that both mental and manual endeavor would be out of the question.
Therefore the elevator is as necessary to the skyscraper as are doors
and windows. Indeed were it not for the introduction of the elevator
the business sections of our large cities would still consist of the
five and six story structures of our father's time instead of the
towering edifices which now lift their heads among the clouds.

Regarded less than half a century ago as an unnecessary luxury the
elevator to-day is an imperative necessity. Sky-scrapers are equipped
with both express and local elevators. The express elevators do not
stop until about the tenth floor is reached. They run at a speed of
about ten feet per second. There are two types of elevators in general
use, one lifting the car by cables from the top, and the other with
a hydraulic plunger acting directly upon the bottom of the car. The
former are operated either by electric motors or hydraulic cylinders
and the latter by hydraulic rams, the cylinders extending the full
height of the building into the ground.

America is pre-eminently the land of the sky-scraper, but England and
France to a degree are following along the same lines, though nothing
as yet has been erected on the other side of the water to equal the
towering triumphs of architectural art on this side. In no country in
the world is space at such a premium as in New York City, therefore,
New York _per se_ may be regarded as the true home of the tall building,
although Chicago is not very much behind the Metropolis in this respect.

As figures are more eloquent than words in description the following
data of the two giant structures of the Western World may be
interesting.