eight-tenths per cent of increase is not considered, as that was due to annexation. Annexation also figured largely in Chicago's increase in population, but this is not true of Indianapolis, where the increase by annexation has been insignificant. Here the growth has been a legitimate increase due to natural causes and an influx of population; an increase that will be retained, as it was not the result of a boom or due to causes the product of speculation or excitement.

There are over 40,000 buildings in Indianapolis. During the year 1900, there there were 2,288 building permits issued for a value of $2,266,215.75. In the following year, 1901, the number of permits was 2,501 with a valuation of $3,744.969.

Indianapolis has very few very wealthy residents and it has less very poor residents than most cities of its size. The aggregate of wealth is reasonably large in proportion to the population, but it is more equitably distributed than in other cities in its class. The proportion of people owning their own homes is large. This is an excellent thing in a city. A man with property interests is more

THE INDIANAPOLIS CITY HALL

restive under municipal mismanagement, less tolerant of law-breaking, and has a generally clearer view on labor questions than one without such interest. He has a stake in the community.

The bonded indebtedness of the community amounts to $2,455,000, bearing a low rate of interest. Compare this with other cities and it will be found that the per capita debt is less than in any city of considerable size in the United States. The total taxation is, at present, 2.08, divided as follows: State, 293 cents; county, 37% cents; township, 2 cents; city, 83 cents; schools, 51 cents. Of the city levy, 2 cents is for a sinking fund to reduce the bonded indebtedness, and 2 cents goes to the firemen and police pension funds. The assessed valuation in the city amounts to $133,000,000.

There are about 400 miles of streets in the city; streets that present a restful expanse to the view, giving the mental impression from their width of "room to breathe." One hundred miles of these are paved with asphaltum, brick or cedar blocks and the remainder are graveled. Those streets in the business portion of the city are lined with a class of build

ings modern in design and construction and well adapted to their purposes. The residence streets present a wide sweep of well kept, sprinkled and swept driveways, arched by the beautiful foliage of stately shade trees which cast a greatful shadow on the cement sidewalks on either side. Lockerbie street, the inspiration of James Whitcomb Riley's poem, is but one of scores of streets that as much deserve such honor:

"Such a dear little street it is, nestled away From the noise of the city and heat of the day, In cool, shady coverts of whispering trees, With their leaves lifted up to shake hands with the breeze

Which in all its wide wanderings never may meet With a resting place fairer than Lockerbie street.

There is such a relief, from the clamor and din Of the heart of the town, to go loitering in

As all roads formerly led to Rome, so all Indianapolis streets seem to lead to and from the Monument. No one who has seen this shaft will ever ask, "What monument?" It is, par excellence, "the" monument of the western hemisphere and one of the great monuments of the world. It is the first monument erected to the private soldiers and sailors, the men behind the guns. The Indiana State Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument stands in a circular park of about three acres in the center of the city. Indianapolitans as naturally reckon distances from the monument as the rural small boy reckons time from the coming of the circus. From every direction of the level plain on which the city is built, the crowning statue of "Indiana" may be seen. The monument is 284% feet in height but the admirable symmetry of its proportions is apt to deceive the eye unaccustomed to measuring heights. It cost over $500,000 and was more than ten years in building. An elevator and stairway on the inside of the shaft furnish

sewers under the city. About fifty miles

of these have been constructed during the past six years at a cost of more than $4,000,000. The sewer system was planned by one of the world's experts and is designed to be sufficient, with necessary extensions, for a city of half a million inhabitants. The streets are lighted with electricity. The water supply is obtained from deep wells and is pumped to the consumer. Certain work that is now under way will give the plant a capacity sufficient to furnish ample water for a city treble the present size of Indianapolis. The city water is regularly tested by the Board of Health, and their report on it is a matter of public record. It is good.

The park system is good, and is capable of further extension. Boulevards along Fall Creek in the northern and Pleasant Run in the southern portions of the city, are now contemplated.

The street railway system is as good as anywhere in the United States and far better than in most cities. All lines

are operated by one company. Tickets are sold at the rate of six for twenty-five cents or twenty-five for a dollar. A single cash fare is five cents. Transfers are given from any line to any other line. No finer, better, or more comfortable cars are furnished anywhere.

So many interurban lines are built, or are being built, or are about to be built into Indianapolis that the wonder well may be, what will we do with them? But when we see the business they do, the passengers they carry and the express freight they haul, the wonder is, what would we do without them? This city is destined to be a great interurban railway center. The owners of lines now built and being built have formed an Interurban Terminal Company and will erect in the business district a commodious business block with large waiting rooms on the ground floor. The roads now built or in process of construction will directly connect the city with every city in the state within a radius of fifty miles and it will soon be possible to reach remoter points, as Chicago, Cincinnati, Fort Wayne, Columbus, Ohio, and intermediate cities and towns entirely by electric railway. These lines are great commercial feeders to the city and at times of great public interest bring in thousands of visitors. Their franchises provide that fares shall not exceed one and four-tenths cents per mile.

The city's first railroad was a line from Madison, Indiana, completed in 1847. This line is now a portion of the Pennsylvania system. Previous to this all communicaion with the outside world was by wagon, stage, horseback and flatboat, the latter operated on the west fork of White river. Some years previous to the completion of the railroad, during what may be termed the "canal building era," a canal was built from Toledo to Evansville, four hundred and seventysix miles. Other canals were projected,

but the rapid construction of railroads prevented their building and rendered. useless some of those already completed.

From the time the first road was constructed the city has been a scene of considerable activity in railroad circles. There are now sixteen separate lines radiating from the city to every point of the compass and another in course of construction. These sixteen lines all discharge and receive passengers at a union station. One hundred and ninety trains enter and depart from this station every twenty-four hours. No city affords better facilities for the rapid distribution of mail, express and freight matter in all directions. Let us consider that proposition for a moment.

Indianapolis is the geographical center of Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and Kentucky. The combined population of these five states in 1900 was 17,063,713 or 22.3 per cent of the total population of the United States. Every city in these five states may be reached by rail in twelve hours. Indeed, twelve hours on the road will suffice to carry much mail and express matter far beyond the confines of the states mentioned, but for our purposes we will say that between one-fourth and one-fifth of the entire population of the United States will receive a letter in the morning that has been mailed at Indianapolis the previous evening. The advantage in this to a business man is apparent.

Every railroad entering Indianapolis is connected with every other road by means of the Belt railroad. The Belt has fourteen miles of double track passing around three-fourths of the city. On it are situated many of the larger manufacturing plants and the stock yards. All through freight passes around the city on the Belt. A greater part of the local freight is trans rred from one road to another by means of the Belt. Over one million cars annually are hauled by this road. It was the first switching road