21f) 



iicss or (Icjitli of a woj'kcr it is \ or\- ]ilniiil\ the duty nf tlU' (■oiiiuiuiiity to 

 take the necessary steps of pi-eveiition. The phiygrouiid is one of the 

 necessary means of prevention of disease and has already proven its worth 

 HI tliose connuunities wliere it lias lieen giv(>n a trial. 



The recreation center should ln' an important factor in the proper 

 education oi our workers in t!u' laws of hygiene and health. The igno- 

 rance of the averaiie person concei niuL': the facts of liealth and the early 

 manifestations of such diseases as fi'ierculosis. cancer and (H'cnpatidua! 

 diseases is in no small way responsible for the lar^e numljer of incuralile 

 invalids wliich our community has to support. It has been estimated that 

 tuberculosis kills almost one-third of our workers who die between the ages 

 of twenty and thirty-five, and it is the experience of nearly all who have 

 much to do with the treatment of tuberculosis, as well as the cither dis- 

 eases mentioned, that a large proportion of our incurable cases have 

 applied to the physician for help and advice only after the disease has 

 progressed to a point where relief or cure are impossible. 



The factory and those conditions which have arisen in the growth of 

 our present industrial system have affected not only our public health, lint 

 also the moral tone of the community. The church as it exists today is 

 .scarcely able to cope with the moral pi'oblems which have pi'eseiited tlu-m- 

 .selves, and it has been found that the moral and physical problems are 

 very closely bound together. The ntitural desire of the average woi-ker. 

 and we might as well say his need, for play and recreation has had to be 

 satisfied at the saloon, pool-room, cheap theativ or on the sti'cct. The 

 enormous increase of crime and degen<'racy in the past few years has 

 siiowii that the effect of, at least, some of these agencies has been to work 

 great liai'ni to the individual and (inally tlirougli him to tlie community 

 at large. 



Tiie iiiili\idiiai needs not exhortation t(i refrain from doing those 

 things which are harmful to him morally and i)hysically. ImU an oitpoi-- 

 tunity to satisfy his needs for recreation and play in a wa,\ which cannot 

 have this iiai-mful inlhience. The tendency of the avei-age person when 

 given a clioice between the good and the li;id is to instinctively choose the 

 good, when he once understands it. Tlic e\i>ei-ience of the .settlement 

 houses and V. .M. (". A.'s over tlic country is abundant pi-oof of tins. Con- 

 ditions ]ia\c now lieconie so tiiat it is the dnty of tlic conniiuiiity to ni.-ikc 

 the playground and recreation ceider a jiart of its regulai- activities as 



