Few corners of the world are exempt from a raging destruction of historic and beautiful buildings. The principal cause of this devastation is greed: the avarice of “developers,” contractors, architects, land speculators, political contactmen, faceless mercantile corporations, and their hangers-on.
The great cities of America are fast losing whatever character and charm they still retain, before such pressures. Though the public is virtually voiceless and leaderless when some “developing” energu- men decides he can make money by cutting vast swathes through an organic community, the agents of devastation are well organized, well financed (often by federal subsidies), reinforced by public-relations staffs, and possessed of strong political influence. They usually win, naturally.
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