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Show A QaevcSoa f BalUtnj. A camparise ef the boilding operations opera-tions of tho larger crtiea of the TJaion i the past year opens up am interesting question. It seems that Philadelphia was the city that built the memt house In 1883, the number being 11,965, while New York constructed only 6,722. But ho cost of the New York houses waa f75,912,81ft, while the more thn ll,00f m Philadelphia coot only $26,000,000. The question that hm arisen is, Which built better, New York or Philadelphia? The structures in the Quaker City were mostly unpretentious dwelling house, homes of working people, while those of New York mclndd splendid business edifices and magaiflcent palaces for the residences of the rich. Philadelphia isnoW M being fie city of homes. It ku not so many teneatent houses as other large eitiea, but if scat fcered over wide distance aad corerad with cottages, aot pretty architecturally, architectural-ly, kut much more comfortable and pleasant than the ordinary tenement house. Philadelphia's working people are happier and more independent than those of most other cities, no doubt, but rival places claim that these flocks of little houses hurt the appearance of the city architecturally. It is an interesting topic Certainl) every great and flourishing town want both the splendid edifice and the hapy small homes for working people. It was the policy of the ancient Greeks, the most artistic race that ever lived, to erect magnificent temple and jrabli buildings, heaping money without itint upon them, but to have private residences resi-dences marked by : simplicity that eertainry would loc& becoming in the citizens of a republic Bst: the beautiful beau-tiful Greeks lived outdoors most of the time, while either from habit or necessity necessi-ty the modern American spends much of bis existence within walls. It is noticeable that the tendency of most of the older eastern eitiea, with tht exception of Philadelphia, is toward the erection cf fewer buildings annually, bt those moro costly, although here, too, there is an exception in the ease ef Denver, which is the sixth city of th Union in the cost of its single buildhtga. Finally, in twenV-evn f the largest cities of the conn try the average eosi oi Che houses erected ta 1889 was tSJXMl |