Finally, it seems probable that the schemes of outer highways and of all the Lake front improvements may come about quite naturally and with very little expense to the city; that the railways will pay most of the expense of their changes and improvements, thus leaving a portion of the cost of the traction system and all of the cost of the civic center, of the parks and parkways, and of the street development for the general public to meet. The community has ample financial ability to do its part without placing undue burdens upon the people. Paris had not much more than half a million people, and her commercial prospects were far less than are ours to-day, when that municipality adopted a street improvement scheme involving over two hundred and sixty million dollars, and carried it to completion in thirty-five years. The motive of the French people in undertaking this enterprise was to create a great attraction for all men: a city so delightful as to insure continuous prosperity to the inhabitants. The success of the undertaking has amply justified the pains and the expense. People from all over the world visit and linger in Paris. No matter where they make their money, they go there to spend it; and every proprietor and workman in Paris benefits by reason of that fact. Conditions in Chicago are such as to repel outsiders and drive away those who are free to go. The cream of our own earnings should be spent here, while the city should become a magnet, drawing to us those who wish to enjoy life. The change would mean prosperity, effective, certain, and forever continuous. If, therefore, the plan is a good one, its adoption and realization will produce for us conditions in which business enterprises can be carried on with the utmost economy, and with the certainty of successful issue, while we and our children can enjoy and improve life as we cannot now do. Then our own people will become home-keepers, and the stranger will seek our gates. [Illustration: CXLII. THE GREAT LAKES. From the group by Lorado Taft.] LEGAL ASPECTS OF THE PLAN OF CHICAGO The following opinion, prepared by WALTER L. FISHER, as counsel for the Plan Committee of the Commercial Club, has been submitted to EDWARD J. BRUNDAGE, Corporation Counsel for the City of Chicago, HARRY A. LEWIS, County Attorney of Cook County, BENJAMIN F. RICHOLSON, Attorney for the West Chicago Park Commissioners, CHARLES A. CHURAN, Attorney for the Commissioners of Lincoln Park, ROBERT REDFIELD, Attorney for the South Park Commissioners, to EDGAR B. TOLMAN, FRANK L. SHEPARD, HARRY S. MECARTNEY, FRANK HAMLIN, and R. P. HOLLETT, who have been counsel for these official bodies, respectively, and to MILTON J. FOREMAN, Member of the City Council of Chicago, and GEORGE A. MASON, Special Assessment Attorney for the City, all of whom concur in the conclusions and recommendations stated. WILLIAM W. CASE assisted in the preparation of the opinion.