Renumber Ann Arbor

The city fathers should order the rennrobering of the houses in the city of Ann Arbor. No city of iti size needs proper nurnbering so much as this oity aud there is probably no city in the country where the work has been more poorly done. For instance there are streets in thi3 city where odd and even nurnbers are found on the same side of the street. There are many streets ■where tbe numbers of two honses directly opposite each other are widely different. There are still other streets witb two or more houses bearing the same nnmber. There are also streets where higber unmbers are succeeded by lower ones and big jumps in numbers are not nncommon. In some of tbe new additions part of the honses are orna mented with the lot nnmbers. Half numbers are wonderfnlly prevalent all over the city. In fact a more botched condition of nnmbering conld not be conceived. It is strange that we have rested nuder this oondition of affairs so long as we have when the remedy can be so easily applied. A scientific system of nnmbering is prevalent all over the country, and has been rapidly adopted by all progressive cities. It is kuown as the Philadelphia system. A number on a house nnder that system means something. A stranger knowing where the numbering begau wonld know the location of a house he had never seen, on hearing its number. Such a system should be adopted in Ann Arbor. It is no experiment but has been adopted by all the progressive cities and it works to perfection. Let us see how it would apply to Ann Arbor. The city is divided by Main and Huron streets. These streets have always been the dividing lines between the East and West and the North and South streets and there is no need of ohanging this. Then let the numbering on all streets begin at Main or Huron streets. Eaoh blook should begin with 100, that is, the honses in the first blook shonld be No. 100, 101, etc. and the honses in the pecond block 200, 201. In this way when we hear of a No. 323 Liberty street we at onoe know that it is in the third block frotn Main street and when we hear of 1423 Belser streef we know that the honse is in the fourteenth block frorn Main street. It is trne that Belser street does not come tbrough to Main street, but if it did, Belser street at present wonld be the fourteenth block. It will be seen that this system teJls one at once jnst about how far he will have to go to get somewhere that be has never been. It conveys inforiaation as to locality. It greatly simplifies the learning of Incality. It prevenís a stranger getting lost. It saves unneccessary walkiDg and searching for one who wishes togofrom one house to another. Let us again illustrate. We will say that as at present numbered, one wants to cali at 36 South Fifth ave. and 89 South Main Bteret. Noticing the wide difference in numbers and knowing that all numbers in Ann Arbor are small he might easily think he conld walk south on Fifth ave. without going out of nis way. Under the proper system of nurubering these houses would be 400 S. Fifth ave. and 401 S. Main st. A strauger woald then know that these honses were on a straight line with each other east and west and that tha shortest way to go frorn oue to the other was down William st. It seerns to the Argus that the advantages of snoh a system shonld be apparent enough to secure its adoption, the more especially as it is so necessary that the city shonld be rennrnbered in order to correot the rnany anomalies, incongruities, doublé numbers, half numbers and the general mixed up condition of affairs and to give numbers to scores of houses which now have no namberá at all. The Argus may say in conclusión that its own office is in the opera house block, but it does not know what its number on Main street is. Is it not time that this condition of affairs was ohanged?