Article The Great Round World and What's Going On In It magazine--Anonymous author

There is a movement on foot in New York, to prevent any more of the very high buildings being put up.

It seems that no one has any idea of the danger from high buildings.

The Board of Trade and Transportation, which is trying to get a bill passed in Albany, preventing any further work of this sort being done, asked the Chief of the Fire Department to come before it and give his opinion of these high structures.

He told the committee that at the present time the Fire Department could not fight a fire in any of these tall buildings. He said that none of the engines owned by the department could throw a stream of water higher than 125 feet from the ground and that all floors over that height would have to be left to burn.

All the very high buildings are supposed to be fire proof, and Chief Bonner was asked what he thought about them. He laughed and said there was no such thing as a fire-proof building, and that in fact the iron-framed structures, supposed to be fire-proof, were perhaps a little more dangerous than the old style of brick building. He said that these frames become heated and bend, pulling the walls down, so that they fall much more quickly than they used to, and make the firemen's work more difficult.

The only absolutely fire-proof building that he knew of was the Public Library in Boston, where there was no wood at all used in the building—the doors and window frames even being of iron. He was sure that so long as wood was used in the construction of any part of a building, it was quite impossible to call it fire-proof.

Several architects were asked to give their opinions, and also some engineers who had made a study of the laws of health.

These men were all agreed that high buildings were unsanitary—which means bad for the health—and that they made all the lower buildings around them unsanitary too, by shutting off the light and air, and making them dark, and inclined to be damp.

The general opinion was so much against these "sky-scrapers" that the Board of Trade and Transportation decided to send a bill to the Legislature in Albany, praying that the erection of such dangerous buildings might be stopped.

They ask that no structure may be higher than 165 feet. This will allow for twelve and thirteen stories. It was proposed to run up some offices that would be twenty-two stories high, and it was this that frightened people into action on the subject.

The Board of Trade and Transportation does some very good work for the citizens of New York.

It is made up of men who have large business interests in the city, and they watch all the bills that are sent up to Albany, and all the work done by the Mayor and Aldermen, and take notice of every part of the city's government, to make sure that the best interests of the citizens are being cared for.

This Board is of the greatest service to all New Yorkers. The business interests of a city demand that all the roads shall be kept in good repair, that the ways of reaching the city shall be many and easy, and that the fares shall not be too high.

Over all these matters, and a great many more which we have not space to write about, the Board of Trade and Transportation watches faithfully and untiringly.

If you were writing an essay on why tall buildings (skyscrapers) were unpleasant to live in, which information from this resource would you NOT want to include in your research notes?