Lesson 16 The modern city

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In the organization of industrial life the influence of the factory upon the physiological and mental state of
the workers has been completely neglected. Modern industry is based on the conception of the maximum
production at lowest cost, in order that an individual or a group of individuals may earn as much money as
possible. It has expanded without any idea of the true nature of the human beings who run the machines, and
without giving any consideration to the effects produced on the individuals and on their descendants by the
artificial mode of existence imposed by the factory. The great cities have been built with no regard for us. The
shape and dimensions of the skyscrapers depend entirely on the necessity of obtaining the maximum income
per square foot of ground, and of offering to the tenants offices and apartments that please them. This caused
the construction of gigantic buildings where too large masses of human beings are crowded together. Civilized
men like such a way of living. While they enjoy the comfort and banal luxury of their dwelling, they do not
realize that they are deprived of the necessities of life. The modern city consists of monstrous edifices and of
dark, narrow streets full of petrol fumes, coal dust, and toxic gases, torn by the noise of the taxi-cabs, lorries
and buses, and thronged ceaselessly by great crowds. Obviously, it has no been planned for the good of its
inhabitants.