136 Chicago Bureau of Public Efficiency 



Information should be available which will show the ne- 

 cessity for automobile use. No service records whatever 

 have yet been required by the West Park Board. The 

 South Park Board Commissioners have kept detailed in- 

 formation of this character since 1904, and the Lincoln 

 Park Commissioners since September, 1910, although these 

 records have not been complete nor has any practical use 

 been made of them. If similar records of automobile 

 service were kept by the three Boards, reviewed monthly 

 by each, and the statistics published in the annual reports, 

 it should assist materially in reducing the present cost. 

 The South Park report for 1910 made no mention of the 

 $25,978 automobile expense of that year, and the West 

 Park reports designate the cost only in toto as "Staples 

 and Transportation." The forms for securing and com- 

 piling this data recently installed in the South Park sys- 

 tem (June, 1911), are commended for adoption by the 

 West Chicago and Lincoln Park Boards. Provision, how- 

 ever, for the item of monthly depreciation should be 

 added thereto. Attention is called to the fact that any 

 records of this kind are of value only when used as a 

 guide for administrative judgment. 



8. It is suggested that another potent aid in reducing 

 automobile expense would be to paint all machines owned 

 by Park Commissions a distinctive color and to paint the 

 name of the commission on both sides of each machine 

 in conspicuous letters. The machines of the South Park 

 Commissioners are being painted in this way, but the 

 lettering is so small as to defeat in a large measure the 

 purpose thereof. 



9. If the parks were all under the control of the city 

 government, three machines would probably be ample — 

 one for the general superintendent, one for the director 

 of playgrounds and fieldhouses, and one for the chief 

 landscape gardener. This should bring the annual expense 

 down to approximately $10,300, a saving, over the pres- 

 ent amount, of $46,600. 



