[Illustration: XLV. BERLIN. BLOCK PLAN SHOWING THE PARK SYSTEM (GREEN), AND PROPOSED FOREST RESERVES (DARK GREEN). Reproduced from “Gross Berlin.”] [Illustration: XLVI. VIENNA. BLOCK PLAN SHOWING THE PARK SYSTEM (GREEN), AND EXISTING FOREST RESERVES (DARK GREEN). Reproduced from “Gross Berlin.”] The report of the Special Park Commission, issued in 1904, contains a detailed study for a metropolitan park system embracing all of Cook County, together with recommendations for an outer system of parks and boulevards, in the main following the watercourses throughout the area of the county. Thus foundations have been laid for a systematic and aggressive campaign to obtain for the people of Chicago those means of recreation and refreshment absolutely necessary to a growing city. Extensive as the recommendations of the various park authorities appear, a consideration of the whole problem will show that they scarcely do more than meet the situation as it exists to-day, and that the near future will demand more ample spaces. The development of the suburban service on steam roads, the extension of the electric lines which give quick and frequent service between Chicago and cities sixty, seventy, and even a hundred miles distant, and the increasing use of the automobile have brought within the sphere of Chicago’s dominating influence the towns and country for a radius of at least sixty miles from the geographical center of the city. From Kenosha on the north, around to De Kalb on the west, and thence to Michigan City on the south, all roads lead to Chicago; and this entire region might well be included in a metropolitan area within which large parks shall be located, improved, and maintained at joint expense. [Illustration: XLVII. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. BLOCK PLAN SHOWING THE PARK SYSTEM (GREEN), AND ADDITIONS (DARK GREEN). Proposed by the Senate Park Commission.] The time to secure the lands necessary for such a system is now, while as yet the prices are moderate and the natural scenery is comparatively unspoiled. Every year of failure or neglect to act largely increases the expense and diminishes the opportunities, for all of the lands about Chicago are almost equally available for building purposes. Already the prairie state of Illinois is nearly one-half urban, and the tendency towards city life is fast increasing. At the same time the need for breathing spaces and recreation grounds is being forced upon the attention of practical men, who are learning to appreciate the fact that a city, in order to be a good labor-market, must provide for the health and pleasure of the great body of workers. Density of population beyond a certain point results in disorder, vice, and disease, and thereby becomes the greatest menace to the well-being of the city itself. As a measure of precaution, therefore, the establishment of adequate park area is necessary.