Successful Methods Followed. 



The methods followed at La Crosse, a city of but 31,000 popu- 

 lation, it should be remembered, have been so successful and the 

 results so satisfactory that it is worth while to note the lessons which 

 the experience gives as a guide for the future not only of La Crosse 

 but of the many other small cities in the United States which are 

 now in a position not unlike that which confronted La Crosse two 

 years ago. 



The six points of most significance are: 



(1) The main reliance from the beginning was upon public 

 action and public support. The people were taken in on the ground 

 floor, so to speak, and made to feel that the work was not only to 

 be for them, but was to be done by them. The Parks and Play- 

 grounds were put in exactly the same class as the public school 

 and the public library and in renewing the appropriation this year, 

 the members of the City Council showed that they looked upon them 

 in this way. In the case of La Crosse, and it should be the case 

 elsewhere, generous public action has been supported and supple- 

 mented by generous private action, the private gifts to the La Crosse 

 Parks probably equalling the annual appropriations by the City. 



(2) The Park Commission has, from the start, applied the 

 efficient methods of private business to the administration of this 

 new city department and with similar good results. Each City 

 dollar was expected to bring a full dollar's worth of work or material 

 — and it did. 



(3) Before a step was taken toward execution, a complete 

 general plan was prepared for all the parks and playgrounds in- 

 cluded in the present system. This inspired public confidence in 

 every part of the City. Too much emphasis cannot be given to 

 beginning in this way. It not only wins confidence; it prevents 

 mistakes and contributes to economy in many directions. 



Cost for Park System only Fifty Cents Per Capita. 



(4) The cost of these parks and playgrounds for La Crosse 

 has not been heavy. The Council has issued twenty-year bonds 

 for seventy-five thousand dollars and the one mill tax has yielded 

 a little over twenty thousand dollars a year for two years. Against 

 the bond issue, the City has an asset which will steadily increase 

 in value and always be worth more than its cost. It is to be re- 

 gretted that the law of Wisconsin limits all bond issues to twenty 

 years. In the case of land purchase, it would seem that the law 



Twenty-Seven 



