Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 15.djvu/546

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532 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

tors lacking interest in it; the city becomes the home of those who are

indifferent to its welfare, if not discontented with it To be in

earnest to have it well governed is to assure good government for it; to be indifferent in regard to it is to run the risk of insufficient and dishonest government. In brief, the community whose citizens give to it the same thought as a community that they do to their individual concerns, who are ready to work for it and plan for it, who take an interest in whatever will better it, who have a pride in its appearance and in its advancement, is a community that excels others.

Boston in this connection has made a contribution which will unquestionably attract increasing attention. It is known as "The Boston- 19 1 5 Movement." It is

a city movement organizing the co-operation of all agencies which want to do things for industrial and civic improvement; a city plan co-ordinating the proposals of all agencies which want things done into a programme which the public can understand and carry out; a city calendar setting dates ahead when parts of that programme can and ought to be carried out; a city propaganda enlisting every ounce of civic interest in every citizen to see that they are carried out; a city exposition in 1915 of the factories, stores, public departments, institutions, city equipment, and re- sources, home and health, social and industrial relations, of the city itself in action, which shall show to all the world how far Boston has lived up to her vision and shall be prophetic of the city that is to be.

Pittsburgh has a civic commission which is at work on another form of city plan, having engaged for this purpose the services of some of the most efficient experts in the country. As one of its own local papers pointed out :

No American city has ever before undertaken the careful, searching

diagnosis given this city by the Pittsburgh survey. No city has been so

quick to appreciate the necessity for seeking the necessary prescription from the most eminent municipal specialists.

The findings of the Pittsburgh survey, which were first given to the public, at least in part, at the Pittsburgh meetings, were im- mediately met by the organization, with the co-operation of Mayor Guthrie, of the Pittsburgh Civic Commission, a body of men whose personality and purpose abundantly justify the belief that the results will be of far-reaching importance. The thor- oughness and completeness with which Pittsburgh is addressing