192 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PARK SUPERINTENDENTS 



OFFICIAL 



G. X. AMRHYN, Pres.. New Haven, Conn. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



R. W. COTTERILL, Sec.-Treas., Seattle, Washington. 



ASSOCIATION NOTES. 



President Amrhyn announces the foUmving committees in con- 

 nection with tlie 1015 convention to be held in San FrancLsco in 

 August : 



Committee on Transportation. 



Herman W. Merkel (Chairman), Forester and Constructor, Zoo- 

 logical Park, New York City. 



.James B. Shea, Deput.y Commissioner of Parks, Boston, Mass. 



.John Henderson, Superintendent of Mt. Royal Park, Montreal 

 Canada. 



William S. Manning, Superintendent of Parks, Baltimore, Md. 



J. H. Prost, Superintendent and Forester, Special Park Commis- 

 sion, Chicago, III. 



Committee on Convention. 



John Mcl,aren (Chairman |, Superintendent of Parks, Golden 

 Gate Park, San Francisco. Cal. 



Roland W. Cotterill, Secretary of Park Commission, Seattle, 

 Wash. 



Theodore Wirth, Superintendent of Parks, Minneapolis, ilinn. 



John W. Duncan, Superintendent of I'arks, Spokane, Wash. 



H. A. Alspach, Superintendent of Parks, Sacramento, Cal. 



Plans for the 1015 annual convention at San Francisco, Angust 

 18, are now well under way. The itinerary of the special train 

 will be found elsewhere in this issue and it is to be hoped that 

 this feature will be successful and that our members and their 

 friends and relatives will be of sufficient number to carry it through. 

 The special train will be a great advertisement for the association 

 and will afford conveniences in travel which would otherwise be 

 impossible. 



Bulletin Xo. 12 "Concessions and Privileges in Public Parks" is 

 just off the press and will be in the hands of the members shortly. 

 It contains comments from twenty-five cities of over IftO.OOO popu- 

 lation of their experience with these features and should be of 

 assistance to those who are wrestling with thi.s problem. The 

 officers had feared that the publii-ation of a bulletin this year 

 would have to be omitted for financial reasons, as we are determined 

 that there shall be no old debts turned over to the new administra- 

 tion : however, there will be a bulletin this year as usual. 



Owing to delay on the part of correspondents there was no 

 article last month for the series "Park Systems of Pacific Coast 

 Cities." At this time the data is on hand from Tacoma, Los 

 Angeles and Portland and will be published in order. These ar- 

 ticles are intended to set forth wliat those who attend the Sau 

 Francisco convention may see if they tour the coast by the special 

 train. 



Following the convention a series of similar articles from Middle 

 West and Eastern cities will be published. 



The secretary has on file applications from twelve capable men 

 seeking positions in connection with park work. The financial 

 depression of the last year or two. combined with the retrenchment 

 spirit which has prevailed all over the country, has resulted in 

 many competent men being displaced, with hut few new openings, 

 heuce the association employment bureau has not been of much 

 service. Should any member know of a possible opening, the 

 secretary will be glad to supply a list of eligil>les. 



Someone has suggested that the president and secretary were 

 somewhat egotistical in having full page portraits of themselves in 

 the 1914 proceedings so we hasten to explain that these are days 

 of economy. The editor of the CiiROXicLE had these cuts iu stock 

 and their use saved the association the expense of having cuts 

 made, also all other cuts used with the exception of the vice- 

 presidents, did not cost the association a cent, being stock cuts of 

 this magazine, which under ordinary circumstances would have been 

 a considerable item of expense to the association. 



Members who can and will prepare papers on special subjects 

 to be read at the August convention are requested to notify the 

 president or secretary as soon as possible. It is the intention to 

 have more papers and discussions this year tlian has been the cus- 

 tom for a year or two and members are urged to volunteer. Select 

 your own subject, but make it something of general interest, not a 

 local descriptive review. Your experience or knowledge of certain 

 phases of Park work may be invaluable to others and the purpose 

 of our convention is the dissemination of such knowledge. 



PARK DEPARTMENT PERSONALS 



John Henderson, superintendent of Mt. Royal Park, at Montreal, 

 and one of our vice-presidents, hiid the misfortune to break his leg 

 in three places on .January 21 and was confined to his home for 

 over two months as a result. 



Charles A. Whittett, formerly superintendent at Lowell, Mass., 

 has turned up at Los Angeles. Cal.. anil will endeavor to secure a 

 berth in park work at one of the Pacific Coast cities. 



Adam Kohankie, assistant superintendent at Denver, writes that 

 the prospects are good for a fidl half-mile levy for the Denver 

 Mountain park system, separate and distinct from the regular city 

 levy. Those who attended the Denver convention of 191.S will never 

 forget the tour of the wonderful mountain parks, which are an 

 asset which no other cit.y in the country posses. Denver will make 

 no mistake in i)roviding liberal appropriations for this unique 

 feature. 



Wm. R. Adams, superintendent at Omaha, Neb., writes that he 

 is still on the job, although the commission form of government has 

 rather up.set the old order of things. Mr. Adams has rendered 

 many years of faithful and efficient service to the city of Omaha 

 and it is regrettable that men of his type should be handicapped 

 by having to adjust their work to meet the ideas of politicians who 

 have little or no experience along park lines, as is the ca.se in a 

 number of American cities which are working under new forms of 

 government. 



.J. Ilowai'd Stine. for the ijast seven .years director of playgrounds 

 at Seattle, has resigned to accept a similar position at E! Paso, 

 Texa.s. Mr. Stine has been in charge of the Seattle playground 

 system from its infancy to the present time when it consists of 

 twent.v-five playgrounds and four social centers, hence has had a 

 wide range of experience which will be helpful in building up a 

 .system from the very beginning, which will be the case of El Paso. 

 Mr. Sliue"s work at Seattle has been taken over by Assistant Su- 

 perintendent Frank L. Fuller. 



Calvin C. Laney, superintendent, and John Dunbar, assistant 

 superintendent of Rochester, X. Y'.. are given ver.v high praise for 

 their work in a historical review of park work in Rochester 

 published recently. The Rochester Park Board has just rounded 

 out a quarter of a century of service, but has been legLslated out 

 of existence, being superseded by a Commissioner of Parks, under 

 a new form of government. The change, however, will not affect, 

 Messrs. Lane.y and Dunbar who have been with the department 

 since 1800 and have had much to do with making the Ruchesler 

 Park system one of the best in the country. 



L. H. Weir, field secretary of the Playground Association of 

 America, known to man.v of our members b.v reason of his periodical 

 visits to various cities, is sojourning at Allmquerque, X. M.. where 

 Mrs. Weir is taking treatment for tubercular trouble at a sanitarium 

 in that city. 



Wm. A. Gorman, formerly superintendent at P.rookl.vn. but tem- 

 porarily out of public service, has been improving the time by in- 

 venting a lawn scarifier and tamper, on which he has received 

 patents and has recently put the implement on the market. 



It goes without saying that the device has merit, because Mr. 

 Gorman's .years of experience in park work has given him an op- 

 portunity to learn the practical essentials of an implement of this 

 kind. 



The following news item from Long Beach California is an il- 

 lustration of frenzied finameering in connection with iiark work: 



"Park Superintendent Arthur Falkenhayn is in imminent danger 

 of losing his job as a result of confessions made to members of the 

 City Council that men emplo.ved as laborers in the parks were laid 

 off for a portion of the month, but shown on the pay roll for full 

 time, the extra money being expended for tools and equipment. 

 Although the councilmen are satisfied that Mr. Falkenhayn did not 

 profit personally by the peculiar financeeriug, they are in favor of 

 asking for his resignation." 



