554 CONFERENCE ON NATURAL BEAUTY 



gardens, arboretums, and public parks where students on a work- 

 study basis could learn gardening at the garden level and also be 

 taught the fundamentals of beautification of home surroundings, 

 community projects, city and industrial landscaping cooperation, and 

 the approach to establishment of county, State, national park, lake- 

 side, and seaside areas, roadside beautification, and other phases of 

 natural beauty promotion. A pilot school could be operated at the 

 Center for maintenance of grounds and displays. 



An organization with people of vision, dedication, capability, and 

 containing in its membership a cross-section of speciality organiza- 

 tions is the Men's Garden Clubs of America to whose 33d Anniver- 

 sary Convention at Amarillo, Tex., June 13-17, this proposal is 

 being presented with the suggestion that they consider taking the 

 initiative in establishing this Center. 



The proposal was outlined by the writer at the annual meeting 

 of the Council on Foundations at Pittsburgh, Pa., May 19-21, 

 where one of the larger foundations invited submission of the pro- 

 posal for consideration of a grant to study feasibility, extent of coop- 

 erative interest, cost of land, building, equipment, staff and operating 

 expense for a five-year period, plus methods of self-perpetuation there- 

 after. That foundation may also consider a grant to aid establish- 

 ment of the Center. This proposal has now been submitted to them. 



WILLIAM L. C. WHEATON. I think that the whole Natural Beauty 

 conference had a very perceptible bias against cities and therefore 

 tended to neglect the basic problems to which everyone paid lip 

 service. A dozen speakers noted that there are going to be 90 

 million more urban people. But one panel was devoted to the town- 

 scape which discussed urban problems, three other panels adverted to 

 them, and 11 others largely focused their attention on rural prob- 

 lems or rural solutions. There was the further astonishing fact 

 that of 126 panelists and speakers there was only one mayor, one 

 elected county official, and one elected State official. Surely this 

 proportion inadequately reflects a society more than 75 percent 

 urbanized. 



The panel in education, I fear, reflects the same unconscious 

 influences. Several speakers emphasized that the problems of urban 

 open space and recreation would be solved by taking sixth-grade 

 children out to look at butterflies. No one ever suggested that a 

 childhood acquaintance with nature, still the common experience 

 of most adult Americans, had led to the deplorable and uncon- 



