OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS 



153 



WELFARE AND HAPPINESS IN WORKS OF 

 LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE* 



Reprinted from "Landscape Architecture" 



Two subjects very interesting to us all 

 have already been introduced ; first, the 

 condition and prospects of the profession, 

 and secondly, the grounds on which the 

 proper works of landscape architecture 

 are to be recommended to the public and 

 to private owners. 



With regard to the condition of the 

 profession, it is to be remarked, in the 

 first place, that it is a very new profes- 

 sion. There were, to be sure, a few em- 

 inent practitioners of the landscape art in 

 the eighteenth century and in the first 

 three-quarters of the nineteenth, and a 

 few famous writers wrote on gardens and 

 gardening in both the seventeenth and 

 the eighteenth centuries. Xevertheless, 

 the art has not been recognized as a pro- 

 fession until recent years, and it has as 

 yet but few devotees. Secondly, the 

 progress of the profession must depend 

 on the increasing knowledge of the pub- 

 lic concerning what the profession is 

 capable of doing. From what we have 

 already heard tonight, it seems clear that 

 the American public has gained within 

 the last twenty years a much better un- 

 derstanding than they used to have con- 

 cerning what they may expect this pro- 

 fession to do, and what good fruits may 

 come to the public from the work of this 

 profession, well directed and well sup- 

 ported. This enlightenment of the pub- 

 lic is, of course, slow ; but it goes on 

 gradually in several classes. The pro- 

 prietors of estates both large and small, 

 who have a cultivated turn of mind and 



are interested in landscape or in gardens, 

 employ this profession more and more, 

 and with more and more intelligence and 

 better and better results. Public officials, 

 also, are learning what this profession 

 can do to promote the public welfare ; and 

 they, therefore, can be more and more 

 relied upon to build up the profession 

 through public employments. This re- 

 mark applies not only to the officials who 

 are actually administering municipal or 

 state governments, or the national gov- 

 ernment, but also to the legislators ; that 

 is, to the stream of citizens who are con- 

 stantly coming into the legislative bodies, 

 and not tarrying there long, but return- 

 ing to private life. The legislatures of 

 the country are perceiving more and 

 more clearly the real values in health and 

 public enjoyment which good work by 

 this profession can provide. I think these 

 are very cheerful signs that the profes- 

 sion is making sound progress in public 

 regard and public serviceableness. 



The second topic already broached is 

 a very practical one : What reasons do 

 you give for urging a private person or 

 a public body to employ a landscape 

 architect? By what arguments can the 

 serviceableness of landscape architecture 

 be demonstrated? Are they economic, 

 esthetic, or philanthropic arguments? 



There are economic arguments in 

 favor of providing for city populations, 

 forests, parks, and other broad, open 

 spaces, playgrounds for children, and 

 some wide, decorated parkways for pleas- 



♦Remarks by Charles W. Eliot, President Emeritus of Harvard University, at the meeting of 

 the American Society of Landscape Architects, Boston, March 21, 1911. 



