Quite in accord with the plan of Chicago is the Benjamin Franklin Ferguson Monument Fund of a million dollars, the income of which is available for defraying the cost of statuary commemorating worthy men and women of America, or important events in American history, to be erected in the parks and boulevards of the city, under the direction of the trustees of the Art Institute. The Field Museum, representing gifts aggregating $9,000,000, is a further instance of loyalty to the city and a desire for its improvement. Such enterprises and such gifts as those enumerated show what may be expected from individual benefactions as wealth increases and the idea of public service is encouraged. When opportunities for enriching the city are provided, individual citizens rise to the occasion, and find true satisfaction in leaving memorials useful or agreeable to the people. Mere increase in numbers does not warrant the belief that public sentiment in favor of extensive public works will grow in proportion to the population; but the history of the past does prove that the people of Chicago are always ready and anxious to follow when the way to great benefits is plainly open. We believe that the tendency which the community has shown by its acts points hopefully to the adoption of a great scheme of public improvement. In other words, Chicago having already carried out large projects strictly on the lines of this report, may we not, therefore, confidently expect this people to go on doing as they have done? There is a still stronger reason for the belief that the public will favor such a plan as is herein presented. It lies in the growing love of good order, due to the advance in education. Every one knows that the civic conditions which prevailed fifty years ago would not now be tolerated anywhere; and every one believes that conditions of to-day will not be tolerated by the men who shall follow us. This must be so, unless progress has ceased. The education of a community inevitably brings about a higher appreciation of the value of systematic improvement, and results in a strong desire on the part of the people to be surrounded by conditions in harmony with the growth of good taste; and as fast as the people can be brought to see the advantage to them of more orderly arrangement of the streets, transportation lines, and parks, it is well-nigh certain that they will bring about such desirable ends. Thus do the dreams of to-day become the commonplaces of to-morrow; and what we now deem fanciful will become mere matter-of-fact to the man of the future. If the plan as a whole be approved by the majority of our citizens because it is found to be both practical and beautiful, the next question is as to what it commits us. In answering this query a general review of the principal elements composing the plan will be of value. The following list comprises the main items: _First._ The improvement of the Lake front.