TRAINING OF PARK EXECUTIVES 1009 



tecture and is performed solely the better to fit given areas of land and 

 water for human use. The same may be said of architecture in so far as it 

 is related to the designs and development of recreation areas. The sole 

 purpose of maintenance is to keep designs, the elements of designs, equip- 

 ment, etc., up to the nth degree of efficiency for the effective human service 

 for which they were intended. 



The modern park executive cannot become so absorbed in the creative 

 phases of either landscape architecture or engineering, or in the routine 

 of maintenance as to fail to see, vividly and clearly, through and beyond 

 to the people and their recreational needs. 



In this day of specialization it will probably prove better if the modern 

 park executive leaves the creative phases of landscape architecture, engi- 

 neering and architecture to the professionals in these several fields, pursuing 

 his studies and practical training more from the standpoint of principles and 

 the application of these principles to the definite and specific human pur- 

 poses the designs are intended to serve. He will be called on to sit in judg- 

 ment, along with his governing authority, on the designs of the professional 

 artists, and the results are more likely to conform to "practical" purposes 

 intended than if the professional artist were left entirely to himself or the 

 executive attempted to be both artist and executive. 



The modern park executive's position is closely comparable to the chief 

 executive or superintendent of a modern school system. It is the supreme 

 duty of the chief executive of a modern school system to organize and direct 

 educational processes although he has under his supervision and control, 

 subject to the governing authority, lands, vast structures and a myriad 

 collection of equipment and supplies. He must sit in judgment on the designs 

 and plans of the building architect and on the designs of the equipment 

 builders, not so much from the viewpoint of the creative technique that has 

 been put into the designs as from the viewpoint of the usableness of the 

 structures and equipment. Maintenance problems and business organiza- 

 tion problems are extensive and complicated but these are subordinated 

 wholly to the primary purpose of the system which is to serve the educational 

 needs of the people. 



So it is with the modern park executive, except that he is to serve the 

 recreational needs of the people instead of the educational needs two 

 great fields of public service which, in the last analysis, are not greatly dif- 

 ferent from each other so far as ultimate objectives are concerned, however 

 different they may be in method or in the major equipment used. 



