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AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



July, 1905 



Civic Betterment 



The Political Aspect 



HE movement for civic betterment, meaning 

 by that phrase everything that tends to pub- 

 lic improvement, that makes for greater 

 public beauty, that increases public utilities, 

 makes the public aspects of life better, more 

 enjoyable, more useful, more beautiful, has 

 a twofold effect, each dependent on the other and yet each 

 helping the community in different ways. The movement 

 has both a visible and a personal effect. The visible effect is, 

 of course, in what one sees, in better roads, in more trees, in 

 more beautiful gardens, in greater regard for the externals 

 and for the public externals, as distinguished from what one 

 might do for the immediate surroundings of one's own house 

 and grounds. But there is also a personal effect which is 

 quite different and quite as valuable. The civic betterment 

 movement has taught many people the value of doing some- 

 thing for their community. It has taught them that they 

 owe something to their neighbors and to the place in which 

 they live, which is something very different from their per- 

 sonal private interests. It has demonstrated the value of co- 

 operation. It has taught the lesson of common effort. It 

 has shown, in many instances, that the private citizen can, 

 through combination, exert an influence on the body politic, 

 even when the chosen leaders and designated authorities are 

 adverse to the proposals made to them. It shows, moreover, 

 that the movement toward public betterment is a just one, 

 and that the truth and the right will prevail against sordid 

 greed or studied indifference. 



This means a civic good of the highest value. It means 

 an awakening of interest in public affairs. It makes clearer 

 and clearer the fact that people have a voice, and a definite 



voice, in public affairs. This, of course, is no new thing, but 

 the later developments of our political life have witnessed 

 the very amazing spectacle of a people who " are and of 

 right ought to be free and independent " calmly sub- 

 mitting themselves to a political domination by their chosen 

 servants such as history has seldom shown, certainly never 

 before, on such a scale and under such circumstances. 



The civic betterment movement is not political, but every- 

 thing that touches on the public life brings the agitators on 

 the subject directly in touch with the civic authorities, which 

 in these United States means the noble exponents of our 

 political system. Again there is a double result: the non- 

 political public finds that it commands an effect on the po- 

 litical body, and the non-politician comes in contact with the 

 politician. Both parties make each other's acquaintance. 

 There is direct benefit in this, even if the bad are found to be 

 worse than they were imagined to be. It is something for 

 the people to find out what sort of fellow citizens they have 

 set over their heads. 



This, however, is but an indirect result of the movement. 

 Civic betterment is not political either in its purpose or its 

 ends. But being, in many instances, concerned with public 

 affairs, it brings its adherents immediately in touch with the 

 political authorities. And so long as the movement is kept 

 free from political entanglements this can only result in good. 

 It is good for the people to become acquainted with their 

 public servants, even if this fresh knowledge does not add to 

 the value of one's information. If our political condition is 

 bad, the further the people see behind the scenes the better 

 it is; and if they are good, the results are still excellent, for 

 no harm can come from a wider acquaintance with the good. 



Ways to Help: The Individual 



Civic betterment is a phase of public activity in which 

 every one can help. One does not need to be a voter or of 

 full age, for women and children can do as much as men, 

 and, indeed, in many instances, the women are the most active 

 workers and the most zealous leaders. Neither does one 

 have to be elected to a public office, to be designated by an 

 official body, or be a member of a society to contribute his 

 quota to the uplift of his surroundings. The single worker 

 can not do as much as two, nor two as much as three, nor 

 three as much as a larger body; but the individual has his 

 own part to do, and, in the absence of any general concerted 

 effort, should not hesitate to do what he can, be it ever so 

 small. It is the great merit of the movement that every little 

 helps, helps, often enough, more than may seem apparent at 

 the outset. 



Civic betterment is concerned with the public aspects of 

 communities. It has to do with the outside of things, with 

 the outside of houses, with gardens, with streets, with roads, 

 with public matters of the most varied sort, all subject to 

 eye inspection. Its primary purpose, in homely language, is 

 to make things better looking. 



The individual may, therefore, begin with his own sur- 

 roundings. The outside of his own house must be kept 

 clean and neat. This is so essential as to be axiomatic; and 

 yet many a small house, many an unimportant street, many an 

 insignificant structure, suffers from inattention to this very 

 obvious requirement. Cleanliness and tidiness are the first 

 steps, and very good ones they are. But they are not the 

 easiest nor the least irksome. One wearies of picking up 

 scraps of paper, of getting rid of ashes in a tidy manner, of 

 looking after the tin cans. And it is particularly painful to 



have one's newly swept yard littered with debris from less 

 careful neighbors. But the public enthusiast must scorn at 

 such annoyances ; for in very many cases these indifferent 

 neighbors will become converts to his own way of doing, and, 

 in place of one clean yard, there will be many. 



Beautification by plants and flowers, trees and shrubs, fol- 

 lows as a sure matter of course. A clean bare yard has no 

 beauty — it is simply clean. It is something, it is true, but it 

 is not much. Floral life is needed to give beauty and interest, 

 and hence, quite naturally, much of the effort toward civic 

 betterment has been directed toward floriculture. Very inter- 

 esting results, results of the most surprising effect and pene- 

 trating charm, have followed this method. And the individual 

 and the public alike have been gainers. The individual 

 learns to know and to appreciate plants as he has not before; 

 he takes a new interest in his garden; he broadens his view 

 of the outdoor life. And the public value of these beauty- 

 spots is, of course, very great. They give charm and dis- 

 tinction, they give life and interest, they redeem places per- 

 haps otherwise uninteresting, and they decorate the com- 

 munity with brilliant bloom and graceful foliage — with 

 nature's gayest dressing. 



The work around one's house is but a part of the contri- 

 bution the individual may make toward civic betterment, but 

 it is a goodly part, worthy both of commendation and of 

 emulation. It is something every one can do, and something 

 every one ought to do. It may mean work, as all good 

 effort does; but it brings results, and with these results comes 

 a realizing sense of having done something for one's self 

 that is of value to one's community. This is a civic result of 

 the utmost value. 



