PARKS 249 



one member selected each year to serve for a 

 definite term of as many years as there are mem- 

 bers of the commission. A man chosen for a 

 commissioner should have some leisure in order 

 that he may find time to learn the duties of 

 his office and the requirements of a park. He 

 should have no interest connected with the park 

 excepting that of rendering the best service to the 

 public. An instance of what should not happen 

 may be given here. Along the boundary of a park 

 in a western city was a beautiful group of ever- 

 greens. Across the highway, opposite the ever- 

 greens, a man had his home. He wished to have 

 the trees cut down so that he could look into the 

 park. The park board was opposed to cutting the 

 evergreen boundary. The man who lived opposite 

 sought and eventually obtained a position as mem- 

 ber of the board, with the avowed object of cutting 

 down the evergreens. He succeeded in accomplish- 

 ing his purpose, but to his own regret, for he found 

 afterwards he had destroyed the privacy of his own 

 home. An intelligent unbiased commissioner would 

 have known that a park should be separated as far 

 as possible from the built-up portion of the city. 

 It is a trite saying that a park should be divorced 



