OFFICE ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT 



609 



tive importance given to parks in that particular locality and provide some 

 measure of the achievement of the locality itself so far as physical features 

 of parks are concerned. 



The next group of questions relates to the financial progress and asks 

 for the amount of money raised by taxation and other sources. Both 

 amounts, compared to the amount similarly raised by the locality itself, 

 give us the relative importance from a monetary standpoint that parks 

 enjoy in the public eye of that locality. 



These are the major points of comparison between various park systems 

 and if the information about them is always available it is possible for an 

 interviewer to obtain a fairly comprehensive idea of the park department 

 and the locality served which will produce a background for him to inquire 

 into specific phases of the subject in which he is particularly interested. 



It will be noticed that of the questions asked only one calls for a deduc- 

 tion on the part of the one answering the questionnaire; that is, the approxi- 

 mate percentage of the total park area developed. All others are simple 

 facts, but from these simple facts may be made all sorts of comparisons and 

 calculations as the following table will show: 



None of the foregoing information is called for directly in the question- 

 naire, and yet it is some similar form which would most likely be ultimately 

 used for comparison. These deductions should be made by the city using 

 the information. 



Annual reports. The ordinary annual report of a park department has 

 but little significance to anyone who does not already know the park 

 system intimately - - both as to its size and character and to its past achieve- 

 ments. The ordinary annual report, however, is of great value to those 

 and only those particularly interested in the work of the department. 

 Realizing the latter fact only too well and the former fact but little, if at 

 all, most park officials exchange reports religiously, amass a file of such 



