52 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



made fun of me for being so thoroughly interested in this 

 work. Thy said "MeCandless is crazy on parks." We have 

 regular park officers, and in the city treasury we have a park 

 fund. And the cost of these parks to the city is very small 

 indeed. Arbor State Park did not cost the city more than |15, 

 and I suppose |500 would cover the entire cost of MeCandless 

 Park. There is not |200 outstanding warrants on our park 

 fund. We don't owe a dollar on our parks, and the title for 

 them is in the city. All this work, too, is a matter of record. 

 I drew the ordinances, without any cost to the city, and I got 

 them as I wanted them. The people are interested and 

 aroused now, and the sentiment is spreading for parks and 

 the care and cultivation of them. There is a proposition uj) 

 now at Wymore to get twenty acres across the river for park 

 purposes. The sentiment for parks and better streets is con- 

 tinually growing, for the people have come to see that it 

 increases the value of their property. I could go into a sec- 

 tion of this town and buy a piece of property and improve it 

 and inside of five years make it the aristocratic section of the 

 town. The people would Avant to move around to that part 

 of the town. In Wymore I had this very experience. As a 

 matter of fact it is a good investment. 



It is important to get this before the people. Now in the 

 little town of Barnston, seven miles down the river from 

 where I live, they have a little park of two blocks that will 

 make their town beautiful in a very few years. All that is 

 necessary is to show the people that they have the power to 

 get these little parks ; convince them that they can have these 

 things. In Wymore we didn't have any money to start with. 

 We just simply took the parks and then got the money after- 

 wards. To get at the right value of the land for park pur- 

 poses just call in a jury of farmers to appraise the land. 

 If this Association should take up this work there would be 

 no limit to what could be accomplished, and I want to say 

 that I will be only too willing to give my time and labor to 

 helping this Society or any town in the state toward getting 



