realize more and more, in the first place, that zoning was not separated from planning, but that it was simply a feature of it, a feature which could not be successfully met without an equal amount of attention paid to it, an equal amount of effort put into it, and with the same thoroughness as is put into all the other features of the lay-out of the city.
1
2 PLANNING PROCEEDINGS
That is one lesson we learned. Another lesson was that our objectives were social, that we were originating the street system and the recreation system and the school system and all the rest of it in order that human beings who live in urban areas might live better lives; more orderly, more convenient, more healthful lives. So I feel that gradually the city planning movement became enriched by the consciousness of its mean- ing, its social purpose.
In the meantime there had been going on, especially in the colleges, and more particularly in the agricultural colleges, studies of the classi- fication of rural land. I do not think that either the city planner knew, or that the men studying land-use classification of the rural districts were conscious of the fact, that in technique and in objective they were parts of the same idea. They grew up separately; they have not yet realized that they are parts of the same idea, and one of the things that we should bring about is this realization that they are fundamen- tally, in objective and in method, the same, differing only in the factors which rural areas or suburban areas or urban areas contribute to the problem.
There came along the depression, and that produced a consciousness of the terrific wastes of planlessness in the national and state fields. The National Planning Board, and its successor the National Resources Committee, realized that the same wastes had caused an enormous national loss, whether one expressed that loss in terms of dollars and cents or in terms of social ills, and from this realization grew the national planning movement. It inspired and brought into being the state plan- ning movement and the great river basin regional movements, and consequently this fundamental concept is now present in more or less degree in each of the geographical and political fields and levels.
The tremendous interest in national planning and state planning by virtue of the prestige which, of course, national action always carries with it, and of the men who have engaged in it, and the novelty of it, the somewhat thrilling size and magnitude of it, and its ideals, has tended rather to overshadow city planning. That is something we must counteract because no skill, no high degree of thought, no degree of thoroughness in national, state or interstate planning will provide for the social welfare of the American people unless local planning be kept alive and growing and made effective.
So I think it is somewhat symbolic of a correct point of view that this national conference begins with the subject of city and local plan- ning. The activities of the city come home to us and contribute to our welfare from the beginning of time, over every minute of the twenty- four hours of the day; the air we breathe and the water we drink in the cities, the streets we walk or drive upon going from business to the home and from the home to business. The quality of our lives is very much affected by what goes on in the public activities of the locality.
CITY PLANNING EXTENDS ITS BOUNDARIES 3
So there will be no real, general health in American life unless local planning be kept as alive and as growing as in the higher levels of the planning field, not higher in the sense of more important, but higher in a political and geographical sense.
Mr. Pomeroy was to have read the first paper, "City Planning Extends Its Boundaries," but because of illness is unable to be here. Mr. L. Deming Tilton, one of the most active men in the practice of plan- ning in Southern California, has consented to speak on the same subject.
City Planning Extends Its Boundaries
By L. DEMING TILTON, Santa Barbara, Calif., Consultant, California State Planning Board
1AM HAPPY to be before you this morning because it gives me an opportunity to call to your minds that there is a tremendous interest in planning on the other side of the continent. The State of California is definitely committed to the system of planning with some thirty county planning commissions, about half of them active, and about ten of them possessing technical staffs and budgets to carry on a regular program of work, with a good many cities actively engaged in planning and carrying on during the depression period with about as much vigor as they did before. That is the record over there, and I want to call it to your attention as indicating that planning is still regarded as an important function of government out on the Pacific Coast.
There is a general recognition today in California, as elsewhere, that planning has moved into wider fields. The city is seen as a part of the organism that is known as the State; it is a definite area set aside for certain particular functions. We have an illustration of that in Cali- fornia— the importance of seeing our urban areas devoted to the func- tions which they are fitted to serve — in the case of a little town called Newport Beach, which lies south of Los Angeles. It is a recreation community pure and simple, and exists for the primary purpose of enabling people to go down to enjoy Newport Bay. Yet the city council of that city just a few months ago in a moment of weakness — after the Federal Government had spent about a million and a half dollars to dredge their bay to make it more useful for recreation purposes — the city council of that city, forgetting that the primary function of the city was recreation and pleasure, voted to grant permits for canneries on the waterfront, thereby introducing an element which everyone was bound to say would very largely destroy that whole area for the pur- pose for which nature ideally fitted it. We argued that Newport Beach should function as a recreation community in the interest of giving the entire State a balanced type of development — communities devoted to recreation here, communities devoted to industry there, and commu- nities devoted to commerce elsewhere. When that point was presented
4 PLANNING PROCEEDINGS
to the Newport council they said: "Let's revise our zoning scheme, and let's keep this community a recreation community and do everything we can to enable it to discharge its function."
Now that is merely a thought that indicates by an actual example how the cities have to be regarded as functional elements in the larger region with various kinds of roads, as Mr. Bettman has indicated, run- ning out into the larger areas. There is the water supply that has to be brought from great distances into the city; there are forest areas that have to be depended on for the supply of essential building mate- rials; there is, of course, the agricultural background which the city dweller must have some interest in because that is where his food is produced. It is that new understanding of the relationship between the urban communities and their functioning and the larger region which they serve and upon which they are dependent that gives this planning movement at the present time its wider scope.
The problems of the cities, however, are still acute and difficult to solve. The principal problem today in cities, as we all know, is that of trying to find some corrective for the spread of blight and decay at the heart, and that is a very difficult problem, one which challenges the ingenuity and thought of everyone engaged in this line of work. Another job, it seems to me, is to indicate clearly to those who are concerned with the improvement of power distribution that there is a special function in government today that has to be performed by someone. He can be called a planner or any other title you want to apply to him, but planning there must be, and it is possible within cities to show easily what we mean by planning.
This whole program in terms of our own individual interests and in terms of our group interests is vast. The problems are intriguing, and it is, after all, a work that has possibilities of giving us a rich sense of satisfaction in the knowledge that what we do, even though it may be just a little, is for the benefit of our fellow creatures.
THE CITY
CITY PLANNING AND THE URBANISM STUDY 7
City Planning and the Urbanism Study
By L. SEGOE, Cincinnati, Ohio, Director, Research Committee on Urbanism, National Resources Committee
WHEN invited to make a statement at this Conference on the subject "City Planning and the Urbanism Study," perhaps I should have referred the program makers to Mr. Eliot's paper at last year's Conference in Cincinnati, "New Approaches to Urban Planning," which, although we didn't know it at the time, announced the intention of the National Resources Committee to undertake the Urbanism Study and pointed out its significance as a means to a new approach to urban planning. Having overlooked this opportunity of escape, I shall endeavor to present the subject in closer perspective.
City planning, or, more accurately, the planning of the physical structure of urban communities and regions (which is really what we mean by the abbreviated term) and the research study of urbanism are related to one another in a number of different ways. In some respects the relation may be said to be reciprocal: the findings of the Urbanism Study being expected to offer a more solid foundation for the planning of urban communities and regions, to supply over-all controls and general directives; in turn, city planning, from the standpoint of the Urbanism Study, is one of the tools for accomplishing such improvements in the condition of urban life as can be brought about or fostered by the re- shaping of the physical structure of urban communities.
In general terms, the objectives of the Urbanism. Study are to deter- mine what the role of the urban community is in national life; what the social and economic functions are which can best be performed in urban communities; and what can be done to enable these communities better to perform such functions and, at the same time, to remedy and combat the evils and problems which appear to be associated with intensive urbanization.
The urgent need for at least a preliminary study of this sort was called to the attention of the groups here assembled during last year's conference by Dr. Merriam. He pointed out the difficulties confronting the governmental agencies and the planners of government in formulating programs of action affecting urban communities and in determining the correct policies on which to predicate such programs, without answers to some of the following fundamental questions: What kind of urban community should we desirably plan for? Should we encourage the building of larger and larger cities and the further concentration of urbanization or should we foster a wider dispersion of urbanization? Should public and private policies be directed towards industrial cen- tralization, dispersion, regional specialization or diversification and balance? Should we try to improve the lot of the workers of congested industrial centers by encouraging them to move to smaller communities
8 PLANNING PROCEEDINGS
and attempt to take their jobs with them, or should we seek to accom- plish the same ends by transforming our cities and industrial areas into places where these workers will have a more decent environment in which to live?
Whether we should plan for the rehousing of much of our working population in the larger cities or in the smaller ones; whether we should attempt to discourage further urbanization by new Federal policies in respect to transportation and rates, the distribution of public works, and relief, or what form of urbanization we should encourage; whether one kind or another kind of city planning policies, land policies, transit policies, etc., should be pursued by our local governments — all will depend on the primary question, what do we have to look forward to in the matter of further urbanization and what is the direction we desire that this should take, to produce the kind of urban communities best adapted to the role these are to play in the social and economic life of the nation and in which we can expect to find or provide most of the good things and least of the bad of city life?
Search for the answers to these questions opens up an extremely broad and complex field of inquiry. We should have to ascertain the extent and nature of urbanization and its effects on urban life as well as on our national life; the forces that may be presumed to cause it; the probable future direction of the movement; and the means which may be employed to guide and control it.
1. What have been the effects of increasing urbanization and its concentra-
tion on various aspects of urban and national life, and what variation may be found in the consequences of urbanization in cities of different sizes and types? In somewhat more detail, what have been the effects?
(a) On population — its composition, characteristics, fertility, mortality, migration.
(6) On the economic and social conditions of the population.
(c) On the general physical development of the community.
(d) On health, safety, security and welfare, on recreation and education.
(e) On transportation and other public services and facilities. (/) On the economic, political, and legal order.
(0) On culture, arts, science, and religion.
(h) On governmental administration, local, State, and Federal.
2. What are the forces and factors and the public and private policies foster-
ing urbanization, and what changes may be expected in such factors and their influence?
3. What can we anticipate concerning further urbanization and what na-
tional policies might be formulated so to influence or control it as to mitigate present problems, guard against the creating of new ones and assist the cities in improving the quality of urban life?
4. What instruments and methods may be employed under our political and
economic system for controlling urbanization and for dealing with the problems incident thereto?
CITY PLANNING AND THE URBANISM STUDY 9
No definite answer can be found probably to several of these ques- tions but we will have to have some answers to most of them if we are to understand the process of urbanization, the forces that produce it and equip ourselves to chart the course of its future. No one will deny that an attempt to find these answers would be an extremely large and com- plex undertaking. "The growth of large cities constitutes perhaps the greatest of all problems of modern civilization," said Mackenzie towards the end of the last century, and he could not possibly foresee what has transpired since.
The present effort of the Research Committee on Urbanism cannot hope to make an exhaustive study of such a problem because of time and other limitations. Such a study would have to be conducted over a period of years and demand much more information and data about urban communities and regions than are at present available through public and private fact-collecting agencies. The present Urbanism Study can only hope to make an initial exploration of the field on a rather broad front but with limited penetration. By necessity it is focused on several major phases of the problem of urbanization which are pressing for attention by reason of developments during the last few years and the need of determining some guiding policies arising therefrom.
In their relationship to urban planning the studies programmed by the Research Committee on Urbanism may be grouped in the following four categories :
1. Those that deal with some of the most important factors expected to
influence the future course of urbanization: population, the locational trends of industry, transportation and rate-making policies, power distri- bution, communication, etc.
It is anticipated that these will throw light on the probable future amount, distribution and characteristics of the future urban population.
2. Those studies that will compare the relative advantages and disadvantages
of communities of various sizes and types, also of the urban and the rural way of living and will strive to discover the reasons for the presence of certain problems in some communities and for the absence of like problems in others.
These ought to lead to some conclusion as to the desirable types of communities, not perhaps in terms of size but in terms of the minimum standards of social and economic existence and of physical environment.
The uncovering of cause and effect relationship may furnish a new set of remedies, and illuminate the social origins and consequences of the existing maladjustments and deficiencies in our cities.
3. Those studies that will examine, appraise, and endeavor to improve the
instruments already available for guiding and controlling the future development of the urban community, will seek to discover and ex- periment with new implements and methods of control, and will aim to strengthen them all by broadening the field of conscious social planning for shaping urban life.
10 PLANNING PROCEEDINGS
City planning as practiced to date is to be examined to determine how effective a tool it has been and how it may be strengthened and made more effective. Experience with planned communities and neigh- borhoods is to be reviewed to ascertain their successes and shortcomings and the applicability of this experience to certain urban problems.
The effects of past and prevailing urban land policies and transit policies are to be traced to discover the influence these had on the development of urban communities and to what extent these may be held to be responsible for some of the maladjustment existing, to see what changes hi such policies may be made to remedy these and to foster desirable future development and redevelopment.
An attempt will be made through experimental studies to explore the possibilities of rationalizing by industrial planning the industrial structure of urban communities and regions, directed not to produce just growth, as heretofore, but towards soundness of industrial develop- ment, greater stability, and the wiser use of natural and human resources.
An examination is to be made of recent trends in local government and the relationship of the Federal Government to cities, also the part that the unions of cities (formal associations, governmental and regional associations) can play in such relationship. These comprise the studies of the governmental machinery for implementing national policies and programs involving urban communities.
4. The studies of this category are to turn to some of the more mature foreign countries with a civilization like our own, to find out what we ought to look forward to in the light of their experience as a result of con- tinued urbanization, what changes in our political, social, cultural, and economic life, what new problems and intensifications or lessening of old ones we should be prepared for. Likewise, to find out what instru- ments and methods were employed in these countries for guiding and controlling urbanization and dealing with the problems incident thereto and how effective these had been found to be, to determine which of these may be suitable and adaptable to our problems under our politi- cal and economic system.
With this summary of studies organized with respect to their relation to urban planning, and purposely severely condensed, it is now possible to discuss in more detail the relationship between City Planning and the Urbanism Study briefly stated at the beginning.
Manifestly, the studies in the first group will assist in answering those primary questions in the planning of urban communities which heretofore we have endeavored to arrive at without benefit of the over- all controls and general directives to be developed by these studies. We had to grope almost in the dark trying to arrive at some reasonably acceptable forecast of such a basic question as the population for which the plan of the urban community or region ought to be prepared, and faced even greater difficulties when called upon to substantiate any such forecast not meeting the most buoyant expectations. Such over-sanguine
CITY PLANNING AND THE URBANISM STUDY 11
prognostications as used by official and semi-official agencies for the regions of New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Washington, and Boston, which in the aggregate, it was found, would absorb all of the national population increase and some more, would not have been entertained if there had been adequate knowledge of the national outlook. Likewise, it should be possible to gain the acceptance of zoning regulations more reasonable than those of New York under which, according to recent studies of the New York City Housing Au- thority, the area zoned residential would accommodate almost 77 million people and the business and industrial districts could provide working space for 340 million people. Perhaps we may even succeed in making an impression on the subdividers who provided enough lots around Chicago estimated to be capable of housing 10 million people and on Long Island to resettle the entire population of the five Boroughs of New York, and in comparably absurd proportions around Los Angeles, Detroit, Cleveland, and other cities.
More adequate knowledge about the locational trends of industry nationally, the probable effects of the reorganization of the transporta- tion system and the wider availability of fluid power, should permit a sounder appraisal of the probable future of the community for planning purposes. It would no doubt stimulate the examination of the forces responsible for the growth of the community, and studies of the trends in direction and potency of these forces. This would be another approach to a reasonably sound prognostication of what the outlook is for the community, without which there can be no real planning.
With a reasonably reliable indication of future growth and with the aid of the studies of the comparative advantages and disadvantages of communities of different sizes and of the experience with planned com- munities and neighborhoods, it should be possible to 'formulate the basic general pattern of development appropriate for the specific urban com- munity or region, which is to serve as a framework for the more detailed community plan. This would indeed be a new procedure in urban plan- ning. Such a procedure, it seems to me, is fundamental to realize its full possibilities, although, I admit, it would be of no avail to attempt it unless we can develop stronger tools than heretofore available for carry- ing out such a plan.
The studies of the third category consist of the examination of the availability of several such tools and the ways these could be employed, including city planning itself as it had been practiced. Urban land policies, transit policies, the reorganization of the transportation terminal facilities are among such tools. The extension of the field of planning to industry and the securing of a stronger place for planning in govern- ment at various levels are additional avenues to be explored, for the purpose of strengthening planning and making it a more potent instru- ment for controlling the future development of our cities.
13 PLANNING PROCEEDINGS
Some additional exposition may be of interest concerning the experi- mental industrial planning studies. It is not being proposed that city planning extend its scope to include this kind of planning, but it should not require much argument to show how important such planning is as a basis for the city plan and that it should be undertaken by someone. It has often occurred to me before, how much consideration we have given in the preparation of city plans to the configuration of the land on which the city is located and will continue to expand, on which the roads, schools, recreation facilities, etc., are to be built, and how little to the composition, the soundness and stability of the industrial struc- ture on which the very existence of the community and its future depend.
The sample studies contemplated are to experiment with the pos- sibilities of evolving a program of selective future industrial development directed towards attaining through better articulation of the industrial structure such aims as: greater stability of employment, improved or- ganic relationship between manufacturing industries, fuller use of ad- vantages in point of labor supply and special aptitudes, natural resources, markets, etc., and the coordination of the manufacturing industries with other productive industries such as agriculture, forestry, extraction, and with service industries. Also to demonstrate the desirability to the public and private agencies of guiding further industrial growth in ac- cordance with a selective program.
In answer to those who would raise objections to such a program and any attempt at public control of the sort involved here, I wish to point to free land, tax exemptions, free rent, preferential utility rates, etc., that have been used by cities in the past to compete for industries with- out discrimination. What is proposed here is only that such inducements be extended with discrimination in accordance with a selective program of development.
Although city planning accomplished considerable good, taking into account that it is still a very young governmental function, at least a few of us felt for some time that it was deficient in two major directions : outwardly, because city plans were framed by the corporate limits or at the most by a border of a few miles outside, thus floating, as it were, not being anchored to or integrated with their immediate environs or with the broader plans for large regions and States; inwardly, because city planning stayed too close to the surface, because its approach was not fundamental enough, and because of lack of adequate tools with which to make a more fundamental plan effective.
The possibility of remedying the first of these major deficiencies — integration with the plans of region and State — appears now to be in sight with the state and regional planning movement in full swing. Assistance in a new approach to urban planning and finding new means for making it more effective, are hoped to emerge from the Urbanism Study.
LARGE-SCALE HOUSING AND THE CITY PLAN 13
Large- Scale Housing and the City Plan
By RUSSELL V.\NNEST BLACK, New Hope, Pa., Consultant-Director, New Jersey State Planning Board
TO what extent has the Federal housing program been handicapped by the lack of adequate city plans? Are city plans essential to in- telligent large-scale housing procedures? If city plans are important to housing, what special form should they be given best to serve housing purposes? These are among the questions that have been especially troublesome to both housing officials and city planners during recent months, producing, to put it mildly, much friendly conflict.
The planners contend that neither location nor character of housing projects may be well determined upon the basis of a three-day investi- gation by a zealous houser in a strange land, no matter how well he may be armed with real-property inventories. Housing officials concede that real city plans might be useful if such things existed but that, in their experience, such plans as they have come across are more likely to be obstacles than aids. They add that they have not much time for plans anyway — their job is building houses. The planners still insist that intelligent housing cannot be done safely on any considerable scale except with the guidance of good comprehensive plans. "All right," says the houser, "produce them."
I stand with my colleagues, the planners, not in support of all that has been done in the name of planning but in their insistence upon the essential contribution planning has to make toward solution of the national and local housing problem. To me, it is obvious that, since houses are a major part of the flesh upon the skeleton of the city plan, the plan can have little meaning except as it determines the housing pattern and defines the extent and character of and the limitations upon essential services to housing. If housing can be advanced safely and effectively without the guidance of comprehensive city plans, then what after all is the purpose of comprehensive planning?
There is both direct and implied criticism from housing people that existing city plans and information available at planning-board offices are quite universally inadequate to housing determinations. But this criticism seems never to include clear definition of what different and what more is needed.
There are, admittedly, all kinds of city plans and few indeed that represent any near approach to exhaustion of planning possibilities. The authors, themselves, would be the last to advance their plans as having reached the ultimate in either scope or refinement. Many city plans are frankly only introductions to planning in their respective communities. In few cities has there been either the money or the interest to do the real planning job. I venture that more money has been thrown into the making of any one of several recent real-property
14 PLANNING PROCEEDINGS
inventories than has been available for city planning in the whole country during any given year since planning gained its new impetus early in this century. I think I can assure the housing people that their disappointment in the character and extent of existing city plans is shared with only slightly less poignancy by the planners.
But our purpose today is not to bemoan the shortcomings of past planning performance but to determine if we can the degree to which worthwhile housing is dependent upon what we call comprehensive planning and the kind of city plans that will be most helpful. Probably no more pressing problem faces either the public housing officials or the city planners. I believe that large concentration upon the job of re- housing the lower-income workers, in the relatively near future, is inevitable. We may soon find ourselves in the full tide of rebuilding many American cities. Added to the pressure of social necessity for more and better housing is the threat of chronic unemployment likely to seek at least a fair measure of relief through this form of expanded public activity. I may seem optimistic in thinking that enforced public enter- prise will find one of its major releases in public housing, but such optimism as I have is leavened with enough realism to caution that whether or not public housing reaches any large proportions during your and my working lives depends in considerable part upon the quality and soundness of the beginnings. If behind public housing, from the start, there is no breadth of vision, if public housing accepts perpetuation of the old social and economic evils of the present outmoded form of American city structure, then public housing carries within itself the seeds of its own destruction and promises too little of permanent good to be worth serious effort. Really constructive housing offers an engaging challenge to housing experts, to planners, to planning boards, and to the entire citizenry of these United States. Good planning and good plans are essential safeguards of both the form and direction of public housing.
I do not wish to bore you with the technical details of the kind of city-plan background that many of us believe to be necessary to the proper selection of housing sites and to determination of the kind of housing that may be placed appropriately in any given locality, but a few rather specific suggestions may not be out of place.
First of all, I am rather convinced that a city plan which fails to serve such housing purposes as those of guidance in selection of sites, indication of the type of houses most appropriate to the site or sites selected, and direction as to appropriate street pattern, fails likewise and perhaps in equal degree to serve the various other purposes for which that plan is intended. In other words, any really good compre- hensive city plan should be as effective in guiding these particular hous- ing determinations as it is in directing street extensions and improve- ments, the routing of traffic, expansion of the park and playground system, and location of the new city hall.
LARGE-SCALE HOUSING AND THE CITY PLAN 15
For housing purposes, however, it may be that somewhat more than usual emphasis should be placed upon existing and future use-of-land studies. Existing use-of-land information should include: mapped indi- cation of land and building uses and land coverage; approximate popu- lation density by blocks or by census tracts; and, possibly, a real- property inventory. For all general purposes, existing land and building uses and existing land coverage can be observed or shown most simply and quite adequately on a good large-scale air map. Existing population density usually can be determined with sufficient accuracy for general planning and programming purposes from information supplied by the most recent census count and by the existing use-of-land map. The real- property inventory serves multiple purposes but, so far as city-wide application is concerned, is most valuable in determining the extent of deficiencies in the various dwelling types and in establishing a scheduled construction program to correct these deficiencies. It is probable that, in most instances, the detailed real-property survey can be limited to otherwise determined specific problem areas, leaving quantities of and vacancies in the several dwelling unit types to be got from other usually available public records or by special vacancy surveys.
Existing-condition surveys as outlined above are, of course, merely a matter of money, men, and mechanics. The real and the difficult job lies in the prediction and establishment of future land-uses, to be based upon visible needs, suitability, adaptability, and probable future de- mands. The future land-use study must extend beyond the confines of a city to visualize so far as may be possible that city's place in the future regional and national pattern. There should evolve a reasonably well- founded guess as to the qualitative and quantitative future of the city under study. This guess must represent a fine balance between what it appears the city should be and what perhaps irresistible forces are likely to make of it. Within such a guess of quantitative and qualitative probability, the next step is to allocate most logical and most desirable functions to the various portions of the city. This is to be done in ac- cordance with a proper coordination of interrelated functions, in accord- ance with the relative adaptability of the several land areas; and in accordance with existing and still feasible service facilities.
The future use-of-land plan, not only for housing but for all planning purposes, should go far beyond the usual present-day zoning ordinance and plan which is essentially negative in its determinations. To be fully effective, the future use-of-land plan should be legally established and, at least with respect to residential neighborhood units, should be fixed and virtually unchangeable. Such a fixed land-use and population- density plan is, of course, a far cry from now established zoning pro- cedures. It would require much more thorough and competent basic studies and plans than have been employed in perhaps ninety-nine out of a hundred existing zoning ordinances. It may be that neither the
16 PLANNING PROCEEDINGS
courts nor the planners are now prepared to take safely this long step in planning. Observing the weaknesses of much of zoning in its present embryonic stage, I hesitate to suggest rapid advance into a more positive application of the zoning principle however seemingly desirable. I offer this suggestion, therefore, not so much as a recommendation for im- mediate and universal action as an idea important to real city planning — as an idea worthy at least of much serious experimentation.
Regardless of whether or not the future use-of-land plan can be legally established, it remains an essential foundation for the general city plan and for the housing plan and program. The future use-of-land plan both determines and is determined by the structural form of a city as shaped by transportation arteries, underground utilities, parks and other public properties, and natural features such as mountains and rivers. The structural form of the city as represented by the above public facilities can be fixed by law. God is not likely to change His mind very much about most mountains and rivers. Private building enterprise and the use of land can be controlled in some degree through zoning. Much of guidance can be exercised through land subdivision control. Public housing enterprise certainly can be established quite in conformity with the land-use plan. There is no real reason, therefore, for shying from such basic planning while waiting for the time of crystal- lizing the long-period use of land through direct legislation. The in- tegrity of the land-use plan can be preserved in considerable degree through the proper employment of already available machinery.
It may be argued that housing deficiencies are so obvious in nine cities out of ten that no shot aimed in the general direction of these deficiencies is likely to miss. I have tried that kind of shooting at bunches of quail and usually have had better results from more selective aim. It is possible, of course, in most cities to find here and there, without much study, a few blocks of vacant or otherwise available land, in an obviously residential district, where chances of subsequent interference with other major improvements is comparatively slight. By sponging upon existing park, school, and other community facilities in the general neighborhood it may be contrived to build upon one of these sites a few hundred dwelling units, irrespective of existing and traditional housing densities and dwelling types, without seriously disrupting the prevailing conditions and the future prospects of the community concerned. If this were the beginning and the end of new housing or rehousing in a given city, perhaps something might be said for such a hit-or-miss pro- cedure. But even so, basic to planning philosophy is the idea that first things should come first. I venture that, from point of view of long- time serviceability and of safety to itself, the superficially selected site will seldom coincide with the site selected upon the basis of compre- hensive planning studies.
The public housing job, however, is not going to end with the build-
CHARACTERISTICS OF CITY HOUSING PROJECTS 17
ing of a few hundred or a few thousand dwellings in a few scattered cities. Those who should know say that we need in this country between eight and ten million new or modernized low-cost houses. Sooner or later we are going to build these houses if not upon the persuasion of our social conscience, then in the interest of our economic salvation. Large portions of many properly situated cities will be rebuilt. This rebuilding cannot and should not take place, block by block, but by whole neighborhoods and upon completely modernized street plans. To perpetuate the old street patterns, with their disrupting qualities, their inefficiencies, and their disregard for amenities, would defeat those corollary purposes of new housing — quiet and assured residential neigh- borhoods, adequate public services at reasonable cost, and effective coordination of community functions. This does not mean that the whole rehousing job has to be done at one time but that it should be conceived as one operation and that each step should be taken in ac- cordance with a preconceived objective.
May I repeat — if the comprehensive city plan is of any value and at all worth making, it has a vital part to play in the broad and adequate approach to housing, and further, if a comprehensive city plan is really good enough to serve the other purposes for which it is intended, it is quite likely to serve equally well the needs of the housing official.
Effect of Certain Significant Characteristics of City Housing Projects of All Kinds Upon City Planning Procedure in Locating Such Projects
By FREDERICK BIGGER, Architect and Town Planner, Pittsburgh, Pa.
IT has been impossible for Mr. Black and me to attack our subject cooperatively as it was suggested we do. My approach to it is, there- fore, an individual one; and I venture to revise the title so I may justify a special, if only partial, approach.
It is axiomatic that housing projects in cities (the only location this paper allows to be discussed) necessarily constitute elements of the city plan. They may be alike in that the definitive characteristic is that each project is "a group of dwellings." But beyond that, it is my impression that, between housing projects, there are significant differences which of themselves raise questions of some importance to the planner.
Perhaps we should not attempt any too exhaustive classification of housing projects; but I may be forgiven for observing that we as stu- dents, and the general public as the bewildered victim, do not have any very specific and accepted picture in our minds when we use the mere phrase "housing project." Therefore, some classification and definition is necessary for the purpose of this discussion. Two major classifications
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are in order. That which concerns only physical characteristics is a more obvious one, and may be laid aside until we examine the other. That classification has to do with ownership, and its social and pecuniary objectives.
Category No. 1. I would limit this to a housing project which is designed and built as one thing but is destined to be sold off, dwelling by dwelling, to future individual owners. To design this sort of housing project is to design something as an entity which will not remain an entity afterward. By this I mean that the individually owned small properties, into which the project will have been converted, are hardly likely collectively to retain intact the wholesome characteristics of the original unified design. Each of the individual owners will be subject to the vicissitudes and hazards of small property ownership, to which in the past our communities have been altogether too oblivious. Changes in the family financial status, or sale of a property to another family with a different point of view or different mode of living — these and other unpredictable conditions will tend to break down the original lay- out and character of the planned project. Therefore, from the point of view of the general public and from the point of view of the public officials, the kind of project here discussed may be nice to think of in the beginning, but is not an unqualified blessing for the urban com- munity if the hazards of the future are considered. It cannot be em- phasized too strongly that these hazards are real and serious; and, if time permits today, there should be discussion of this aspect of urban adjustment.
Category No. 2. Here may be included a housing project designed as an entity, but destined to be rented to many individual families, at the generally prevailing rates. This is a commercial venture, in which one or the other of two alternatives must be noted : (a) either continuity of ownership is implied, with the housing project representing a long-term- high-class investment; or (6) the ownership may shift from time to time, possibly quite frequently, with either gain or loss to the seller, in which case the method of handling the project makes it a venture of speculation.
In the case of the housing project which is an investment, the problem of the designer is to make a design for living, the conveniences and amen- ities for the occupants of the dwellings being a major consideration in order to prevent vacancies and to preserve tenant satisfaction and stability of income. In the case of the venture which is speculative, although the designer may have had comfort and amenity as one of his objectives, the actual manipulations of ownership have converted the project into something in which the housing is a mere commercial com- modity, and the comfort and well-being of the occupants of the dwellings will in varying degree have less consideration than the primary pe- cuniary one.
Category No. 3. In this group may be included all housing projects
CHARACTERISTICS OF CITY HOUSING PROJECTS 19
which might be carried out by a limited-dividend housing corporation or by a housing authority, wherein rentable dwellings are produced, calculated to serve people of modest or low income, and under a policy of limitation of rent and return on the invested capital. In this case there is a social objective, the promise of which is implied by the very undertaking itself; and the designer will provide all the comforts and conveniences that he can reasonably furnish with the money which is to be expended, and with a careful calculation of the probable rental that can be secured from modest-income and low-income families. The difference between this limited return on the invested capital, and the return upon ordinary commercially invested capital, represents the premium that is paid to achieve the social objective. This type of housing project, in theory at least, and, of course, if well designed, is a permanent asset as a part of the city pattern. However, it might very well be that such a project would be but one attractive oasis set down in the midst of other housing which is completely subject to commercial manipulation. In that event there would undoubtedly be a constant tendency for the desirable housing project to break down and become less desirable be- cause of the conditions existing in the surrounding neighborhoods. This immediately suggests to the planner that, if at all possible, the future safety of a good project of this kind conceivably might be safe- guarded if the project itself were completely surrounded by park areas which would effectively separate the project from the less desirable surrounding neighborhoods.
Category No. 4- In this group we must include all projects which are similar to that described above under Category No. 3, but different only in that the ownership is different, i.e., the ownership in this case vested in the occupants of the houses, each renter being also a part owner of the entire project. This is the same idea that we know as the traditional English "co-partnership housing," and it is not essentially different in its principle of ownership from that applied in the familiar "cooperative apartment buildings." I reaffirm the warning to provide protection against the malign influences of blighted districts and un- desirable housing which surround a well-designed housing project.
These four classifications, when reviewed, drive home to us the im- portance, to the planner, of knowing (a) whether a housing project is to be split up for ultimate sale to individuals; (6) whether it is to be utilized as a manipulated profit-and-loss commodity only, regardless of a para- mount interest of the occupants of the dwellings; (c) whether there is a social objective contemplated, and in a measure secured by an effective limitation of income and of rent levels; and (d) whether or not the occupants of the dwellings are themselves the owners of the group of dwellings. The importance I assign personally to this matter may not have your concurrence; but I maintain that the issue is a vital one, even if we look at the entire matter without any bias favoring housing
20 PLANNING PROCEEDINGS
projects based on social objectives as contrasted with housing projects based on pecuniary objectives.
The Joker About Ownership. If there were such a thing as a "realist," I think he would say something like this about ownership. He would admit that the possession of a title deed, and the complete freedom of the property from any lien or mortgage, could be called real ownership, since it involves complete control or opportunity to control on the part of the owner. On the other hand, if one holds a title deed to his property, but continues to be obligated to pay considerable sums to some money- lending institution on a mortgage or a note of any kind related to the property in question, then certainly ownership is only partially vested in the so-called owner who holds the title deed. He is not free to control; he may not be able to meet the financial obligations upon his dwelling; he may very well have to give it up and turn the property over to some- one else who can pay to the money-lending institution the moneys that are due. In hundreds of thousands of instances of presumed ownership the ultimately effective and, therefore, the "real" owner is the holder of the mortgage. As I am not settling the affairs of the world, I pass on after posing the question: When is an owner not an owner?
Relationship of Owner s Objective to the Problem. Obviously those who hold an equity in property, those who hold a financial interest in it, are owners. If these owners are not identical with the occupant families in the project, then we have divergent forces. The needs of the occupants for more space and better living pull in one direction, while the demand for return on investment, or profit from speculation, pulls in the op- posite direction.
There are those who would abandon the profit motive (if they could) ; there are those who would apply to it checks and balances; there are those who would have nothing but more and dizzier profits. Present- day planners in America know that the issue will be settled, if it ever is, almost without their assistance, even though they might contribute much to the stable evolution of an ultimate policy.
Why so relatively great a proportion of my presentation is devoted to this issue will be somewhat clearer if I give an example. The planner necessarily is controlled by the over-all financial consideration arising out of the cost of his land, the cost of revamping or building new public utilities, the cost of dwellings, the cost of attractive landscaping, etc., in addition to the basic item of cost of financing of the project. If he thinks carefully, he knows that he may have to provide funds for, and to design and construct, for example, sewers or a public school, because the city itself has not yet provided them to serve the part of the town in which he is proposing to locate his project. The designer realizes that the city with which he is dealing has not completely developed its entire utility system and school system for the service of a comprehensively designed distribution of dwellings, commercial buildings, and industrial
CHARACTERISTICS OF CITY HOUSING PROJECTS 21
areas. If a purely pecuniary objective controls the designer, he will locate his housing project so that it can be subsidized by the existing community through an earlier provision of utilities and schools, even though some other location involving new construction of some of these facilities is a better one from the standpoint of the community's social and financial interest, i.e., better from the standpoint of the city plan.
Projects as Assets and as Liabilities. We have seen that of the four categories of housing projects listed in the beginning, Number 1 (that which becomes a multitude of separate ownerships later) and Number 2-b (commodity housing on a speculative basis) might very well be said to promise no permanence and no stable contribution to the community. Those types might be thought of as leeches whose nourishment is filched from the social and economic life-blood of the more stable parts of the community. That would be a fair assumption, in the case of one because individual owners have no ability to cope with the disintegrat- ing forces which surround them; and the other speculative one because its basic intention is to get the most out of the community, with the least possible contribution by itself. On the other hand, long-term in- vestment housing, co-partnership housing, and limited-dividend-and- rental housing all share the need for certain stability and continuity of existence within the urban pattern. So we have every right to expect the community planner (city planner or town planner or regional planner) to look askance upon the two kinds of housing and with favor upon the others. That he must have an opinion is axiomatic, if he is to assist in the determination of the relationships of dwellings to open spaces, and of both to streets and other buildings, which relationships he must deal with as a planner.
Two More Points. There remain but two points that seem necessary to include in this presentation. One has to do with another kind of classification of housing projects, namely, that which concerns the actual physical arrangement in relation to the needs of the particular people who are to occupy the project. The other has to do with the procedure and technique of the town planner himself.
Physical Characteristics of Housing Projects. It has seemed to me that the discussion of what a housing project should be is one which has been and continues to be of prime importance to the people of this country. It is of paramount importance to those who take part in such a meeting as this. And it happens, fortunately, that many of those here present, and many other competent persons, are engaged upon those problems at this time under the leadership of the Federal Govern- ment. I do not consider it my function to describe either the physical characteristics of what ought to be done, or the multitude of cases that could be imagined. I do assert that a generous amount of open space, generously distributed, is a basic element in planning a housing project if that project is to be a socially desirable one, and if the financial values
22 PLANNING PROCEEDINGS
in the project are to be stable and reasonably permanent. That is why, previously, the preference was expressed for those types of housing project which, judged by the type of ownership and the objectives of the owner, promise more stability.
More Obvious Angle of Approach Ignored Here. Again, it has seemed to me that the title of the subject which I am supposed to be discussing offered an opportunity to enter at considerable length into a discussion of the calculation of land values; the appraisal of the shifting aspects of population and the shifting of values from one locality to another; the character and adequacy of utilities and services of one kind and another; and, in general, the entire technique of preliminary analysis of existing conditions and synthetic formulation of new and better relationships which we refer to as planning. A discussion along these lines may be appropriate, it may be offered at any tune, it is probably a perpetual one. I offer no apology for ignoring such discussion as of less funda- mental significance than the points to which greatest attention is given in the paper now happily drawing to a close.
DISCUSSION
MR. JOHN IHLDER, Washington, D. C.: Last week in New York I was informed that I was causing some gratification as being at least one housing worker who seemed to be optimistic, not so much because of certain definite things that are taking place, but because of the very rapid and widespread increase of interest in the subject of housing, and the realization that it is an integral part of a number of other subjects.
In this planning group we have, during the past few years, had a very progressive increase in the realization that housing is intimately connected with effective city planning, but there is a danger that the planner approaching it from a physical point of view, seeing things in a definite form, will go into too great detail or be too rigid in the appli- cation of his solution.
Mr. Segoe said a number of things that require a good deal of study and a good deal of consultation before we can get anywhere definitely with them, but, as you know, there was once a poet named Browning who penned the lines: "Unless our reach exceeds our grasp what is a heaven for?" We are trying to make something analogous to heaven here on earth, and our reach is exceeding our grasp at the present time. For example, Mr. Segoe blithely proposes we shall go into the matter of industrial relations, and even that of taking over the old discredited Chamber of Commerce practice of granting free sites, only doing it democratically and, of course, with intelligence rather than in the un- intelligent way that local Chambers of Commerce used to do. Now it may be that this sublimated method may be effective where other methods appear discredited or futile.
CHARACTERISTICS OF CITY HOUSING PROJECTS 23
Mr. Black proposes that city planning, in order to be effective, must take account of the kind of housing development that there should be in each part of the community. Every housing worker certainly would agree with that. For a good many years we have been advocating exactly that. Only remember that when one goes into details of that kind, if he is too rigid, if he says you "must" — and, as I understand it, Mr. Black is inclined to say "must" — instead of saying "Thou shalt not," he may impose handicaps which will interfere considerably with the development of the proper housing in that area of the city. There must be flexibility.
If the city planner, for instance, is going to decide exactly how wide every lot must be before approval is given to a housing development, he may impose just that additional handicap that prevents the develop- ment from being made.
Mr. Bigger gave you an indication of the various kinds of complica- tions that the housing worker must face. I don't suppose that the city planner can possibly become technically informed on every question involved in the different kinds of housing financing, but he should have general information that will make him receptive to counter-suggestions from the housing worker when he makes his city plan in detail.
MR. HERBERT S. SWAN, Montclair, N. J. : I have been particularly interested in the paper read by Mr. Segoe because it recognizes that stability of industry is essential to proper city growth. Throughout the depression there has been a process going on of shutting down the high- cost plant and concentrating more in the low-cost centers. The situation today is practically this, that many of our smaller communities are, on the basis of the present industrial situation, from 25 to 50 per cent over- populated. What are we going to do with these cities? Are we going to liquidate this surplus population or are we going to find work for the people to do? If we are going to find work for these people we have got to analyze the economic basis of existence of our community, and it is not sufficient that we draw plans.
We have ignored almost completely during the twenty years of this conference the importance of such things as raw materials and markets and the freight rate structure. Take such things as transit freight rates extended by the railroads. They are designed to equalize economic dis- advantages between the communities midway between the producing centers and the consuming centers. They have had a tremendous effect on the concentration of building industries in many places. Such places as Kansas City and Minneapolis undoubtedly owe their industrial development in flour milling to this factor; such a community as Buffalo has its location at the foot of the Great Lakes to thank for the tre- mendous advantage that has come to it. One of the most important
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factors in the centralization of the automobile industry around Detroit is the differential between set-up and knocked-down freight rates.
MR. JOHN NOLEN, Cambridge, Mass.: I am certainly vitally inter- ested in both city planning and housing and am greatly concerned with the gap and the lack of understanding between the planners and the housers and puzzled to understand and more puzzled to know what to do about it. I agree 100 per cent with Mr. Black's general statement and his philosophy, and yet I believe that there is danger in any em- phasis on what may be called rigidity. After all we are dealing with a living organism, biological in its character. A part of our difficulty may be that as planners we do not take enough into consideration that we are dealing with matters of real life. It is unfortunate that we appear before the public as academicians, as writers of books. Just now plan- ning appears to be dead or sleeping, but housing is alive. If the housing people could more realistically adopt the planning idea of locating their housing projects with reference to existing city plans, or see the ad- vantage of drawing upon city planning data where comprehensive plans do not exist or cannot be quickly drafted, much of our present difficulty would disappear.
MAJOR GEORGE W. FARNY, Morris Plains, N. J.: I have noticed that where two groups in the planning field consider themselves funda- mentally opposed, and neither wants to give in, nothing is done. I am a trustee of the cooperative movement of America, but I find too often that cooperation means that the other fellow expects me to cooperate with him, but he doesn't want to cooperate with me. If the houser is expected to wait for the planner to present to him all that the planner wants to present, housing will never go forward. If the houser builds where the planner does not want him to, proceeds with the housing program without considering the planner, we are going to have even worse conditions than those that exist today.
MR. J. ROSSA McCoRMicK, Scranton, Pa.: The separation between housing and planning and possibly the reason of it may be further illustrated by a recent story told of King Edward. He had visited the shipyards of Glasgow and had inspected the Queen Mary. From there he visited the slums of Glasgow, and is said to have remarked to the people who were attending him: "How is it possible that the scientific minds of the men of Great Britain have achieved such an excellent thing as that great ship, and on the other hand are content to allow the living conditions under which human beings are suffering?" Perhaps we do not, as planners, see the human element that enters into housing. The thing that we should achieve in America is that the man who has to work for a living shall be given enough wages to own his own home.
CHARACTERISTICS OF CITY HOUSING PROJECTS 25
ME. FREDERIC A. DELANO, Washington, D. C.: I think that the city planner can make the greatest contribution to housing if he will address himself to the problem that is more aggravated in our country than in European countries, that is, the set-up of our cities. When it comes to where people's homes will be located — whether homes of the rich or the poor — there seems to be very little attempt at stabilization. When you consider that most of the altruistic housing projects are based on amortization in thirty to sixty years, it seems ridiculous to talk about them if there is not some definite plan of stabilization. When the city of New York adopted a subway system with stations every five to ten blocks, a destructive blow was dealt to many sections of the city. Where the stations were located values were greatly increased; between the stations properties were blighted. So, 1 appeal to you as a layman that you give close attention to stabilization of values.
MR. CHARLES B. BENNETT, Milwaukee, Wis.: I think raising the question whether planning should have anything to do with housing is an indictment of our intelligence. Certainly it is an integral part of planning. We have always considered it so in Milwaukee, perhaps be- cause the Milwaukee Planning Commission is the housing authority. For years we have been making housing studies and when the Federal Government inaugurated its housing program we were prepared, and we worked closely with the housing division at Washington. If we have not established amicable relations, it is not because the problems are not related. In getting together each of us has to give up a little. The planner cannot design the apartment and neither should the houser select the site. The planner should have at hand those factors which should determine the location of housing projects. If he has not got them he is not qualified to do planning.
MR. WAYNE D. HEYDECKER, White Plains, N. Y.: The three papers presented this morning and the comments thereon all point to the need of greater attention to the quantitative side of city planning. The study that Mr. Segoe is making of urbanism has revealed the astounding excess of area provided for business and industry and even excess of housing sites that are already available in subdivided land. Some studies which have been made in Washington, for instance, show that under supposedly wise zoning ordinances areas have been provided for business many times in excess of those which can profitably be used. It does not profit the community to be forced to provide the city service facilities and public utilities for areas vastly in excess of those which can be in- telligently used. We have wasted our substance in public expenditures far in advance of needs. The study that Mr. Segoe is making should be of inestimable benefit in bringing our estimates of future growth somewhere within probability.
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MR. HABLAND BARTHOLOMEW, St. Louis, Mo.: The urbanism study will produce a great deal of interesting information that will be useful to us in the planning field. I hope it can be extended into the field of actual appraisal. For instance, will this information be used by those who advocate new forms of city development? Will it be used as a justification for the development of rural or suburban projects of the type proposed by the Resettlement Administration ? Has the time come when we must admit that we are incapable of developing satisfactory cities by following the patterns which have so far been used? Now the fact that we haven't done more real appraising leads to a great deal of confused thinking on past trends and future programs. I know of com- munities where, because of planning, the growth is satisfactorily con- trolled. Some are self-contained, some are suburban communities. I know other communities wherein the planning commission has been able to discover the improper policies that have led to bad development. Now if those things were more widely known and studied in a number of communities and were found to be parallel cases, that in itself would be a very useful contribution in the planning field. I don't believe we can over-emphasize the importance of two things; one is the control of population density and the development of a very definite pattern which will result in better communities. The other is the working out of a very much more basic urban land policy.
REVISION OF ZONING ORDINANCES 27
Revision of Zoning Ordinances
By ARTHUR C. COMEY, Assistant Professor of City Planning, School of City Planning, Harvard University
THERE have been a thousand reasons why zoning ordinances need revision today and every one of them is valid. They do not all apply to any one place, but practically every zoning ordinance in the country is in the same position in the end: it needs revision. We may consider zoning ordinances as they are from the point of view of the defects when they were written, the defects in their application, the fact that they are old, the fact that they are pioneers, the fact that the people who wrote them are departed, the fact that they could not get any money, the fact that they could not get any support for anything at all, practical or theoretical, the fact that there was no city planning. As to the hope of getting revision, I am not going to spend any amount of time on that. We owe no apology to anybody for the zoning ordi- nances that have already been perpetrated; they were drafted under conditions which were not within our control.
People wonder sometimes why the planners do not get up and do something. The unfortunate thing is that we are professional people. We can only serve our clients. We cannot go off in a corner and theorize about city planning and develop a wonderful structure. We have to have a body brought to us to work on, just the same as a surgeon, and with, I hope, as satisfactory results. But we have a very much greater diffi- culty in that we cannot do a thorough job and put out a new man. We have to patch up, as the public will allow.
But what is to be done? In the first place, it is fairly obvious from cursory observation that if every city and town adopted all the tech- niques and applications of zoning now applied anywhere in the country, every city and town would be pretty well zoned. In other words, our first job is to look around and see what other cities are doing. We made two investigations at Harvard not long ago. We found many cities where we had to dig the ordinance out of the town clerk's records be- cause nobody outside of the town clerk knew the town was zoned, or, perhaps, no technician had ever seen the ordinance. Among those or- dinances we found many valuable ideas.
Another opportunity in revision is not in the wording of the zoning ordinance, but in the map. We have heard a great deal on that; I do not need to dwell on it, except to bring it into the picture. Our cities are mapped for untold millions, untold thousands of feet of business area, great industrial districts. We did not adequately protect our cities because the map was too generous. The clue is not simple, because zoning has to be adopted in the face of public opposition. Those whom the zoning shoe pinches hardest are the ones that are energetic in oppo- sition, and our well-wishers simply give us mild and friendly smiles.
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Then we like to base zoning on comprehensive city plans. I have looked upon zoning as an opening wedge to get comprehensive plans into effect. Once a little of the city planning idea is tried the citizens are ready for more, and we give them a homeopathic dose in a moderate zoning ordinance.
Under those conditions the zoning became more like good house- keeping; it was an orderly procedure, making the city more orderly. It was not living up to the hopes of zoning by any means, but it was all we could do. There are hundreds of cities in that situation which have profited, and it is my belief that the ultimate complete zoning of cities in this manner has been advanced by this attempted partial application of zoning, this process of the adoption of a very mild preservation of status quo, and a little application of some of the principles we have had in mind.
Another reason that zoning ordinances need revision is the fact that zoning was a pioneer activity — at least, in New York and a few of the leading cities — and they knew they had to fight the case through the courts. Mr. Bassett has emphasized that point over and over again. I believe that the other cities of the country were well advised not to go beyond these pioneer leaders; they had not the resources to fight the legal battles which the interested private parties who were adversely affected by the zoning were bound to wage. For that reason, when people have asked me to send them a number of zoning ordinances, I have said: "Take one; the others are much like it."
We have been criticized for that; I think not properly. We can excuse ourselves from that criticism because we had to consolidate the legal position. That legal position is now well consolidated. That excuse is no longer good, and we now have many towns branching out and adopt- ing what makes some of our legal friends, who might approve a different zoning ordinance, shake a little bit or tremble with horrible fright because of the risks these towns are taking; but they also assure us that the upset of that particular feature in that town, if it should not prove to be tenable, will not damage the main structure. Since the main structure is now legally established, towns are perfectly within the proprieties to go ahead and try something new.
As to the other features in the ordinance — such familiar ones as use, height, area, density of population or number of families — all are capable of great extension in the control exercised to the benefit of the city, and there are several other features included in a few of the or- dinances which can be applied to advantage.
In the first place, we have the refinement of the ordinance. Today where there is a comprehensive plan and an active planning board, the procedure is well understood and is part of the regular system of govern- ment. There is little use to try to refine the ordinance in a town where it is not well understood, although I see no harm in trying it. Zoning
REVISION OF ZONING ORDINANCES 29
is like trying to carve with a sledge-hammer. It is a crude weapon; but where the zoning works as a part of the plan and is a part of the regular administration, there is a chance to refine it, make it cut sharply, and actually to start a scheme which will really mold the city. The first opportunities are sometimes in the suburban and country towns, and we have seen several examples of that. There are also a few of our more prosperous cities where the refining process is beginning to give the protection that the community needs for its best development.
Now on the question of use. We are cutting down the opportunity for industry in those suburban communities to a negligible factor. Why? Because if the metropolitan area were being zoned, as a rule that partic- ular residence section would not have any industry in it. Therefore, if it happens to be a separate municipality, why should it not be able to protect itself in the same manner? We let in perhaps one industry because the board of appeals or selectmen considers it not unsuitable for that particular location. That means protection such as these small communities have not had under the zoning plans which are based on the feeling that they must have industrial districts. We also can go further than we did at first and make sure that the local business dis- tricts, or even the central business district, shall not be cluttered up with the back-yard or back-alley type of industry which is so apt to lie right alongside the good business property. Of course, the drawing of the map helps.
When we come to residences we can zone the whole town for one- family houses. There are very few of the early-zoned communities that dared to do that. We find that it is popular. That is what the people want, although the housers do not like to unscramble our communities; they intimate that is anti-social.
Many of the towns are now finding that it is not to their advantage in any way to have any district in which houses can be built close together. That was interestingly argued by a politician, if you please, a town father, a young man who was influential in the town in which I happened to live. He said, "You people who come out from the big city to live here do not want small lots. If you do, you will not be able to get the schooling your children need because we cannot collect the taxes out of the town to pay for that schooling."
We have seen the soundness of this argument over and over again in the experience of the outer metropolitan district. If the number of houses per acre is high, the number of children per acre is high, con- sequently more schools are required and land values do not bring in sufficient revenue to support the town.
Then the same politician appealed to the people who do the work in this little town, mow the lawns, keep up the gardens, repair the streets. He said, "If you let other people live on small lots out here you will get too much competition for your jobs, and it is not to your interest."
30 PLANNING PROCEEDINGS
Now in the town meeting form of government we have in Massachusetts it is absolutely essential that the majority of the people be convinced. When the zoning ordinance was up for consideration they crowded the hall and galleries; there must have been 600 to 800 people out of a small town of 1,400. They unanimously voted to zone the whole town for 40,000-foot lots.
There are other towns which have gone much further and our lawyers are not quite sure how they are going to support us, but presumably when we ask them to, they will find out. There are towns with 5 acres per family in the principal part of the town as a minimum size lot, for zoning could not otherwise protect the people who want to live there.
The same town that adopted the 1-acre lots adopted at the same town meeting a 40-foot building line for all the streets in the town including those in the business districts. That, too, was by practically a unanimous vote. They had a new super-highway built through the town in the last two years, a great arterial route, 100 feet wide between property lines and with a 40-foot pavement. Somebody pointed out: "The people are already 30 feet back from the pavement before they get to their own land. Why not reduce the building line on this street?" No, sir; they wanted to protect that street. It would be the beauty street of the town in the future, not just a back alley or a through-truck route. The property owners trembled for fear the town would have business districts all along the highway. They did not take any technical advice on how to protect it; they did not need any. They kept off all business from the street. They said, "There is business on it at either end of the town; let them fill up their gas tanks before they get in the town or walk," or words to that effect. Drastic zoning, but it works; the people are satisfied with it.
Now as to zoning provisions covering apartment houses. It seems to me the way to get light and air in an apartment house is to say that no window shall be less than so many feet from a wall or property line; make it, say 40 to 50 feet and provide for open-court or no-court apart- ments. We find that people are voluntarily building that type of apart- ment under our zoning ordinances. We hardly keep pace with the better builders, because a revolution has taken place among the people who have learned there are such things as air-light apartments and will not stay in the others more than a year or two while the building is new. When the building begins to deteriorate, sufficient rent to maintain the closely built apartment is not available.
There is little to be said for relying upon number of families per acre as controlling density in apartment-house districts. Studies were made in Detroit a number of years ago showing that the number of people per acre was less where the density of families was greater, because in the two-room apartment, which had kitchenette and bathroom also, nobody slept in the kitchenette and nobody slept in the bathroom
REVISION OF ZONING ORDINANCES SI
and you had an average of two people per apartment. In the four-room apartment you still had one kitchenette and one bathroom and had an average of four people per apartment. The average number of people handling the door-knobs and other places where they could get disease was fewer than under the denser type of regulation. I would use the family-per-acre regulation only as a stop gap where the political situation prevents the adoption of a decent zoning ordinance. I call a decent zoning ordinance, with respect to apartment houses, one which requires 40 to 50 feet between all walls of three- or four-story buildings. Such a provision gives the proper amount of light and air for each apartment. The notion of the side yard is all wrong. It may be too narrow and practically all light and air is in the front and in the rear. The ordinance should specify that every required window should have a yard or a certain reasonable space outside of that window. Then you will get light and air and will not have to worry about density of families and oversize apartments.
What use can be made of zoning to preserve rural conditions? When Frank B. Williams, whom we consulted in this matter, told us in his opinion open development could not be sustained by the application of zoning when the building-site value was greater than the value for open property, I was inclined to agree with him. That brings us back to the possibilities of zoning in theory. What we are driving at is what is pos- sible under police power, and in spite of all the definitions of police power, I always fall back on this one: "When you do not pay damages, it is police power; when you do, it is eminent domain." That is about all there is to it. Apparently we cannot reserve large spaces for open development. By large spaces I mean golf courses, state parks, institu- tional grounds, air fields, possibly small farms and truck gardens, and many other spaces that would be valuable as open wedges in the town or belts around the town, or perhaps both. To assure this kind of develop- ment, I am free to say that we must find some other method than zoning.
The opportunity for the revision of zoning ordinances is here, and there is a good deal of popular interest in it. Just now the interest is somewhat diffused. There are responses here and there from all sorts of people — your friends, technical people, some of the zoning and plan- ning boards, and magazines. I think the time is about ripe for another forward movement in zoning.
DISCUSSION
MR. HAROLD S. BUTTENHEIM, New York City: Believing that the zoning ordinances of most of our cities need early and drastic revision, a committee of the American City Planning Institute has been gathering information as to the degree of land-overcrowding now permitted in
32 PLANNING PROCEEDINGS
residential buildings in the congested sections of large cities. This survey has been made by means of a questionnaire addressed on April 14 to the American Planning and Civic Association's list of 66 planning com- missions in cities of over 100,000 population. The following questions were asked:
1. What is the maximum bulk in cubical contents (or square feet of floor area) which would be legal for a new multi-family building on a 1-acre lot, if built to the greatest height and lot coverage permitted under your zoning ordinance?
2. If your ordinance has a density limit, what is the maximum number of persons (or families) which may be housed in a new building on a 1-acre lot?
3. Has your zoning ordinance been amended recently, to reduce future land- overcrowding? If not, is such an amendment now under consideration?
Replies have been received (up to May 4) from 42 cities. Of these, 28 of the answers to Question 1 were sufficiently definite for tabulation :
BULK RESTRICTIONS
Maximum Bulk Maximum Floor Area
City Cubic Feet Square Feet
Atlanta, Ga.* 2,065,000 247,800 (total)
Buffalo, N. Y 4,247,100
Chicago, 111 5,227,200 39,204 (per floor)
Cincinnati, Ohio 2,401,600
Cleveland, Ohio . 4,250,000
Dayton, Ohio* 2,756,600 34,514 (per floor)
Denver, Colo 3,404,660
Duluth, Minn.* 2,900,000f 258,800* (total)
El Paso, Texas 4,650,000 26,136 (per floor)
Erie, Pa 1,400,000 112,000 (total)
Fort Wayne, Ind 1,306,800
Hartford, Conn.* 2,250,000 30,000 (per floor)
Kansas City, Mo.* 2,634,220 293,580 (total)
Louisville, Ky.* 4,356,000
Los Angeles, Calif 3,920,400
Memphis, Tenn.* 4,774,800
Milwaukee, Wis 5,445,000
Minneapolis, Minn 4,237,000
Nashville, Tenn 6,519,000
New Bedford, Mass 1,557,720 25,962 (per floor)
New Orleans, La.* 2,209,950 176,797 (total)
New York, N. Y 4,400,000
Providence, R. 1 4,664,000
San Diego. Calif 26,136 (total)
Scranton, Pa 1,437,480 23,958 (per floor)
Spokane, Wash 277,450f (total)
Washington, D. C 4,261,000 390,680 (total)
Yonkers, N. Y 2,273,400
NOTES to the foregoing table:
* See also density restrictions in the table on the next page.
f From the Duluth figures the areas of "necessary interior courts" should be deducted. For Spokane the total floor area indicated is "absolute maximum permitted by the zoning ordinance under the city's 8-story height limit, and this total would actually be greatly reduced by required light courts and the necessity of providing windows for all rooms."
REVISION OF ZONING ORDINANCES 33
As will be seen, half of the replies listed above gave no answer to the question as to maximum permissible floor area. Where such figures were given, as above indicated, some replies showed the maximum floor area for the entire building, and others the maximum area per floor.
It will be observed from the foregoing tabulation that the city of New York, though high in the hierarchy of sinners, is not the only or indeed the worst offender as to permissible land-overcrowding with residential buildings. In several cities, including New York, it is legally possible in this year of enlightenment, 1936, for a developer to erect on a 1-acre plot a residential building having a bulk of more than 4,000,000 cubic feet. Let us see what this means.
Assuming no serious overcrowding within the building — allowing, say, 10 vertical feet per floor, and 240 square feet (of the gross floor area) per room and an average of only one occupant per room — this would mean an occupancy of one person for each 2,400 cubic feet of the bulk of the building. Hence a multi-family building with a bulk of 4,000,000 cubic feet on a 1-acre lot, would house, on a plot less than 210 feet square, more than 1,600 persons. In other words, 100,000 per- sons could thus be housed on about 60 acres — less than one-tenth of a square mile — an obviously needless and absurd degree of congestion.
In few cities are there bulk or density restrictions as such. In general, therefore, the figures in the foregoing list are not to be found in the respective zoning ordinances, but represent computations of zoning or planning officials as to maximum bulk for which a permit would be granted under existing restrictions as to height, lot coverage, and re- quirements as to courts, yards, setbacks, etc.
DENSITY RESTRICTIONS
Families-per-acre restrictions were reported by the following cities, the figures given in each case being presumably those for the apartment house district of highest density. The figures are based in most cases on restrictions as to minimum lot area required per family. The Louisville minimum, for example, is 250 square feet of lot area per family; New Orleans, 400 square feet; and Memphis, 625 square feet.
Maximum Families City Per Net Acre
Atlanta, Ga 70
Dayton, Ohio 174
Duluth, Minn 216
Hartford, Conn 140
Kansas City, Mo 116
Louisville, Ky 174
Memphis, Tenn 69
New Orleans, La. 108.9
Wichita, Kans 174
MB. EDWARD M. BASSETT, New York City: I agree fully with Mr.
34 PLANNING PROCEEDINGS
Comey and with Mr. Buttenheim and nearly all of the people that are studying this question, that the zoning ordinances of the United States need revision. I am intimately acquainted with the zoning ordinances of Greater New York. I fully agree with the committee with which I have worked which is about to submit a proposal of smaller cubage, less height and changes from business to residence in many parts of the city.
Now how to get results. Let us say that this committee in New York City goes before the Board of Estimate, and says: "We have worked out very carefully these desirable changes of cubage that will make less density, and changes to residence instead of business." The presiding officer says: "Whom do you represent?" "I don't represent anybody except this body that has studied this subject all over the city." "WTell, don't you represent any property owners?" "No, I don't represent any property owners." "Those opposed arise," and perhaps three hundred property owners arise, and the presiding officer says: "Don't you think you had better get a petition or have a meeting to start the ball rolling in order to bring about your ideas?" All right; we will hold meetings, and the meeting is advertised, let us say in Flatbush. Nobody comes to the meeting. Why not? Because no one is interested among the property owners in discussing the density or decreasing the allowable height. It is one of those difficult things to get started.
I think I am able to say that the zoning of the United States to the extent of nine hundred and ninety-nine parts out of a thousand is what the average informed real-estate owner of that district will stand for. It is simply remarkable why those things which you work out ought not to penetrate more quickly. Now there is a way to get results. I am not a pessimist on this. I am working on it all the time myself in New York City as counsel of the zoning committee.
About one year ago when Robert Moses enlarged some of the park- ways into Queens, we got about twenty square miles of beneficial changes because a dozen of us jumped right in to alter the zoning along those new parkways, and under the momentum of the new parkways we ac- complished great changes along the lines of less density, less height and changes from business to residence.
If we will be ready to grasp opportunities, we can in many cases bring these changes about. On the west side of Manhattan an enormous district is now preparing a change in zoning, inspired by the property owners themselves. The proposal will prevent the spread of blight in an area of at least twenty square miles.
THE CITY OFFICIAL NEEDS THE PLAN 35
The City Official Needs the Plan
By CLIFFORD W. HAM, Chicago, 111., Executive Director, American Municipal Association
IN DISCUSSING this subject I should like first to pay my respects to the city officials of this country and give a word of testimony as to the work being performed by that group. This testimony is given in light of the fact that, in addition to being a city official for a great many years, it has been my privilege to know and work intimately with a very large body of city officials in America over the past twenty -five years. It is now my privilege also to watch them operate and to assist them in the study of their problems directly and through their combined efforts in leagues of municipalities in the various States. Local public officials on the whole are a sincere and able group, desirous of doing the best possible job, and increasingly do we find them reaching out for improved methods of administration and improved techniques in government. When one scans the results of the current period of economic stress through which we have been passing the last several years, he finds that city government has stood the strain remarkably well, and in comparison with the record of private business the record of the cities, to say the least, is commendable. City officials throughout this period have con- sistently, through their national and state organizations, taken co- operative steps for the solution of governmental problems, carried on research into the facts and best practices, and in a great variety of ways dug in intelligently into the problems of local government.
I should like to make another observation, the truth of which is becoming increasingly apparent to those charged with the administra- tion of local government. The maintenance of the high standard of living and our democratic civilization is dependent directly upon the ability of cities to continue local services. The maintenance of these civilization standards of living and democratic institutions is not auto- matic, as we are so often apt to consider it. These standards and institu- tions can be, and are, maintained and advanced only through conscious effort and cooperative action. It is largely, I think, for their perpetua- tion that we concern ourselves so directly with the subject of planning and why planning must and does enter into the program of public ad- ministration at so many points. The National Resources Committee has stated that planning consists of the systematic, continuous, far-sighted application of the best intelligence available in order to provide higher standards of living and greater security for the people. "Planning," says the Committee, "is the use of scientific and technical skill coupled with imagination to determine and influence trends or changes which can be helpful to this larger purpose." Of course, too, when we speak of plan- ning we think of relatively long-term planning.
The city official finds himself in the midst of two different dilemmas
36 PLANNING PROCEEDINGS
in the execution of any plan. The first is the hiatus that exists between any long-term planning and the necessity for short-term appropriations. State governments appropriate usually on a biennial basis. Likewise, elected public officials and the policies of administrations are subject to review in periods ranging from one to four years. Planning, on the other hand, aims to project the program, policies and objectives over a much longer period in order that the work will not be subjected to the ineffec- tiveness of a short-range view. To bridge this gap between long-term planning and short-term appropriations challenges the genius of administration.
From year to year many matters, of course, intervene and experiences show that parts of a program once adopted must be changed and em- phasis thereon must be shifted from time to time through the pressure of events. Because of all of these reasons the current and detailed program is many times modified, as conditions warrant, and yet we must prosecute the work with the long-term objective in view. The fail- ure to bridge this gap successfully explains why so many good planning efforts gather dust.
The second dilemma faced by the city official is the training in budgetary practice and the worthy pride of achievement in sound current finance programs and balanced budgets. I sometimes think that we men who have occupied administrative positions as city managers, quite necessarily lack the imagination which the planning people say must be coupled to the use of scientific and technical skills. We are pressed to achieve sound current finance practice, balance our budgets, gain immediate results, render honest government. These are of im- mediate concern and test the skill of any official.
One of the most caustic criticisms I ever heard on the subject of city- manager government, spoken partly facetiously and mostly seriously, was that there was not enough corruption in it; that the City of Tokyo after the earthquake had a marvelous city plan for the rebuilding of that city and it failed miserably in many respects, because the people back of the plan were honest and had nothing to gain in a personal way in seeing it pushed to completion. This same critic pointed out some of the great developments of parks, arterial boulevards, and unfolding city plans which had been achieved in larger American cities. "Most," said he, "are monuments to corruption, but they got the parks and the boulevards." He was by no means condoning corruption in public office and would be the severest critic of such practices for any purpose. He was, however, calling attention to this dilemma in which the administra- tor finds himself when he is confronted with annual balanced budgets and current programs as ends in themselves and the pushing along of a long-term plan. I raise the question, therefore, whether we, as planners and public officials, have considered the problems of management and planning together and made a sufficient effort to reconcile the two.
THE CITY OFFICIAL NEEDS THE PLAN 37
The city official needs the plan which will consider its own imple- mentation. The plan must provide for its own salesmanship and a con- tinuity of program during and beyond budget periods and beyond changing public policies and economic conditions. We have unconsciously limited very often our scope of activity in this respect and have been content with physical planning and that primarily in one community. The problem of getting plans approved, once they are drawn up, of reconciling the conflicting elements and personal interests, the bringing to bear upon the problems of execution solid public support, and even enthusiasm, is as much a part of planning as the physical and geographi- cal phases. Plans cut across all levels of government, local, state, regional, national. Until national, regional and state plans are trans- lated into actual accomplishments of particular projects within particular local areas, the attempt remains so much paper work. Conversely, until local plans in their execution are coordinated with the larger aspects of regional planning, the city official fails in the opportunities for the best and most orderly developments.
Let me give you a current example. The Federal Government is now constructing the Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River in the northeastern part of the State of Washington. At the dam-site there has been, or will be, constructed a set of permanent buildings for the housing of the operating force required after the completion of the dam. This housing development, I understand, is on Government-owned land. There have been constructed a permanent school-building and other essentials of permanent community life.
On the other side of the river there has been built a rather large number of temporary homes to house the labor force during the con- struction of the dam. This community, known as Mason City, is fairly well built but is recognized to be of temporary nature, arid, I understand, is to be torn down when the construction work is finished.
The Federal Government has built a paved roadway on government right-of-way from the main highway leading into this construction site. Straddling this Federal highway there has grown up a rather large number of houses of all descriptions occupied by the natural hangers-on that are found in proximity to large construction operations. Some four or five thousand people are now living in this settlement and there have sprung up stores, shops, garages, and other sorts of commercial establish- ments serving the community. This settlement grew up in unorganized county territory, and in addition to the problems of sanitation, schools, water supply, there were also the usual vice conditions to be found in that type of community. Some of the leading and more enterprising individuals of the community felt that the county organization was not in position to provide the requisite community services and protection. I believe the Federal Government has discouraged the growth of the community and feels that when the dam is completed the community
38 PLANNING PROCEEDINGS
will have no reason for existence and quite naturally fall to pieces. However, real-estate speculation and other factors have operated to convince certain of the people that they have there the beginnings of a community.
To procure for themselves the essentials of community services they have just organized this community under the Washington State laws as a city under the name of "Grand Coulee." This city has paid its dues into the Association of Washington Cities and is now asking the Association for its assistance and guidance in solving its problems. I believe it is proposed to float bond issues, levy special assessments and make other financial commitments, with bonds being placed on the public market and probably sold to uninformed investors. It should be pointed out, also, that the main street of this new city is the right-of-way owned by the Federal Government on which is the paved road. A number of very serious questions are involved, perhaps the least of which is the control of this city over its own streets the main one of which is the Federal right-of-way.
The problem is one in which the Association of Washington Cities is quite powerless, and while the city is there and conditions of public health and safety are thus serious, the Association of Washington Cities is vitally concerned in seeing that every assistance is given to correct the condition.
The National Resources Committee, the Reclamation Service which has charge of the construction of the dam, the Resettlement Administra- tion, are all vitally concerned in this particular problem and other problems of this sort. I am of the opinion that leadership must come from this group in a solution of this particular problem. If there is no reason for believing that the community will be permanent, then im- mediate steps should be taken to provide the essentials of community service without the building up of a municipal debt structure, sold to widely scattered private investors who would stand to lose in the future, thus presenting exactly the problem which the Resettlement Administra- tion is now trying to solve in the older communities in the drought area. An attempt should be made to prevent this condition from jelling, necessitating later unsatisfactory efforts to unscramble the egg.
The city official is also confronted with the execution of the plan in light of the changing status of private undertakings and industry. Sound plans, if their administration is to succeed, must look for possible changes in the private industries of the community, as well as to the public needs. If I may be pardoned a personal reference, I had occasion in 1927 to rebuild the main street of the city in which I was then serving. An electric railway, connected by an interurban line to the city of Detroit, operated the local street-car transportation in the city, and its lines traversed the length of our main street. The company was in receiver- ship, its franchise was expiring, its tracks completely worn out. To
THE CITY OFFICIAL NEEDS THE PLAN 39
rebuild the main street, without either removing the street-car tracks or completely rebuilding, would have been folly. To recommend an additional long-term franchise was not wise.
We negotiated with one of the large manufacturers of buses and taxicabs to see whether they would be interested in replacing the street- car system with a coordinated bus and taxicab transport service. Traffic engineers spent many weeks in a detailed study of the problem, and the conclusion and recommendation of the bus people was that we should keep the steel rail backbone in the rebuilding of our main street, regard- less of the cost to the city. They said frankly that we could not handle the mass transportation needs of the community by buses but must maintain the rail service.
To make a long story short, may I recall that the franchises of the street railway company were expiring, the company was in receivership, its structures in complete disrepair. We told the receiver that if he saw fit to rebuild the street-car tracks, coincident with our paving, and to meet our specifications as to the material, workmanship and time of completion with no franchise, we would permit them to rebuild. This was done. The court approved the expenditures from receivership and the defunct railway company spent over a million dollars in cash in the rehabilitation of that system, and there was built there, without cost to the city, the best street railway track in the country. They even paid for the seventeen feet of pavement surface in the center of the street occupied by their double track. This, may I recall, was in 1927, nine years ago, and yet there has not been a street-car operating in that city for five years and all of the local public transportation is being handled by buses.
An example, I think, of the need for the city official and the planner to canvass, not only the public needs but the changing status of private and quasi-public activities which tie-in directly to the problems of city planning and municipal operation.
The city officials of this country look with hope to these conferences on planning. They believe there is here the possibility of resolving the difficulties which beset them in their work in the ways I have described. The problems are mutual and the aims of officials are one with the aims of the planners. City officials have done much in improvement of ad- ministrative practices and techniques. They are pursuing these efforts with increasing zeal. The planning people have done much in the techniques and physical aspects of planning. Between the two fields, though, there has existed a sort of No-Man's-Land. I urge a more com- plete merging of efforts whereby the planning aspects of administration can be properly dealt with, while at the same time the administrative difficulties in planning can be recognized and solutions developed. Then we can go forward toward the objectives we all cherish.
40 PLANNING PROCEEDINGS
Experience with City Planning Programs
THE GYMNASTICS OF MUNICIPAL PLANNING PROCEDURE
By CHARLES B. BENNETT, City Planner, Milwaukee, Wis.
A<TER seventeen years of rough-and-tumble experience with the Milwaukee Planning Commission, it is only natural that I should have formulated opinions on the value of city planning and the technique of putting it across, and, since today is my day to be opinionated, I shall not hesitate to take advantage of the occasion. While all of my experience has been in one city, I feel that human nature and politics are pretty much the same everywhere, and that the problems existing in all large cities are fairly comparable. Therefore, what I have to relate may be of some value to other municipal planners.
One's estimate of the value of city planning is wholly dependent upon one's conception of what planning is. Personally, I would define city planning as being the highest form of municipal research — a research that goes beyond mere figures on into human values, and the relation between these values and physical objects, both natural and man- created, a research that will some day evolve a perfect design for living.
To us technicians and others meeting here in mutual admiration, there can be no question of the value of planning. We, however, consti- tute but a handful of those upon whom the successful application of planning depends. Until a much larger group of disciples is organized, planning will not be effective as an instrument for perfecting a social and economic Utopia. How to organize such a group is one of the major problems facing planners.
As a step in this direction I would suggest that we first convert elected officials to our cause before attempting to organize large citizen committees. Unless they are convinced that planning is a necessary function in municipal administration, inside resistance will be more than outside pressure can overcome. I make this suggestion in the belief that, as a general rule, elected officials are not as yet convinced of the importance of planning. If they were, a much fewer number of planning commissions would have had their budgets cut to zero during the depression.
Unfortunately, no books have been written on city planning sales psychology and it is, therefore, necessary for whoever undertakes the job of selling planning to elected officials to blaze his own trail.
In my opinion, most of our failures in the past have been due chiefly to the method of approach. Too often, we have tried to sell city planning as a panacea for urban difficulties. I also believe that in many instances planning has been over-publicized. Nothing offends other public officials more than having a new municipal activity receive all the newspaper ink, when departments of long standing have to beg for space. Large
EXPERIENCE WITH CITY PLANNING PROGRAMS 41
citizen committees organized to whip elected officials into line are also a mistake, I believe. They are apt to build up the very resistance they are intended to overcome.
In the city of Milwaukee, we work without large citizen groups, although special committees of the City Club and Real Estate Board do take an interest in city planning. However, we do not rely on these committees for much support, because we have found that elected officials do not relish having such groups tell them how to run their business. Fortunately, of course, elected officials in Milwaukee are fairly well converted to the importance of city planning, and we never fail to get their support on planning recommendations which fall within the city's financial ability to absorb.
How to sell city planning to politicians is a problem that needs a great deal more attention than we have been wont to give it. I can tell you, from my own experience, that in most cases it is no job for a dilet- tante. Any planner who attempts to use flowery rhetoric, delivered in the grand manner, to a group of hard-boiled aldermen, is apt to find himself looking for a job in a corset shop next budget-tune. In most cases, rough-and-tumble salesmanship is the only medium that will be found effective.
Just for the fun of it, I am going to list what I believe to be the necessary attributes of a successful planning salesman. He must possess:
1. A diploma in the technique of planning;
2. A bachelor's degree in personality;
3. A master's degree in salesmanship;
4. A doctor's degree in tact and diplomacy;
5. A sense of humor;
6. A working knowledge of curbstone vernacular;
7. Ability to judge a good nickel cigar; and
8. The fortitude to drink a glass of beer without making a wry face.
Possessing these qualifications, only invincible ignorance can prevail against his success.
If I had my job to do over again, I would initiate planning into the municipal administration as a research bureau — a department charged with the responsibility of first gathering all of the facts having any relation whatsoever to urban problems. I would say nothing about master plans for expensive physical improvements. These can be intel- ligently discussed only after all of the facts have been assembled. Too often have we been criticized as an agency of the Government preparing plans for improvements which, if carried out, would bankrupt the city, and since wise planning dictates that recommendations be made only after competent research, I suggest this as the most important and first order of business.
A city planning commission set up on this basis can be of immeasur- able value, not only to all other units of government but to commercial
4fc PLANNING PROCEEDINGS
interests as well. The more one studies municipal government the more one realizes how much intelligent research is necessary before we can hope to make any degree of progress in planning. The responsibility for this research, I believe, belongs with the city planning department. If we can put city planning on this basis, charged with the responsibility of such research, it will have little, if any, difficulty becoming one of the permanent functions of municipal government. Research never ends and, consequently, the city planning commission's job never ends.
I also believe that city planners should know more about the func- tioning of other municipal departments, and, certainly, more about the problem of taxation. After all, the primary purpose of taxation is to furnish the most necessary bread-and-butter services needed by the community for safety, health, and education. When the cost of these services gets up around $30 per thousand, there is little, if any, hope for programs for expensive embellishments, even though man cannot live by bread alone. The average taxpayer first wants those services which come closer to home, and Mrs. Taxpayer gets a great deal more satis- faction out of having her ashes hauled regularly than she does out of a street-widening improvement or a new viaduct.
There are many recommendations the planning commission can make which are extremely important and do not affect the tax rate. Among these are: zoning ordinances, setback lines for the future widen- ing of streets, and platting restrictions. These phases of city planning can be of tremendous value to a community and are financially painless.
For the past decade the Milwaukee Planning Commission has been operating more as a municipal research bureau than as an agency pre- paring plans for parks, boulevards, and civic centers. We entered the field of research mainly through a desire to probe deeper into the reasons why certain physical improvements should be recommended. The result of this research has been that not only are other city departments dependent upon us for factual data, but local and outside commercial interests as well. The research data available in our files were one of the primary determinants in the selection of Milwaukee for a $2,800,000 PWA housing project and a $7,500,000 Resettlement Administration suburban development.
Milwaukee has done nothing of a spectacular nature in city planning, and one reason for this is that we do probe deeper into the reasons why or why not certain improvements should be recommended. To us, care- ful city planning dictates that no matter how seemingly advisable certain improvements may appear to the planner, if they are beyond the ability of the taxpayer to pay for, they should not even be recommended.
We believe as faithfully as others in the preparation of master plans, but such plans should only be prepared after careful research and analysis. We do not believe in official master plans unless accompanying such a plan is a financial program well within the taxpayers' ability to
EXPERIENCE WITH CITY PLANNING PROGRAMS 43
carry out. In the archives of the Milwaukee Planning Commission reposes an unofficial master plan. This plan is used as a guide in making all decisions affecting proposals for street widenings, additional play- grounds, parks and parkways. We find it a great deal more flexible and less embarrassing to have an unofficial plan than it would be to have one of an official nature.
Of course, I realize that an unofficial master plan requires a strong city planning commission whose recommendations will be strictly ad- hered to by elected officials. In any event, we should certainly want planning commissions more firmly entrenched, and it is toward the accomplishment of this end that I believe we should concentrate more of our efforts.
Since I have had so much to say about how the Milwaukee Planning Commission functions, it might be interesting if I enumerated some of its accomplishments during the past two decades. They are as follows:
Civic Center Plan. Well on its way to completion.
Zoning Ordinance. Adopted in 1920 and administered with excellent co- operation between the Building Inspector, Zoning Board of Appeals, and City Planning Commission.
Comprehensive System of Fifty Playgrounds. Costing three million dollars.
Platting Code. Adopted in 1924, which has considerably raised the standard of platting and secured many miles of widened highways through dedication.
Major Thoroughfare Plan. (First step.) This plan was adopted by the Common Council in 1930 as a guide in arranging a financial program, if possible, for the widening of important thoroughfares in the city.
River Parkways. Plans completed and three-fifths of the property needed purchased by the city. In connection with one of these plans WPA officials allocated $2,300,000 for the development of the Lincoln Creek Parkway for a distance of three-quarters of a mile.
Housing. As previously mentioned, housing surveys made in the city of Milwaukee were responsible for the development of a $2,800,000 low-rent housing project.
Municipal Airport,. A comprehensive survey of the airport situation was made by the Planning Commission with definite recommendations for its location.
Neighborhood Parks. A comprehensive survey of the recreational facilities available has been finished, and the data secured will be used as a guide in all future park purchases.
Truck Routes. The Commission has just finished an analysis of truck move- ments within the Milwaukee region, and sometime in the near future will make definite recommendations to the Common Council.
In addition to the above, the Planning Commission has also made numerous studies on other matters, such as transportation, union terminal facilities, harbor development, grade separation, health centers, branch police stations, comfort stations, branch ward yards, dump-sites, water-tank sites, school-sites, and branch incinerator sites. Added to these, the staff has done research work in land economics, the motor vehicle parking problem, zoning experience, vacant-lot situation, tax delinquencies, and the rehabilitation of blighted areas.
44 PLANNING PROCEEDINGS
HOW CITY PLANNING PROGRAMS ARE MADE
By S. R. DeBOER, Planning Consultant, Denver, Colo.
CITY PLANNING has fully redeemed itself during the days of emergency work. During the late twenties it seemed as if planning had come to be like the proverbial prophet's preaching in the desert — there was no one to listen to it. Today the groups who valiantly proposed better ways of city building, who courageously stood for the sneers of stupidity and lack of imagination, may smile up their sleeves. They have been fully vindicated.
If city plans have not been as thorough in the past as they might have been, certainly it cannot be said that those who criticized planning have come forward with ideas for broadening it. The emergency period has shown the need for more planning and has shown the way toward broader planning.
This is perhaps the proper time to check up on experience with city planning programs. Many of them were prepared in the days before the industrial crisis, and great programs of construction were based on them. To many of us the work must have been rather gratifying.
In the light of the broader field of planning which is now opening up for large regions and States, the first decades of city planning look like a rather weak attempt toward broad planning. Traffic studies, recrea- tional plans, zoning, and platting of additions have been the major lines of city planning in the past. There were some studies in economic plan- ning but most of them were beginnings only. Studies in social planning for cities were lacking in most cities. Financial planning has barely been touched.
City planning work had to evolve and grow like everything else. The previous statements must not be taken as a lack of appreciation for the work done by city planning commissions. The fact is that the Emergency Relief work has been nearest to boondoggling in those cities where no city plans existed, or where they were fully ignored. In one city with which I am familiar, over one half million dollars was wasted in shoveling sand from sidewalks in subdivisions which were not as yet built up. The first storm brought new sand back on them again. This money was not from Federal funds, however, but was raised from private subscriptions. I have seen no Federal boondoggling that compared with this.
My observation in regard to building of utility lines for water, sewerage, and power, is that in the few cities which had broad plans of development for this purpose, unusual work has been done and that cities without them have built at relatively the same cost temporary, makeshift systems which eventually will need replacing. This, however, may be a rather exceptional case. Much good work has been done in cities, and every where • one sees accomplishments which a few years ago were thought impossible.
EXPERIENCE WITH CITY PLANNING PROGRAMS 45
One night, while stopping over between trains in one of the smaller cities in the Colorado River basin, the city manager came to the hotel.
"It is really too dark to see much," he said, "but I have a good spotlight — I would like to show you something." Together we drove to the river front and then over a rough dirt fill to the building of a great embankment. "Here," he told me, "is your river drive." He had made use of emergency labor to build a monumental boulevard along the river.
Another time, from another far-distant city, came an excited, hurried telephone call. "We are building this traffic line on your city plan. How does it cross the creek at such and such a point?" Again, at a third city, great plans of development were under way. "I don't know about the city plan," said the engineer, "our Planning Commission is dead; but this is what we are doing." Unconsciously, this man was carrying out the lines of the city plan which might never have been built except under the present emergency conditions.
This experience during the emergency period seems to indicate the fact that these first city planning programs were wholly inadequate and incomplete. We must now lay the foundation for more complete plans.
A future city planning program should contain :
1. A complete physical plan including arteries, streets, parks and play-
grounds, utility lines, power provisions.
2. A complete economic plan based on economic history, economic founda-
tion and future of city industry, commerce and agriculture.
3. A human resources plan, showing education, crime, health, employment,
population studies.
4. A complete financial plan showing private and public finance, taxation,
and indebtedness.
5. A study of the city's form of government and its laws.
6. A public works program based on the previous items.
Cooperation. The bold program of Federal emergency work, which is a challenge to our vision as city planners, has brought out the incom- pleteness of city plans as well as deficiencies in our methods, even though our plans have been mere beginnings. There has been a serious lack of cooperation between planning boards and city executives. The former have set themselves up as highbrow learned bodies of men who were willing to transmit their bigger and better plans only in a condescending way. The latter, secure in their nooks of executive power, have come back with sneers about visionary schemes and dreams. There should have been some all-seeing hand or power to take the two by the napes of their necks and knock their heads together to make them realize that the welfare of thousands of citizens was at stake. This supreme overlord, of course, can be found in adequate laws.
There have been many technical mistakes in the plans. As a rule they have been either too detailed or not enough so. The planning bodies have hardly ever had the technical assistance to make very thorough surveys; besides this is the province allotted to the city engineer. An
46 PLANNING PROCEEDINGS
ideal arrangement would be for a planning board to limit itself to a general recommendation by stating that — for instance — a diagonal artery is needed, naming its advantages, but leaving the actual mapping and estimating to other civic departments.
Similar things might be said about such matters as sanitation. Very few city plans have brought out the relation between sanitation and health. In one city where health conditions and sewage disposal were very bad, the matter was not brought to a head until the state health com- missioner of an adjoining State threatened to prohibit importation of produce from this city into his State.
Each city department has more or less complete plans for future work. The department heads are jealous about these plans. They know that once they give this material to the Planning Commission their personal thunder is gone. The Commission from then on is the shining light in the minds of the people. Not all of these department heads are politicians, but behind every office of this kind is — or must be — popular approval. If the office lacks this it will be in danger of abolishment or of lack of accomplishment. This holds also for planning commissions, but these bodies can take the broader viewpoint of the coordinating body and give due credit to departmental work. Planning commissions should be rather aloof from the detailed difficulties of the departments and encourage the heads rather than discourage them.
In the future, a much broader attitude by planning commissions is necessary. This attitude must be based on vision, legal background and a desire not to interfere with the detailed working of departments. With that, however, must go a greater determination to carry out the plans and this must come from greater contact with the people. City plans must be promoted far more courageously. If carefully studied, they contain the most important phases of a community work and the community is entitled to know about them.
The work of city planning commissions in the future must be based on :
1. Carefully drawn laws of authorization;
2. Greater cooperation between executive department heads and the plan-
ning board;
3. A far more courageous method in spreading knowledge about the plans.
Many of the programs outlined in city plans have been carried out to a certain degree of completion. It is now time to restudy these plans and in the light of all the new thought which the depression has given us in such plentiful measure, to broaden them and put into them a far greater amount of human service.
City planning has successfully outlived the weaknesses of the infant period; it is now entering the youth period, the time of ideals, of feeling of strength, and power. There is still more need for this type of planning to provide for the livability, the beauty and the practical usefulness of our cities.
RICHMOND'S EXPERIENCE IN CITY PLANNING
By G. M. BOWERS, Director of Public Works, Richmond, Va.
R:CHMOND'S first City Planning Commission was created by authority of an ordinance approved by the City Council on Decem- ber 18, 1918, appointing the Advisory Board, consisting of the Mayor and his four department heads, the Directors of Public Works, Public Utilities, Public Safety and Public Welfare, as a City Planning Com- mission.
No meeting of this Commission, as such, was ever held, although its functions were carried on under the direction of the then Director of Public Works in the establishment of a precise triangulation — traverse control survey and topographic mapping of territory adjacent to the corporate limits of the city. This initial work was begun in 1921, and within less than two years thirty-two square miles of territory outside of and partially surrounding the city had been completely surveyed and mapped at a cost of approximately $70,000 as a foundation preliminary to the preparation of a city plan.
Concurrent with this work the General Assembly of Virginia enacted on March 10, 1922, and subsequently amended on March 21, 1924, a law known as "The Platting Act," which provided, among other things, that no plan of subdivision of land lying either within the city or within five miles of the corporate line shall be recorded by the Clerk of any court without the approval of the Director of Public Works. The act further provided that all public utilities, such as gas, water, sewers, etc., installed by the owners in any subdivision within the limits of five miles of the corporate line should be installed in accordance with plans first approved by the Director of Public Works of the city, and if the instal- lation met all requirements and acceptance of the Director, then, in that event, the city would, within six months after annexation, com- pensate the owners for the then fair value of such utilities.
After the enactment of this, "The Platting Act," and the completion of the initial topographic surveys by contract in 1924, considerable difficulty was experienced in obtaining funds to carry on and extend the topographic map work with the result that, despite the authority given us by the act over subdivisions of land, our efforts to plan and control the territory beyond the corporate limits were, for a time, handicapped for lack of basic map information.
Means were finally worked out for extending the control surveys and topographic map work by the use of our own departmental forces with the result that we now have completely mapped more than 100 square miles of territory both within and adjacent to the corporate limits of the city. This includes the area over which the Director of Public Works is given jurisdiction under the provisions of the "Platting Act." The pre- cise control in both the triangulation net and traverse was established and
48 PLANNING PROCEEDINGS
executed in accordance with methods used by the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. The topographic mapping was done by plane table methods in sectional form on sheets approximately 20 by 26 inches to a scale of 200 and 400 feet to the inch depending upon its location, topog- raphy and the desired detail.
It would indeed be difficult to estimate the value of this extensive map information to the city. Some appreciation of its value may, how- ever, be grasped by pointing out that the lack of such information prior to our last annexation in 1914 cost the City of Richmond upwards of one million dollars in the acquisition of streets for drainage purposes alone that could have been largely, if not entirely, obviated had similar map information been available at the time of the subdivision of the parcels involved. In this particular we have experienced a material value in this phase of city planning.
Since the adoption of the "Platting Act" in 1924, there have been submitted to the Director of Public Works for approval under the pro- visions of that act about 175 plans covering the subdivision of land embracing in all approximately 6,500 acres and aggregating 225 miles of streets. Likewise, plans have been submitted covering approximately 90 miles of sewer, gas and water lines constructed within the five-mile limit beyond the city. These were carefully investigated and checked and modifications made where necessary before approval. Much of such proposed construction was installed under the supervision of the De- partment of Public Works.
By the further use of this basic map information or first element of city planning, we have been able to develop and execute since 1924 many worthwhile projects. Plans for widening and extending more than 50 miles of streets have been prepared of which about 37 miles or 70 per cent have been executed. What has been accomplished by its use in planning street improvements also applies in great measure to the planning of parks, playgrounds, cemeteries, airport and other projects, especially the improvements proposed in connection with the navi- gability of the James River and the Harbor at Richmond.
Zoning regulations were first introduced in Richmond in 1922 through the enactment, by the General Assembly, during that year, of a tenta- tive law authorizing the governing bodies of cities within the Common- wealth to divide the municipal area into districts and to regulate and restrict the use of land and buildings within their corporate limits. As a protective measure, the Council of the City of Richmond adopted in 1922 an interim zoning ordinance which was in force and effect pending the development and adoption of a comprehensive zoning ordinance. This act was subsequently amended in 1926 so as to enlarge and clarify its original purposes; provide for a board of zoning appeals and so modified as to be in harmony with the recognized standard zoning law, varying in instances only where local conditions seem to justify. This
EXPERIENCE WITH CITY PLANNING PROGRAMS 49
was followed by the adoption of a comprehensive zoning ordinance ap- proved by the Council of the City of Richmond, April 13, 1927, pro- viding for its enforcement through the Bureau of Building Inspection and the setting up of a Board of Zoning Appeals. The operation of our zoning ordinance has, since its creation, met with marked success and cooperation between the public and city officials alike.
The original ordinance adopted by the City Council in 1918, creating the City Planning Commission, which never functioned, was amended and in its stead a new ordinance was adopted by Council on February 11, 1932, which provides that the Commission be composed of five members, namely, the Director of Public Works and four citizens, each citizen to be appointed by the Mayor subject to the approval of the Council and to serve without compensation for a period of four years. The Com- mission thus composed and appointed meets upon call of the Chairman. Its functions are limited to studies and recommendations for the im- provement of the plan of the city, both within and for at least five miles beyond the city limits. Its duties are of an advisory nature without authority to appropriate funds to carry out and execute its recommenda- tions, the authority to appropriate funds being reserved by the Council of the City of Richmond. The Commission is empowered, with the approval of the Mayor, to procure the advice and services of an expert City Planner.
Our City Planning Commission, has, since its creation in 1932, undergone some slight changes in its membership due to resignations and removals from the city. Its personnel from the beginning, and as now constituted, has always been of a high order; each member is well qualified, displaying rare interest, and rendering splendid and patriotic service in the studies and problems presented.
The General Assembly of Virginia, by an act approved March 5, 1934, adopted its first and only "City Planning Enabling Act," author- izing the councils or other governing bodies of incorporated cities and towns to provide for municipal planning and for the organization and powers of its planning bodies. This act, in general, followed the usual recognized standard form and gives to the locality a clear definition of its powers and legal stability to its enforcement in matters of City Planning.
The city planning ordinance defines as one of the duties of the Plan- ning Commission, "to prepare a comprehensive city plan for the future improvement and growth of the city within and without the city limits. . . . After money to cover the cost thereof shall have been appropriated by the Council, to cause under the direction of the Director of Public Works the necessary survey to be made and the collection of statistical data, and to prepare a plan, etc." No realization of this accomplishment has been reached in face of the retrenchments made in the past several years in the personnel of the Department of Public Works due to the
50 PLANNING PROCEEDINGS
curtailment of its budget. The present administration fully recognizes the desirability of such accomplishment but in view of the decrease in the city's income, the demand for more urgent needs and the burden of relief, the city has thus far been unable financially to provide funds for the necessary expense involved. Notwithstanding this, the department has nevertheless made definite advances in surveys and in the collection of statistical data pertinent and necessary to the development of a comprehensive city plan.
Taking advantage of the opportunities offered by the various Federal work relief plans, the Department of Public Works from time to time submitted several statistical project proposals pertinent to city planning. These proposals were approved and the services of Mr. Harland Bar- tholomew were engaged in an advisory capacity. In order to familiarize himself with local conditions, Mr. Bartholomew made several visits to Richmond at which time he advised and aided in the preparation of the State Enabling Act previously referred to and outlined very thoroughly and very clearly statistical data to be gathered and surveys to be made that were pertinent and essential to the development of a comprehensive city plan. The studies outlined were related to street planning, housing and slum clearance, zoning, recreation and parks, transportation and regional planning.
The results of some of these surveys, more particularly those referring to housing and slum clearance, have been completed and published in pamphlet form, and we hope the time is not far distant when funds will be made available for the development and completion of a compre- hensive city plan.
THE COUNTY
AN APPROACH TO COUNTY PLANNING 53
An Approach to County Planning
CHAIRMAN'S INTRODUCTION
MR. MARSHALL N. DANA, Portland, Ore., Chairman, Pacific North- west Regional Planning Commission: I come from the Pacific North- west where planning, under its various forms at its various levels, has been found necessary. Of the 220 local organizations in the four States — Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon — somewhat less than a hundred represent county planning organizations. Our experience is probably that of other States, that county planning is not original, that it is an outgrowth of city planning and of state planning; that it is an outgrowth of city planning, particularly where counties are urban in their character; that it is an outgrowth of state planning where counties are predominantly rural in their character and in their interests. County planning assures a common interest and that is the technical guidance of county planning organizations from the time that they are organized. It is a misfortune to organize a county planning commission and then leave it to its own initiative and orientation. There is a common meeting- ground between the local ambition and interest and recognition of the value of the work to be done and the technical wisdom, experience and guidance that can be supplied.
I would say that in Montana, Idaho and Washington, the legislative support of county planning organizations has considerably advanced. In Oregon, with the cooperation of the Governor, county planning boards have been appointed, but are unofficial in character. Whether efficiency is determined by legislative support, I think our experience does not permit me to say. The comment is often made that conferences of this kind are dominated by the interests and technique of city planning. The inference is that between city planning and other forms, particularly county planning, there is a conflict or competition. We think we have discovered in the Northwest a movement of cooperation between city and county interests or between the county and the near-by metropolis and between the county and state planning organization.
I have sometimes been accused of being a planner. If to have a plan is to be a planner, then I am one, and my plan is to translate the words of the professional planner into the language of the man in the street. I have a conviction that planning must abide in the understand- ing and the confidence of the people whose interests now and hereafter are affected by good planning.
54 PLANNING PROCEEDINGS
COUNTY PLANNING IN IOWA
By P. H. EL WOOD, Ames, Iowa, Consultant, Iowa State Planning Board
THE first, and perhaps the most important requirement in approach- ing any planning problem is inspired leadership. The leaders, how- ever, in any movement should not proceed too far ahead or beyond the ranks of the followers. No captain should be so far ahead of his company that he loses contact with his men or the objectives might not be attained.
So it is with planning. County planners in the United States have been cast in the role of followers, who have been inspired by the wise and intelligent leadership of the national and state planning move- ment of the past three years.
We should clarify the present confusion in the minds of many con- cerning planning. The term planning is often assumed to include actual control and administration. While this interpretation remains, there can be little sound, thoughtful, long-range local planning.
The County as a Planning Unit. It is my firm conviction that the next planning development in this country will be concerned chiefly with the county as the basic planning unit. The planning idea, now so magnificently developed through Federal and state planning agencies, must go to and come from the people who are most concerned. They must initiate the planning program and carry it out.
The state planning boards should help the counties in their planning efforts, serving as fact-finding, coordinating bodies providing facts and consulting personnel in a manner somewhat similar to the procedure followed by the National Resources Committee. Technical advisers and lecturers would be available for service in the counties.
In many ways the county is a logical and effective planning unit. It is a legal political unit with very definite physical boundaries. These boundaries, as planning proceeds, are often found very inefficient and poorly adapted to effective planning or administration. In many States, with improved transportation, there should be a restudy of the whole problem of county consolidation and the readjustment of county lines to insure more practical planning units. Many counties in our country have been doing a certain amount of planning in the past.
Examples of County Planning. Without attempting anything like an inventory of county planning in the United States, it is well for us, when approaching the complex problems of county planning today, to examine the work already accomplished. Many of the earlier efforts in county planning were confined chiefly to systems of parks and parkways. Outstanding among these were Essex, Union, and Hudson counties in New Jersey and the well-known Westchester County, New York, park- ways. Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, and Cook County, Illinois, were the outgrowth of expanding cities into a metropolitan region or county,
AN APPROACH TO COUNTY PLANNING 55
repeating somewhat the earlier experiences of Boston, Massachusetts. Los Angeles County, California, is another example of a complex, intricate tangle of mushroom, haphazard, planless urban developments revamped into order out of chaos through comprehensive planning. In Los Angeles County the county planning program included: research and statistics, highways, land subdivision, zoning, and landscape and recreation design. It is interesting to note that the date of this plan is 1929, placing it among the early efforts toward comprehensive coordinated county planning.
A new approach, or the application of the principles of zoning to rural land-use, has been developed during the last three years in Wiscon- sin where several counties have legally established zoning laws which designate the use of land for recreation, agriculture or forestry. Several Kansas counties during the past year have presented planned public works programs. This, however, seems much too restricted to be termed comprehensive county planning.
In Tompkins County, New York, an interesting planning experiment is being unfolded which apparently springs more directly from the will and the wishes of the people concerned than any of the examples of county planning already mentioned. Here the people are working out their own problems with a minimum of control and guidance from the New York State Planning Council and the staff of Cornell University. This really constitutes another approach more human, perhaps, and decidedly more rural.
Unity of Rural and Urban Interests. One of the first and most im- portant facts to bear in mind concerning county planning, especially in agricultural States like Illinois and Iowa, is the interdependence of rural and urban interests within the county. In an address before the recent Iowa Conference on Planning, Prof. Murl McDonald, Assistant Director of the Agricultural Extension Service and Chairman of the County Land Use Planning Committee of the State, said, "According to the project chart of the Iowa State Planning Board, land, water, people and com- merce are our basic interests. They represent our physical and human resources and our economic, educational and social backgrounds. They are at the root of all planning. They concern all people whether rural or urban.
"Today, much of the land in this State is owned jointly by rural and urban people. Both have an interest in the land. They have a joint interest in land use and soil conservation. Likewise, the people living on farms are potentially heavy consumers of the products of labor and pro- fessional services; consequently rural as well as urban people have an interest in the problems of commerce and industry. Surely the experi- ences of the past, out of which have emerged the conditions of the present, have revealed the absolute interdependence of rural and urban people."
This interdependence of urban and rural interests we have tried to
56 PLANNING PROCEEDINGS
emphasize in our suggested approach to county planning in Appanoose County, Iowa, particularly as it may differ from those already mentioned. Two facts I wish you to keep in mind are: (1) The Appanoose County Report is not a master plan. It is a vast reservoir of facts, some of which are from hitherto untouched sources of information, with but a few suggested plans for physical development and an outline of procedure for effective follow-up work. (2) It is a response by the Iowa State Planning Board to the call of the people of Appanoose County through their voluntary Soil Conservation Association and county and city agencies for help and guidance in solving their planning problems. In other words, the facts are placed in the hands of the people of the county for action.
The next step in this approach to planning should be an appraisal and analysis of existing conditions, problems and resources. From this analysis it may then be possible to decide on the disposition of these resources to achieve the desired end, which would be the greatest happi- ness of the greatest number. The plan, which will then be seen as the last step in an approach to planning, should be the outgrowth of the analysis and appraisal of resources, natural and human. Such a plan should be sufficiently broad and elastic to allow for its adaption to circumstances which may not be clearly recognized at the time of its inauguration.
In its final form this plan must be the plan of the people most con- cerned. They must decide what disposition is to be made of the resources they possess. However, in the appraisal and analysis of resources, not all of us have the necessary qualifications for such analysis. Parts of this work must be done by trained technicians. The soils program should be based upon the recommendations of the soils expert, flood control and water supply upon the analysis of the hydraulic and sanitary engineer, housing by architects, and parks by landscape architects.
The study of Appanoose County, Iowa, represents an attempted appraisal of the physical and social resources of an Iowa county in the light of present maladjustments or problems. It has been compiled from various sources and much of it is a result of original investigations and compilations by members of the Iowa State Planning Board staff. A great deal of the material is of a sort basic to planning in any Iowa county.
Appanoose County was chosen for this demonstration study because in many ways it seemed, when the study was undertaken, to be a county in great need of readjustment. This county had one of the heaviest relief loads in the State. It has suffered from a more steady and serious decline in population than most counties. Even so, a study of the employment figures would seem to indicate that there are still in the county a con- siderable number of persons, especially miners, who cannot reasonably expect reemployment in their regular occupation, even if the county were to return to prosperity.
AN APPROACH TO COUNTY PLANNING 57
The idea of planning is not new to Appanoose County. Soon after the Treaty of 1842, by which the Sac and Fox Indian tribes sold the last of their Iowa lands to the Government, a survey of the newly acquired territory was undertaken. Appanoose County was created the following year and the first election was held. Pending the completion of the necessary land survey and the opportunity for purchasing their claims, the settlers in 1845 organized a claim protection society. The first agricultural society was formed ten years later, since which time various orders have arisen to act as educational and planning forces in the county, including the more recently (1934) organized Appanoose County Soil Conservation Association.
To give a fair conception of the scope of our fact-finding survey and report on Appanoose County, let me mention briefly the subjects or aspects of the problem considered.
Part I concerns primarily the rural county and includes:
Physical characteristics Electrification and communication
Population and employment Public water supply Agriculture and industry Transportation
Part II includes the urban problems : Existing Conditions — Population trends Residential areas
Social organization Commercial areas
Income and employment Industrial areas
Housing and health Streets
Urban land-use Parks and playgrounds Public and semi-public areas
Conclusions with Suggestions for local committees. This report has been presented to the local officials and organizations in Appanoose County. They are taking active steps to make full use of it, and the State Planning Board hopes to keep alive the fine enthusiasm for plan- ning in the county.
As stated at the beginning of this discussion, leadership, local leader- ship, is a prime necessity in successful county planning. It is suggested that some group of interested citizens — perhaps a civic organization, women's club, commercial club, church organization, American Legion, Kiwanis, Rotary, Lions, or similar group (or combination of groups acting jointly) — take the initiative to the extent of sponsoring an organization meeting.
An organization meeting ordinarily should be held at the county seat or other convenient location, and should be open to the general public. All civic and service groups in the county should be invited to attend. At an organization meeting, the general objectives of county planning and the purpose of the meeting should be stated.
It may be desirable to have representatives from other planning agencies — state, county or municipal — on hand to relate practical experience and aid in the explanation of a planning program. Graphic
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material in the form of maps and charts may be found very helpful in emphasizing the procedure and purposes of county planning.
The citizen group, service club or other sponsoring agency should provide continuity to the county planning movement until an official county planning council has been selected. (After the passage of an official county planning enabling act, of course, a sponsoring group should work directly for the appointment of an official county planning commission by whatever appointing agency the law designates.)
If a representative attendance is present at the first organization meeting called by the sponsor, the unofficial county planning council may be chosen then. If for any reason it seems preferable to postpone selection of the planning council until a later meeting, such action is at the option of the sponsor. Unnecessary delay, however, should be avoided, and the county planning council should be selected as soon as conditions warrant.
Unofficial County Planning Council. In Iowa it is possible for munici- palities to appoint official planning and zoning commissions (which in some cases have identical membership), but there is at present (1936) no legislation to provide for official county planning bodies. Nevertheless it is entirely possible for an unofficial county planning group to be appointed or selected, and for such a group to carry forward a program which can be as comprehensive as the vision and energy of the group members.
An unofficial county planning committee or council, should seek to promote a comprehensive county planning program and urge the enact- ing of enabling legislation if needed to permit the establishment of official county planning bodies.
It is desirable to consider the administrative and technical officers of the county when choosing the members of a county planning council — not necessarily to have such officers on the council except as ex officio members, but their planning experience and executive authority should be recognized. The council should represent the lay citizens, but it also must be able to cooperate with the officials elected by those citizens.
It is my firm conviction that fostering, guiding, advising and assisting county planning boards in any way is one of the most important func- tions of state planning boards at the present time. Consultants and technical advisers, as well as all the facts pertaining to individual counties, should be furnished and interpreted for the local people.
The State Planning Board advisers might effect better integration of the many county committees, such as those on wildlife, recreation, parks, land-use, safety, housing and others, into a smooth unit working toward the general welfare of the people.
If such collaboration could be conducted in all States and counties, nothing could ever halt the forward march of planning in America.
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DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF PLANNING PROCEDURE IN CLACKAMAS COUNTY, OREGON
By L. C. STOLL, Executive Secretary, Clackamas County Planning Board, and V. B. STANBERY, Consultant, National Resources Committee
EECE Iowa, Oregon has no state law authorizing official county planning boards. A bill for an enabling act was recommended to the last regular session of the State Legislature by the State Planning Board. It passed the Assembly and failed in the State Senate. It will be again recommended by the State Planning Board.
Twenty-eight unofficial county planning boards have been organized in Oregon during the last year. Twelve of these are active and productive.
One of these, the Clackamas County Planning Board, has won par- ticular attention, because, through its efforts, it has obtained allocation of nearly $2,000,000 of Federal funds for construction projects of perma- nent value to the county and because it linked itself functionally and actively with local, state and Federal agencies. In this county there is an active and actual coordination of public agencies.
Clackamas County is predominantly a rural county. It covers approximately 1,800 square miles with a total population of about 46,000. The county seat, Oregon City, has a population of only 5,800. The county's resources are chiefly those of agriculture, forests and recreation areas. It may interest you to know that it was in Clackamas County that Rudyard Kipling caught that extraordinary salmon he wrote about in his "American Letters."
Purposes and Aims. The Clackamas County Planning Board con- ceives county planning as covering :
Study and analysis of county problems.
Plans for conservation of resources and increasing the efficiency of and benefits from public facilities and services.
Initiation and furthering of needed and justifiable improvement projects and development programs, including advance planning for public works and work-relief projects.
Creation of informed public opinion leading to active cooperation of public bodies and citizen support for the Board's recommendations.
Intensive follow-up of planning recommendations to full accomplishment.
The Board feels that planning must produce demonstrably useful results, that the real purpose of practical county planning is to insure that reports and recommendations are actually put into effect or are conclusively rejected by a majority of the people through definite expres- sion of public opinion. This requires forceful and continuous follow-up of each advisory action and recommendation. The procedure adopted by the Clackamas County Planning Board in following through each separate recommendation to ultimate accomplishment is probably the most distinctive feature of planning in Clackamas County. It has produced highly successful results within a short time.
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The Board recognizes two distinct phases of planning: (1) planning under emergency conditions for projects to be included in immediate unemployment and relief programs; (2) long-range planning on a broad scale for the future growth and development of the county. The Board has given much thought and effort to both these phases.
Organization, Staff and Budget. The Clackamas County Planning Board is, in effect, an unofficial, voluntary planning committee nomi- nated by the Clackamas County Court, May, 1935, and appointed by the Governor of Oregon, so that the Board could cooperate with the State Planning Board, under the State Planning Board Act of 1935.
The Clackamas County Planning Board has eleven members, includ- ing two civil engineers, two bankers, two businessmen, one school superintendent, one farmer, one labor representative, one lumberman, and one County Commissioner. The Board feels that since its first duty is to advise county officials, it must be closely affiliated with the County Court. The County Commissioner was therefore elected chairman of the County Planning Board.
The present staff consists of an executive secretary, who is also a member of the Board, a stenographer-secretary, and one additional stenographer provided by the State Planning Board under its WPA staff project.
During the last year the Board received contributions equivalent to approximately $1,600 from the following sources:
Cash allotment, working quarters, office equipment and supplies, furnished by the Clackamas County Court.
Cash contributions by public agencies which have been directly assisted by the Board.
In addition, WPA technical workers furnished by the State Planning Board under its WPA staff project have assisted the County Planning Board on a number of special studies.
General Policies and Procedure. The Board meets regularly twice a month. Because of these frequent meetings and a large average atten- dance, it has functioned with a high degree of efficiency. As far as pos- sible, each meeting has been limited to the discussion of a single subject, such as flood control, forest problems, and farm conditions. Representa- tives of all Federal and state agencies, and local groups and organiza- tions having special knowledge of these particular subjects, are requested to attend and participate, affording full discussion of each subject. Dur- ing the last year representatives of nearly every Federal and state agency in Oregon have attended these meetings, given valuable advice and offered their cooperation.
Meetings of the Board are open to the public, and public attendance is steadily increasing. The people are gradually recognizing that the Board is endeavoring to act for the best interests of the county and not for any particular group or special interest.
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Every effort has been made to instil public confidence in the Board's recommendations. A continuous educational program is being carried on to give full publicity to the Board's activities and reports. The policy of complete frankness has been followed throughout. Adverse opinions delivered at meetings have been given the same press notices as favorable support. This policy has been effective and cumulative in its results. Newspapers in the county and throughout the State have respected this frankness and have given widespread publicity to the Board's work. News stories appear several times each week. Many columns have been printed during the last six months concerning the Board's recommenda- tions and follow-up on projects.
Differences of opinion are brought out, together with the underlying reasons for these differences, and usually a satisfactory solution or work- ing compromise has been agreed upon. This is an important feature of the Clackamas County procedure, since whole-hearted and effective cooperation of all interested groups and agencies is required to solve many difficult county problems.
The Board has no standing or permanent committees. Whenever a detailed investigation or study of a particular subject is required, the Board appoints a special joint committee, composed of members of the Planning Board, outside technicians, experts from Federal and state agencies, and representatives of interested groups, to make the study. Upon completion of the study and submission of a satisfactory report, the committee is dissolved. This procedure eliminates the series of progress reports usually submitted by standing committees.
For each meeting a definite agenda, listing subjects for consideration by the Board and speakers, is carefully prepared. A folder containing the agenda, with copies of all relevant reports, correspondence, memoranda and excerpts from minutes of previous meetings, is made up in advance and given to each member at the meeting. Special reports upon which the Board is expected to act are mailed out to each member at least five days prior to the meeting, so that he may study them thoroughly and participate intelligently in the discussion .
The Clackamas County Planning Board maintains close contact with the State Planning Board and the State Consultant. Before taking any definite action on subjects directly related to the State Planning Board's program, or affecting development outside Clackamas County, the Board refers such subjects to the State Planning Board for considera- tion and advice, accompanied by the County Planning Board's com- ments and recommendations.
Whenever available, the advice of outside technicians and experts is obtained before decisions are made. The Board has endeavored to in- vestigate every proposal thoroughly and base its decisions on an unbiased study of all relevant facts and conditions. Naturally, the Board has assumed heavy responsibilities in giving definite recommendations for,
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or rejection of, projects and proposals submitted for its consideration. The Clackamas County Planning Board feels that its progress has been largely due to its accepting these responsibilities and in taking definite action on questions affecting the county's welfare. At first the opposition of unsuccessful petitioners was very strong, but by firm adherence to this policy, the Board has gradually built up a reputation among the citizens of Clackamas County which has given it considerable standing and prestige.
The Board is now beginning to function as a clearing house and coordinating agency for improvement projects within the county. It also serves as an information bureau, giving out information and advice on conservation and development programs being carried out by Federal, state and local agencies within the county.
The Board also anticipates future unemployment and relief programs by advance investigation of needs of local subdivisions and public agencies for improvements and increased facilities, and outlining sound and justifiable projects to be constructed when funds become available. Where necessary information is lacking, field surveys and investigations are made to obtain data required for project analysis. The Board feels it must take the lead in anticipating future requirements of the county and stimulating public bodies to study their own problems and needs in advance of future programs. The Board then reviews specific projects suggested by local agencies in relation to estimated future unemployed workers and to the broader aspects of county development. Approved lists of future PWA and work relief projects are on file for next year's program. Complete programs for county road construction during 1937 and 1938, with recommended priorities, are now being prepared and will soon be submitted to the County Court.
The Board acts as a buffer or cushion between county officials and pressure groups. Members have been subjected to severe criticism be- cause of their definite stand on controversial questions, but have agreed to take these thrusts, feeling that they can render most effective service to their county by maintaining their position as a forthright advisory agency. The members of the Board have consistently rendered unselfish public service, inspecting field conditions and attending hearings upon short notice and often at considerable inconvenience.
The methods and procedure followed by the Clackamas County Plan- ning Board may be considered by some as outside the scope of legitimate planning activities. However, this Board has accomplished so much during the last year that its methods and practice merit recognition by other planning bodies.
Example of Emergency Planning. In order to take advantage of the opportunity offered to obtain funds for needed public works and im- provement projects under the Emergency Relief Act of 1935, the Board conducted an intensive campaign to stimulate the submission to the
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PWA, WPA, the Army Engineers and the State Highway Commission of worthwhile projects of enduring value. A questionnaire and letter were first sent out to all political subdivisions and public agencies in the county, asking them to submit to the Planning Board detailed informa- tion on projects which they felt were needed and desirable, so that the Board could investigate these projects and give its recommendations thereon. This letter also pointed out the opportunities given public agencies to obtain financial aid from the Federal Government under the 1935 Relief Act.
The following description of the Planning Board's action on the County Court House is a typical example of the Board's procedure.
The Clackamas County Court House was over fifty years old and was in poor condition. It was a serious fire hazard, endangering many valuable county records and documents. It was also inadequate for the needs of a growing county. The Board therefore decided to make a detailed investigation of the need for constructing a new Court House. The State Fire Marshal was first requested to submit a report on the fire hazards and safety features of the building. A report was received which showed that the fire hazard was great and that a large amount of money would have to be spent to remove this hazard and make the building conform to state fire laws.
A competent engineer was employed by the Board to make a survey of the needs for future space requirements of all county offices which would logically be located in the new Court House. This survey showed that the present building was inadequate to house the present offices and that the county was spending approximately $2000 yearly in outside rentals for county agencies.
Upon recommendation of the Board, the County Court agreed to submit an application to the PWA for loan and grant for a new Court House. The Board was asked to recommend the most economical method of financing the county's share of the cost. A study of the possible methods of financing was made by a special committee whose report showed that a direct tax of five mills for one year (plus the use of O. and C. grant money in the amount of $37,000) would enable the county to pay its portion of the cost of the Court House in one year and that this was the most economical method of financing, as it eliminated carrying and interest charges required for a bond issue.
As soon as the application was submitted to the PWA, the Board engaged in an active educational campaign, urging voters to approve this five-mill one-year tax. Members of the Board spoke throughout the county on the subject. Five thousand pamphlets were printed and issued by the Board and every effort was made to inform the people of the opportunity for obtaining a new Court House at lower cost than would otherwise be possible. At the election the proposed tax was carried by a majority of two to one.
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Continual contact was maintained by the Board with the PWA Administrator to see that all details were ironed out and taken care of expeditiously. The Court House is now under construction.
Anticipating possible future appropriations by Congress for future PWA, WPA and state highway programs, the Board has sent out questionnaires and has initiated a new series of projects to be submitted by political subdivisions for construction from 1937 to 1940. The Board plans to investigate carefully each of these projects before making recommendations so that balanced programs for future PWA, work relief and highway projects will be ready when funds become available. By thus anticipating and studying future needs, hasty, ill-advised decisions are eliminated.
Example of Long-range Planning. Since an active campaign was being carried on by real estate and other promotion interests in the county to induce farmers to come to Clackamas and settle on the land, the Clackamas County Planning Board felt that it should determine whether such a campaign was justified. Accordingly, the Board initiated a survey of existing farms and an investigation of the present economic condition of farmers throughout the county. This survey was made by the County Agricultural Agent in cooperation with the Oregon Agri- cultural Experiment Station. A report was submitted to the Planning Board indicating that in the past twenty years the number of farms in the county had increased from 3,000 to over 6,000. The average acreage per farm unit decreased from 52 to 22 acres. The farms in Clackamas County were obviously already of minimum size under existing pro- ductive capacity to support the present farming population adequately.
The report also showed that practically all super-marginal agricultural land in Clackamas County is now being farmed; further, that with an average of only 22 acres, the present farm income was not sufficient to provide a satisfactory standard of living and that this could only be attained by increasing the productivity and gross income of the present units, through drainage, supplemental irrigation, fertilization and more intensive crop production. The Planning Board therefore recommended that no additional farmers be brought into the county until further development work had been carried out.
In order to determine the feasibility of supplemental irrigation of Clackamas County lands, the Planning Board requested that an experi- mental demonstration irrigation project be set up by the U. S. Army Engineers and the Oregon State Engineer, with the definite request that $15,000 be made available to determine the feasibility of irrigation on this experimental area.
Upon the recommendation of the State Planning Board, the Oregon State Legislature had appropriated $7,500 to the office of the State Engineer for making surveys to determine the economic feasibility of supplemental irrigation development in the Willamette Valley. This was
AN APPROACH TO COUNTY PLANNING 65
to be matched by an equal amount of Federal funds from the U. S. Army Engineers. This survey also covers a detailed investigation of the cost of building canals, laterals and other irrigation works. Upon completion of the report, if favorable, an irrigation district will be formed and the U. S. Reclamation Bureau will be petitioned to construct the necessary works.
Study of Unemployment and Relief Conditions. For the past six months the Clackamas County Planning Board has conducted a study of the unemployment and relief conditions in the county, under the Emergency Relief Act of 1935. Reports were first obtained from the National Re- Employment Office, the Clackamas County Relief Committee and Works Progress Administration offices. The Planning Board then met with representatives of the WPA, USES, Clackamas County Court, Clacka- mas County Relief Committee and several groups of unemployed workers. In the presence of these officials and representatives of the unemployed, the whole subject of unemployment and relief was thor- oughly reviewed, and the Board finally recommended:
1. That the allotment quota in Clackamas County should not be increased at the present time; but that the certifications for WPA workers from relief rolls, based on the May 1 and November 1 limits, were no longer applicable to the present relief status of relief cases.
2. That the Federal Administration should call for a recertification of all relief cases, determined solely on the basis of present need, the number of such certifications to be limited to the quota allowed the county.
3. That the Clackamas County Court should assume responsibility for all unemployables, who are working on WPA projects at the present time; that there should be a thorough physical examination of each worker by a doctor employed by the Clackamas County Relief Committee. Whether or not a worker is designated "unemployable" should be determined by the type of work available on active projects at the time of his physical examination, the list of persons to be examined to be furnished the Clackamas County Relief Committee by the District WPA Engineer.
These recommendations were sent to all the representatives men- tioned above, to Harry L. Hopkins, and U. S. Senator Charles L. McNary for consideration during recent hearings on the $1,500,000,000 appro- priation.
The Board recently received a telegram from Senator McNary stating that its recommendations were very constructive; and, further, that he was introducing an amendment to the appropriation bill, covering the recommendation for recertification of all relief cases to be eligible for employment under the new appropriation, based solely on present need for relief.
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County Agricultural Adjustment Planning
By BUSHROD W. ALLIN, Agricultural Adjustment Administration, Washington, D. C.
ORGANIZED farmers have never subscribed to the idea that indi- vidual self-interest or individual action alone can be relied upon as an infallible governor of economic and social relations. If by planning is meant the purposeful attempt to modify such relations by collective action, farmers have been large-scale planners ever since Oliver Hudson Kelly founded the National Grange at the close of the Civil War.
From that time until now, one great farmer movement after another has held the national spotlight. The Grange, the Alliance, the Union, the Equity, the Non-Partisan League, and the Farm Bureau — all, in turn, have arisen in response to conditions which farmers believed should be changed by specific programs of joint action. Taken together, they have profoundly affected American economic and political institutions. All but the Alliance exist today, and, along with other more recent organiza- tions, have in large measure determined present national agricultural policy. They have been the spearhead of the farm relief movement which was inaugurated in 1920 by the post-war collapse of farm prices, and which has culminated in the enactment of the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act of 1936.
The Federal Government first assumed responsibility for dealing with the farm relief problem when Congress created the Federal Farm Board in 1929 and replaced it with the Agricultural Adjustment Ad- ministration in 1933. When this happened, the national interest in main- taining farm income at a reasonable level was officially recognized. What had been previously a group or class interest became in part, at least, a national purpose. As such, it began to affect national planning.
To think that governmental assistance in agricultural adjustment is only a temporary phenomenon is to overlook its historical background and to misunderstand the intent of its immediate sponsors. It has always been the intention of those who framed the Agricultural Adjust- ment Act "to pass from the purely emergency phases necessitated by a grave national crisis to a long-time, more permanent plan . . . ."* The transition began in the spring of 1935 when the Department of Agri- culture, in cooperation with the various agricultural experiment stations, launched a nation-wide research project in an effort to determine changes in cropping practices needed for soil conservation, and the possible effect of such changes upon production.
A second step was taken last August when the Agricultural Adjust- ment Administration, in cooperation with the Extension Service, inaugurated the county agricultural adjustment planning project, which
a statement to the press by President Roosevelt, issued in mimeographed form at the White House, October 25, 1935.
COUNTY AGRICULTURAL ADJUSTMENT PLANNING 67
is the subject of this discussion. At that time, a start was made by organ- izing in each agricultural county of the United States an adjustment planning committee of ten to twenty members, representing the various agricultural interests of the county. Such committees now exist or are in the process of being established in most counties where agriculture is of economic importance. Each committee, with the assistance of com- munity committees and subcommittees, is undertaking to determine a long-time plan for the agriculture of its county.
The reason for starting county adjustment planning is to provide the farmer participation needed both for formulating and achninistering long-time plans. The widest possible participation is needed if such plans are to be flexible and give proper weight to local as well as national interests, and if they are to be supported permanently by an adequate sense of local responsibility. Because of the necessity for swift action to reduce burdensome surpluses, it was inevitable that the emergency programs could not have maximum usefulness in the encouragement of sound farm practices and soil conservation. From the beginning, it has been recognized that uniform adjustments applied to all farms could not be maintained indefinitely without creating difficulties more serious than those they were intended to correct. While quite appropriate for emer- gency action, they were never intended as long-time measures. To ask all farmers to make uniform percentage adjustments in the production of a given crop is to disregard the need for differential adjustments required by differences in the topography, history, economics, and land resources of individual farms — it is to freeze agriculture to a historical mold regardless of the merits of past development.
Because of extreme variation in both the technical and economic adjustments appropriate for regions, communities, and individual farms, a satisfactory national plan cannot be developed by state and Federal agencies acting alone. They do not have all the knowledge and skill required for such planning if it is to be done with any consideration for the people now living on the land. The task is one in which individuals, communities, the States, and the Federal Government must all participate.
The complexity of the problem is at once apparent when it is recog- nized that there are 787 different type-of-farming areas in the United States. There are the well-known Corn and Cotton Belts — as well as the wheat, range-livestock, dairy, and other regions. But the character of farming in any one of these regions is by no means uniform. The Cotton Belt is divided into various subregions according to differences in both physical and economic conditions. At least fifteen to twenty such sub- regions can be easily distinguished. They include such areas as the small irrigated valleys of the Southwest, the large-scale cotton area of western Texas and Oklahoma, the Black-waxie Prairie of Texas, the Mississippi- Alabama clay hills and rolling uplands, the Northern and Southern Pied-
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mont, and the Coastal Plains.2 The process of refinement may be carried still further. In the Mississippi-Alabama clay hills and rolling uplands, for example, there are six different type-of -farming areas; and within each of these, differences between individual farms are often as great as those between areas.
The soil scientist, the economist, and other experts cannot develop the best program without farmer participation; and even if they could, farmer approval and assistance would be required for its administration. A plan developed solely from a national or state point of view, moreover, is likely to overlook or disregard important local interests. On the other hand, a national plan is not merely a summation of local plans. The problem is one of finding a workable program of action concerning which most national and local interests are in harmony. Plans formulated jointly by central and local agencies will be different from any which might be developed by central agencies acting alone.
Nor is county agricultural planning being done merely to provide a sounder basis for judgment as to needed adjustments and to give proper weight to local and national interests. It also seeks to provide a demo- cratic procedure which will foster a feeling of local responsibility so essential for an enduring program. As Secretary Wallace has pointed out, "An effective county agricultural planning agency, adequately supplied with local and national data, established in every agricultural county of the United States would provide the organization required for planning in a democracy."3 The economic, social, and political fact of paramount importance in agricultural planning is that the Nation's farm land is operated as more than 6 million separate enterprises by people who represent the most individualistic class of American society. There are probably half as many separate owners who now have, and very likely will continue to have, authority to do virtually as they please with the land they own. A national plan, therefore, must come to terms with millions of owners and operators, or an overwhelming majority of them, and it cannot be put into effect by Federal compulsion.
The immediate purpose of county agricultural planning, which com- prehends the broader issues already discussed, was to get farmer judg- ments concerning changes in cropping practices needed for soil conserva- tion, and the possible effect of such changes upon production. As pre- viously pointed out, this is the same problem to which research workers addressed themselves last spring. The tentative conclusions reached by them last fall indicate that in order to check soil erosion and depletion, farmers of the Corn Belt would have to reduce their acreage of corn and oats and increase their acreage of soil-building crops such as legumes,
*M. L. Wilson and H. R. Tolley, "Some Future Problems of Agricultural Adjustment," mimeographed by the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, December 18, 1934.
'Henry A. Wallace, "The States, the Regions, and the Nation," an address before the Association of Land-Grant Colleges and Universities, November 18 and 20, 1935, mimeographed by the United States Department of Agriculture, p. 7.
COUNTY AGRICULTURAL ADJUSTMENT PLANNING 69
hay, and pasture. Southern farmers would have to decrease their cotton acreage and increase their acreage in pasture and feed crops other than corn. In the wheat-producing regions of the Great Plains and the Pacific Northwest, wheat acreage would have to be reduced, and low- yielding land would have to be taken out of production. They also concluded that in the semi-arid range region, the number of cattle and sheep on the range should be stabilized at or near the present low level in order to restore the grass cover and check wind erosion.4
But these were the judgments of experts, and there was no way of knowing the extent to which farmers themselves would agree with these conclusions. Until this is known, the research results cannot develop maximum usefulness in modifying future action programs. This need for local judgments disclosed the lack of any effective procedure for bringing about an agreement between farmer and expert opinion. Since 1923, the Agricultural Extension Service, through the county agricultural agent, has conducted outlook programs with farmers. Together with farm management and related extension work, these programs have provided farmers with information which has helped them in making individual adjustments in the light of prevailing and prospective eco- nomic conditions. In a number of States, moreover, farm leaders have worked with the Extension Service in building what are known as county extension programs. Logically, such efforts were made almost entirely from the point of view of the particular counties concerned. An adequate program was impossible, for there was no national or state plan with which local planning might be coordinated, there was no coordinating agency, and there was no authorization for needed governmental assistance.
The Agricultural Adjustment Act provided both the necessary authority and the coordinating agency, but there was still the task of establishing a workable relationship between these and the necessary local agencies. This was facilitated by past experience of the Extension Service. By focusing outlook and extension programs upon specific problems which could not be previously considered, a "two-way track" for the interchange of facts and judgments between local and central agencies engaged in building a national plan is being established. Thus, county adjustment planning cannot be understood apart from the national planning to which it is related.
Building upon the extension organization that had grown up in the past, the usual procedure during the first year of county adjustment planning has been for state and Federal agencies to work with the county agent's committees. These are the committees that have been most active in the past in developing and carrying out extension programs.
"Oris V. Wells, "The Regional Adjustment Project: A Summary and Some Sugges- tions for Further Work," an address before the annual convention of the Association of Land-Grant Colleges and Universities, November 20, 1935, mimeographed by the Agri- cultural Adjustment Administration, United States Department of Agriculture.
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They have volunteered their services, and, for the most part, represent the agricultural leadership of the counties. State agricultural colleges and the Department of Agriculture provided them with available sta- tistical data and other background information. In an effort to reach sound conclusions as to the possible effect upon production of changes in farming systems needed for the maintenance of a permanent agri- culture, these committees made a careful study of national, state, and local data bearing on this problem. With the assistance of the county agent, they have considered the possible effect on livestock production of recommended changes in cropping systems. Many meetings were held during the winter, both at the county seats and in the various communi- ties throughout the counties. After these deliberations, definite recom- mendations were made concerning needed changes in the production of each crop and livestock product.
In view of the multiplicity of farms and the complexity of the problem, there are many who question the feasibility of this procedure for developing a workable, long-tune national plan for agriculture. But these are the same considerations advanced in support of it. Of one thing, however, there is little room for doubt. The nation cannot afford to postpone longer the adoption of effective measures to arrest the present appalling waste of its land resources. Whether major emphasis is given to soil conservation or production control, the problem involved cannot be dealt with effectively by individual action alone.
A large proportion of our farms is in the hands of people who do not have a sufficiently long-time interest in the land they are cultivating to make it economically worth their while to take appropriate action in soil conservation. The income of many farmers is so low that they are unable to follow practices they know would better serve their own long- time interests. For a considerable number, the reason is that their farms are too small to make possible a type of agriculture which will yield a decent standard of living and at the same time conserve the soil. If remedies are to fit the causes, the necessary lines of action are clear. Positive incentives must be provided, farm income must be stabilized at a reasonable level, and the size of many farms must be changed. It is scarcely possible to accomplish these things without both the centraliz- ing power of government and the active support of local groups.
Since the Supreme Court decision invalidating a part of the Agri- cultural Adjustment Act, the need for local planning has become even more urgent than previously, because the principal effect of the decision was to accelerate the development of long-time aspects of national agricultural policy. Relatively greater emphasis is now given to soil conservation, which requires a vastly more complex program. And while the Federal Government can no longer control output by contracts by individual producers in order to maintain prices, it can grant financial assistance to States for the same purpose if state programs are developed
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by 1938 which are in line with specifications included in the Soil Con- servation and Domestic Allotment Act of 1936. When, under the pro- visions of this Act, the problem of developing state control programs is faced, those States in which county adjustment planning has been done most thoroughly will have a distinct advantage. Work done this winter by the county planning committees should make the task less difficult.
Recommendations of these committees have been recorded on uni- form tabulation sheets and sent to the state office of the Agricultural Extension Service where state totals are now being tabulated for the use of state agencies. Comparisons will be made with results of the research project already referred to, and meetings will then be held in the counties for the purpose of getting agreement and considering the extent to which the two estimates coincide. The data are being forwarded also to the Department of Agriculture for tabulation of national and regional totals. When agreement is reached between farmer, state and Federal repre- sentatives, it is expected to have a major influence in determining the procedure for arriving at the national goal for agricultural production. If this goal is really to promote public rather than merely group interests, it must represent a use of land which will provide consumers with con- tinuous and abundant supplies of farm produce at reasonable prices, yield a reasonable income to farmers, and at the same time maintain soil fertility and control erosion.
In conclusion, it should not be understood from this description of the purpose and method of county adjustment planning that the useful- ness of the county committees ends with the performance of the task undertaken this winter. At the same time this work was being done, a start was made toward planning for the more distant future. This in- volves balancing the agricultural resources and population of the various counties so as to make possible a satisfactory level of income. It includes not only soil conservation, but also other problems of agricultural land use, such as the retirement of submarginal land. County agricultural adjustment planning is a job begun that can never be finished. Most States are anxious to continue the work, and regard it as one of the best efforts ever started. It is expected that the county committees will continue to collaborate with state and Federal agencies on all matters of mutual interest, and that they will consider questions of purely local concern also — as they are now doing in a number of States.
72 PLANNING PROCEEDINGS
Inter-County Organization
THE GEORGIA EASTERN COAST DISTRICT
By HENRY T. McINTOSH, District Chairman, National Resources Committee,
Albany, Ga.
THE East Georgia Planning Council is the direct outgrowth of the Southeastern Planning Conference which was held in the city of Savannah on December 4 and 5, 1935. At that Conference, the first of its kind in the Southeast, those contributing to the program brought informative discussions of local, state, regional and national planning. Attendance from the four participating States was splendidly repre- sentative, the proceedings were given excellent publicity through the press, and leading newspapers made constructive editorial comment on the significance of such a meeting.
The almost immediate fruitage of the Savannah conference was a movement to organize a group of counties of the Georgia coastal section for regional planning. Planning-minded citizens of Savannah supplied the initiative, and other communities were prompt to evince interest and give assurance of cooperation. At a meeting held at Savannah on January 14, the East Georgia Planning Council was organized, with sixteen coastal counties extending from South Carolina to Florida par- ticipating. Mr. D. T. Simpson, of Savannah, was named president, and one member from each of the participating counties was appointed to an advisory committee.
At a subsequent meeting an invitation was extended, through the Florida State Planning Board, for a group of contiguous Florida counties to become members of the Council. Through the cooperative efforts of Mr. M. L. Montgomery, executive secretary of the Florida Board, the counties of Nassau, Baker and Duval, two of which touch the Georgia line, accepted the invitation and are now members of the Council.
This Georgia-Florida coastal region offers an inviting field for plan- ning studies. In it are five South Atlantic ports, the more important of which are Savannah and Jacksonville. It is level country in which interesting land-utilization problems are presented, and where much of the rural population can be greatly benefited by intelligently directed programs to influence changes of existing agricultural practices, as well as many which prevail in naval stores production and lumber operations.
Understandable difficulties in inducing cordial cooperation in a regional planning activity by counties more accustomed to keen rivalry than to coordination of effort might have been expected, yet all such difficulties were avoided. When, in addition to crossing many county lines, a program such as this assumes an interstate character by crossing a state line, the invitation to obstacles is widened, yet it is a pleasing fact that in this case what might have been was not, and is not. The
INTER-COUNTY ORGANIZATION 78
nineteen counties embraced in the set-up view the program not as one for local benefits or advantages, but designed to benefit the entire region.
The planning studies contemplated are suggested by problems of the area. They will, of course, include such as are necessary in connection with the National Resources Committee's development of a National Plan. It is conceivable that the same problems would not be encountered in any other region embracing a score of counties of a coastal area.
Resident in the region are many belonging to the struggling tenant and share-cropper class, of whom there are 8,000,000, in 1,700,000 families, in the Southern States. Embraced in any program designed to improve the condition of these dwellers in rural areas, and bring economic benefits to the region in which they live, should be planning for better farming, and for diversified industries making use of agri- cultural products. The region is capable of extensive production of crops which may be utilized in the manufacture of starch and of alcohol. Such possibilities suggest studies of great potential value.
Every region offers something more or less unique to the planner, and in this flat country which extends from the Savannah River on the north to points well below the St. Marys on the south, he may find the peculiar and the unusual.
For example: The entire region is covered with an abundant growth of pines of the several types which Dr. Charles H. Herty's experiments have proved are ideally adapted to the manufacture of newsprint and other papers, as well as rayon. Hitherto these pines have possessed rather low timber value. They grow in open woodlands, much of which is used as cattle ranges. But the grasses indigenous to the region possess low nutritive value, and, as a rule, cattle from the pine ranges are of rather poor types.
But while the native grasses, including the wire-grass, have low grazing value, they feed fires which spread through the woodlands every winter, destroying the pine mast which falls in October and November, as well as thousands of young trees. Leading citizens of the region see in this situation a challenge to planning intelligence, and the problem falls within the field of land utilization. The problem seems to be :
1. To demonstrate the practicability of introducing carpet or other grasses into the flat-country woodlands — grasses on which the ever-present cattle will thrive, but which will not feed destructive fires such as have for many years taken heavy toll in the region.
2. To conserve the timber growth which a hopeful industry requires. One large paper mill in the region is about ready to begin operations, and plans for others are in preparation.
I repeat that every region offers certain situations or conditions more or less unique, and to which practical planning (and any planning which is not practical is certain to prove disappointing) must be adapted. That is true of the East Georgia-North Florida coastal region. Here is
74 PLANNING PROCEEDINGS
an area in which thousands of acres of land are ideally adapted to limited profitable uses, principally cattle raising and the production of timber for naval stores, lumber and pulpwood. The reference is to timbered lands, in addition to which there are, of course, fine areas where profit- able farming operations are carried on. Every newspaper in the region has discussed these and related problems from tune to time, for their solution is recognized as of great importance.
It is to be borne in mind that these are the observations of one whose planning zeal may border on enthusiasm, but who does not profess to be a planner. The layman merely views a problem or a task; the expert considers how best to deal with it effectively, yet only common sense is required for one to understand that planning boils down to this: How may the resources of a region, be it great or small, be best conserved and utilized for the benefit of the men and women who live and labor in it, and not forgetting that other generations, with rights as sacred as our own, come after our generation?
All planning is more or less experimental. That will be true of this regional plan. Mistakes probably will be made, but who believes the perfect plan will ever be born of human intelligence? New problems present themselves with each rising sun, with countless old ones still unsolved.
But is it not true that the test of our fitness for any responsibility, whether voluntarily assumed or thrust upon us by circumstances beyond our control, is in the use we make of what we have? The answer to that seems obvious, and it lies very close to the heart of planning, both good and bad. We are making many experiments. We are daring to try the untried. We presently shall be immeasurably richer in experience crowned with success— yes, and illuminated by failure as well. It is trite to say that what we know already of the importance of planning is no less the fruit of experiments which have failed than of those which have wholly or measurably succeeded.
But in every venture in planning — or call it adventure if you will — the task is to take that which the region planned for offers, and direct its use to the end that the greatest benefits may flow to the people of the region who are the most important factors in the plan. We hope to do that in the coastal region of Georgia and northeastern Florida, where the program will receive united support from the nineteen co- operating counties.
INTER-COUNTY ORGANIZATION 75
TENNESSEE COUNTIES
By GERALD GIMRE, Nashville, Term., Consultant, Tennessee State Planning Commission
DURING the period in which planning legislation was being con- sidered for Tennessee, the question arose as to what type or size of governmental unit should be used to make the plans effective. The State functions under a very old constitution, with the municipal and county governments operating under a system of private statutes which has resulted in a state-wide group of principalities, each with its own laws and different methods of functioning. The counties in Tennessee were carved out by an old law which provided that the boundaries of any county should not be more than one day's journey from the county seat. This has resulted in a large number of county governments, each entrenched in its own locality and usually averse to any change. County consolidation has long been agitated, but with the entrenchment of the multitudes of office-holders, and because the people of the State are, in general, very deliberate in changing to newer procedures, it will be some time before there is any change in the established system. It was there- fore realized that in our planning, the existing order would have to be recognized and that such detailed plans as might be perfected would depend on the individual county courts for enactment.
As would be expected under such a system of county governments, many counties exist for no real economic or governmental purpose and are so impoverished as to be unable to support the normal requirements of government. It was thought that, in light of existing circumstances, perhaps a means could be derived whereby, for planning purposes, exist- ing county boundary lines could be forgotten and plans formulated on the basis of areas or regions of such size or character as might be ex- pedient. Not only would planning be made more comprehensive by such a method, but perhaps an eventual effect might be a breakdown of the resistance against changing the existing county system.
It was decided, therefore, to delegate to the State Planning Commis- sion the authority to create regional planning commissions without reference to any existing county boundary lines. The State Planning Commission appoints the members of the regional commissions and must approve the selection of the executive directors. After such regional planning commissions are established, they have the usual powers of municipal planning commissions in controlling subdivision layouts, per- fecting major road plans, formulating zoning ordinances and the for- mation of such other parts of comprehensive plans as may be required. An additional restriction is that no state aid of any nature whatsoever may be given to any local government within any such region, until and unless the proposed aid has been referred to the State Planning Commission for recommendation and report.
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Preparatory work has been under way for a number of months for the establishment of several such regional planning commissions. For the present, activities are under way only for those parts of the State where certain specific problems enabled the State Planning Commission to determine the boundaries of the regions and to outline the problems to be studied. Three such commissions have now been established and several months' preparation has been made on the establishment of a fourth.
The Northeast Tennessee Regional Planning Commission has been established for the area comprising the five most easterly counties of the State. The area embraced is one of the most important industrial and agricultural areas in Tennessee and covers an area of approximately 1,600 square miles. The problems to be studied immediately comprise the study of agriculture and land classification and certain physical developments such as roads and schools. It is hoped that this area will be one in which a very detailed study will be made of industrial and urban trends.
A regional planning commission has also been created for Hamilton County, in which is located the city of Chattanooga, and the New Chick- amauga Dam of the Tennessee Valley Authority. This commission for the present is functioning as a county planning commission rather than as a regional planning commission. This was done because it was neces- sary to exert speed in getting certain measures of control into effect before the erection of the Chickamauga Dam was begun, and this would not have been possible if more than one county court had to be dealt with. This area will be expanded in the future to embrace the contiguous counties to this area. The commission has effectuated a road plan, a set of subdivision regulations and a subdivision manual and through the County Court has secured the enactment of an interim zoning law. A comprehensive zoning plan is now being formulated, and more detailed studies are being made of road relocations, which will be necessary because of the Chickamauga Dam and pool. The existing school plant, tax delinquency and the utility requirements are also being studied by the commission.
A regional planning commission has been created for the City of Nash- ville, giving control to the City Planning and Zoning Commission for the unincorporated area outside the city limits. Since this Commission is more localized in its operation, it need not be discussed in this paper.
Another region under consideration is that of the Obion River- Forked Deer River watershed areas in West Tennessee. Preliminary surveys and a report on the conditions within the area have been made by the State Planning Commission and negotiations are under way with the county courts within the area leading towards the establish- ment of a regional planning commission. The area embraced includes parts of thirteen counties containing approximately 4,500 square miles.
INTER-COUNTY ORGANIZATION 77
It is one of the most fertile and best agricultural areas within the State, but is faced with acute problems arising from over-capitalized drainage districts which, in many cases, have made flooding worse than before drainage began. Serious erosion in the uplands has clogged the streams and resulted in destruction of timber and the abandonment of much good agricultural land. This region, with its extensive drainage districts, sets forth a perfect example of the lack of planning in attempting to carry out large-scale enterprises. More than 6 million dollars have been expended by the citizens of this area in attempts to correct conditions, but, because of the piece-meal methods of construction, conditions are worse than they were in the beginning.
These regional commissions are necessarily difficult to establish in that the State Planning Commission does not wish arbitrarily to set up such regional planning commissions unless the citizens of the areas have an understanding of their purposes and are willing to lend interest and support. For that reason, it has taken the State Planning Commission considerable time to get the regional commissions actually in operation, and, while it is too early to report on their definite accomplishments, we hope they will serve as examples to the citizens of the State in arriving at a means of giving services to the citizens in the regions, which they could not otherwise obtain under the present form of county government.
THE STATE
State Planning Progress
MASSACHUSETTS
By ELISABETH M. HERLIHY, Boston, Mass., Chairman, Massachusetts State
Planning Board
WE, in Massachusetts, are a very young board. In fact, the Massa- chusetts Federation of Taxpayers' Associations, Inc., a voluntary, unofficial organization, in a recent report on the Massachusetts budget and related matters, prepared for the House and Senate Committee on Ways and Means, characterized the State Planning Board — ap- pointed in 1935 — as "one of the latest contributions of a generous Legislature to the field of new activities." The report proceeds with a burst of oratory which I believe well worthy of perpetuation in the annals of planning literature :
The history of all new activities seems to be strangely similar. They grow with the rapidity of mushrooms. They flourish with the verdant luxuriance of the proverbial bay-tree. Their original intent seems always to become sub- ordinated to the primal urge of reproduction and expansion. Therefore while considering . . . new additions to the "infant industries" of the Commonwealth it is well to utter a word of warning that just over the fence, busily burrowing to reach the inner circle, are the beauticians, the steam-fitters, the civil engineers and surveyors, the dry cleansers and dyers, the architects, the real estate agents and the magnetic healers, to be followed perhaps by the ward heelers
And, finally, after making certain misleading statements with regard to expenditures and certain sarcastic references to functions as set forth in the legislative act, the report concludes with the words, "It is an infant board of great promise." Verily, many a true word is spoken in satire. Our best hope is that the implied prophecy may be fulfilled.
The Massachusetts State Planning Board opened its permanent headquarters in the State House on November 25, 1935, less than six months ago. We have a fine board, with eminent consultants, and we have made an excellent start in our technical staff and in our clerical staff. We have adopted an eight-point program which is coming to be rather generally recognized by my own characterization as an eight- cylinder program. Briefly this eight-cylinder program includes studies of
LAND: Agriculture, forestry, geologic resources, urban use, etc.;
WATER: Supply, flow, sanitation and flood control;
POWER: Production, distribution and use;
INDUSTRY: Trade and social conditions;
RECREATION : Extensive and intensive, scenery, wildlife, etc. ;
TRANSPORT: Highway, rail, air and water coordinated;
PUBLIC WORKS: Ten-year state program and budget; Federal aid; and
COMMUNITY PLANNING : Encouragement and advice.
In order that there shall be smoothness and efficiency of operation, therefore, we have considered it advisable and even necessary to advance along all fronts at one and the same time, in the belief that no single
81
82 PLANNING PROCEEDINGS
classification or cylinder is in itself complete, but that each one is, to a more or less degree, dependent upon the others in the group.
For the present, however, I shall ignore all but two of the classifica- tions referred to. I have been asked by the Program Committee to direct my remarks particularly to the local situation, or our Community Planning cylinder, while at the same time the elements have conspired to flood completely our Water Resources cylinder. These two classifica- tions, therefore, become the joint objective of this particular paper.
We have a somewhat anomalous situation in Massachusetts. In the natural order of things, the State Planning Board should be the parent organization, the stimulant and inspiration for the establishment and guidance of the local boards; but in Massachusetts the State Board, upon its organization in 1935, found local planning agencies scattered throughout the length and breadth of the Commonwealth, 129 orphans so to speak, some of them pretty well grown, which the State Board is supposed to adopt and to continue to function toward in the role of "guide, philosopher and friend."
Planning is mandatory in our Commonwealth, a fact with which the members of this Conference are perfectly familiar. Chapter 494 of the Acts of the year 1913, which later became sections 70, 71, and 72 of Chapter 41 of the General Laws, decreed that every city and every town having a population of more than 10,000 shall, and towns having a population of less than 10,000 may — mandatory in the first instance and permissive in the second — create a planning board. The Act further recites that such board
shall make careful studies of the resources, possibilities and needs of the town, particularly with respect to conditions injurious to the public health or other- wise in and about rented dwellings, and make plans for the development of the municipality, with special reference to proper housing of its inhabitants.
So far as the letter of the law is concerned, it has been apparently fairly well upheld, nearly one-half of the total number of boards being estab- lished in towns of under 10,000 population where the provisions of the enabling act are merely permissive rather than mandatory. I am not sure that I can speak with equal confidence so far as the spirit of the law is concerned for, while some of the boards have rendered splendid service, by far too many of them have remained inactive so far as studies of the ''resources, possibilities and needs of the town" are con- cerned, and certainly few plans have been advanced "for the develop- ment of the municipality with special reference to proper housing of its inhabitants." This is not said in any spirit of criticism. It is part of the job of the State Planning Board, as I see it, and as specifically set forth in the legislative act under which we are functioning, to "advise and cooperate with national, regional and county, municipal and other local planning, housing and zoning agencies within the commonwealth for the purpose of promoting coordination between the state and local
STATE PLANNING PROGRESS 83
plans and development." This same provision is set forth no less than three times in succeeding sections in the legislative act calling upon the State Planning Board in its relations with other agencies within the Commonwealth to "confer and cooperate," to "advise and cooperate," to "plan and assist in planning" to the end that there may be better housing, better planning, better zoning and the better distribution of population and industry.
You will recall the statement contained in the Findings of the Na- tional Resources Board in its Report on State Planning (1935):
Planning is an attitude and a practice which must command the confidence and invite the cooperation of wide groups of people. It must come from the bottom up as well as from the top down, from the circumference as well as from the centre. Indeed if it were not for local initiative and planning impulse, it would be necessary to continue its cultivation and stimulation. Fortunately the spirit of planning is strong in the American local tradition, in industry and engineering, in State as well as Nation, and the task is that of bringing together and making effective the various planning agencies so that the largest results may be achieved.
With this in mind, I have made a rather hasty, and by no means complete, survey of the work of the local planning agencies throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in an attempt to ascertain to what extent the foundation has been laid upon which the State Planning Board is expected to build "from the bottom up." The results, while not entirely gratifying, are by no means discouraging.
We have, to begin with, 129 boards, more or less, including several unofficial and inactive bodies — perhaps the largest number in any State in the Union. Their growth has been steady rather than spectacular, dating back to the establishment of the Salem board in 1912, nearly a quarter of a century ago. This means that the seed of planning has been planted in the midst of more than three and a half million people and while some of it may have fallen upon barren ground, I believe it to be one of the functions of the State Planning Board to attempt at least, and I hope to succeed in reviving boards that may have become dormant, to cooperate with them in securing efficient support, and to assist them in developing constructive and forward-looking programs.
Appropriations for the work of the local boards, while reasonable in some instances, as a whole have left much to be desired. According to a survey made by the New England Regional Planning Commission, fifty-eight communities reported budgets with a total of $44,181.15, or an average of $762.50. In my own survey, I am impressed with the fact that the 1936 appropriation, in a number of instances, shows a very healthy increase over the average for the preceding ten years.
I am further impressed, or perhaps I should say depressed, by the comparatively few local groups that have taken advantage of the op- portunity to secure Federal funds for planning purposes. In this my own city of Boston stands out in what is to me a most significant manner.
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The Boston City Planning Board, in the two-year period beginning December, 1933, received Federal allocations to the amount of $480, 053. This enabled us to assemble a vast amount of basic material; to make housing, engineering and landscape studies; to complete a real property inventory, and a survey of business and industrial building; an alley survey covering in detail the conditions obtaining in more than two thousand alleys, and a report on the income and cost of six typical districts in the city of Boston, a survey which has now been extended to cover the entire 127 census tracts into which Boston is divided. Against this amount of $480,053, the city of Boston appropriated $11,500, or less than 2J^ per cent, for the purchase of equipment and materials. In addition, we have now received a WPA appropriation to the amount of $892,726 for the purpose of accurately surveying the street and lot lines of the city of Boston and developing therefrom an official map. More than 500 workers are engaged in this project at the present tune.
Perhaps it is not too late for the State Planning Board to be of as- sistance to the local boards in developing programs for planning work that will find sufficient favor in the eyes of the Government officials to warrant them in approving for the work an allocation of Federal funds.
Few complete plans have been prepared, but here and there plans for streets, parks and playgrounds, civic centers and public buildings are reported. It shall be the ami of the State Planning Board to give to these existing plans new meaning, to assist in perfecting them, and to coordinate them with those of the neighboring communities. Housing plans are apparently non-existent, although housing was the motivating spirit back of the planning enabling act in 1913. Here the duty of the State Planning Board will be largely one of cooperation, since the State Housing Board, established in 1933, is fully equipped, by authority, ability and intent, to investigate defective housing, to study the oper- ation of building laws, to acquire land by eminent domain, and to take various other steps in order to increase the number of wholesome homes for the people.
In the local communities in Massachusetts, the accent appears to have been placed upon zoning work. There are in the State 73 munici- palities with a population of more than 10,000 persons, and of this number 50 have adopted zoning regulations. Here again the work of the State Planning Board is made clear by legislative act, to "confer, to advise, to assist," in zoning as in planning activities. If there is work to be done in connection with zoning activities, it is perhaps largely a matter of interpretation in so far as relates to variances granted and changes in the plan itself. It is generally recognized that a zoning plan must be flexible in order to meet changing conditions, but it is not so well appreciated that it must also possess stability in order to afford proper protection to persons and to property.
Many of the local boards report the lack of funds as their present
STATE PLANNING PROGRESS 85
major difficulty; others the lack of public support, although here and there I found refreshment in the statement that officials and citizens were sympathetic and conditions generally favorable. One at least reported enthusiastic public support; and still another that its chief difficulty was the great extent to which the local officials relied upon it for information and assistance.
Many and varied were the suggestions offered by the local boards as to ways and means by which the State Planning Board could be of assistance to them, including information service on legislative matters and the work of other boards, clearing house activities, cooperation, assistance and advice.
Through long years of service on the Boston City Planning Board, and as a member of the Executive Committee of the Massachusetts Federation of Planning Boards, I have had the privilege of working with many of the members of the local boards for years. The opportunity has, of course, broadened in the last few months, and out of the experience of nearly a quarter of a century I am glad to pay tribute to the ability, the unselfishness, and the perseverance of the splendid group of women and men who make up the local planning boards of the State of Massa- chusetts. I could ask no higher reward for my own efforts than that I be permitted, as I now have been, to join my labors to theirs to the end that by our united efforts there may be brought to the people of our Commonwealth a larger measure of comfort and convenience in their homes, prosperity in their undertakings, and happiness in their daily lives.
We have just been visited, in Massachusetts, by a flood which in its severity broke all existing records. Events moved too rapidly in con- nection with it to permit, even at this time, of any coherent account. Drama quickly became tragedy as to the rush of water, the roar of land- slides, the breaking up of ice jams, and the crash of falling bridges were added the destruction of homes and the loss of human life. That side of the story, with a full sense of my own incompetence, I leave to a more fluent pen.
To those of you who are not familiar with our State — if such there be — I would say that it has an area of 8,093 square miles. It is traversed, enriched and threatened by the Connecticut River, the Merrimac River, the Blackstone River, the Housatonic River, the Quinebaug Valley of which French River is a part, and the Hoosic River, in all comprising a drainage area of 5,188 square miles. To this might be added a large number of streams which are purely interstate in character. This means that with the exception of the eastern portion, including Cape Cod, practically the entire State shared in the tremendous damage experienced in the flooded areas.
It means also that a majority of our local planning boards were involved, which is my excuse for combining the two subjects at this time.
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In November, 1935, in common with the State Planning Boards of the other New England States, the Massachusetts Board joined in sponsoring a project having for its purpose the securing of hydrologic and other data in connection with the Connecticut River drainage areas. At the present tune there are about thirty persons employed on a pro- gram outlined by Prof. H. K. Barrows, who has but recently been ap- pointed by the National Resources Committee as one of fifteen water consultants assigned to the different river-drainage basins as the next step in fulfilling President Roosevelt's recent request for a national water plan.
From the beginning of our project there was proposed a thorough study of the usual spring freshet caused by melting snow and ice break- up usually occurring in the latter part of March. According to the laws of probability, the flood should not have occurred. We had one in 1927 and the prediction was that such events would occur on something like a 75-year frequency. Unexpected as it was, however, it found our field parties on the job, both before and during the flood, working day and night in order that not a single detail of the unprecedented rise of the Connecticut River and its tributaries should be lost to future study and analysis.
The flow of ice was so violent that even the trees were stripped of their bark; travel became impossible; power and communication lines were severed, and several of our field parties, finding their return blocked by six to seven feet of water, were forced to seek refuge in farmhouses on higher land where they remained isolated for a number of days. Even in the headquarters office of the hydrology study at the Court House in Springfield, it was not possible to keep the water out. Entrance to the office was gained by wading in a foot of water along the corridor, and climbing over a few feet of sandbags at the door, all in pitch dark- ness, relieved here and there by the flickering rays of a candle.
As the waters receded, efforts were redoubled by our field parties to map the flooded areas, to obtain the elevation of high water along several hundred miles of main rivers and tributaries, to investigate the fifty or more bridges and dams destroyed, the millions of dollars worth of highways undermined, the farms inundated and covered with silt, gravel and debris, and to estimate the flow and discharge hi river and over spillways.
Nor is this work now confined to the Connecticut River basin. With the aid of Federal funds, both in our staff project and in our WPA Projects, work is under way in the various river valleys throughout the State. Members of the State Planning Board and of the regular staff have worked continuously on emergency problems as well as on planning problems, with Federal, state and local agencies, giving as- sistance, encouragement or advice as the case may be.
No accurate estimate of the loss occasioned by floods has been
STATE PLANNING PROGRESS 87
attempted, but it is safe to say that it has reached a higher figure in millions than many of us have attained in years. Suppose as a conserva- tive estimate we say a 50 million dollar loss, or, in other words, a loss more than a thousand times greater than all of the budgets of the local planning boards throughout the State put together. In fact, if we sub- tract the city of Boston budget and the budgets of the other cities and towns in the Metropolitan Boston area and the Cape, and consider only the budgets reported by cities and towns in the flooded areas, then the loss may easily reach a figure 5000 times greater than the amount made available for planning work. This is a situation which should be brought forcibly to the attention of the local authorities, particularly to the end that the local boards in future may be properly equipped with personnel and with funds to enable them to do their full share toward the preven- tion of a repetition of the recent catastrophe.
President Roosevelt in his speech of acceptance at Chicago in July, 1932, declared:
Out of every crisis, every tribulation, every disaster, mankind arises with some share of greater knowledge, of higher decency, of purer purpose.
If, as a result of the 1936 flood in the State of Massachusetts, there shall come to pass a better appreciation of the possibilities of planning and a willingness to devote a larger share of public effort and of public funds to prevention rather than to cure, then from the standpoint of future generations, the flood shall not have been in vain.
The situation as it stands at the present time is a challenge to the local planning agencies as well as to the State Planning Board. It may be the knock of opportunity. In any event the State Planning Board will leave no stone unturned to bring about a better understanding of the benefits to be derived from a reasonable application of planning principles to public progress.
SOUTH DAKOTA
By W. R. RONALD, Mitchell, S. D., Chairman, South Dakota State Planning Board
CAN the planning program be made practical? The outstanding impression that I have of the South Dakota State Planning Board is that it is very much on the spot and that the spot is constantly getting hotter and hotter. We have a marvelous staff in our State, not less than one hundred people working on research, with five different offices in the State. Squirrels accumulating nuts for their winter supply could not possibly be more industrious than this staff, and as the reports come to the central office, constantly getting higher and higher, I wonder more and more whether the consequences so far as the State Planning
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Board is concerned will be anything more than an acute attack of mental indigestion.
It would be altogether trite to observe to this group that the planning board is a newcomer in the house of government. If one may judge from a rising tide of sentiment or expression over the country, there is a growing demand for some kind of limitation on government — a sort of zoning scheme — to establish an outside maximum for departments, bureaus, boards and commissions in state and Federal Government. In addition to that, many of these departments, bureaus, boards and commissions are engaged in planning on their own account. In fact, we might even say we have always had planning, consciously or uncon- sciously. Many acts of the legislatures and of Congress are the result of some idea of a plan. The same is true of many executive orders. Now, with all that going on, we have introduced something else — the planning board — and the burden of proof is certainly on the planning board to the extent that it must find for itself a place in this crowded house that will be its exclusive and natural habitat.
I think those of us who are on planning boards have a considerable degree of conscience in the matter. My own state's appropriation is not large — $20,000 — but it was liberal under existing conditions. Much more has been spent by the Federal Government. If we have the right idea, we must feel that full value received must be given, and in a very definite and unmistakable manner.
I have tried to work out the basis upon which the planning board's existence should be justified and its place found. I think there is no question that members of planning boards have no illusion as to their particular talents. They are not suffering from the belief that they are supermen. From the fact that each and every one here has been deny- ing that he is a planner, it is more likely we are suffering from an in- feriority complex. So it cannot be said that we are going to justify our existence by reason of any superior talents on the part of the personnel.
Therefore, apparently, the only way by which we can warrant the planning board as an institution is by the methods it pursues. These must be unique in some respects. Of course, we are all familiar with the formula. The planning board differs from others whose members have sought to look forward in that the planning board proceeds first to ascertain the facts and then go on from there and arrive at more in- formed opinions. We must accept that as perhaps the distinguishing feature of the planning board, and if any of its practices will justify its existence they probably are to be found in that approach.
Mr. Herbert Hoover said one thing some twenty-five years ago that may be recalled when everything he has said as President has been forgotten. He was then a business engineer, and he made this statement : "A correct statement of any problem is nine-tenths of its solution/* Now if that is correct, it should be possible for the planning board to
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find a problem or problems in the reports on research and the facts that are found, but it should also be able to discover a solution inherent in the facts themselves. That will not be a tremendously difficult task if Mr. Hoover was right, and I think he was.
But there is a much more severe test that will be applied to the reports and recommendations of the planning boards, whether they are conscious of it or not. That is, that any and all plans adopted must be practical of accomplishment. We know the answer to many of these problems. We need no investigation to discover what should be done. In some cases it is almost common knowledge. So as to those matters, the task of the planning board will be to discover how to arrive at the accomplishment of these particular solutions. I am frankly wondering if our Planning Board will go around and around and around and finally finish exactly where it started. We will probably confront obstacles of which we are not now aware, but there are three very definite hurdles which we must take if our plans are to be practicable of accom- plishment.
First of all, there is the problem of cost. We are confronted with the fact that the demand is for a reduction in public expenditures instead of an increase. Therefore, the burden of proof is very definitely upon any proposal that calls for any additional expenditure. The Planning Board must, if it can, find a practicable and acceptable means of pro- viding revenue required for its proposals.
Secondly, there is the time element. We talk a great deal about long- time planning. We know that erosion is doing its worst and destroying our resources in some parts of the country at a very rapid rate. Plans thus far developed to combat this very definite attack upon our resources call for a very long period if they are carried to completion. So of human resources we must time our program so we will not have lost irrevocably a valuable human possession. That calls for the expediting of conserva- tion programs.
And, third, there is a very definite difficulty in the human equation. The people of the United States are notoriously conservative. Public opinion involves a great deal of inertia. What has been in the past hangs like a dead weight on what ought to be in the future. This is made more serious by reason of the fact that our form of government works in reverse. In the United Kingdom, for example, there is no stated period in which a commission is allowed to govern. It is what we call in our own newspaper business TF — 'til forbidden. In our own country, in county, state and Federal governments, we choose officials for a stated term, and we give them unlimited commission to do as they please for that period of time. After two or four years we have a hectic two or four weeks in which each side tries to talk louder than the other and the voter gets more confused and we have another commission, unreserved, to handle the public for another two or four or six years.
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The only recourse of the voters is to turn people out of office if they do not like what they have done, and that develops an attitude on the part of the public official and on the part of the voter that makes it more difficult to enlist their support in a forward-looking program that calls for understanding.
Now I might illustrate what I mean. We have 30,000 Indians who are going to be dumped on the State of South Dakota some of these days. They have been pushed along, of course, until now they are living in an area where the Resettlement Administration says whites cannot pos- sibly make a living, and from which they are being removed. The Indian problem is not solved. It is going to become our responsibility. How are we going to work that out? In the matter of land-use, we know what should be developed, of course, but we have the difficulty of up- setting institutions and of changing the disposition of people to go on living on the lands whether they produce or not. They are apparently content to prosper on next year's crop.
We realize that somehow our plan — when we work it out — must be put over. We have developed a technique which I think is perhaps a combination of the Socratic, the bonfire and the alibi method. The Socratic method puts up the problem and asks for a solution. This will make men think, we hope. Then if that fails we are going to try to build a bonfire under the public officials by calling in the chairmen of all the county boards before we arrive at any plan, permit them to discuss it and give their recommendations, so they will feel it is their plan and will talk to their legislators. Finally, the alibi will be in these reports. We can say to the legislators, "Pass this bill," and if any ask you why, refer them to this report. It will contain hundreds of pages and nobody will read it but it will present the legislators with an excellent alibi.
I am not pessimistic; rather, I am hopeful and jealous — jealous of this plan because of its immeasurable opportunities, because it is a definite assault upon and an attempt to correct what might be described as our national fault, namely, our thoughtlessness and our heedlessness. So we are trying by our picture to give people the advantage of perspec- tive, by projecting the past into the future, from a close-up of the present. We are hoping that we can accomplish enough so that it will be said in our State the money was not wasted, and that there is a place for one more board in South Dakota.
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FLORIDA
By C. B. TREADWAY, Tallahassee, Fla., Member of the Florida State Planning Board, and Chairman of the State Road Department
Read by MRS. M. M. EBERT, Lake Wales, Fla., Member of Florida State Planning Board
AS a member of the State Planning Board, and also chairman of the XJL State Road Department of Florida, I am particularly interested in planning as it affects highways. The importance of highway transpor- tation in Florida is not limited to any governmental subdivision; it is of vital interest to all citizens of the State. The highway problem in Florida is perhaps very little different from that in most of the other States, with the possible exception of our seasonal travel by guests from other States during the winter. We also have an extensive trucking industry, both in and out of the State, which constantly hauls our products, such as citrus, winter vegetables, fish and the like, ov^er the highways.
The history of roads in Florida, too, is probably but little different from that of any other section of the United States — there were no pre- conceived plans. Foot, or horse, trails were, of course, the first paths of land transportation, or travel, and preceded settlement of the country. As the settlement of the country proceeded, roads were advanced to permit transportation of commodities in greater quantities and at lower cost than was possible by means of pack-sacks on men or loads on pack animals. In some cases military roads preceded the roads and trails for civil purposes and in some cases were constructed coincident with the need for roads for civil life. With the development of the need for more rapid transportation and transport of commodities in greater quantities, there were developed the public post roads for rapid travel on horse, or by stage coach, and on which roads freight wagons also moved. There were also developed the toll highways built and main- tained by private interests. These highways, which were the best of their time, permitted, for payment of a toll for use of the road, rapid travel by horsemen, passengers in stage coaches and freight in freight wagons, which moved more easily over the paved and well-maintained toll roads than was the case on other roads. With the increase in density of population and development of settled territory and establishment of local governmental bodies, there began the construction of public roads necessary for transportation between all of the small communities and between the small communities and the large trading centers. Land transport moved on these public highways until the development of the railways began to offer transportation at much higher speed and lower gross cost.
The highways became a most important factor in a movement of individuals in individually owned conveyances as the motor vehicle superseded the horse and buggy. New developments for the high-
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ways were based on the requirements for the individually owned and operated passenger motor cars. Later the opportunity of using the public highway for commercial transport was recognized, and the growth of this commercial transport has been one of the main factors influencing the maintenance and rebuilding of motor roads constructed prior to a date about ten years ago.
Road construction could not possibly keep up with the many demands placed upon it by the mushroom growth of the automotive industry, nor could our system of roads be discarded. It was a case of making the best of existing facilities. If proper future planning had been thought of and applied ten to fifteen years ago, we would not now be confronted with many of our road problems of today.
In Florida, state roads are designated in three classifications by the Legislature, namely, first, second, and third preferentials. The first and second preferential highway systems have been about completed by the Highway Department, and the necessity for wise planning for the future expansion of our highway system is more evident than ever before. The third preferential system of roads has been designated with very little thought toward the utility of the road, the territory that it will serve, or the expense of construction and maintenance. A properly developed long-range plan for highway construction will eliminate this hit-or-miss method, and will save millions of dollars to the taxpayers of Florida during the next few years. Further, a long-range plan will, if properly conceived and executed result in construction and improve- ments in maintenance and operation that will better serve the people who use the facility and will better develop natural and human resources.
About twro years ago the State Road Department, in cooperation with the Florida State Planning Board, conducted a road survey within the limitation of FERA financing and the amounts of money that could be used by the Highway Department and the Planning Board for this purpose. While a mass of data was secured at this time which is most valuable for highway planning, this work is now being supplemented with a state-wide survey in cooperation with the Bureau of Public Roads similar to that now being carried on in over forty other States.
Florida has embarked upon another most interesting experiment. This is the creation of county planning agencies by statute. When the bill was written creating the State Planning Board officially, the question of county planning agencies was thoroughly discussed by the State Board and others interested. There was a variance of opinion as to whether such county planning agencies should be authorized under the law, or, as an alternate, regional planning groups comprising several counties be created for this purpose. Inasmuch as we realized that the counties were the political subdivisions with which it was necessary for us to deal in our planning work, it was finally determined that the county planning groups would be authorized under the law.
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These County Planning Councils, as they are officially known, are composed of one member from the County Board of Public Instruction, one member of the County Commissioners, and one member from each official municipal planning agency within the county, in addition to which the Governor appoints members at large to a number that will exceed at least by three the total of the ex-officio members.
The first task was to obtain from the ex-qfficio bodies designations of their members for inclusion in these county planning councils. After this was done the Governor appointed the members at large, which appointments were made in October, 1935. To date all of the councils in the State, with the exception of two, have organized and elected officers and are officially functioning. Shortly after this organization, county planning councils were called upon by the state WPA officials to establish priority of WPA projects that had been submitted to the state office, approved, and on which, in many cases, work had already begun. There was, of course, no time for these planning councils to formulate a well- rounded public works program from which proper recommendations for WPA work could be made. However, from the knowledge of conditions by the members of the councils who were selected from the county at large, a very worth-while contribution to the development of a WPA works program was made.
The sudden induction into the service of planning of a mass of people, nearly five hundred, most of whom had no previous experience in the planning field, has been a most interesting experiment. The State Plan- ning Board has had neither the finances nor the personnel to make the number of personal visits to these planning councils that we think desirable. Another feature that has prevented more progress by these county groups has been the total lack of finance for their activities. No provision was made in the law for financing with state funds and all of the county budgets had been closed before their appointments. It has been possible in some instances to secure county funds to help the councils carry on their work, but these have been very few. It is hoped that when the next budget is prepared within the next sixty days most of the counties will include some funds for county planning.
A number of the counties have attempted to secure through the WPA technical and clerical assistance to carry on planning activities within their counties. So far, while most of these projects have been approved by the state WPA officials, they have not been able to overcome the barrier at Washington. On the whole, we feel that this experiment has been successful, because most of these county groups have been con- stantly requesting that some representative of the State Planning Board appear before them and assist them to get started in the field of planning. This has been done in as many instances as possible, and the planning idea has been well received. We hope within the near future to hold one or more state conferences for these groups.
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There still is a division of thought in Florida as to whether these counties should be grouped into planning agencies which would give us from seven to ten planning agencies in the State rather than sixty-seven, other than the municipal and state agencies. It is thought by some that the smaller number of groups, but covering a large area, would be able to accomplish a great deal more and the State Board could make more and better contacts with the fewer groups and that it would be easier to finance the activities. This is a question that probably will come up for further discussion, and a possible solution before the next Legislature, which convenes in the spring of 1937.
We do feel, however, that Florida is becoming more planning-minded every day and that much good has come from our efforts, and that state, county and municipal planning, with the possibility of regional planning, is now in Florida to stay.
NEW JERSEY
By CHARLES P. MESSICK, Trenton, N. J., Chairman, New Jersey State Planning Board
WE in New Jersey are situated, as you know, between two great metropolitan centers, New York and Philadelphia. Stated more accurately, New Jersey is part of these areas and must, therefore, face the constant fact of congested population. The social and economic con- sequences of heavy population density make two groups of the many state problems especially urgent — those of transportation and of water resources.
Before any solution to the transportation problems of New Jersey can be found, some knowledge of the present and future distribution and movement of population is necessary. It is thought, for instance, that the future rate of population increase in New Jersey will be greater than that for many other parts of the country because the State, with its peculiar location, will probably continue to attract both industries and residents from neighboring States. Information about future trends is of inestimable importance in planning for tomorrow's highways, air- ports, and railroad systems. Because of the primary importance of this information the State Planning Board has placed, and continues to place, special emphasis upon studies of population and land-use trends. As more material is accumulated and as the trends of population growth and land-use become clearer, it will be possible to estimate future popu- lation with some fair degree of accuracy. These predictions depend, of course, upon many different social and economic factors. The Planning Board is studying these fields as well and hopes to expand its research in the future. A sound transportation program for New Jersey must be founded upon accurate basic data if it is to be economically sound.
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The solution of the water problems of New Jersey is an extremely difficult one. The New Jersey State Planning Board is cooperating with the Federal Government in its studies of water resources within the area which surrounds and includes New Jersey. A committee of the Board is at the present time collecting material relating to the water problems of New Jersey. Within the State itself the chief problem centers about future water supply for the metropolitan district of northern New Jersey. In order to coordinate the work which has already been done along these lines, the Board has brought together the various departments, agencies, and committees which have worked upon, or are interested in, these matters. It is hoped that in this way a real beginning has been made toward the solution of the state's water problems.
As we see our function in the State, it includes much work toward a better understanding of these two fundamental problems. Our pur- pose is to build slowly, to keep asking questions, and to continue our research in the hope that we will assist in the education and information of the people of the State as to the basic questions of securing those services which we must make in living together.
VIRGINIA
CHAIRMAN'S INTRODUCTION
MR. WILLARD DAY, County Manager, Henrico County, Virginia: The Virginia State Planning Board was appointed in 1933 by Governor Pollard and the same personnel was continued by a resolution of the 1934 General Assembly at the request of Governor Peery.
The Board is composed of 14 members, 11 of whom are the head of or connected with one of the various state departments. The other three are Morton L. Wallerstein, Executive Secretary of the League of Virginia Municipalities, who is chairman of the Planning Board; Colonel Leroy Hodges, Managing Director of the State Chamber of Commerce, Vice- Chairman; and Dr. Douglas S. Freeman, Editor of the Richmond News Leader.
Thirty-five Virginia cities and three counties have adopted the manager form of government; in fact, it originated in this State in 1908 in the City of Staunton. The State Planning Board sponsored a bill which was adopted by the 1936 General Assembly authorizing the appointment by local Boards of Supervisors of county planning com- missions. Henrico, one of the three manager counties, is the first to appoint a Planning Commission under the new law, and the newly created Planning Commission finds many opportunities for constructive planning.
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The most pressing problem of the moment is in connection with contemplated annexation of the county's territory by the City of Richmond. It is the viewpoint of the County Planning Commission that the growth of Richmond can best be fostered by a plan providing for the joint control of the suburban areas around the City. The State Planning Board will cooperate with local planning commissions, and it has been in close contact with the various state departments.
This group here assembled will doubtless be interested to know something of what the state departments think of their Planning Board.
One of the speakers during the morning session has stressed the point that state or local planning must not be entirely in the realm of theory, but must be capable of practical application and workability. From the statements of these state officials, I am quite sure there is no doubt in the mind of anyone present as to the practical application and co- operative working out of state planning in Virginia.
STATE PLANNING AND EDUCATION
By SIDNEY B. HALL, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Commonwealth of Virginia, Richmond, Va.
THE Virginia State Department of Education has for some time realized that a very uneconomic, unplanned program of school building locations, and an unsound policy of pupil transportation, have existed. With the limited facilities available we have been unable to make the necessary studies and attempt to put into effect in the various communities the results of such studies. In 1933 we did begin a de- tailed school plant survey in an effort to determine the school building locations, the physical condition of school buildings, and various de- tailed items concerning the construction, planning, obsolescence, etc. With the assistance of the State Planning Board the State Department of Education was able to complete maps for each county, showing the location with reference to highways, population centers, along with a vast amount of detailed information covering the physical condition of the school plant.
This study has brought forcibly to the attention of all interested parties a number of conditions that need attention and correction as soon as practicable:
First: School buildings in many cases are located just across county lines, resulting in two buildings where only one would adequately serve all instruc- tional purposes.
Second: School buildings have been located without reference to highway development either for the present or for planned future highway development.
Third: School buildings have been located without reference to any well- planned system of transportation.
Fourth: Consolidated schools have been built without reference to the development of improved highways, with the result that we find in Virginia a
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high school for approximately each 100 square miles. A study reveals that with a carefully planned system of transportation, one high school for every 200 or 250 square miles would adequately serve the communities without excessively long transportation hauls for children.
The State Department of Education has been able to use to excellent advantage the studies made by the State Planning Board in advising local communities when buildings have been contemplated at locations that might be unwise in the light of points raised above, and it is con- servatively estimated that already we have been able to save to the local taxpayers several hundred thousands of dollars in capital outlay by pointing out in the light of these studies that such capital outlay would be unwise.
Through the State Planning Board there has already been developed a close coordination between the Highway Department and the State Department of Education in preparing a master plan of school building locations, along with a master plan of highway development for the State as a whole. This should result in economies not only in capital outlay in the location of buildings, but also in the planned program of transportation.
Through the activities of the State Planning Board we are furnished with detailed information on marginal and submarginal lands, which serves as a guide in school building locations.
The State Department of Education has cooperated and will con- tinue to cooperate fully with the State Planning Board in an effort to develop a long-time master plan that will involve school building loca- tions in cooperation with a master plan of highway development, look- ing to the end that carefully planned consolidations may be effected and savings will result to taxpayers in locating buildings.
STATE PLANNING AND CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT
By WILBUR C. HALL, Chairman, State Commission on Conservation and Development, Richmond, Va.
I AM glad for several reasons to take part in this planning conference and to address you briefly at this time on "State Planning in Rela- tion to Conservation and Development." As Chairman of the Virginia State Commission on Conservation and Development, I encounter each day problems of a most varied nature pertaining to the natural resources of our Commonwealth. As a member of the Virginia State Planning Board, I am often reminded that we have many hurdles to clear and obstacles to surmount before the lack of well-coordinated planning in past decades can be overcome. We are thankful, however, that in recent years the need for planning has become so evident that we enter the
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campaign with a vision and a vigor that can do no less than improve conditions for this and succeeding generations.
Organizations such as the American City Planning Institute, the American Planning and Civic Association, the American Society of Planning Officials, the National Resources Committee, and the several state and other planning groups, must develop the methods, organize appropriately the materials, and press steadily forward toward new and better goals in the conservation and development of all of our resources : community, state and national; material and human.
In a society such as ours, there are two ways of approaching the manifold problems that naturally and inevitably arise in connection with the conservation and development of our natural resources. One way is aptly characterized by the familiar expression "muddling through"; the other method is typified by thorough planning. We have seen the results of the first way in many fields of activity. Often they have not been a credit to our vaunted engineering methods and our practical business acumen. We are beginning to see the results of the second method more and more in fields to which it has customarily not been applied.
With the examples from other nations, or even in our own land, recorded by history or illustrated in the current geographic and con- servation periodicals, it is difficult to understand why we who live in the United States have been content so long more or less to "muddle through" in regard to our natural resources. This has become almost an insidious chronic state of mind and activity that affects vitally our whole social structure — in national, state, county and municipal groups. I doubt very much if present conditions are due in large part to mental indolence or social independence; rather I think they are the unhappy, almost tragic, result of several factors. Some of these factors have not been foreseen, but some have been so evident that we have overlooked their full significance.
One of the most important factors no doubt is the youth of this Nation. In spite of our pride in our antiquity as a commonwealth and the manifold examples of cherished historic traditions, after all, as a Nation we are young, quite young, compared to most of the world. It would be better, perhaps, to say that, as a group trying social experi- ments, we are in our youth and sometimes are harmed by the impetuosi- ties and by the lack- of farseeing planning which are characteristic of youth.
The germ of conservation — applied planning — is really as old as civilization. Natural resources coupled with some planned efforts have been the stepping stones upon which society has slowly progressed to its present state. Man has sought the treasure-trove of Nature and has mastered many of the refractory materials, but in turn he has become enslaved by them.
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When our Colonial ancestors landed at Jamestown and at Plymouth Rock, they were confronted by primeval forests with magnificent trees in bewildering array such as most of them had never seen before. As they worked their way into those forests and up the rivers, it is little wonder that they and their children easily arrived at the conclusion that the forests on this continent were everlasting. It is little wonder, too, that they cleared them away almost with a vengeance in order to follow agricultural pursuits. Nowadays we accomplish the same result by carelessness with fire, so that forest fires are a constant menace. Efficient fire control and practical reforestation wisely planned and insistently practiced should go far to correct some of the mistakes of the past and the abuses of the present.
Time permits me to speak only of forests as an illustration, but the same mass view has applied, since Colonial times, to most of our natural resources. Consider for a moment soils as another example. Virgin soils of age-old fertility and tremendous productivity were found over vast areas. Our lack of foresight in the conservation of these soils has been almost ruthless. It is becoming a tragedy of modern civilization because, in the final analysis, soils are our most fundamental natural resource. Those losses are evident to all of you. As a single illustration, geologists tell us that the Mississippi River alone carries each year to the Gulf enough soil to make 200 daily trains, each train containing one hundred 50-ton cars. One such train in every seven minutes! Soils are produced so slowly and washed away so rapidly when the checks and balances of Nature are upset by man. Entrenched erosion is difficult to overcome, and eternal vigilance based upon wise experimentation and shrewd planning must become a general policy.
Note that I said age-old fertility. That suggests another factor, an almost complete lack of understanding of the antiquity of our natural resources. New forests can be grown, but in this day of great demands within short periods of time, in most places adequate quantity and quality can not be grown rapidly enough without long-range planning. Our soils have been produced through the mechanical and chemical disintegration and decay of the underlying rocks. That has not been done overnight even in a geologic sense, but has been the result of surface processes acting through millenia. Once our soils are destroyed through our carelessness and lack of planning, future generations may suffer severely before results of adequate planning become effective.
Mineral resources to the layman are generally considered inexhaus- tible, but they too have their limits in quantity and quality. The day is bound to come when the supply of some of our most useful mineral resources will be either inadequate or else the cost of production will be far beyond the present cost. Until we have the facts brought forcefully to our attention, we little realize how much our daily living is affected at every turn by minerals in this "Age of Mineral Utilization." Not
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until we begin effective planning do we understand how tragic is the monetary and social waste involved in the unplanned development of some of our mineral deposits.
Water is commonly considered as free as air, but an understanding of the dendrologic and geologic conditions that control our water supplies soon leads to a different understanding and an emphasis upon the need of careful planning. Floods must be prevented or minimized. Adequate water supplies of high quality must be assured for all domestic and industrial purposes.
In brief, then, our American civilization has until recently more or less "muddled through" in regard to our essential natural resources, such as forests, soils, mineral resources, and water resources. We have been expressively reminded by J. N. Darling that as a nation we have been living upon a dole, a "dole that came from a rich inheritance of natural resources ... as a gift of nature in the shape of public forests, rich mineral deposits, water, and an abundance of wild life seemingly inexhaustible in its profusion." It is true, of course, that planned efforts at conservation and development of some of these resources have been made more or less sporadically throughout the past century, but it was not until near the dawn of the present century that determined efforts were made towards the conservation of some of our resources. As is well known, it has only been within the past few years that well-planned efforts have been made to establish national and state planning on a sound basis.
The creation of the National Resources Board, now the National Resources Committee, was a step in the right direction. It should be- come a permanent organization to compile data on the resources of our country and to formulate plans and policies for their proper conservation and development. Our State Planning Board has those objectives for our commonwealth. Our General Assembly, which convened a few months ago, enacted a bill authorizing county planning commissions and defining their duties. One of those duties is "to make and adopt a master plan for the physical development of the unincorporated terri- tory of the county."
The work of the State Planning Board should be intimately related to the work of the State Commission on Conservation and Develop- ment, through all of its divisional activities. Although their methods of approach may, at times and in certain fields, be somewhat different, the ultimate objectives should be approximately the same.
It may be taken for granted that the State Planning Board intends to search out all obtainable facts about Virginia, particularly as they bear on industrial and social problems. It is, in a word, a fact-finding organization, to which is added the duty of collating and correlating these facts and, upon those foundation stones, developing a well-planned system for the best utilization of all of the resources of the State. The
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State Planning Board must rely, in considerable measure, upon the activities of state and other fact-finding departments for its basic data. Somewhat like an engineer using familiar materials, it organizes those materials into new structures to serve new purposes or to serve better long-established activities.
In the brief time available I have attempted to call your attention to some of the basic principles of conservation and development, to some of the activities of the State Commission on Conservation and Develop- ment as they pertain to the natural resources of Virginia, and to stress in a general way some of the needs and benefits of state planning as applied to them. Each division of our Commission is carrying forward well-planned activities in its own field. There is some need for a co- ordination of those diverse activities in a cooperative plan from the point of view of all the industrial and social needs of the State. That is a function and aim of the Virginia State Planning Board. From the basic facts about our natural resources, obtained from competent authorities, and all the social activities dependent upon them, it is envisioning and developing a program that we hope will make for industrial progress and greater social comfort and security throughout Virginia.
Our reflections are poignant as we inventory present natural resources and social conditions and we are made keenly aware of the tremendous losses sustained through lack of fruitful planning. A clear and sharply focused foresight should convince us that national and state planning along appropriate lines have become a necessity if our modern civiliza- tion is to persist and prosper. One is tempted to emphasize the need of a slogan — Plan and prosper; plan or perish!
STATE PLANNING AND LEGISLATIVE PLANNING
By WILLIAM R. SHANDS, Director, Division of Statutory Research and Drafting, Commonwealth of Virginia, Richmond, Va.
VIRGINIA is at this time one of a few States specifically engaged in coordinating the activities of a State Planning Board and a Legislative Council.
The General Assembly of Virginia meets in regular session for a period of sixty days once every two years. During this short period it is necessary for the members of the General Assembly to consider, usually, over a thousand bills in order to determine which measures should be enacted. Under the circumstances it has been found necessary to do a considerable amount of advance planning.
In the past, legislative planning has been carried on by individual members of the General Assembly and legislative committees and com- missions. The Governor has also played a most important part in legis-
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lative planning through the performance of the duty imposed on him by the Constitution to communicate to the General Assembly at every session the condition of the State and to recommend to its consideration such measures as he may deem expedient. The Legislative Reference Bureau, now known as the Division of Statutory Research and Drafting, was created in 1914 to assist the members of the General Assembly, legislative committees and commissions, and the Governor in their work pertaining to legislative planning.
The Governor in the early part of 1935 appointed an Advisory Legis- lative Council to consider and submit to him recommendations concern- ing such matters as might be referred to the Council by the Governor. Funds for the Council were provided by a grant to the Governor by the Spelman Fund of New York, which also provided funds for the Virginia State Planning Board. The latter Board, an outgrowth of an unofficial board, appointed in September, 1933, to assist in planning public works to relieve unemployment, had, in 1934, been officially recognized by the General Assembly through a resolution authorizing the Governor to continue the Virginia State Planning Board.
The Governor's Advisory Legislative Council submitted reports to the Governor on seven subjects referred to the Council by the Governor and recommended the adoption of twenty measures, all of which were subsequently introduced in the General Assembly during the 1936 session and thirteen of which were finally enacted into law.
No specific recommendations of the State Planning Board were referred to the Council, due to the fact that the State Planning Board has so far been busily engaged in gathering factual data to be used as the basis for future recommendations.
During the recent session the General Assembly passed an act creat- ing the Virginia Advisory Legislative Council. The Council will consist of seven members, to be appointed by the Governor. At least five of the members must be members of the General Assembly. The Director of the Division of Statutory Research and Drafting is Secretary of the Council. The new Council will replace the unofficial body previously appointed by the Governor. The act provides that it shall be the duty of the Council (a) to make an investigation and study of any matter or question which may be referred to it by the General Assembly, and submit a report containing its findings and recommendations to the Governor and to the members of the General Assembly at least thirty days prior to the next regular session of the General Assembly, or at such other time or times as the General Assembly shall direct, and (6) to make an investigation and study of any matter or question which may be referred to it by the Governor and to submit to the Governor a copy of its report containing its findings and recommendations at least thirty days prior to the next regular session of the General Assembly or at such other time or times as the Governor may request.
THE REGION
Regional Planning
INCENTIVES AND OBJECTIVES IN REGIONAL PLANNING
By GEORGE T. RENNER, Department of Geography, Columbia University, and Senior Economist, National Resources Committee
The Problem. It is a constitutional fact that the sovereignty of the American people resides in the several States. Nevertheless, state boundaries do not correspond to many modern social, economic or administrative requirements. Therefore, while the States are units of sovereignty, they are by no means satisfactory units for planning. Indeed, when taken individually, they are usually so geographically incomplete for this purpose that the joint action of States becomes a prerequisite for constructive action. Interstate cooperation is, there- fore, a matter of almost universal concern to the planning profession.
Interstate cooperation is not a new concept; indeed, the Federal Government seems to have had its inception in an initial attempt of the States to create a means whereby they could do collectively what they could not do individually. Now that the States have federalism, they seem not to like it in all its aspects. At present there is an increas- ing need for planning, resource conservation, and large-scale engineering development. In connection with this, a paradoxical situation has arisen; namely, there is a growing reluctance to allow the Federal Government to make and execute large-scale developmental and conservational plans, even though it is often a geographical impossibility for any indi- vidual State to do these things.
Two agencies are at work seeking to overcome this dilemma, the Council of State Governments, and the United States National Re- sources Committee, together with its wholly non-partisan state plan- ning boards. Both of these agencies are concerned equally with the pro- motion of state action and interstate cooperation. The Council of State Governments represents a long-delayed second attempt to secure general interstate action, this time through a completely decentralized structure rather than a centralized or Federal one. The National Resources Com- mittee has considered the same method of approach, but, in addition, has been exploring the possibility of a way out through regional organ- ization for planning.1
Interstate Cooperation and Regionalism. The joint action of States may assume two distinctly different aspects, as follows: (a) The pro- jection of certain sovereign state powers laterally at the same govern- mental level, and (b) the projection of certain sovereign state powers vertically to a new governmental level.
iGaus, J. M., Crane, J., Dimock, M. E., and Renner, G. T., "Regional Factors in National Planning and Development," National Resources Committee, Washington, D. C., 1935, p. 223.
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The first of these is where two or more States agree to act in unison or toward a common end. This extension of state powers at the same level is interstate cooperation in the ordinary sense; the interstate com- pact is a specific application of the principle.
The second of these is where two or more States project certain of their powers upward, so that these focus at some point below the Federal level; this in such manner as to form a new polity whose areal jurisdic- tion is not synonymous with the combined areas of the participating States and whose functions are not the combined functions of those States. This is regionalism in its operative aspect.
These two political phenomena are often confused, or rather they are never separated in the minds of most people. It may be readily seen, however, that interstate cooperation and regionalism are not necessarily synonymous. They are promising but different ways out of a dilemma; it is possible to have either without the other. Even then the mere projection of certain sovereign state powers upward to a new administrative level does not necessarily produce a bonafide regionalism. Instead it may assume any one of three possible forms.
First, it may create a new unit similar to the States but larger in area and above them in administrative level. Second, it may create a purely subnational unit, or what has been called a "little capital," wherein certain Federal functions are concentrated. Or third, it may give rise to a new type of polity with an entirely new geographical basis. To this last, the name region may be applied.
Planning officials and planning-minded citizens have been groping after this third solution; but, in general, it has been rather generally misunderstood. Consequently, many different concepts have been posed as regionalism, and many different things have been done under the guise of regional planning. There is no desire to disparage any of these, but if we be planners, then we must understand the exact nature of the planning device which we propose to use, its implications, and its in- evitable results.
Incentives to Regional Planning. There are today some six significant incentives toward regional planning. First, the constantly increasing complexity of society demands a constantly increasing service of govern- ment to the individual and to the group. This means an augmentation in the problems of control which transcend state jurisdiction. Some of these focus at the Federal level and demand national planning, while some focus at a lower level and demand regional planning.
Second, large-scale physical development and conservation of resources are becoming increasingly urgent. More and more these two processes are giving rise to interstate problems, most of which are of national interest but which concern areas smaller than the whole country.
Third, it has been suggested that the planning and execution of pro- grams of resource development and conservation be done by blocs of
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States actuated from a local center, such as Boston for the New England States or Atlanta for the Southern States. This is probably one of the results of a growing "sense of community" in the mind of modern man in America. The village or grange hall is now too small to hold the man with an automobile; counties are too small for their original purposes; in many respects the States are also too small, and need to be supple- mented by the region. This is strengthened by the fact that it is easier for men to think kindly in terms of Boston, or Atlanta, or perhaps Des Moines, than in terms of far-off Washington, D. C. This regional prin- ciple is also strengthened in reverse order by the fact that the Federal Government finds its bureau functions can be administered in the field more satisfactorily from sub-centers than from Washington directly.
Fourth, economic planning, precipitated largely by the "depression," has also provided an urge toward the regional approach. The late NRA industrial program, the regulatory program of the Petroleum Adminis- trative Board, the former crop-control planning and the present nascent soil-improvement schedule of the AAA, all these and other forms of commodity or functional planning have required specialized areas as bases for calculations or operations.
Fifth, the growing manifestation of the social phenomenon known as regionalism has also played a part. Regionalism arises out of a sponta- neous loyalty to area. It may be described as "a clustering of environ- mental, economic, social, and governmental factors to such an extent that a distinct consciousness of separate identity within the national whole, a need for autonomous planning, a manifestation of cultural peculiarities, and a desire for freedom of administrative action, arises and clamors for recognition."
Regionalism is to be measured neither entirely in the social realm nor in the physical realm. Rather it grows out of man's adjustment to area. For example, "an area, wherein there has grown up one character- istic pattern of human adjustment to environment, one general class of human use of resources and locus, — is a region."
Most States possess regionally only to a slight degree. Hence we tend to identify ourselves as Southerners, or Middle Westerners, because our basic or natural loyalties are elicited by other areas than States. We, therefore, tend to think in terms of the region rather than the State. As pointed out by Prof. John Gaus, regionalism is the basis for "the encouragement of a richer and more varied life for the Nation, whereby the peculiar characteristics, resources, and contributions of the major sections of the country can be protected from invasions, exploitation, and suppression by ill-considered and hasty national policies. The very stimulation of self -consciousness of the individual region or section may recruit a wider leadership for civic affairs, and a richer culture."
The sixth and last incentive to regional planning is the deliberate encouragement and systematic stimulation by professional planners.
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Many of these latter have perceived the limitations of both the national and the state approach, and have deliberately steered for a new polity.
The Promise of Regional Planning. Regionalism, as a motif for plan- ning, seems to offer manifold promises, the road to which involves several definite steps: (a) identifying the regionalism which is present; (6) demarking the area which encompasses it; (c) determining the needs of this area; (d) making a plan and fitting it to the area in question; (e) implementing the plan in terms of state and federal sovereignties.
An eminent Southern scientist has outlined the aims and opportuni- ties of regional planning for his region, as follows :
The task of planning (for this region) is an extraordinarily difficult one, but all the elements necessary for success are present and only need to be focused in the right ways and combinations. There is ample evidence that unless there be a definite change in regional economy, there will be retrogressions in agri- culture, in industry, and in general culture and institutions. Some aspects of this prospect are alarming, indicating that the South can ill afford to make many more mistakes.
Regional reconstruction can be successfully achieved only in relation to national integration and interregional adjustments. By the same token, national social planning must be based upon regional analysis and functioning, giving logical values to regional differentials and distributions.
Realistic and stable results can be attained only through approximate de- limitation and definition of the region on the basis of scientific and functional analysis, reclassifying border areas, and providing for adequate functional sub- regional divisions to meet the practical needs of overlapping areas and specialized activities. In this regional classification there is need for more approximate uni- formity among the many national and local boards, agencies, and consultants, and less accidental and arbitrary allocation of areas and functions.
The objectives of the new planning envisage no Utopias, yet they do look toward the rehabilitation of the people, toward the reconstruction of cotton economy, toward increasing the Southeast's revenue to the nation as well as its own wealth, and toward general regional, cultural adjustment. . . . Such emphasis in the Southeast ought to serve as a new regional motivation as well as to point the way to tangible, visible next steps.
While continuous emphasis must be placed upon state planning, regional planning can contribute wisely to many special aspects and to the general re- gional development. This is especially true in agricultural reconstruction, in land and other resource utilization, in institutions of higher learning and research, and in social legislation needed as adequate framework for practical planning.
This means a very realistic program . . . comprehending the whole problem of land use and planning, and of optimum programs of agricultural production in relation to population, to industry, and to total capacity of the region, its interregional relations and its foreign markets. This . . . involves the measure and use of present surplus people and labor as well as land of readjusted crop production and land improvements, or programs of rural housing and rural electrification. It implies new emphasis upon special activities such as dairying and livestock industry, small industries and part-time farming, new occupations and new crops, new industries, and it assumes new reaches in expanded co- operative organizations and endeavor.2
2Odum, H. W., "Southern Regions of the United States." University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, N. C., pp. 664, various pages.
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Possible Regional Forms. So far, most of the discussions which have been carried on in this country regarding regional planning have cen- tered about two questions: First, shall we have regional planning or not? Second, what powers will be assigned to it? The answers to these will perhaps appear in the two related papers which follow. Meanwhile, it is here proposed to raise a third question and examine its implications, namely, "What kind of regional planning are we going to have?" In order to answer this, one must examine the major proposals along this line which have already been made.
First, it has been proposed to create blocs-of -States operating by compact agreement. To many, a unit consisting of, say, six States is preferable to one of 48 States, partly because it is more wieldy and partly because it is nearer both the citizen and the problem.
Second, it has been proposed to project city planning over the hinter- lands of the large cities. The advantages and problems of this pro- cedure are fairly obvious, but it should not be overlooked that at present there is in progress all over the Western world an almost silent but bitter struggle between the urban and the rural way of living. Indeed, it has been asserted by some that the present need for planning has, in considerable degree, arisen out of the need to protect rural culture and resources against those exploitive forces emanating from the modern city. To adopt this premise for regional planning might, therefore, place the emphasis in regional planning in an undesirable quarter.
Third, it has been proposed to orient regional planning in terms of that deep-seated regionalism which is geographically inherent in America and which is constantly apparent in the culture of its inhabitants. This would be not so much a new polity in American government as it would be an entire realignment of loyalties, incentives, and objectives in our national life; a harnessing of an heretofore neglected factor to achieve desired and worthwhile ends.
An Example — The Great Plains. In order to evaluate these three alternative proposals, suppose they be applied to the Great Plains.3
The general characteristics, both natural and human, of this area are well defined; its boundaries are fairly clearly established. Politically the Great Plains Region involves parts of ten States, but does not include all of any one State.4 This is one of the crucial problem areas of the Nation; indeed, it presents numerous serious problems which demand treatment as a unified region rather than as part of ten States. Chief among these problems are:
(1) recurrent drought;
(2) extensive farming on submarginal land;
(3) need for enlargement of farm units;
(4) control of wheat production;
'The writer is a native of this region and hence particularly familiar with its conditions. 4These are: Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska.
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(5) feed, seed, and land loans;
(6) shelter-belt planting;
(7) restoration of range grasses;
(8) conservation of water;
(9) revision of local governmental pattern; (10) partial revision of settlement pattern.
At once arises the question as to what premise shall be used in creat- ing a region to deal with these problems?
First, shall regionalization be on the basis of urban spheres of in- fluence? If so, Denver, Portland, St. Louis, Dallas, Chicago, and the Twin Cities, all have valid claims to pieces of it. On such a premise, the area falls apart.5
Second, shall it be on the basis of grouping together the ten States concerned? If so, it becomes necessary to include much area and popu- lation outside of the Great Plains.6 The extraneous parts thus included comprise some of the finest portions of the adjacent cotton, corn, and wheat belts. The external better portions of the States concerned so color the total combination as to convert the bona fide Great Plains interests into an assemblage of minorities. The primary regional objec- tives are thus obscured or submerged.
Third, shall we recognize that the Great Plains are a fundamental unit in both physical and human terms, and proceed by setting the area up as a prima facie region? If so, our main concern is to identify the fundamental regionalism which is the core or nucleus of the area. Simi- larly, our major objective becomes that of preserving the area's essential unity and homogeneity as a frame for program formulation and for the execution of those programs. Thus the paramount emphasis is placed upon the problem area and not the States, although the sovereignty of the latter is not impaired.
Conclusions. Regionalism is real, regardless of what may be done with it, but its instrumentation is neither self-directing nor self -executing. If it is to be useful, it must be rationally controlled. Otherwise we will reproduce the same old medley of checks, balances, compromises, and fractional jurisdictions, which has come to be identified with the Ameri- can system, but which has little to offer the planner.
Regional organization is unquestionably the coming polity. Whether it will eventuate next year, next decade, or next century cannot be forecast. There are many forms which it may assume. Its future pat- tern may be left to chance, with all which that might mean in waste, inefficiency and indirection. Indeed, developments to date suggest that regions are apt to be created administratively by catch-as-catch-can methods similar to those used in the past in laying out States and lesser
•There is already a movement on foot to include part of the Great Plains in a unit of this kind.
•There is already under way an organization including the four northern Great Plains States together with one State entirely outside that area.
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civil divisions. On the other hand, regional organization can be care- fully planned ahead of tune in the interest of efficiency and harmony within the structure of national life. At any event, regionalism presents one of the most significant and insistent challenges to the professional planner today.
POLITICAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE ASPECTS OF REGIONAL PLANNING
By MARSHALL E. DIMOCK, Department of Political Science, University of Chicago, and Consultant, National Resources Committee
TT^EDERALISM remains the most difficult problem of the American JL constitutional system. It becomes increasingly clear, therefore, that in a country as vast and varied as ours, there is needed an inter- mediate level of administrative coordination and planning authority midway between the States and the Federal Government.
There has recently appeared a vigorous revival of the doctrine of states rights. In large measure this is a result of the feeling that too much Federal control results in a paralyzing over-centralization and loss of democratic participation in government. Regional decentralization and regional planning can provide the needed balance.
A few planners, geographers, and political scientists have been aware of this fact for a long time, but not until recently have they begun to work out its practical implications. Within the last six months, three significant studies have appeared: first, Howard Odum's penetrating and challenging "Southern Regions"; second, Karl Lohmann's "Regional Planning"; and third, the National Resources Committee's "Regional Factors in National Planning."
This represents splendid progress. But the regional solution is far from being realized. It is one thing to know what is best to do from a rational standpoint, but quite another thing to change popular lethargies, constitutional rigidities and administrative modes. Francis Delaisi, a distinguished French economist, has written a book entitled "Political Myths and Economic Realities." He points out that boundaries are merely myths and that well-being is to be secured by following economic dictates. We would all agree with him. But there is irony in the words Delaisi employs. Political boundaries are stubborn facts; popular attach- ments to symbols are realities — disappointing as their irrationality may be.
Regional government may possibly be a long time in coming. This despite the fact that regional consciousness has grown rapidly in almost every section of the country within the last few years. But even when the desire has become strong, it will probably be found difficult to trans- form our constitutional and administrative structure, so as to pro- vide for it.
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Meantime there are a number of very definite things that can be ac- complished. Some of them will lead us toward an ultimate sub-national regionalization. It should be possible to effect a substantial degree of regional planning within the existing boundary provisions and govern- mental powers of this country. Moreover, administrative coordination on this level can be effected in several ways. One of the most significant developments of recent years has been the almost universal regionali- zation of Federal departments and newly established agencies ; the next step is coordination between them at regional centers and the use of such centers for Federal cooperation with state and local governments. There is no reason why we should not recognize regional capitals in fact even though we do not do so in constitutional law for some time to come. The Federal Government has already fostered regional planning com- missions in two sections of the country and has established the Tennessee Valley Authority in an area including parts of seven States. Then there are means also whereby closer cooperation can be obtained among the several States, among regional groups of States. The interstate compact is one way. State Commissions on Interstate Cooperation, a recent development, also seem to hold promise.
If we are to make progress within the limitations of present areal and administrative alignments, all possible means of cooperation and coordination need to be employed. While I would not discourage the search for the best and most efficient system of sub-national planning and administration (and I have made it clear, I think, that personally I favor regional governments), I am also convinced that no one present method is in itself sufficient. The regionalization of Federal agencies has undoubtedly improved the efficiency of their administration. There are, in all, 106 regional schemes in use by the Federal Government. Concern- ing this development, James Fesler has said, "The areas chosen were in almost every case larger than States and were usually formed by the grouping of several States. Over three-fourths of the regional schemes use less than 17 regions. In other words, the 48 States have been found both too small and too numerous for use as paramount areas of federal administration."1 For national planning purposes, it is important that the various departments and bureaus concerned with natural resources and social planning be located in the same regional city. This is far from being the case at the present time. However, proposals for remedying the situation have been worked out and it is to be hoped that speedy progress along that line can be made.
Regional planning has already been given concrete administrative
expression in New England, the Pacific Northwest, and the Tennessee
Valley. You are already familiar with these developments.2 But, for
tfames W. Fesler, "Federal Administrative Regions," American Political Science
Review, April, 1935, pp. 257-268.
*They are described in Regional Factors in National Planning, National Resources Committee, chapters 9, 10.
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the purpose of the present discussion there are two questions of major importance which ought to be considered. In the first place, should pre- liminary planning be kept distinct from the execution of plans? Should planning and execution be entrusted to separate bodies or is it desirable to combine the authority? The first method is represented in the set-up of the New England and Pacific Northwest planning commissions, while the unified procedure is exemplified in the Tennessee Valley Authority. However, the difference is not as great as might at first appear, because, as you know, a very complete survey of basic data was prepared for the Tennessee Valley Authority before its present development program was started. Personally, I am glad that both methods are being experi- mented with. I presume that the planning profession still adheres to the principle that planning is a separate process and that program execution should be turned over to others. However, both business management and public administration have found that there is a continuous chain of responsibility and control between planning and execution, with the result that they tend increasingly to be commingled rather than differ- entiated. The Tennessee Valley Authority is a testing-ground for the diverse theories. I think the most important point to be insisted upon is that irrespective of which method is employed, adequate advance planning must be required in every case. The second administrative matter to which I wish to refer is the use of the public corporation, as exemplified by the Tennessee Valley Authority, for planning purposes. It can be said with assurance that the public proprietary corporation has demonstrated its social utility and administrative effectiveness when trading activities are to be undertaken by governments. Will the same advantages result when a governmental body is charged with the mixed responsibilities of social planning and public utility management? Here, again, we must expect a longer trial period before a conclusive answer can be given.
Regional planning can be furthered by means of interstate compacts. For this governmental procedure ample constitutional provision has been made. Within recent months certain persons and organizations have thought that they saw in the compact method a panacea not only for physical planning but also for social planning within the realm that the Supreme Court has held Federal power unconstitutional. I believe that such an expectation is far too sanguine. The history of the compact method does not support any such supposition. On the other hand, there are things that can and should be done by means of interstate compacts. The number of compacts has been fairly small, suggesting limited applicability. According to records compiled by the Library of Congress, 57 compacts have been authorized, of which 34 have finally become effective through state ratification. In addition, 13 have been authorized by one or more States without congressional authority and approval. In the Regionalism study of the National Resources Commit-
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tee some of the important conclusions reached concerning the compact method were these:
(1) Compacts when most serviceable have dealt with problems that were traditionally "governmental," such as boundary disputes and debt settlements.
(2) The compact method may be expected to succeed when confined to subject matter involving definite conclusions and uniform laws to be administered through the already existing departments of government.
(3) Compacts are not recommended for situations involving the opposite set of circumstances, that is, when the problem is a continuing one; when the solution demands the establishment of independent machinery over and above the separate state departments; and when independent planning and autono- mous execution are clearly indicated. (It is this conclusion which is obviously of greatest significance for planners.)
(4) The interstate compact has not proved a satisfactory medium for con- tinuous and progressive planning activity. Additional grants of power must constantly be secured. The system lacks independence, initiative, flexibility and coercive authority.3
However, matters such as crime prevention, bridge building, park plan- ning and stream pollution have been effectively handled by use of the interstate compact.
The Interstate Sanitary Commission, created in 1931 by New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, is probably the best-known example of a pollution-prevention program. The Commission has the task of attempt- ing to control pollution of the upper New Jersey coast, most of the shore line of Long Island and the Hudson River up to Tarry town. It cannot itself undertake construction projects, but can bring suit against any of the 103 communities in its territory which are negligent in pre- venting water pollution. The compact has recently been given greater effectiveness by legislation in New York, in harmony with acts of the New Jersey legislature. Enforcement is left to the appropriate adminis- trative agencies of the cooperating States. The compact method may be expected to succeed in cases such as this, where compacting States simply agree to do certain definite things and where continuous adminis- tration is not a major factor.
Just recently six out of the seven principal petroleum-producing States signed a compact promising to observe prorating schemes; Cali- fornia refused to join. The results of this compact should be watched with great interest. However, I think you planners would agree with me that the basic difficulties in the situation can be adequately adjusted only by Federal authority.
The most active effort to bring about regional solutions by means of agreements between two or more States is being sponsored by the Council of State Governments. At the present time fifteen States have created Commissions on Interstate Cooperation. About half of these are on a statutory basis. The movement held its second annual conference not
^Regional Factors in National Planning, op. cit., pp. 50-52.
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long ago in Chicago. The Council of State Governments has set up a regional office in New York to serve the Commissions on Interstate Cooperation in that area. To date the principal activities of this new movement have centered in the States of New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. Matters which have been dealt with are milk supply, crime, transients, highway safety, the Palisades Park and stream pollu- tion. The uses of streams and the protection of water supply constitute the chief question around which recent efforts have revolved. The New York secretariat of the Council of State Governments has been particu- larly concerned with the Delaware River pollution-prevention scheme. New Jersey and Pennsylvania have created Commissions on Interstate Cooperation; Delaware has not. The pollution problem is being con- sidered by a joint authority consisting of four representatives from each State, three Commissioners on Interstate Cooperation and one person from the Planning Board of each cooperating State.
There are three significant features of this cooperative movement sponsored by the Council of State Governments that should be noted. In the first place, a well-financed national organization is behind group- of -states schemes; secondly, if the example of the New York secretariat is followed elsewhere common agreements among States are more likely to result; and finally, individual state commissions make provision for representing both the legislative and the administrative branches of the government. It is this last feature that may be most important in the long run. In the past, planning and other programs have all too frequently been jeopardized by failure to educate the legislature, upon whose action approval and funds depend.
I have tried to show that several methods of regional planning and administration are already functioning. Regional planning commissions are in active operation. A Federally created planning authority has made substantial progress. The regionalization of Federal administration is well-nigh universal. Tentative centers of regional planning and coordi- nation have been proposed by a technical committee of the National Resources Committee. Efforts are being made to revitalize interstate compacts and to use them wherever it seems wise. Commissions on Interstate Cooperation are off to a promising start. Every conceivable political and administrative device must be utilized if regional realities are to be given deserved recognition within the confines of the American constitutional system.
All of this results in administrative complexity. But in a Federal system such a result is seemingly inevitable. Eventually, however, let us hope that fully recognized regional governments, standing as a buffer between the extremes of Federal over-centralization and outmoded state particularism, will be demanded by our fellow-citizens.
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ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN REGIONAL PLANNING
By CHARLES W. ELIOT, 2d, Executive Officer, National Resources Committee
E.ST winter the report on "Regional Factors in National Planning and Development" gave a general background for regional planning work. It has been described to you in more precise terms this morning by two of the authors. Growing out of that report and partly as a result of it, the National Resources Committee is now about to issue three or more separate reports on regional activity in special areas. Do not be alarmed at this stack of documents, I am not going to read them all, but this is a sample of what wre are doing. Regional planning is going on. Another report, another barrel of facts or whatever you want to call it, is being issued this morning with the release of this document on "Re- gional Planning, Part I, — The Pacific Northwest." That report is one, as the title suggests, of a series of reports.
This Columbia Basin Report is a sample of planning work by joint Federal and state action in order to suggest a new agency or new method for operating the great Federal works at Bonneville and Grand Coulee. The report includes a general statement of the development of the Pacific Northwest and particularly of the great Columbia valley and recommends the establishment of a new "northwest power agency," — a proposed corporation of three members who would be given the re- sponsibility of operating and distributing the power from those plants.
Sometimes it seems necessary to add a few words as to why a problem of this sort is important. I don't know whether this audience appreciates the situation in the Northwest. One fact alone is sufficient to open most of our eyes to the importance of that area. When you realize that 41 per cent of the total possible hydroelectric power of this nation lies in the Columbia basin you get some idea of the size of this power problem in the northwest corner of the country. It is for that reason that the recom- mendation in this report by the Northwest Regional Planning Commis- sion with the covering statement from the National Resources Commit- tee is now before Congress. Since the report recommends action at this session of Congress, its issuance today is opportune.
The other two reports which are coming out in the next few weeks deal with two other kinds of regional problems and demonstrate two other kinds of regional planning activities. The next one on the schedule, which we hope will be out before the end of this month, is another example of voluntary procedure without state authority for planning — this time, in the St. Louis regional area. Those of you who attended the St. Louis conference two years ago will remember that we were just getting under way with the St. Louis plan at that time. The report is now complete and will be issued with a covering statement from the National Resources Committee.
So we have two examples: first, in the Pacific Northwest of a body
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set up from the chairmen of the state planning boards as the official group with the addition of a district chairman from the National Re- sources Committee; and, second, a scheme in St. Louis of a voluntary association patterned on the same method that was described to you last night by Colonel Wetherill in the Philadelphia Tri-State District or the New York Regional plan or the Chicago Regional plan.
The third report represents still another approach and problem. It is the report of the New England Regional Planning Commission which is an outgrowth of many years of work by the New England Council and many other New England federations and groups in those six States. New England is unique in having a longer period of regional conscious- ness than most other sections of the country. The Regional Planning Commission grew out of the previous efforts of the New England Council which, in turn, was generally representative of the chambers of commerce and the business men. So there is a business interest in the movement in New England which is not equalled probably in any other part of the country.
Now we hope to add to that list of reports as the year rolls on and give you other examples. Perhaps I can give you very briefly a few of the newer activities to expand the picture already given you of the actual accomplishments and past doings in the regional planning field.
First, let me refer to another western example. Dr. Dimock made some remarks about the difficulty of getting any action through inter- state compacts. We have found that difficulty to be a very real one. We were appealed to last summer to do something about the controversies which were going on in the upper Rio Grande Valley. They had an inter- state compact among the States of Texas, New Mexico and Colorado for agreement on the division of the waters of the upper Rio Grande. Our attention was first directed to the problem by some of the Federal bureaus which showed that Federal agencies were actually competing against each other for water that did not exist in the upper Rio Grande Valley. This situation was a cause for concern to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, to the Resettlement Administration, the Reclama- tion Bureau, Biological Survey and to other Federal agencies conduct- ing projects with little correlation among them.
The result of this disclosure was a presidential "stop order" on all projects on the upper Rio Grande, subject to clearance by the National Resources Committee. That gave us an opportunity to deal with the larger problem as a planning project. We have now under way another demonstration project showing the possibilities of regional or interstate planning in those three States.
I would like to give you a little more of that story because it casts so many side-lights on the methods and the problems which are involved. For years those States have just been unable to agree on what was a fact. Nobody believed anybody else could present an unbiased fact to
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the commission. So, obviously the first necessity was for some impartial agency outside of the group which could provide the facts and bring them in definite form to the attention of the three States. The Resources Committee is the agency to initiate this demonstration project.
But we obviously could not get the facts without cooperation of a great many agencies and we had to secure money. So the first thing to do was to pass the hat. I am giving you this detail because this is what regional planning really is. Dr. H. H. Barrows, a valued member of our water committee, and I took our hats in hand and went from one agency to another: "How much money can you put up? How much can you put up?" and in that process we corralled quite a nice little nest egg for the encouragement of the States and later of the Public Works Adminis- tration; we got $30,000 from Reclamation, an agreement from Dr. Gray for $10,000, from the Geological Survey $20,000, and so on. We then went to the Public Works Administration and said: "We have got to have at least $250,000 more." They cut us down to $200,000. Then we went to the States and said: "We are practically ready to go, but we are not going to move until you show serious intention to participate," and they came across with approximately $17,000 apiece. So now the project to gather those disputed facts and to present a planned program is under way in the Rio Grande basin valley.
Still another example of procedure of this sort is evidenced by the new water plan which will be discussed by Mr. Wolman, the head of our water committee, this afternoon.
I would like to sum up a few of my own reactions to the remarks of the two previous speakers. This is more in the nature of discussion than of a paper.
I am concerned personally with certain doubts about this new regional program. There are certain things about it that leave me quite jittery as to what they may portend. One thing I hope we may avoid is adding a new level of government in this country. It has been repeatedly pointed out that we have too many governmental units already, and if we are going to add on some more, it seems to me more a loss than a gain. If we have now 192,000 units of government, surely we do not want to add even 12 more regional units!
The second thing I hope we can avoid is this idea of boundaries. We do not want, as I see it, provinces or regions in any sense in this country. What we must have is elasticity without those powers that go with administrative organization.
I hope that out of these doubts or worries we may get some corre- sponding hopes, particularly the hope that through the technique of the planner, separate from execution, we can make some cooperative agree- ments among groups of States, different groups and different combi- nations, to meet different problems, who shall perform as opportunity arises without attempting to set up any new level of government.
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I hope also that for the time being we can keep the emphasis on physical planning as being more easily understood by the public and less subject to misinterpretation.
I hope further that we can stress what was already indicated by both the preceding speakers — concentration of effort in centers instead of at the fringe of the problem. We can get agreement on certain centers of interest and we might be able to work out some arrangement for co- operation among officials as has been demonstrated to be possible in the organization of state planning boards.
I should not stop this discussion without reference to the fact that practically all of the district chairmen of the National Resources Com- mittee are very vitally concerned in this question of cooperation among States for regional planning and practically all of them are making some effort to get either a center established or some understanding among groups of States for this work. Mr. Bettman, for instance, has succeeded in organizing the Ohio Valley Regional Planning Commission; Mr. Moderwell has called a conference of the upper Mississippi Valley States to discuss how they can work together effectively; Mr. Ronald is now acting chairman of a similar group in the Missouri Valley States and part of the Great Plains area where they have adopted a scheme of a rotating chairmanship among the state planning board chairmen. In the Pacific Southwest our district chairman, Mr. Woods, has in mind the early calling of meetings for the discussion of organization in that area. On the Delaware River problem, help has been forthcoming from the Council of State Governments.
We have certainly not yet had sufficient experience with different forms of regional organization to be ready to recommend any one form. We have before us a long period of experimentation and a different kind of experiment from that we have been conducting in the field of state planning. It seems to me the fact that the States were organized as administrative units made it entirely logical and proper that that was the first and most important step to be taken in the way of enlarging the scope of planning work, but this regional problem because it involves both the powers delegated by the States to the Federal Government and the powers reserved by the States to themselves, is something which must be worked out with much more backing of public opinion than was necessary in the case of starting the state planning movement. We need all of your thought, all of your advice in the further development of this regional planning field.
THE NATION
National Planning
EMERGING POPULATION PROBLEMS
By FRANK LORIMER, Technical Secretary, Committee on Population Problems, National Resources Committee
THE American colonists were exponents of a population policy so appropriate to their situation that it was universally taken for granted. They found the classical expression of this policy in the ancient admonition, "Be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth." The young Nation responded exuberantly to this ideal which seemed peculiarly ap- propriate to the situation. Before them stretched the wide wilderness, a land to be tamed and replenished. Even in an era of rapid expansion of world population when the combined population of Europe and its colonies rose from about 150 million in 1750 to about 550 million in 1900, America was outstanding. Malthus, in 1792, was able to point to the doubling of population in America once every twenty -five years as affording the best illustration of the type of population growth to be expected in the absence of "positive checks" on natural increase.
The dividends of this increase naturally accrued in greatest measure to the owners of established enterprises, those in possession of land, railroads, factories, and to a considerable degree to the entire population in centers that served surrounding areas of expanding population. The tradition that population expansion is a fundamental characteristic of a normal, healthy Nation became firmly fixed in American ideology. "Bigger" came to be regarded as more or less synonymous with "better." Even in the sober language of the Census, a population increase is a "gain," a decrease is a "loss."
This expansion was, of course, irregular. Areas of population pressure began to develop at an early date, but these were constantly relieved by migration to new lands. A number of Virginia counties, for example, had a larger population in 1790 than in 1930. It is true that titles to the best unoccupied land had been taken up about 1890, but the West, and especially the Far West, remained an area of primary opportunity throughout the last decade. In fact, the net interstate migration into California during the period 1920-1930 passed the million mark, and was the largest movement into any State ever recorded in any decade of American history. The posting of guards on the California border during the present depression symbolizes the fact that free expansion into undeveloped areas has ceased to be a ready automatic-adjustment- mechanism for the maladjustments of a planless economic order. The first important reversal of population policy in this country, the limita- tion of immigration, although in part an expression of ethnic conflicts, may be ascribed primarily to recognition of the changing outlook in this country with regard to population growth and resources.
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Signs of the slowing down of population growth are already clearly in evidence. It is apparent that our present crude rate of natural in- crease is due entirely to the disproportionate number of persons now alive at reproductive ages. When an intrinsic rate of natural increase is calculated by applying age-specific birth rates and death rates for the United States to a population with normal age distribution, these rates are found to have reached a point of equilibrium in 1932. It is therefore highly probable that within a few decades population growth through natural increase will be superseded in this country by a period of dimi- nution. The public reaction to this situation may lead to wholesome and constructive measures designed to give greater support to normal family development, or may result in repressive measures with possible dis- astrous consequences. This suggests an emerging problem of consider- able interest and importance.
Other aspects of population change present problems of more imme- diate urgency. We have at the present time some severe cases of mal- distribution of population in relation to economic resources. Various factors tend to retard the adjustment of population to opportunity by migration, such as attachment to local situation, lack of adaptability on the part of certain groups in areas of limited opportunity, the high birth rates in such areas, bad schooling which intensifies the lack of adaptability and is partly responsible for the high birth rates, and above all, the absence of industrial opportunity. Any permanent solution of the farm problem must involve population adjustment. Sound popula- tion adjustment appears to depend on a balanced industrial expansion.
Problems of differential reproduction are more intimately related to problems of population distribution than is generally recognized. Using an index of economic level, developed by the Study of Population Redis- tribution, the group of counties characterized by the lowest plane of living was found to have, in 1930, a ratio of children to women 62 per cent above that sufficient for mere population replacement, and the group at the next level showed a rate of natural increase of about 40 per cent per generation, whereas in the fifth or sixth groups there were 10 per cent fewer children than would suffice for mere population replace- ment, and in the group of counties at the top there was a fertility of about 25 per cent.
Differential reproduction trends that are similar in character, though less in degree, are found in comparing families classified according to occupation, economic or social status. The reproductive tendency of scientific occupational groups, using a study based on 1928 birth statis- tics, and taking differences in child mortality into account, is represented by such reproductive indices as the following, using 100 as a base repre- senting tendency toward equal population replacement: Coal mine operatives 134, carpenters 107, semi-skilled operatives 104, electricians 94, bankers 76, physicians and surgeons 70, architects 65.
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There is clearly a tendency for a disproportionate number of the forthcoming generation to be recruited from parents with meager edu- cational advantages, and to be brought up in areas marked by inferior economic and social opportunities. There is a high negative correlation between reproduction indices and indices of school efficiency for States. A similar analysis by counties would undoubtedly yield an even more decisive result. Such a situation raises national problems relating to public health, education, and economic adjustment which it would be rash for anyone to attempt to define in a brief address.
In many other ways population studies supply a necessary base for institutional and regional planning including, for example, estimates of population of school ages, population to be covered by old age bene- fits, trends in location of population as affecting school building pro- grams, and other features of community development. It is becoming increasingly imperative that population problems receive careful re- search attention by government and private agencies far beyond past efforts in this direction and merit a large place in planning activities with local and national development.
The appointment of a Committee on Population Problems by the National Resources Committee marks a significant recognition by the Federal Government of population problems as a matter of national con- cern. Such recognition has long been made by professional bodies, in- cluding the President's Committee on Recent Social Trends. Studies by the Scripps Foundation, Milbank Memorial Fund, the Social Science Research Council's Study on Population Redistribution, and the Con- ference on Population Study and Social Planning, under the auspices of the Population Association of America, in Washington, May, 1935, may also be cited in this connection. Population studies have been conducted by the Bureau of Agricultural Economics, with reference to farm life, and the activities of the Resettlement Administration have implicit reference to population problems. The recent establishment of a Division of Research in the Bureau of the Census implies recognition of its re- sponsibility for the scientific development of data on population and related topics. The subject has also frequently received occasional recognition in the addresses of public leaders, notably by the President. The appointment of a Committee on Population Problems is directly in line with the attention to population studies which has been one of the most important features of the State Planning Board reports.
The Committee on Population Problems has been requested to pre- sent its report early this fall. This Committee, therefore, cannot do more than define problems of national importance in this field, present enough data to illustrate the character of these problems, indicate some tenta- tive results and suggest significant research by Federal, state, and local agencies.
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INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES
By GARDINER C. MEANS, Director, Industrial Section, National Resources Committee
1HAVE been asked to speak on the subject of industrial resources and to. describe some of the work which is being carried on by the Industrial Section of the National Resources Committee.
In considering industrial resources I wish to use that term in the very broadest sense. Our industrial resources consist of our man-power, our machines and our knowledge of techniques. The problem of con- serving industrial resources is primarily the problem of conserving our man-power and the use of machines.
Now, man-power is a very peculiar resource. It is like water-power. If you do not use it when it is there, it is gone, and no amount of king's horses and king's men will bring it back again. Man-power which is allowed to go over the dam unused is so much sheer waste.
Machines likewise present a resource which can easily trickle through our fingers and be waste. Idle machinery can often lose its usefulness quite as rapidly as machinery and equipment which is used. Here again failure to use machines is likely to involve waste.
Consider the waste of man-power and use of machinery which has occurred in the last six years. If all the man-power and use of machinery which has gone to waste during the depression could have been used to build houses, every family in the United States could have had a brand new $6,000 house. Think of the waste of resources which this involves. The waste of forest resources, the waste in oil extraction, the wastes from unplanned cities are no greater than this tremendous waste of human and machine resources. It is the conservation of this type of resource with which the Industrial Section of the National Resources Committee is concerned.
In approaching this problem the National Resources Committee organized an Industrial Committee composed of Jacob Baker, Assistant Works Progress Administrator, Chairman; Hon. E. G. Draper, Assistant Secretary of Commerce; Dr. Isador Lubin, Commissioner of Labor Statistics; Leon Henderson, formerly Director, Research and Planning Division, NRA; Edwin G. Nourse, Brookings Institution; Col. G. T. Harris, Jr., Director, Planning Branch, Office of Assistant Secretary of War; Thomas C. Blaisdell, Jr., Economic Adviser, Office of the Adminis- trator, Resettlement Administration, and myself. We have commenced studies into the joint problems of industrial capacities and consumption requirements. What are the industrial capacities of the country and how many people would be required to produce this, that, or the other amount of goods and services, of shoes and ships and sealing wax and cabbages? What things are the people going to demand at different levels of national income? How much are they likely to spend on coal and shoes, how much on cotton cloth and how much on food? These are
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the problems of industrial capacity and of consumption requirements with which our studies deal.
The purpose of these studies — and I will explain their detailed character in a moment — is to furnish more adequate and comprehensive data for those who have to make decisions in respect to industrial ac- tivity. The uses to which such data can be put are many and important. Both individual producers and the community as a whole suffer great economic losses from mistaken estimates on the part of businessmen as to consumer demand and as to existing capacity. In planning new factories or in expanding old ones, individual businessmen are likely to have excellent information on the immediate problems of engineering and economics which they face, but they are not likely to have an adequate framework picture of the larger engineering and economic problems into which their enterprises will have to fit. Such a picture would be too complex for any but the largest enterprises to construct. Accurate information on industrial capacities and their relation to con- sumption requirements could greatly reduce the waste resulting from the inability of the individual business to create the larger picture. Thus data on consumption requirements could constitute a direct aid to business in the layout of sales campaigns and sales territories. Data on industrial capacities could constitute a direct aid to business in plan- ning new industrial facilities. Labor and consumer groups can use such data as a direct aid in protecting their interests and working for a higher standard of living. Finally, local governments will find such material a direct aid in the development of particular regions, while such data would aid the Federal Government in seeking to bring about better economic balance.
In dealing with these problems the function of the Industrial Section is primarily that of a research agency planning studies to be carried out by different bureaus of government, coordinating actual studies as they are undertaken and combining the results of the separate studies. It is not the intention of the National Resources Committee that the Indus- trial Section should build up a large staff. Ours is the work of stimu- lating and guiding research and of integrating material to give a more comprehensive picture than any single department of government is in a position to give.
In carrying on this work it is our intention to approach the various facts concerning industry from two quite different points of view. First, we will examine the industrial process from the point of view of the producer looking down the stream of goods as they flow toward the consumer. Second, we will examine the industrial process from the point of view of the consumer looking up the stream of goods as they flow down from the producer. The first of these approaches involves primarily the problem of jobs, of industrial capacity, and of markets. The second involves primarily the expenditure of income, the goods and services
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received, and the using up of valuable resources. Only as both of these points of view are adopted can we present a well-rounded picture of industry.
The work of the Section up to the present time has made the most progress in the field of consumption requirements. This has been due in part to the pioneer work already done by other government agencies. Two bureaus of government, the Bureau of Home Economics and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, are particularly concerned with the subject of consumption, though each has approached the problem with a slightly different emphasis. The Bureau of Home Economics has made several small studies of family expenditures, placing special emphasis on the adequacy of the living obtained. In making these studies it has taken important steps in developing effective techniques for the collection of family-consumption data. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has made similar studies with respect to the expenditures of families of wage- earners and low-salaried workers, placing particular emphasis on the money outlays necessary to maintain a constant real income. This Bureau has expanded its work in the last two years and has devoted considerable sums to collecting data on family expenditures, to be used in revising cost-of -living indices. In this work it has further improved the techniques for collecting family-consumption data. However, in spite of the work of these two bureaus and of other agencies which have made small studies in this field, the techniques developed for making such studies have required further elaboration and the existing infor- mation on family consumption is entirely inadequate for the many pur- poses for which it is needed, and particularly it is insufficient for drafting an adequate picture of the consumption patterns of the population.
Because of this inadequacy of information on family consumption, the Industrial Section was directed to undertake as one of its functions the development of more adequate techniques for studying family con- sumption and the planning of a national investigation of the expenditure on goods and services by American families. This it has done in close collaboration with the Central Statistical Board, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Bureau of Home Economics. As a result of eight months' work on the part of a technical staff, working in cooperation with the two bureaus concerned, a coordinated plan was developed with two projects to be administered respectively by the Bureau of Home Economics and by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This plan carries out the recommendations for such an investigation made by the Social Science Research Council and calls for study of urban and rural families of various income classes and occupational groups in 50 cities and 22 rural sections. Funds for the projects have been obtained from the Works Progress Administration, and field work is now going on under the direction of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and of the Bureau of Home Economics under the general supervision of the WPA.
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The families being covered in the study are distributed according to six major classifications: (1) by geographical area, (2) by size of com- munity, (3) by income, (4) by occupation, (5) by color, and (6) by family composition. The geographical distribution has been provided for through the adoption of six areas and two metropolitan districts. In each area large, middle-sized and small cities as well as villages and farm sections will be covered so as to reflect differences in the degree of urbanization. Several rural sections will also be covered in other areas, representing the important types of farming not found in the six main areas. Twenty income classes, eight occupational groups and seven family types will be covered.
Most of the information will be obtained by the schedule method through personal interviews, voluntarily given. It is expected that data will be secured on income, occupation and family composition from ap- proximately 336,000 families selected through random sampling. From approximately 53,000 families detailed information will also be obtained on current expenditures and savings, ownership of durable goods, hous- ing facilities and other indices of levels of living. This sample is being selected according to a prearranged plan assuring an equal number of families at all income levels for each occupational group. From a small part of this sample, dietary records, health records and household ac- counts will also be obtained.
It is expected that the statistical results of the project in each com- munity studied will be published by the two bureaus making the field studies. These bureaus are likewise expected to publish the analytical reports on the expenditures of particular occupational groups.
On the basis of this material the Industrial Section expects to present pictures of the consumption requirements of the American people as they would exist under various possible conditions, as they would be if the national income were of a given size and were distributed geographi- cally and with given frequency. The whole problem is how people are likely to spend their money, how much is likely to be spent on coal, on shoes, on cotton cloth, and on tobacco.
Corresponding to the work on consumption requirements is a series of studies concerning industrial capacity. Though there is a great mass of information concerning industry, very little of the pioneer work has yet been done in organizing the data to show what our industrial capac- ities really are. As a result, the work of the Section in this field is not yet as far advanced as is that on consumption requirements.
In developing this work, the Industrial Section has first undertaken studies to work out techniques for estimating industrial capacities. The problem was found to be vastly more complex than is usually supposed, and as a result the techniques of analysis developed tend to be quite different from those previously employed and call for a redevelopment of data with respect to industry.
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The most important differences in approach have developed in con- nection with the question — what do we mean by industrial capacity? In general discussions of capacity, the problem is usually considered as one of capacity to produce. The same attitude is reflected in discussing certain industries. Thus, the capacity of a blast furnace is spoken of as the capacity to produce so many tons of pig iron per day. However, for many industries capacity is rated as capacity to consume. Thus the capacity of a coke oven is rated as the capacity to consume so many tons of coal a day. (In the technical language of the industry a coke oven has a "throughput" of so many tons of coal in twenty -four hours.) Simi- larly the capacities of ore milling plants, packing houses, and refineries are spoken of in terms relating to capacity to consume. In other cases neither the capacity to produce nor the capacity to consume gives an adequate clue to the capacity of an industry. For instance, some blast furnaces have been built in connection with city gas plants in part to consume coke and in part to produce flue gas for mixture with coal gas. The pig iron is a by-product. Here neither capacity to produce nor capacity to consume would give an adequate picture. Just what then does industrial capacity involve?
In meeting this problem, the Industrial Section reached the follow- ing conclusion: the industrial capacity with which the National Re- sources Committee is concerned is neither the capacity to produce items of output nor the capacity to consume items of input but rather the capacity to convert items of input into items of output. Stated in the broadest terms, the question to be put in studying the capacity of a plant or industry is the question — how much of what items can be converted into how much of what items in a given period of time? Under given price conditions how many tons of ore of a given quality, how many tons of coke, how many tons of limestone, how many man hours, and how much power can be converted in a blast furnace into how much pig iron, how much flue gas, and how much slag per twenty-four hours? The problem of industrial capacity thus becomes one of conversion capacity.
Such a shift in emphasis greatly complicates the problem of estimat- ing industrial capacity but it does more correctly state the problem. Only as adequate estimates of the conversion capacities of industries are developed will a clear picture of industrial capacity be obtained.
With conversion capacities established as the objective, the next step in studying industrial capacities has been to develop techniques for estimating conversion capacities. This work has been under way and has resulted in a generalized technique which should be available for publica- tion in the near future. The concrete application of the general tech- niques to specific industries is also under way.
In making these studies, striking inadequacies in the existing data on industry became immediately apparent. Little or none of the data on industry has been collected with a view to estimating conversion capaci-
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ties. Much of the available data will be useful for this purpose but many serious gaps must be filled before the data can be effectively used. This is not a matter of getting more refined data, but of getting data which are of primary importance to the problem of industrial capacity, yet have not been important to the particular purposes for which data have been collected by the different agencies in the past.
This inadequacy of existing data makes necessary the laying of plans for filling the gaps at the same time that plans for organizing the data are developed. The latter is an essential step in disclosing the gaps while the former is essential to an adequate picture of industrial capacities.
As in the case of consumption requirements, it is regarded as the function of the Industrial Section of the National Resources Committee in collaboration with other government agencies to develop plans for studying the conversion capacities of particular industries and to assist in coordinating the activity of government agencies carrying out such studies.
As a background for such activity, the Industrial Section is making a series of studies in particular industries which will, in large part, form the basis for the organizing of existing data and the collection of any new data necessary to throw a clear light on industrial capacity.
The initial exploratory studies to develop techniques were undertaken in the blast furnace industries and in that of cotton spinning. Studies are now under way covering iron ore, coal, coke, and cement. Plans have been laid for carrying the exploratory studies into other parts. The work is being carried on by a small staff of engineers and economists and will result primarily in laying a foundation for the development, with other agencies of government, of plans for more comprehensive studies into particular industries so as to estimate their conversion capacities. It is presumed that these plans will be comparable in nature to the plan for the study of family consumption developed by the In- dustrial Section in collaboration with the Bureau of Home Economics, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Central Statistical Board. Of course, the planning of such studies is only a beginning. The actual work of carrying them out will rest with other government bureaus.
This type of work goes slowly and the initial results are not spec- tacular. The developing of techniques, the careful working out of pro- posals for study involve time and energy without showing immediately useful results. Yet as this type of work is carried on and the studies are made we will gradually be able to build up a very clear picture of the industrial capacities of the country. Such a picture will be an effective guide to all those concerned with the problems of industry. The com- bination of this material with the data on consumption requirements should allow us to picture the possibilities for the more effective use of our man-power and machines — more effective use of our human and material resources.
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PLANNING FOR PUBLIC WORKS
By FRED E. SCHNEPFE, Director, Projects Division, Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works
WHILE the advance planning of public works has actually been practiced only to a limited extent, so much has been written and discussed in regard thereto as to make it difficult to present any thoughts on the subject without the risk of repetition.
For some years certain cities have prepared plans relating to their future physical development. However, until recently little has been done to provide a construction program containing a list of definite projects to be undertaken at a specific time over a period of years.
In the Federal Government most of the bureaus planned only one year in advance, or at best, two years. Not until 1931 did the various construction agencies of the Federal Government begin the formulation of a six-year advance plan. This was brought about by the passage of the Act known as the "Employment Stabilization Act of 1931," a measure sponsored by the Honorable Robert F. Wagner, Senator from the State of New York.
The fundamental purpose of the Act is stated in its title as follows: "An Act to provide for the advance planning and regulated construction of public works, for the stabilization of industry, and for aiding in the prevention of unemployment during periods of business depression/'
Senator Wagner's foresight in fostering legislation for the advance planning of Federal public works resulted in untold benefits and was indeed timely. Subsequent to the passage of this Act the advance plan- ning programs resulting from this legislation were used as a basis for the selection of Federal projects for the allotment of funds by the Public Works Administration. The establishment of the Federal Employment Stabilization Board marked the first step in actually bringing into being an authorized advance planning activity of the Federal Government.
Necessarily, a large amount of preliminary work with the various agencies of the Federal Government had to be carried on so that these agencies would have a clear understanding of the purpose of the board, and at the same time enable the staff of the Board to become familiar with the intricate procedure which had been followed in connection with the construction work of the many agencies of the Government.
Some of the agencies questioned the policy of disclosing these plans so far in advance, fearing that it might cause embarrassment with Members of Congress if certain projects were not included in the pro- gram. Others objected to listing their projects on the grounds that they did not think it possible to visualize their construction needs six years ahead. A campaign of education and demonstration gradually broke down this resistance, with the result that complete cooperation was obtained from all the agencies.
NATIONAL PLANNING 1S3
This period of conference and contact required considerable time, and it was not until June, 1982, that the Stabilization Board first sent to the construction agencies of the Federal Government a request for the submission of a six-year plan for both construction and repair. These plans were submitted in August, 1932, by approximately 70 agencies and formed the basis for many discussions with the agencies concerned, in order to reduce the plans to a somewhat common basis. With the convening of the 73rd Congress in March, 1933, it became evident that the possibility of the passage of necessary legislation would embark the Federal Government on the construction of an expanded program of public works.
While the six-year plan which had been prepared did not anticipate a program of the size required by the proposed legislation, it did serve admirably as a base on which to build the so-called expanded program. The construction agencies, through their association with the Federal Employment Stabilization Board in carrying out the requirements of the Employment Stabilization Act of 1931, had been made conscious of the necessity for the advance planning of public works. The knowledge and experience which they gained in this activity was invaluable to them and to the success of the public works program. Therefore, when in May, 1933, before the National Industrial Recovery Act was passed, a request was made to the agencies to submit immediately programs arranged by priorities, the submission of such programs was accom- plished with a minimum of delay and contained projects which had been subjected to months of study and from which the least desirable projects had been eliminated. Without the planning experience gained by the construction agencies from 1931 to 1933, the submission of such well- selected projects in the short time available would have been impossible.
The National Industrial Recovery Act, signed by the President on June 16, 1933, established the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works and authorized an appropriation in the amount of $3,300, 000,000 for public works and other purposes. The Administrator, under the direction of the President, was charged with the task of preparing a comprehensive program of public works.
As previously mentioned, the agencies had already submitted lists of projects which they considered suitable for inclusion in an expanded program. In submitting these lists it was essential that they furnish for each project recommended, the location, character of work, estimated cost, the estimated increase or decrease in annual expense of physical upkeep and operating cost, and the estimated cost of acquiring the site. Inasmuch as the speed with which work could be commenced and the amount of employment that would be given are of prime importance in any program for the relief of unemployment, information was required indicating how soon work could be started after funds became available and how soon it could be completed. Specific data regarding the status
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of site and the status of plans were also required. Furthermore, to determine the status of projects as expressing the will of Congress, a question was included as to whether the project had previously been authorized by Congress.
Priority numbers were assigned to all projects to indicate the order of their relative necessity and importance as viewed by the agencies. In assigning priorities, they were asked to do so with due consideration to the following:
Whether the projects were under construction or under contract and had to be completed if financial loss to the Government was to be avoided,
Whether necessary for the national protection of life, the national protection of property, to sustain the physical property of the Government, the conserva- tion of national resources, the conservation of national health, the housing of Government activities, replacing obsolete facilities, and if revenue producing.
With this information in hand the Public Works Administration made a tentative selection of projects through its engineers and its special subcommittee on program. These projects were separated into categories, including in the first group those which were considered "highly desir- able public works, not adding to future expense. " Less desirable proj- ects were separated into groups in the order of their importance and value. Projects requiring a large expenditure for land were considered among the less desirable because of the relatively small amount of employment which they would provide per dollar of expenditure.
The replacement of necessary facilities that were obsolete and would soon require substitution under normal procedure, and the recondition- ing of existing facilities to put them in first-class condition, offered proj- ects that demanded favorable consideration. Thus work has been accomplished that under normal conditions would have been completed within the next few years, and with a consequent reduction of the necessary expenditures for such projects in future years.
Projects were carefully examined to determine whether they would entail recurring expense for operation, maintenance, increased personnel and ultimate reconstruction, with a view to eliminating those projects which would place a burden on the taxpayers in the future.
Another factor requiring consideration was the geographical distri- bution of the work. It can readily be seen that the projects of high priorities in several of the many bureaus might all fall within a com- paratively small group of States in which the necessity for emergency employment was not sufficiently pronounced.
The methods which I have outlined were closely adhered to in the selection of projects comprising the Public Works Administration pro- gram of Federal projects, the total of which exceeded $1,560,000,000. This program is now nearly complete, and the more than 15,000 Federal projects distributed all over the United States and its possessions speak for themselves in answer to the question — "Were these projects wisely
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selected?" Not only did these projects put men to work at the site and throughout the industries by the manufacture of material and equip- ment, but they stand as a wise investment, serving the people and the Nation in countless ways and adding to our wealth as capital investments.
The value of an advance plan for public works has been demonstrated by the usefulness of the programs of the Federal Employment Stabi- lization Board to the Public Works Administration. The existence of this plan made possible the immediate allotment of funds and the prompt beginning of construction, which resulted in men being given, without delay, the employment so sorely needed.
In the planning of non-Federal Public Works, that is, public works projects of States and subdivisions thereof, the first movement toward a coordinated plan of national scope occurred in 1935, when the State Planning Boards prepared for the Public Works Administration a com- prehensive inventory of public works in their respective States. While it cannot be said that this inventory furnished a list of definite projects on which to base a series of allotments, yet it made available to the Congress and to the country at large a knowledge of the situation as it actually existed, and had the effect of bringing public officials of States, counties and cities to a greater realization of the necessity for a co- ordinated public works plan.
Political units of every State were given an opportunity to express their need for useful public works. The inventory, as some of you know, involved more than 130,000 individual projects reported by over 20,000 units or agencies and exceeded $20,000,000,000 in estimated cost. The projects reported in this inventory were well distributed throughout the country, and their apportionment bears a fairly uniform relation to the distribution of the population of the country.
Many State Planning Boards have encouraged county planning and the preparation of well-considered county-wide programs. In one Kansas county the planning committee, composed of interested citizens, for- mulated a 20-year plan for improvements to be carried out by Federal, state, county, town and township agencies. The Committee's purpose was to work out such a plan of public improvement as might eventually bring about coordination of effort between the various political sub- divisions, to the end that all public works in the county should be built economically, be properly located, and adequate, both in design and utility.
In all States and subdivisions thereof, officers change frequently, but it is believed that a plan will, to a noticeable extent, assure con- tinuity in public works development.
The inventory has also brought forcibly to the attention of municipal and county officials the advantages of city and regional planning in developing their programs of public works, and local interest in plan- ning agencies has been aroused by requirements that projects sub-
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mitted for grants under the Public Works Administration be checked against city and local plans. In brief, the inventory will assist the State Planning Boards in their coordinating functions among state and local authorities, particularly in bringing out long-range programs not pre- viously available from cooperating agencies.
A definite opportunity emanating from the Public Works inventory lies in the development of contacts established with county, municipal or metropolitan planning agencies.
The success of the majority of the State Planning Boards, in ob- taining data and analyzing it for the inventory, indicates the possibil- ities of continued service in this field in order to establish a permanent policy of public works planning.
The principles involved in the advance planning of expenditures for construction projects have been applied for many years in commerce and industry. The principal difference between planning expenditures for a commercial enterprise as compared to planning governmental ex- penditures lies in the fact that in commercial projects the measure of the return to be expected from the investment is in terms of dollars alone. While this is also true in some instances as applied to govern- mental projects, the returns, while they may be of great value, for the greater part cannot be measured from a purely monetary standpoint. For example, it is obviously impossible to place a dollar value on ex- penditures that the government might make for the construction of military facilities for national defense, for improvements in the national parks to provide healthful recreation and pleasure, or for lighthouses for the protection of shipping. It is more difficult to measure the social values to be obtained by a governmental expenditure than it is to esti- mate the returns on a proposed investment for a commercial enterprise. The reason for this is, of course, the difficulty of measuring social values with a dollar yard-stick. While certain projects are revenue-producing or provide economies or services, others produce social benefits only.
As the number of projects that can be shown to be economically justified is so much greater than those which can be financed, the mere statement that a project is economically sound is in itself not sufficient reason to cause it to be given high priority in a planning program, or even to justify giving it a place on the program. The true measure of the importance of a project resolves itself into questions as to whether the project is necessary, how urgently needed, and its value as com- pared to other projects of a similar type; and what is more difficult, to determine its value as compared with needed projects of other types.
In any discussion of planning the term "economically sound" as applied to projects to be included in a public works progran is likely to be heard and properly so. The official engaged in planning a public works program, to be successful in his work, must have a sound appre- ciation of the economic factors to be dealt with. He must have a clear
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conception of the weight and importance to be assigned to the many elements that must be considered in arriving at a decision regarding the relative importance of a project as compared to other projects. Naturally there is a limit to the amount of money available and the ultimate selection of the projects and the assignment of priorities to them is largely an economic problem. Of course the project must be feasible and sound from an engineering standpoint. This, however, in itself would not assure its receiving a high priority or even cause it to be placed on the program.
In determining the usefulness, practicability and desirability of a project and the order of importance of the various projects that com- prise a program, the planning body cannot apply a formula and obtain the answer. Sound judgment, obtainable only through a suitable back- ground of technical knowledge, broad experience and vision, is indis- pensable to the proper functioning of a planning body.
The number of projects disclosed by a planning program as being "economically desirable," and, to go a step further, that are "economi- cally justified," may be very large. Due to a lack of sufficient funds, to undertake all of them would be impossible and unwise. The tests to be applied in determining their priority are current need and relative need, not only as existent between projects of the same type, but between projects of different types.
In setting up a program for several years in advance, the projects appearing for the first year should express the current needs for that year. Likewise, the succeeding years each should show a listing of proj- ects that endeavor to meet the requirements for each year specified in the program. This should provide for an annual program in normal times.
It may be well to emphasize at this point that the list of projects appearing for the first year of a program should not include those proj- ects to be used in an expanded program. In other words, the projects listed for any one year should comprise a normal program for that year.
In order to expand the program in a period when it is necessary to relieve the unemployed, the list of projects shown for the first year can be augmented by adding those shown for succeeding years to the extent necessary for increasing the program to the volume desired. Projects included in an emergency program should be of the same general type as those set up in a normal program, but should be selected with prime consideration of the extent to which such projects will relieve un- employment.
Certain data are necessary prior to determining the position that a project should be given in a planning program. This information should be assembled by the sponsor desiring the allotment and a carefully prepared form used for the reporting purposes. The form submitted should show definitely certain specific information along the lines pre- viously mentioned in connection with the plans submitted to the Stabi-
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lization Board, such as the location of the project, the sponsoring agency, whether the project is for construction or repair, the priority number, a clear description of the project, ample justification for its inclusion, the estimated cost by fiscal years, the status of plans, the status of site, how soon the project could be started, how long it would take for com- pletion, the direct employment which it would afford and the man-year cost for such direct employment.
If a plan is to serve with any degree of adequacy, annual revision must be made to provide for changed conditions and emergencies which may have arisen.
In commenting upon advance planning, the Honorable Harold L. Ickes, Chairman of the National Resources Committee, stated as follows :
I hope State Planning Boards, backed by legislative and popular approval, will develop continuous six-to-ten-year programs, annually revised, and that larger goals of attainment can be visualized and reached. . . . Their effective- ness will depend on the character of their personnel, the wisdom and vision of their plans, the scope and accuracy of their researches and, more particularly, on the firm support of the public.
If public works are to be timed to aid in counteracting industrial fluctuations, one of the essentials is a long-range program, constantly kept up-to-date, such as State Planning Boards are now attempting. To embark on public works expansion without such advance planning is to increase the danger of including ill-advised projects. . . .
I believe that the catch-as-catch-can method which ignores the necessity of national planning is a thing of the past. It is a wasteful, futile and unscientific method which deserves oblivion.
In the National Resources Committee, which is an integral part of the present Administration, we have a body that is gradually evolving a national plan which I am sure will fit into an adequate social vision of the future.
I am convinced that long after the necessity of stimulating industry and creat- ing new buying power has been removed, national planning will continue as a permanent government policy.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NATIONAL WATER RESOURCES STUDY
By ABEL WOLMAN, Chairman, Water Resources Committee, National Resources Committee
PROBLEMS in the use and control of water resources of the Nation are not new. Their importance, however, becomes clearer and clearer as competition for, and conflict in, their uses become more frequent and intense. The geographical distribution of such conflicts varies from time to time, and it is only in recent years that the controversial as- pects of western water resources have penetrated into the East. In- creases in population, more varied uses for water supply, competition between municipalities and industries for relatively limited quantities of water, all tend to focus attention of the public upon a problem as old as civilization itself.
NATIONAL PLANNING 139
Periods of drought succeeded by periods of flood flow in the past six years have emphasized once more, but with greater dramatic effect, the fact that water is a menace to life and property as well as a neces- sity for the continuance of our existence.
The study of water resources is likewise not a novel enterprise, for many millions of dollars and many years have been spent in their de- tailed study. In few instances, however, have our agencies been so constituted as to make it possible to review the national water problem as a whole and in particular relation to the economic and social situation of the country, as exemplified in land-use, industrial development, population trends and the requirements of health and recreation. In this field as in all others, the detailed immediate problem, specific in nature and local in implication, has naturally held the attention in the past. This is by no means surprising in a country of rapid growth and, until recently, except in limited geographical areas, undisturbed by the specter of resources decreasing in proportion to need. The pressure of immediate solution of specific problems of water-use and control so often may preclude the balancing of all uses or even of their prior review.
In recent years, however, even in the eastern part of the United States, Nature has reminded us that conservation of water resources and balanced development for their use and control cannot be ignored in successions of droughts and floods. With these lessons in mind, the National Resources Committee, through its Committee on Water Re- sources, is undertaking a national study of water-use and control in the major drainage basins of the United States. The Committee hopes to obtain a reasonably clear picture of the long-range pattern for each im- portant drainage basin and at least a preliminary list of projects which may be properly constructed in keeping with that pattern. This pre- liminary plan or reconnaissance it is hoped will be submitted to the President of the United States on December 1, 1936. This can only be accomplished through the complete cooperation of state and regional planning boards, of interested Federal, state and local agencies and of private industry.
By this effort the Committee is attempting to provide a sound and nation-wide outline for securing the greatest beneficial use of the water resources of each major drainage basin in the United States. Obviously, with the limited tune and financial resources available for the study, only a skeleton plan, largely of preliminary character, is feasible. Such a bird's-eye view, however, of the national problem and of the available data shedding light thereon should be the beginning of recurring and continuing adjustments in each major basin.
By this study the Committee should also be able to furnish various Federal, state and local agencies a clear statement of the dominant physical and economic considerations affecting the use and control of water resources in each basin, even though such a reasonably integrated
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pattern of development can be furnished only in broad outline. Out of this study a series of specific construction projects should also appear which might properly be executed as time goes on, in accordance with the integrated plan of ultimate development.
To those of you familiar with various parts of the United States, it should be clear that uneven programs of development will necessarily result from this study. Some areas of the country have been intensively studied for years while others have had little or no detailed review by either state or Federal agencies.
In the latter areas, the elements of an investigative program for further study and revision of the general program which may be out- lined during 1936 are to be presented.
The three major objectives, therefore, of the Committee in this pro- posed study of drainage basin water resources are :
(1) To point out the outstanding problems of water-use and control in the different parts of the country.
(2) To outline in broad terms a reasonable and integrated pattern of de- velopment, and
(3) To present specific construction and study projects which, in the light of available information, are consistent with the broad plan.
Questions of administration and financing of programs and projects developed in the study will not be reported upon in any detail, since they offer problems of national policy which can be determined only after long discussion in the public forum.
Specific recommendations will vary greatly in detail from one basin to another. In one basin further surveys and investigations may be rec- ommended before any construction work is proposed. In another, it is probable that a number of projects ready for construction or requiring a short period of detailed design may be recommended. The Committee, of course, will not attempt to prepare detailed plans and specifications for construction projects, although it will enumerate projects for which plans and specifications are already available.
In order to provide working arrangements with state planning and other boards, and to secure the continuous views and criticisms by state and Federal authorities, the Committee has assigned 17 water consult- ants to work with the state and regional boards. These consultants will be responsible for the conduct of the field work necessary for the prepa- ration of the water plans. They have been selected according to major areas and convenience of operation. They will be responsible for the review of existing information and reports, for the crystallization of long-range plans and for the preparation of a final document embodying the answers to the three major objectives already pointed out above.
The Committee hopes for participation of the various state planning boards in three ways:
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(1) The water consultants will require the assistance of such agencies as state and local health departments, state engineers and state departments of conservation. They will look to the state planning boards for smoothing the way in providing for this cooperation of local and state agencies. Precedent for accomplishing this cooperation is at hand in the experience in connection with a similar survey which has been in process for some months in the basin of the Red River of the North. In that area the State Planning Boards of Minnesota and of North and South Dakota have cooperated with Federal, state and local officials in a study under the general supervision of a water consultant appointed by the Water Resources Committee. The respective state boards initiated the conferences leading to the present survey. Their cooperation has produced ex- cellent progress and the completion of a comprehensive report on this particular area should be possible within the next two months.
(2) The state planning boards, in addition to the general clerical and technical assistance rendered by their staffs, may be able to assign full time technicians to this survey by an arrangement with WPA.
(3) Wherever possible, it is hoped that the state planning board or other offices concerned may be able to make office space available for the water con- sultant and his assistants.
In other words, the intent of the Water Resources Committee is to carry out this study in the closest cooperation with existing Federal, state and local agencies whose familiarity and experience in the field of water resources are essential to the development of any comprehensive long-term program. With the necessities of time and money confronting us, however, it is obvious that the ultimate review and crystallization of the program in each drainage basin must be placed upon a single responsible authority, in this case the water consultant.
ORGANIZATION
The field and office operations leading to the preparation of the report proposed will be under the direction of Frederick H. Fowler of San Francisco, California, a consulting engineer of wide experience in water resources problems. He is a director of the American Society of Civil Engineers, a member of its Committee on Dams and on Flood Protection Data, a member of the Federal Emergency Public Works Administration Technical Board of Review and a consultant on flood control problems in the Kansas City and Los Angeles regions.
The assistant director is Merton L. Emerson of Boston, Massachu- setts, a consulting engineer and a former member of the Public Works Administration Technical Board of Review.
The Water Resources Committee will outline and supervise the study through the special organization established under Mr. Fowler's general direction. The drainage basin districts so far organized and the water consultants assigned to them are as follows. All of the studies are now under way and the detail of accomplishment must wait upon the receipt of the preliminary reports of these consultants.
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Drainage Basin District 1 :l
Prof. H. K. Barrows, Water Consultant, 6 Beacon St., Boston, Mass.
Drainage basins in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut and New York, including the Housatonic as the westernmost basin.
Drainage Basin District 2:
James F. Sanborn, Water Consultant, Room 1725, 30 Church St., New York, N. Y.
North Atlantic drainage basins in Connecticut, New York, Pennsyl- vania, New Jersey and Delaware west of the Housatonic and including the Susquehanna as the most westerly drainage basin.
Drainage Basin District 3:
William McKinney Piatt, Water Consultant, 401 Depositors National Bank Bldg., Durham, N. C.
Chesapeake Bay and South Atlantic drainage in Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, south of the Susquehanna basin, including Port Royal Sound drainage as the most southerly basin.
Drainage Basin District 4 :
Dean Blake R. Van Leer, Water Consultant, University of Florida, Gainesville, Fla.
South Atlantic and Eastern Gulf drainage in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi from the Savannah basin on the north- east to Mobile Basin on the southwest, both inclusive.
Drainage Basin District 5 :
Fred. H. Weed, Water Consultant, 1123 Carew Tower, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Ohio River drainage in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois.
Drainage Basin District 6 (a) :
Royce J. Tipton, Water Consultant, 2083 Clermont Street, Denver, Colorado.
Southwest Gulf of Mexico drainage, south and west of Vermilion River, Louisiana and including drainage in the United States entering the Rio Grande south of Fort Quitman, Texas.
Drainage Basin District 6(b) :
Gerard H. Matthes, Water Consultant, Mississippi River Commis- sion, Vicksburg, Miss. (By detail from Corps of Engineers, Mississippi River Commission.)
lThe tentative subdivision of the United States into areas for water resources study would define the regions as follows: (1) New England, (2) Middle Atlantic, (3) Southeast Coast, (4) Southeast Gulf, (5) Ohio Basin, (6a) Southwest Gulf, (6b) Lower Mississippi Basin, (6c) Red River of the South and Arkansas Basin, (7a) Upper Mississippi Basin, (7b) Great Lakes and St. Lawrence, (8) Upper Missouri Basin, (9) Lower Missouri Basin, (lOa) Colorado Basin, (lOb) The Great Basin, (lOc) California, (11) Pacific Northwest.
NOTE: The Red River of the North and the Upper Rio Grande Basin are not segre- gated because work is already under way in those basins. The Tennessee Valley is omitted.
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The Alluvial Mississippi Basin and Gulf of Mexico drainage, in the States of Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas and Louisiana, from Pascagoula River on the East to Vermilion on the West, both inclusive, and northerly to the mouth of the Missouri; excluding the main drainage basins of the Red, Arkansas, Missouri and Ohio Basins, but including the White and St. Francis Basins to the West and drainage lying west of the Mobile River Basin to the East.
Drainage Basin District 6(c) and 6(d):
Wesley W. Homer, Water Consultant, 1325 International Bldg., St. Louis, Mo.
Western Mississippi River drainage in Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri, from the Red River basin northwardly to the Arkansas basin, both inclusive.
Drainage Basin District 7 (a) :
Wesley W. Homer, Water Consultant, 1325 International Bldg., St. Louis, Mo.
Mississippi River Basin Drainage North of the Ohio and Missouri Basins, in Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Illinois.
Drainage Basin District 7(b) :
LeRoy K. Sherman, Water Consultant, 53 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois.
Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River Drainage in Minnesota, Wis- consin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Vermont.
Drainage Basin District 8:
Prof. S. T. Harding, Water Consultant, University of California, Berkeley, California.
The Northerly portion of the Missouri River basin, to and including the basin of the Platte River on the west side, and to and including the basin of Mosquito Creek on the east side, in Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska.
Drainage Basin District 9:
Frederick H. Fowler, Water Consultant, 4308 Interior Bldg., Wash- ington, D. C.
The portion of the Missouri River Basin south of the basin of the Platte River on the west side and south of the basin of Mosquito Creek on the east side, in Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado and Kansas.
Drainage Basin District 10 (a) :
J. C. Stevens, Water Consultant, Spalding Building, Portland, Oregon. The Colorado River basin in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyo- ming, Utah, Nevada and California.
Drainage Basin District 10(b) :
Walter L. Huber, Water Consultant, 1325 Crocker 1st National Bank Bldg., San Francisco, California.
The Great Basin drainage in California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, and Oregon.
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Drainage Basin District 10(c) :
Ralph I. Meeker, Water Consultant, 303 Flat Iron Bldg., Denver, Colorado.
Southwest Pacific drainage in California and Oregon, to and including Smith River basin on the north.
Drainage Basin District 11:
Prof. Samuel B. Morris, Water Consultant, Leland Stanford Uni- versity, Palo Alto, Calif.
Northwest Pacific drainage in Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Wyo- ming, Montana, and Washington, from and excluding Smith River basin on the South.
To facilitate the work of these consultants and to maintain a con- tinuous and completely coordinate contact with state and regional plan- ning boards, with Federal agencies and with other cooperating agencies, two regional coordinators have also been appointed by the National Resources Committee. These individuals will travel throughout the country for the purpose of assisting the water consultants and keeping them currently informed of various phases of the study so that uniform- ity of approach and of ultimate reporting will be assured. To accomplish this purpose the country has been divided into two major areas, the western area, covering Districts 6 (a), 6(c), 6(d), 8, 9, 10(a), 10(c), and 11. The western regional coordinator is Donald M. Baker of Los Angeles. The eastern coordinator, Howard Critchlow of Trenton, New Jersey, will cover Districts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6(b), 7(a), and 7(b). These areas are listed in footnote, page 142. Both of these individuals are consulting engineers of long experience in the water resources field and members of the American Society of Civil Engineers and of the American Water Works Association.
The compilation of existing lists of rated water projects under new and improved rating methods will be under the supervision of an office coordinator, Mr. Brent S. Drane, who has had considerable experience in this field with both the Mississippi Valley Committee and the Water Resources Section of the National Resources Committee. It will be his function to amplify existing lists of water projects throughout the United States by the addition of all new water projects planned by Federal, state and regional agencies and such other projects as may be developed by the field forces and ultimately approved by the Director and the Committee. He is to act further as liaison officer with all Federal agencies concerned with the economic problems affecting or affected by the plans of the drainage basins. The cooperation of other committees and agencies of the National Resources Committee on land, minerals, power and industrial resources is assured through his efforts.
From time to time special consulting service will be available to both field and office organizations in the solution of complex technical prob- lems involved in comprehensive basin planning. Such men will be on
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call to render service when requested by the Director or Assistant Director.
It should be emphasized that, when these preliminary inventories and crystallizations have been completed, no mere compilation of proj- ects now on file in various state and Federal agencies should be the result. For the first time in the history of this country the various Federal, state and local interests in a drainage basin are to be brought together in the field for the development of the broad program. Aside from the important end result of developing a preliminary long-range plan, the study should go far toward initiating cooperative planning activities in the field of water resources which it is hoped will continue long after this first national study has been completed. Progressive modification, refinement and adjustment of program should be the continuing ultimate aim of this first effort. The broad picture here pro- posed for the water resources of the United States will be the framework within which more detailed study and evolution should take place in the future.
The Water Resources Committee responsible for the final presenta- tion of the report on the study of drainage basin water resources has the following membership :
H. H. Barrows, Department of Geography, University of Chicago.
H. H. Bennett, Chief, Soil Conservation Service, Department of Agriculture.
Ira N. Gabrielson, Chief, Biological Survey, Department of Agriculture.
N. C. Grover, Chief Hydraulic Engineer, Geological Survey.
Edward Hyatt, State Engineer of California.
Major General Edward M. Markham, Chief of Engineers.
John C. Page (Representing the Commissioner of Reclamation), Chief of Engineering Division, Bureau of Reclamation.
Thorndike Saville, Associate Dean, College of Engineering, New York University.
R. E. Tarbett, Sanitary Engineer, U. S. Public Health Service.
Thomas R. Tate, Director, National Power Survey, Federal Power Com- mission.
Sherman M. Woodward, Chief Water Planning Engineer, Tennessee Valley Authority.
Abel Wolman, Chairman.
RESOLUTION OF THE CONFERENCE
APPRECIATION
RESOLVED, That this Conference express its sincere appreciation to the Governor of Virginia, to the Virginia State Planning Board and to its Chair- man, Morton L. Wallerstein, the local chairman of this Conference, to the officials of the City of Rich- mond, and to all others who contributed to this most agreeable and successful meeting.
ADDRESSES DELIVERED AT THE BANQUET
Addresses Delivered at the Banquet
CHAIRMAN'S INTRODUCTION
MR. MORTON L. WALLERSTEIN, Chairman, Virginia State Planning Board, Richmond, Va. : Before presenting our first speaker, permit me to welcome to this dinner meeting of the conference a large number of our people, both from Richmond and other places in Virginia, who have so generously manifested their interest in the planning movement by their presence here tonight. I am glad to say also for the benefit of the conference that many of them have attended our session throughout.
Representative Maverick, whom I have the privilege of introducing, is a member of Congress from Texas and comes from the city of San Antonio. He is a lawyer by profession, was an officer in the 28th Infantry, First Division, during the World War, where he was wounded and cited for gallantry in action and extremely meritorious service. Of all his qualifications, however, I am most interested in his membership in the Circus Fans of America, as I belong to that great galaxy of American citizens who attend every circus on the theory that my children enjoy it. I am sure all of us would be interested in knowing the qualifications for membership in that organization. Certainly I would. But seriously, Mr. Maverick has been one of the Congressmen most outstanding in his interest in the planning movement and most cooperative with the National Resources Committee. He served as president of the Citizens' League of San Antonio, which league was most instrumental in bringing good government to that city. It was only natural, therefore, that one so interested in good government should be a leading advocate of the planning movement.
I present to you — Hon. Maury Maverick of the State of Texas.
A PERMANENT NATIONAL RESOURCES BOARD
By MAURY MAVERICK, Member of Congress
Thomas Jefferson was a believer in individual liberty — civil, religious, and academic — he believed in the utmost liberty of intellect and spirit. But let us remember he was the first man in America who advocated plowing on contours, conservation, reforestation, and the preservation of our natural resources. Not only that, but he advocated farm co- operatives— and some people tell us that that is some terrible form of socialism.
Yet neither Thomas Jefferson nor any man then living could have foretold the tremendously changed conditions in the United States of America today. And, of course, he did not have the integrated ideas of today on the subject of planning and conservation by all our govern-
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mental units, but he did have the idea of conservation within the limits of science of that day.
He thought, and so expressed himself even before the Louisiana Purchase, that there was enough land to last our people forever. And then, as President, he made the Louisiana Purchase and thought for sure that the day would never come when there would be a shortage of land. He did it just as in the old days when a Texan would go out and get ten or twenty thousand acres more land, feeling sure that the ranch business would go on prosperously forever and that the trail up to Abilene, Kans., would always be roaring with the cloven hoofs of cattle. But in that thought Jefferson was mistaken, just like the early cattle- men of Texas.
We who are Americans have an "important mission/' or else, to put it in plain American language, a big job to save our country. Most of you know that cities and metropolitan areas and States must be planned with all the tremendous problems of roads, highways, bridges, homes, apartment houses, business buildings, sanitation — everything. You all know that our resources are in extremely bad shape. So let us all quit making reactionaries out of our ancestors and do what they did — think for ourselves, be democratic, and plan and coordinate our country so that it will be a decent place in which to live.
When we talk about planning and conservation, let us talk about it in such a way that we come to certain logical conclusions, upon which we can act intelligently. Let us go into a labyrinth of thought, and if this labyrinth of thought brings us to certain conclusions, then let us accept those conclusions without fear. In this adventure will come all of our concepts of the Declaration of Independence, the theories of our forefathers, the interpretation of the Constitution, our opinions on the Supreme Court, everything. But we need not go into all this intricate phraseology and thought; let us think only of the simple necessity of the preservation of a free country to live in, with a free people in it, and with the people in possession of their God-given resources.
Natural Resources Belong to the People. The natural resources of Amer- ica are the heritage of the whole Nation, or the people as a whole, and should be conserved and utilized for the benefit of all the people. I deny no man the right to his ambition, or his individuality. But I deny to every man in America any right to destroy any portion of the natural resources, or so to plan his business or industry as to be a danger to the health and lives of his fellow citizens. The gains of our democracy in civilization and culture are essentially mass gains. If you do not believe that, I am sure you will understand that the losses of our democracy in the matter of our natural resources are essentially mass losses.
Let me be more specific: If in a certain section of the country we destroy the natural resources and there come great floods or dust storms, then the people as a whole suffer the result of all this destruction. There-
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fore, we should not let a few people or any number of people destroy these resources, but the resources should be protected for the general welfare.
There can be no logical, constitutional, patriotic, or sensible denial of this. Yet in the past, when efforts have been made to put these principles into living facts, a multitude of pretexts and evasions and obstacles have been advanced. We cannot stay progress — or rather, we should not do it. Nature is the servant of man — or, again, she should be the servant of man. Our natural resources, properly conserved, are limitless — why shouldn't we take a limitless advantage? There is abso- lutely no excuse for the senseless, savage, and brutal exploitation which has defaced many pages in our national history.
I have been interested in conservation for a few years, and do not know as much as those who are in this audience about its technical aspects. But I can remember in the old days when Gifford Pinchot and Theodore Roosevelt and the others were making a good fight against great odds in the matter of conservation. I remember then the dis- cussions about saving our forests, our rivers, our hills, and valleys — that was 25 or 30 years ago, but since then we have destroyed untold natural wealth. In fact, all that Teddy Roosevelt accomplished was to save a little, build an idea, and have it as a matter of record that we were really destroying our natural resources, and ourselves.
And now, at this time, Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Government are starting all over again a policy of conservation with intelligent zeal and real convictions. "Planning" may sound odious to some — but that is now possible through various agencies of Government. And I see no reason why we should not "plan" to prevent dust storms, floods, dis- eases— and save our country.
Now that a large body of public opinion is alert, let us, as Americans, make a clean breast of the fact that for years the attempt to execute even rudimentary conservation policies was jeered as visionary or banished as a threat to individual liberties. The recent floods and dust storms have shocked and appalled the whole country.
Let Us Plan Against Dust Storms and Floods. Now what are we going to do about it? Are we going to stop the dust storms and the floods? The answer is that we must; we have to do it. And the reason is that we cannot do as we used to do and exist. We cannot move West nor go to a foreign country. We must stay in our own country and conserve it. We must stay in the big city and make it livable.
Generally we have almost broken down the natural "plan" in America. Now it must be restored. It is of little use to rehabilitate and conserve our lands if we cannot thereby improve the condition of human beings. Therefore, the final and most significant element to be considered is neither land nor water but the people who live on the land and are dependent on the water.
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I have recited these facts because the use and control of our natural resources presents a bewildering array of problems, some technical, some economic, some social, some legal and constitutional, in which, without a guiding master plan, we would inevitably lose our way. The vastness of the country, the wide range of climate and topography, the abrupt seasonal changes, our inherited prejudices all tend to make the formula- tion of a national policy difficult. But nothing short of a national policy can deal effectively with conditions.
The task of making and carrying out such a policy will involve many agencies. It will take a long time. It will demand the highest order of patriotism, statesmanship, and skill.
T. V. A. Example of Profitable Planning. Now let me bring together the different ends of the threads and make something of a conclusion. In many of these things our inherited ideas, our ideas of government, may clash with the principle of saving our own lives. But, I hold that individuality should not go to the extent of destroying the country. I should like to see a man make all the money he wants to make, but not at the expense of the natural resources or the general welfare of the people.
Let me take a particular case on which we may base some conclusions, the Tennessee Valley Authority. There is where dams are built — where power can be produced cheaply (if we have as much sense as the Cana- dians, and I think we have) — where there is a coordinated plan of con- servation. Now, a dam is built. The water backs up. The water begins to pour over.
Now the question is, should the Government steal this water from its own people and give it to some private monopoly in order that it may exploit the people, or should the Government take advantage of the water which God let fall from the skies and use that for the benefit of the people of the United States and to help pay for the project? I hold unalterably to the latter view.
Now let me state a conclusion: The people of this country will not accept the regimentation of fascism or communism. The people will, however, find it necessary to conserve their own natural resources. This will mean, when it comes to matters which solely concern the public welfare, that the Government should have sufficient power to accomplish the purposes. Sometimes it means government — national, state, or local — ownership. Remember that, from a legal viewpoint, a drop of water which falls in Idaho goes all the way through its course down the Mississippi Valley into the Gulf of Mexico. Through its course it does not worry about city, county, state, or national lines, about governors, Congressmen, or even judges of the Supreme Court. Some of the water even flows from Canada. No water cares anything for our courts and cannot be cited for contempt, or at least water or nature does not obey.
With this in view, let us get back to the T. V. A. It concerns six or seven States. It would be utterly impossible to have the various units
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in there to make contracts and treaties in order to accomplish these purposes. Therefore, the only way this great plan of conservation and cheap power can be accomplished is through the Federal Government. If our Government does not do it, it will not be done.
National Plan Necessary for States. Now I presume that there are many here who will say that I am making a speech for a strong central- ized government. I am not doing so. I am saying that the Federal Government should have the necessary power to have a coordinated plan, and that the work of the different States should be done by those different States. Various state planning boards will have plenty to do; in fact, they will have too much to do, and the Federal Government has neither the tune nor the inclination to take any of their powers away from them. And yet, I am perfectly frank in saying that I do not believe that any State should have a right to destroy another State either with its flow of water, its dust storms, or the effect that it may have on another.
We are in the most primitive state of national planning. People are afraid to use the word "plan." It is supposed to be radical or something bad. But in order to accomplish anything in the conservation of natural resources, we must start somewhere. The first thing we must do is to enlarge the work that has already been established by the National Resources Committee. As you know, the National Resources Committee is appointed by the President and has no independent statutory standing. I have introduced a bill known as the "national resources board bill," which provides for the statutory creation of a permanent board. I want the board to be, and I am sure you want it to be, a permanent national institution which will study our natural resources, collect data, and pre- pare programs according to the hearings on the bill such "as may be helpful to a planned development and use of land, wind, water, and other national resources and such related subjects as may be referred to it by the President."
History of National Resources Board. Let me tell you about the National Resources Committee. It and its predecessors, the National Planning Board and the National Resources Board, have brought to- gether for the first time exhaustive studies and plans for public works, land-use, water-use, minerals, and other related subjects in relation to each other and to national planning. These reports provide a sound basis for effective conservation.
When I came to Congress the first Government publication sent me was this report of the National Resources Board. I believe it is by far the most important work done by any Government agency and prob- ably one of the most effective. I became interested in the National Resources Board report because it brought together material on national policy or national planning that had not been put in one place since Theodore Roosevelt's Commission on Country Life got out its report
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in 1909. I set about to find out what kind of people were working on the report and what they were driving at.
First of all, I found out it was a non-partisan effort, and that the men who were responsible for making this plan for the better use of our land and water resources were Frederic A. Delano, Charles E. Merriam, and Wesley C. Mitchell. Dr. Mitchell and Dr. Merriam had previously been working on President Hoover's Committee on Recent Social Trends; in fact, they were chairman and vice chairman of that committee. So they were just carrying out what they had started some years before.
Back in 1929 Mr. Frederic Delano, through the Federated Societies on Planning and Parks, got out a book on "What About the Year 2000?" That book stated in concise and interesting form the problem of making the best use of our land. Mr. Delano and his co-workers were interested in this planning work as a continuing inventory of our natural resources and a constant readjustment of our policies to meet emerging problems. The planning wrork that they have been doing is a job that does not get finished with just one report or with two reports. It must be continued as long as we have a country.
The second thing I found out about this National Resources Board was that its members not only talked about decentralization of planning, but practiced it.
With Secretary Ickes' help, back in November, 1933, they suggested to the Governors of the various States that each State ought to have a planning agency to think about what was going to happen to the re- sources of the State. The Resources Board agreed to help by assigning specialists and consultants to these state planning boards. When they started this idea there were one or two States where some work of this sort had gotten under way — in Iowa and in New York, for instance. Now there are 46 state planning boards, and 32 of these boards have laws behind them to make them permanent. This National Resources Com- mittee has done all that in a little over two years. Now they are en- couraging the state boards to get the cities and counties to thinking about their future, following the example of what has been done in county planning in California and the rural zoning work that has been going on in Wisconsin. There are three or four hundred of these county planning boards in this country, and over 800 city and town planning boards.
The third thing I found out about this report on the national resources was that it represented a real cooperative job by a great many different bureaus of the Government — that they did not just go out and duplicate what a lot of other people were doing. They got the people with ex- perience— the people who knew — in different bureaus to get together and to put all of their material in one report.
They have followed up this cooperative work through continuing committees on land and water and other things, which have helped to
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prevent competition in the purchase of land by different Government bureaus, and more recently to coordinate projects for drainage and storage of water to avoid conflicts between the wildlife interests and the agricultural, power, and other groups. The Resources Committee is showing us a way to get results without interfering with bureau activities.
It is to assure the continuance of these valuable efforts that I intro- duced in Congress the bill I just mentioned to make this National Resources Committee a permanent and continuing body. Such a body will take a long-range view of the entire national problem and will apply the highest engineering and technical knowledge to the reorganization of our natural resources.
Are We to Live Like Chinese Coolies? And all this should be done not as an end in itself but as a means of decreasing the burdens imposed on the average citizen, raising the living standards of the Nation, and en- hancing the well-being of all Americans. And when I say Americans, I mean it! If we keep on going, we'll be like a hive of Chinese coolies. We might as well admit the fact, according to the situation of our natural resources today and our lack of conservation, that our standard of living is slipping. We of course have electric lights, automobiles, and fine roads and apartment houses in different places; but the country is blowing and washing away and we have certain large groups of our citizens who have a lower standard of living than many Americans who lived from fifty to a hundred years ago.
Thus we should proceed from the viewpoint of intelligent, human, and natural conservation and planning, both within and without Con- gress— that is, in the cities and States, our business relations, our human relations, our clubs and societies, everywhere. And along with this, I think we should support a statutory continuance of the National Re- sources Committee. This will not come without effort, and I mean great effort. That is because people talk about bureaus when it is not an additional bureau, and is not going to cost any more than it does now.
As a matter of fact, it is going to save the country if established — and if we carry on intelligently. So let me talk about this National Re- sources Board in a legislative way :
At this point let me "coordinate" a few conclusions, and then let us talk about what we are going to do about it.
The first conclusion is that we should not let our prejudices, however dear they may be to our hearts, keep us from realizing the public neces- sity of conservation. Many of you are technical men, engineers, pro- fessional planners — I am an elected public official and, for all I know, you probably call me a "politician." So in abandoning your inherited prejudices — if you have any — you may also find it a good thing to cooperate with elected public officials toward the end of effectuating something really worthwhile.
Second, an immediate objective is the adoption of a coordinated
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national plan with a proper decentralization for smaller units, and as a first step in the realization of this the National Resources Board bill must be adopted by Congress.
Third, the most important thing is to have a correct mental attitude on the subject of "planning." The word is woefully misunderstood and widely distorted. It does not mean destruction, anarchy, and the end of the world. It means the opposite — the practical, orderly, and far- sighted use of what God gave us. But by pernicious propaganda and misrepresentation it has acquired a sinister meaning. Opponents of conservation and planning are generally persons who have some in- terest in some speculative enterprise which will bring a profit out of the natural resources. The public must know this.
I have stated three conclusions briefly. They are, to repeat, leave off your prejudices and cooperate with your elected officials; put over the Resources Board bill; and let the public know what "planning" and "conservation" really mean.
Now let us keep those in mind.
Congress Respects Intelligent Public Opinion. All right, let us get to the practical things. A session of Congress immediately preceding a national election is, of course, not such an opportune time to press a measure like this. It is too easy for opponents to yell about "more Government interference," "paternalism," "bureaucracy," and so on, and it is not good manners of me to suggest that you "write your Con- gressmen."
But I do say this: You have been doing a good piece of work in your various capacities and in your various organizations and you must get in the fight publicly and politically, yourselves, with your own courage and your own minds. Hence, you must create public opinion so that public opinion will know and you must also discuss this either person- ally or by letter with your Congressmen — and back them up and give them courage to do this. To put isolated pressure on a Congressman is useless, but to have him understand an intelligent plan, with the backing of public opinion, is another thing.
Let's Dramatize Our Peaceful Fight! Now, here are some other things you can do. I have seen a lot of your state reports. You start out by trying to tell a story from the beginning like an old English novel and it is tiresome and unreadable. We should get out shorter reports, much shorter; we should have a foreword, heads and subheads, colored draw- ings that mean something, so that the average man can understand it without going crazy over hideous black statistics that blur your eyes and confuse your thoughts. Some of the stuff you get out goes to the ashcan, where it belongs, or to the statisticians who make your statistics and who are the only ones who can possibly understand it.
So my final message to you is that we must dramatize this battle to save the natural resources. We must put color in it and organize, and
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make the game worth fighting for. You can always put color in a war, where people are killing each other and destroying each other and their resources. It seems that we ought to have sense enough to make a colorful fight for the preservation of human and natural resources and for making this a decent country in which to live. Fellow Americans, that is our job and let us go to it.
CHAIRMAN'S INTRODUCTION
I have so often boasted at our annual conferences about our dis- tinguished Governor that it is more than a rare privilege for me to introduce him. I have painted him to you on various occasions as being planning-minded, as having written that most splendid talk which was circulated on State Planning and of having cooperated with us in our various problems to the fullest extent. Certainly no Governor could have given his State Planning Board any finer cooperation than has Governor Peery, and I can say here now that whatever we may accom- plish through our board should certainly reflect the fine spirit which he has shown toward our operations.
It is a pleasure to introduce to you His Excellency, George C. Peery, Governor of Virginia.
STATE PLANNING
By GEORGE C. PEERY, Governor of Virginia
St. Luke is one of the early authorities on the need for wise planning. In his book of the Bible we find these words :
For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first and counteth the cost whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply after he hath laid the foundation and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, saying, "This man began to build, and was not able to finish."
Planning is necessary to any well-ordered and successful individual. It is likewise necessary in government.
But for the vision and wise planning of L'Enfant in laying out the City of Washington, it would probably not be today the beautiful city it is.
And but for the planning of the founders of our Republic, we would doubtless be deprived of the proud boast that ours is the best of all governments in the world. From the very beginning of our national life, wise planning was in evidence. The Constitution itself was a great plan providing for a democratic form of government. It dealt with currency, tariffs, interstate commerce, and international relations. In later years it was termed by a great Englishman as the greatest instru- ment every penned by man. It was the Magna Charta for our political
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and economic development. And within it many plans have from time to time been made for the continued development and progress of our Nation and people.
The policy of encouraging manufacturing in our early history by a tariff was a form of economic planning. It may have been sound in the beginning and served a good purpose to become outmoded in a later day when American manufacturers became the equals of foreign rivals in efficiency and production costs. Thereupon sound planning called for a revision of tariff levies for the benefit of the consuming public, based in the main upon the difference in labor costs due to the higher standard of living enjoyed by the American laborer.
Still more recent developments which have resulted in retaliatory tariffs have led to further legislative planning by which reciprocal agree- ments as to tariff levies may be negotiated to the mutual advantage of our country with other contracting nations. A tariff against the products of other nations, of which America itself produces a large surplus, is unworkable and harmful in its effects and calls for a change in economic planning.
The early plans for education upon the western frontier rested largely upon grants of land. The conquering of the frontier, the building up of the country, and the settlement of the great areas of land called for revisions and changes in the plans for education.
The early days in our Republic were the days of individualism. The frontier beckoned to the hardy pioneer. He responded to its call, con- quered a portion and made it a home. As master of his own castle, he defended it from attack and developed a rich and self-reliant life. If in the rearing of a large family his domain became too limited, he could without great difficulty add other acres and enlarge the sphere of his activities and increase the fruits of his labor.
In those days of individualism there was not so much need for state and national planning. The chief planner was the individual himself. But his operations as an individual were not sufficient in extent mate- rially to conflict with the interests of the public at large.
But following the Civil War changes took place. Large enterprises were launched. Intensive planning in their behalf sought to extend their power and control over large areas of industry. The end sought was monopolistic control and domination. While these plans resulted in greater efficiency to the enterprise itself, they did not always promote the general good. Quite the contrary was too often the result. The rail- roads, promoted at first by grants of land and money, grew and flourished. But with their growth came practices on the part of some of them that may not have violated the letter of the law, but were violative of the right and subversive to sound business morals. Rebates and discrimi- nations were allowed to some and denied to others. One section could thereby be destroyed while another would prosper. One enterprise or
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individual could be wiped out of existence while another would go on and profit. Planning for such private enterprise outstripped for the time planning for the public good; and it became necessary to plan for the common good to meet this condition. The Interstate Commerce Act was the result, enacted in 1887. It provided against rebates and discriminations and set up a tribunal to fix and determine rates. So, likewise, did the growth of monopolistic enterprises and business prac- tices, violative of the rights of others and contrary to the public good, lead to legislative planning resulting in the enactment of the anti-trust laws and the establishment of the Federal Trade Commission to prevent and correct abuses of this character.
In great emergencies more intensive planning becomes imperative. The World War compelled economic mobilization. The War Industries Board, the War Board, the Food Administration, the Fuel Administra- tion, the Railroad Administration, and other governmental agencies were set up. Individual rights were subordinated to the plans of the Nation for winning the war. We remember the meatless and wheatless days that came to us as incidents of those plans.
And now seventeen years after the close of that momentous struggle, which brought to the world the emergency of the greatest war in all our history, we are in the throes of another emergency. It is not the emer- gency of war — but an emergency, world-wide in its extent, and devastat- ing in its effects. It is as complicated and difficult of solution as the problems of war. In a land of plenty, there is hunger and suffering and distress. It is a time that calls for wise planning, not only for the present, but for the future.
It has been said that "Planning consists in the systematic, contin- uous, forward-looking application of the best intelligence available to programs of common affairs in the public field, as it does to private affairs in the domain of individual activity."
Planning goes on continuously in every well-ordered home, in every successful business, and in every other worthwhile organization.
In the national emergency that has come to us, the need for sound planning on the part of the Nation and of the States has become manifest.
On July 20, 1933, the Administration of Public Works appointed a National Planning Board. Its functions were :
To advise and assist the administrator in the preparation of the "Compre- hensive Program of Public Works" required by the Recovery Act through —
1. The preparation, development and maintenance of comprehensive and coordinated plans for regional areas in cooperation with national, regional and state and local agencies based upon —
2. Surveys and research concerning:
(a) The distribution and trends of population, land uses, industry, housing and natural resources; and
(b) The social and economic habits, trends and values involved in development projects and plans; and through
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3. The analysis of projects for coordination in location and sequence in order to prevent duplication of wasteful overlaps and to obtain the maximum amount of cooperation and correlation of effort among the departments, bureaus and agencies of the Federal, state and local governments.
This board assumed that one of its primary functions was to stim- ulate city, regional and state planning, and in the performance of this function it was quite successful. Many city and regional planning boards were organized and state planning boards were organized in more than forty States. Virginia was among the number to set up a state planning board.
By executive orders, issued on June 30, 1934, the President estab- lished the National Resources Board as a successor to the National Planning Board and the Committee on National Land Problems. The new board represented a consolidation of previously existing agencies. It has continued the activities organized by the National Planning Board.
In Virginia existing state agencies have planned constructively in the past and continued to do so in anticipation of the future.
Our Department of Health, by sanitation and preventive medicine, has substantially reduced the toll resulting from preventable diseases, and has made good progress in improving and preserving the health of our people.
Our Department of Public Welfare has made substantial advances in caring for and in improving the condition of the unfortunates and wards of the State.
Our Department of Education, with approximately 15,000 school teachers in our public schools, with the financial support afforded by the General Assembly, has assured a minimum school term to all of the school children throughout the State. Comfortable and adequate school buildings have been built in nearly every section of the State. Our institutions of higher learning rank well with those of other States.
Our Highway Department, efficiently administered, has planned a highway system and brought most of it to completion, affording a fine system of splendid highways extending throughout the State.
Our Conservation and Development Commission, in addition to making surveys of our material resources and marking the various points of historical interest throughout the State, has established a series of state parks, to which our people may easily go for recreation and health.
Our Department of Labor has planned wisely and well for the welfare of our working people.
Our Department of Agriculture has planned and worked successfully for the development of the interests of that large body of our citizens who are engaged in the production of food and the pursuit of agriculture.
In governmental planning we have adopted the plan of budget con- trol so that we may count the cost in advance and provide for meeting
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it in an orderly and business-like way. We have effected a consolidation of governmental departments and agencies, thereby eliminating dupli- cation of work and effort and promoting efficiency in the business of government. We have set up modern methods of accounting, to the end that sound business practices may be followed.
All of these things have proved helpful in our social, economic and governmental life.
But new conditions have brought new problems, and with them the need for continuous planning. The problem of unemployment is prob- ably the chief one. We must plan our economic life so that those who are able and willing to work and who must depend upon the rewards of their toil for their sustenance have gainful work. And it is not enough to provide for them a bare existence; for in a civilization such as ours those who contribute the labor necessary for the production of our goods and products are entitled not only to bare necessities, but to some of the comforts and good things of life.
We need to plan for a sound development of our agricultural re- sources, so that those who till the soil and produce the food for our people may be assured a comfortable existence for themselves and their families.
The problem is not that of former days to produce more food. It is to control the production of food, so that those who need may buy and those who produce may receive a reasonable and living price for the things they produce. We need to plan for the conservation of our natural resources. Our forests, our minerals, our water resources should not be wasted and squandered for one generation. They should be economically and wisely used so that the needs of future generations may also be supplied.
Already our forests, which in the beginning seemed almost inex- haustible, have largely yielded to the onslaught of the lumberman who has in view present profit, rather than the interests and needs of future generations. And the practice has been so wasteful as to fail to provide for the growing forest to take the place of the mature trees cut and removed.
Now private ownership can hardly afford the expense of holding land, paying the taxes each year, until the forest has yielded another growth of merchantable timber. This means that conservation of our timber resources can be effectively accomplished only through public ownership on the part of either the State or the Nation.
To the consideration of these and other kindred problems involving our economic and social life, the planning boards are directing their research and thought.
The State Planning Board in Virginia has been established pursuant to a resolution of the General Assembly. Of the personnel comprising the board, five are the heads of departments in the state government;
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three are technical men employed in state departments; one is an agri- cultural engineer in the service of one of the state's educational insti- tutions; and the others are leading citizens of Virginia without official position with the State. The plan, of course, is to correlate the work of the planning board with the various state departments and supplement the planning work done by them.
The board has set up nineteen committees for the consideration of the different problems before them.
The first essential work is research, in order that the facts may be definitely and accurately ascertained.
The Planning Board will utilize the facts and information already collected by the various state departments and seek to ascertain such additional facts as it may deem necessary. In this way it is hoped that sound and constructive plans may be developed, not only for the present, but for the future.
The board is without an appropriation from the General Assembly, but it has been fortunate enough to receive a substantial grant from the Spelman Fund which will enable it to enlarge upon its research work and make more effective its work and investigations.
One of the essential objects in sound planning is to prevent dupli- cation of work and expense. It is to be hoped that the various agencies that are being set up to promote planning may afford concrete evidence that they, in the very outset, are avoiding the very thing which they advocated should be avoided, namely, the over-lapping of activities and duplicating of efforts which result in unnecessary waste and expense.
Let our generation seek to plan wisely and well, not only for the present, but for the generations that are to follow.
CHAIRMAN'S INTRODUCTION
Our next speaker will occupy the dual role of making an address and of introducing the speaker who will follow him. Although he has been president of several railroads, served as a Colonel in the Trans- portation Corps in the World War, I have no doubt that of all the terms that might be applied to him he would prefer to be known as a planner. He was Chairman of the Regional Plan of New York and is Chairman of the National Capital Park and Planning Commission of Washington, and Vice-Chairman of the National Resources Committee. In fact, he is the dean of the planning profession. Several years ago Mr. Raymond Unwin was knighted in England. His friends felt that it was not Sir Raymond who was being knighted, but City Planning. I feel sure that if we had that great institution of knighting and nobility in this country that exists hi England, its first recipient in the planning field would be our next speaker — Col. Frederic A. Delano, Vice-Chairman, National Resources Commit- tee and President of the American Planning and Civic Association.
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By FREDERIC A. DELANO, President, American Planning and Civic Association
I AM not here to tell you about the work of the American Planning and Civic Association of which I have the honor to be President. The speaker who follows me will do that. In my capacity as Vice-Chairman of the National Resources Committee and as Chairman of the National Capital Park and Planning Commission, however, I wish to stress the need which we, as officials, feel for intelligent citizen understanding and support of planning. If, as Socrates did, we could gather the citizens of each community about us and by astute questions lead them on to a knowledge of what city, county, state, regional and national planning can do, we should indeed develop an invincible public opinion which would express itself in legislation and appropriations from the appro- priate governmental units, to insure the realization of those environ- mental conditions which can only be brought about by intelligent plan- ning based on sound investigation of social and economic as well as physical facts.
The National Resources Committee has conducted a number of in- vestigations of national import. A clearing house of research in planning has a distinctly national significance. But we, in the National Resources Committee, have from the first preached the doctrine of state's responsi- bilities for state planning and state projects. We have practiced what we preached. Of course we have thought that, in this emergency, follow- ing the precedent in similar cases of making Federal aid available, the Federal Government, through the National Resources Committee, should extend Federal aid in some form to the many new and struggling state planning boards. This we have done in the form of providing plan- ning consultants when requested to do so by the state planning boards.
This has proved successful to the extent that progress can be mea- sured. But naturally we hope that the time will come when the people living in the States will see that, in the interest of preserving and pro- viding high standards of living and working conditions for their own people, it is both economically and socially desirable to maintain con- tinuous state planning boards, charged with the responsibility of co- operating with state departments and other state and local agencies to prepare and keep up to date a sensible, consistent plan for the utilization of the state's resources.
By utilization I do not mean using up. The preservation of natural scenery for the inspiration and education of the people is one of the highest forms of utilization. It is a form of utilization which permits use by this generation without impairing the same kind of use by future generations.
Now, I take it that we in this room are all converted to the principles of planning just as thoroughly as though we had sat at the feet of
164 PLANNING PROCEEDINGS
Socrates and submitted ourselves to his canny questions. But our problem is one of extending our influence. That is what we are trying to do by setting up state chapters of the American Planning and Civic Association, not with the idea of duplicating the work of other organ- izations, but, on the contrary, with the definite idea of serving existing organizations through a personnel of members well informed on plan- ning principles and familiar with the planning proposals of their own state planning boards.
Colonel Wetherill, who will speak to you on "Citizen Support of Planning," has had successful experience in focusing public opinion on the problems of regional planning. Through the Regional Planning Federation of the Philadelphia Tri-State District, he brought about the cooperation of the many governmental units in the Philadelphia district, lying in three States, in the preparation of a regional plan.
I have the honor of introducing Colonel Samuel P. Wetherill, Presi- dent of the Regional Planning Federation of the Philadelphia Tri- State District.
CITIZEN SUPPORT FOR PLANNING
By SAMUEL P. WETHERILL, JR., President, Regional Planning Federation, Philadelphia Tri-State District
MR. DELANO in introducing me has spoken very courteously of the contribution to the planning movement which was made by the Regional Planning Federation of the Philadelphia Tri-State District with which it was my privilege to be actively engaged for many years.
Fascinating and interesting as is the technique of the making of plans for the best development of the areas under the jurisdiction of the community, region, State or Nation, even more fascinating and signifi- cant is the underlying problem of how such plans will be received by the communities which they seek to serve and under what circumstances will they be most useful in guiding the future development of the areas planned for.
The informal assignment to me of the subject "Citizen Support for Planning" is a most happy one as it reflects that aspect of the work which has intrigued me most ever since my first connection with it.
It is also significant that this title should be receiving the consider- ation of those who are now associated with the American Planning and Civic Association and its affiliated groups. Surely, no organization in America is better qualified to give consideration to this question — a judgment which would be confirmed by the most superficial review of the long record of influential support of planned programs and policies which stands to the credit of the American Planning and Civic Asso- ciation and its predecessors.
ADDRESSES DELIVERED AT THE BANQUET 165
Ever since 1897, when the Park and Outdoor Art Association was organized in Louisville, Kentucky, its policy has been to mould and inform public opinion and to rally this informed opinion behind one governmental project after another.
In 1900 the American League for Civic Improvement, which was organized in Springfield, Ohio, was another step in the direction of the organization of the American Civic Association through the merger in 1904 of the two above named organizations.
From 1904 to 1924, Dr. J. Horace McFarland led this Association vigorously and aggressively in support of planned progress for parks and conservation of national resources, and his example will long remain an inspiration to private citizens of the practicality of bringing effective pressure to bear on their governmental representatives when the cause they seek to serve is so clearly in the public interest.
In Chicago, from the days of the World's Fair in 1893, the stimulation of public opinion in support of planning became progressively more and more effective to the point where no citizen of Chicago could fail to trace the progress of the city to those efforts with which our present President, Frederic A. Delano, is so intimately identified and in which he acquired such great skill in this technique of marshalling informed public opinion in support of planning. Under his Presidency — from 1925 on — this same policy has continued and the scope and significance of the planning movement has spread from the region to the Nation and from the Nation back to the 48 States in a manner most gratifying to those of us who still believe that it is practical to establish long-term scientific planning as a vital element in the success of our representative democratic in- stitutions. It is particularly appropriate that the American Planning and Civic Association, as it now stands, should be a merger of this type of civic effort with the more highly professional group which composed the National Conference on City Planning.
I have always said that were I a professional city planner, my greatest concern would be the question of arousing public opinion in support of the above planning practice. Therefore, it is almost instinctive with me perhaps to appraise the development of the planning movement, not in the light of the excellent technical achievement and progress which are being made, so much as in the light of those factors which are conducive to public interest in, and support of, the whole policy and principle of community planning.
In the years preceding the establishment of the Philadelphia Tri- State Federation, the sociological resistance to the planning idea was great and was only overcome by us through invoking the most wide- spread possible financial administration and technical cooperation throughout the region to be served. In this way $600,000 or more was contributed, innumerable citizens and professional people contributed gratuitous service worth many times the total money spent, and the
166 PLANNING PROCEEDINGS
officials of 357 governments participated in tHe negotiations and de- liberations which preceded the final adoption of the 400 and more recommendations included in the Plan.
Even before the depression began, a number of projects under con- struction were taken up by the local communities and put into effect. However, when the question of the need for emergency employment became acute, the Federal Government led off on a policy of using relief funds for the construction of municipal projects which were in accordance with the spirit, if not the letter, of the Philadelphia Tri-State planning program.
Very wisely the L. W. D. administration employed William H. Connell, who was the Director of the Plan and was therefore familiar with all of the detailed studies upon which it was based. In conse- quence, a high percentage of the plans has already been realized al- though the Plan has been published for considerably less than five years.
Looking forward, much concern has been expressed regarding the type of support which is to be expected for the work of the professional planner of the future. There are those of a pessimistic turn of mind who believe that a drastic reaction against all forms of public expenditure will set in and that taxpayers will be blind to the benefits of planning in their zeal to curtail public expenditures. Meanwhile, they predict dire and overwhelming tax burdens of such magnitude as to discourage over-taxed citizens from making gratuitous contributions through such official channels as we in America have learned to look to for the sponsor- ship and support of important civic planning effort.
At this point, and at the risk of stretching the boundaries assigned to me, I cannot refrain from expressing a personal measure of optimism in direct opposition to the rather pessimistic views above quoted. This optimism, I believe, is grounded in a sound, thoroughly scientific ap- praisal of the economic trend which seems to me to be turning the tide away from despondency and toward a program of cooperative self- realization such as, perhaps, no nation on earth has ever before experi- enced. In these days of inter-dependence, planning must, and I believe will, hold its own and grow immensely as the means of guiding and articulating the common effort in the channels that will economize the taxpayer's money and attain to standards of collective environment probably beyond the vision of our most enlightened contemporaries.
I admit that this will involve large sums of taxpayer's moneys and that it will involve a spirit of whole-hearted cooperation amongst citizens who hold no public office and must pay large taxes. To me the question is not so much, "Will the taxes be large or small?" as it is, "Shall we have the resources with which to meet them and still have abundant margin to maintain the high standards of living towards which all Americans naturally yearn?" Here we come to the crux of the situation. In those previous civilizations which were dependent upon human en-
ADDRESSES DELIVERED AT THE BANQUET 167
slavement to perform the work and create the surpluses with which civilization advanced, it was inevitable that what one gained another lost; that the prosperity of the few was earned by the self-denial of the many. Within the last decade, however, America has learned that great lesson of the potency of the machine age to turn out the products needed for the progress of men with ever less and less human drudgery. It is said that on an average, less than five man-days are required to produce a Ford automobile through the use of modern machine methods. I can see no reason why this principle should not be deliberately ex- tended to meet a vast range of needs other than for transportation. Already man's production methods are turning out automatic refriger- ation and innumerable other devices, and the prices for these superior products bring them within the range of modest pocketbooks.
For the first tune in human history it is now practicable, and practical men with vision are demonstrating the fact, to pay higher wages to increase the per man day output and to reduce the selling price of articles of general consumption which are susceptible to this type of man's pro- duction!
It is my belief that political, economic and social planning will best be advanced if all of us dedicate our best thought and attention to the extension of this great American system under which wages can go up and prices can come down at the same time. Wise labor leaders will see in this a short-cut to Utopian standards which could never be attained by restriction of output, and financial profiteers who seek excessive prices and the lowest possible wage will see that a small profit and a mass production made possible by a higher general consuming power of the wage-earners will be the only sound business practice of the future. It is for this reason and because of my profound confidence that the lessons of this philosophy of abundance are rapidly being learned by the American people, that I am confident that for generations to come the planning profession need have no fear of lack of popular support for its well-considered program.
It is for these reasons that I am definitely a "bull" on America and I feel that we of this generation are living through a thrilling and significant era and, instead of handing on to our posterity nothing but debts and burdens and impoverished self-respect, quite the reverse is in store for them. They will learn to cooperate; they will learn to adjust private to public interest ; the legitimate incentive to profit will be shared by more and more and the American standard of living will once more become the envy of the world.
OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF PLANNING OFFICIALS
ALFRED BETTMAN, PRESIDENT
Chairman of the City Planning Commission, Cincinnati, Ohio; Member of the Ohio State Planning Board; District Chairman for the National Resources Committee.
MORTON L. WALLERSTEIN, VICE-PRESIDENT
Executive Secretary of the League of Virginia Municipalities; Chairman of the Virginia State Planning Board.
HAROLD S. BUTTENHEIM, NEW YORK CITY
Editor of the American City Magazine; Chairman of the Zoning Board of Adjustment, Madison, N. J.
JACOB L. CRANE, JR., CHICAGO, ILL.
Planning Consultant, National Resources Committee.
CHARLES W. ELIOT, 2o, WASHINGTON, D. C.
Executive Officer of the National Resources Committee.
ESTES KEFAUVER, CHATTANOOGA, TENN.
Chairman, Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission.
HENRY H. KILDEE, AMES, IOWA
Dean of the College of Agriculture, Iowa State College; Chairman, Iowa State Planning Board.
B. H. KIZER, SPOKANE, WASH.
Chairman, Washington State Planning Council; Member, Pacific North- west Regional Planning Commission; President, Spokane City Planning Commission.
WILLIAM STANLEY PARKER, BOSTON, MASS.
Member, Massachusetts State Planning Board; Vice-Chairman, Boston City Planning Board.
L. DEMING TILTON, SANTA BARBARA, CALIF.
Director of the California State Planning Board; County Planning Engineer.
SAMUEL WILSON, TOPEKA, KAN.
Executive Officer of the Kansas State Planning Board; Secretary of the Kansas State Chamber of Commerce.
CHARLES S. ASCHER, TREASURER OF THE SOCIETY
Secretary of the Public Administration Clearing House; former Executive Director of the National Association of Housing Officials.
WALTER H. BLUCHER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Former City Planner and Secretary of the Detroit City Plan Commission; former member of the Detroit City Housing Commission; Planning Consul- tant, National Resources Committee; President, Michigan Planning Con- ference; Consultant to Housing Division, P. W. A.
168
INDEX
Agricultural Adjustment Admin., 66, 69,
70, 107.
Allin, Bushrod W., 66. American City Planning Institute, 1, 31, 98. American Planning and Civic Association,
1, 98, 163, 165.
American Society of Planning Officials, 1, 98. Barrows, H. H., 86, 118, 145. Bartholomew, Harland, 26, 50. Bassett, Edward M., 28, 33. Bennett, Charles B., 25, 40. Bennett, H. H., 145. Bettman, Alfred, v, 119. Bigger, Frederick, 17, 23. Black, Russell VanNest, v, 13, 23. Blucher, Walter H., v. Boston City Planning Board, 84, 85. Bowers, G. M., 47. Buttenheim, Harold S., 31, 34. Central Statistical Board, 128, 131. Citizen Support for Planning, 164. City Planning, 3, 7-50. City Planning, Richmond, 47-50. Clackamas County, Oregon, 59-65. Columbia Basin Report, 116. Comey, Arthur C., 27, 34. Conference Resolution, 168. Connell, William H., 166. Conservation, 97. County Planning, 53, 54, 59-77. County Planning, Iowa, 54-58. Crane, Jacob L., 105. Dana, Marshall N., 53. Darling, J. N., 100. Day, Willard, 95. DeBoer, S. R., 44. Delano, Frederic A., v, 25, 154, 162, 163,
165.
Dimock, Marshall E., 105, 111. Drainage Basin Districts, 142-144. Dust Storms, 151. East Georgia Planning Council, 72. Ebert, Mrs. M. M., 91. Education, 96. Eliot, Charles W., 2d., 116. El wood, P. H., 54. Emerson, Merton L., 141. Farny, Major George W., 24. Federal Emergency Relief Administration,
92. Federal Employment Stabilization Board,
132, 135. Federated Societies on Planning and Parks,
154.
Fesler, James W., 112. Floods, 151. Florida, 91-94.
Florida State Planning Board, 72, 91, 92. Fowler, Frederick H., 141. Freeman, Dr. Douglas S., 95. Gabrielson, Ira N., 145. Gaus, John M., 105, 107. Gimre, Gerald, 75. Grand Coulee Dam, 37. Great Plains Region, 109-111, 119. Grover, N. C., 145. Hall, Sidney B., 96.
Hall, Wilbur C., 97.
Ham, Clifford W., 35.
Herlihy, Elisabeth M., 81.
Heydecker, Wayne D., 25.
Hodges, Colonel Leroy, 95.
Home Economics, Bureau of, 128, 131.
Hoover, Herbert, 88.
Hopkins, Harry L., 65.
Housing, 13-26.
Hyatt, Edward, 145.
Ickes, Harold L., 138, 154.
Ihlder, John, 22.
Industrial Resources, 126-131.
Inter-County Planning, 72-77.
James, Harlean, v.
Labor Statistics, Bureau of, 128, 131.
Legislative Planning, 101, 102.
Lohmann, Karl, 111.
Lorimer, Frank, 123.
Markham, Major General Edward M., 145.
Mason City, 37.
Massachusetts, 81-87.
Massachusetts State Planning Board, 81, 82.
Maverick, Maury, 149.
McCormick, J. Rossa, 24.
McFarland, J. Horace, 165.
Mclntosh, Henry T., 72.
McNary, Charles L., 65.
Means, Gardiner C., 126.
Menhinick, Howard K., v.
Merriam, Dr. Charles E., 7, 154.
Messick, Charles P., 94.
Milwaukee Planning Commission, 40, 42, 43.
Mitchell, Wesley C., 154.
Moses, Robert, 34.
National Capital Park and Planning Com- mission, 163.
National Conference on City Planning, 165.
National Plan, 153.
National Planning, 123-145.
National Recovery Administration, 107.
National Resources Board. See National Resources Committee.
National Resources Committee, 2, 7, 35, 38, 73, 83, 86, 98, 100, 105, 112, 113, 115, 116, 117, 125, 126, 127, 130, 138, 139, 149, 153, 154, 163.
New England Regional Planning Commis- sion, 83, 117.
New Jersey, 94-95.
New Jersey State Planning Board, 94, 95.
Nolen, John, 24.
Northeast Tennessee Regional Planning Commission, 76.
Odum, Howard W., 108, 111.
Ohio Valley Regional Planning Commis- sion, 119.
Pacific Northwest Regional Planning Com- mission, 53.
Page, John C., 145.
Peery, George C., Governor of Va., 157.
Philadelphia Tri-State District, 164.
Planning. See City, State, Regional and National Planning.
Population, 121-125.
169
170
PLANNING PROCEEDINGS
Public Roads, Bureau of, 92.
Public Works, 132-138.
Public Works Administration, 118, 132, 134.
Reclamation Service, 38, 65.
Regional Planning, 105-119.
Renner, George T., 105.
Resettlement Administration, 38, 42, 90,
125.
Ronald, W. R., 87. Roosevelt, Franklin D., 87, 151. Roosevelt, Theodore, 151, 153. Saville, Thorndike, 145. Schnepfe, Fred E., 132. Segoe, L., 7, 22, 25. Shands, William R., 101. Social Science Research Council, 128. South Dakota State Planning Board, 87. Stanbery, V. B., 59. State Planning, 81-101. State Planning, South Dakota, 87-90. Stoll, L. C., 59. Supreme Court, 70, 113. Swan, Herbert S., 23. Tarbett, R. E., 145. Tate, Thomas R., 145. Tennessee Counties, 75-77. Tennessee Valley Authority, 113, 152. Tilton, L. Deming, 3. Tolley, H. R., 68. Treadway, C. B., 91.
Unwin, Sir Raymond, 162.
Urbanism, 7-11.
Urbanism, Research Committee on, 7.
Virginia, 95-102.
Virginia Commission on Conservation and
Development, 97, 101. Virginia State Planning Board, 95, 97, 101,
161.
Wagner, Robert F., 132. Wallace, Henry A., 68. Wallerstein, Morton L., 95, 149. Water Pollution, 114, 115. Water Resources, 138, 139, 141. Water Resources Committee, District Field
Staffs, 141-145. Water Resources Committee, Personnel,
145.
Wells, Oris V., 69. Wetherill, Samuel P., Jr., 64. Williams, Frank B., 31. Wilson, M. L., 68. Wolman, Abel, 138, 145. Woodward, Sherman M., 145. Works Progress Administration, 65, 84, 86,
93, 128, 141. Zoning, 27-36, 48. Zoning Appeals, Board of, 49. Zoning Ordinances, 27-31. Zoning, Table of Bulk Restrictions, 32. Zoning, Table of Density Restrictions, 33.