ECONOMIC PROBLEMS OF AMERICAN CITIES.

The development of American cities has been accompanied by a corresponding growth in their importance in the national economy. Cities are not only the major locations of industry and the seats of governments. In cities are located the institutions that organize and direct the commerce, transportation, communication, and financial work of the nation. In this article the author discusses the economic problems of the American cities. The dominant place of city economy in the economy of the nation is illustrated by comments of the National Resources Committee to the effect that the 155 counties of the country which contained the larger industrial cities paid out 79 per cent of all the wages of the nation and 83 per cent of all the salaries. The growth of urbanism has long presented problems, but so rapid has been city development that to a considerable extent defects were obliterated by expansion. Whatever the curative effects of rapid growth or the merits of the view that it was curative, there is no longer reliance on this simple remedy.