December, 1905 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



405 



Civic Betterment 



Private Work for the Public Good 



HE doing of public work at private expense, 

 a work which benefits the person who meets 

 the cost, as well as the general public which 

 is benefited by it, raises some interesting 

 questions. A»e such expenditures justified? 

 If a wealthy property owner desires some 

 piece of public work performed, a street or road laid out, a 

 job of paving, a row of trees planted, or any sort of work 

 which while useful to him is also of permanent benefit to 

 others or to a locality, a very obvious way is to have it done 

 at his own cost. The method is obvious, of course, to those 

 who do not have to foot the bill, but the wisdom of per- 

 mitting such undertakings can readily be questioned. 



Every community has a responsibility to itself. The 

 fundamental idea of local self-government is that the local 

 body shall duly care for the lives and property included 

 within the limits of its powers. The political body must 

 assume full responsibility for everything committed to it. 

 This responsibility is avoided if public improvements are left 

 to the initiative of private parties, be their intentions what 

 they may. 



The question behind such work is really larger than the 

 immediate necessity of having it done. That may be urgent 

 enough, and from the point of view of the benefactor pro- 

 posing the betterment it may be exactly the thing he most 

 wishes to do. Operations of this sort lead to the pauperiza- 

 tion of communities. The avoidance of responsibility be- 

 comes a public policy, and instead of general progress there 

 is general retardation. The rich man becomes wearied of 

 continually benefiting a community that shows no disposition 

 to help itself. 



A very different class of benefactions includes gifts to a 

 community. The donor of a park bears exactly the same 

 relationship to a community as the donor of a picture to an 

 art gallery, or the donor of a statue to a town. All are 

 benefactors, all do good in making their gifts, and all are 

 alike entitled to the grateful thanks of the community which 

 accepts their offerings. There are few public benefactions 

 more useful or more noble than the gift of a public park, 

 and it is an interesting fact that such gifts are becoming 

 much more frequent than was formerly the case. It is a 

 fine indication of good public interest in the outdoor life. 



Public improvements of personal benefit chiefly are to be 

 ranked in a different class. A man who arranges a great 

 estate at some distance from the line of communication must 

 necessarily build roads for his own special use. Such roads 

 may remain private highways for many years, but if used by 

 the public at large are public works of more or less general 

 importance. They constitute an expense that may rightly 

 be expected of a landowner, since no one save himself is 

 especially interested in them or is served by them. 



No community should undertake a public improvement 

 and leave its completion to private hands. This is a par- 

 ticularly ignoble thing to do, yet it is frequently happening 

 in very excellent localities. Public improvements are some- 

 times permitted to drag along so long that people grow 

 tired of them and put the unfinished streets and squares in 

 order to get rid of the unsightly sights. It is a very mean 

 piece of public " graft," and quite uncalled-for. Self-respect 

 is quite as necessary in matters of this kind as in personal af- 

 fairs. The community can not afford to accept gifts that 

 may entail unexpected returns at some future time. 



Public Sport 



One of the most interesting phases of a better civic life 

 is indicated by the increased attention given by many Ameri- 

 can communities to providing opportunities for free recrea- 

 tion as an essential part of the public expenditures and hence 

 as an essential part of the public life. The progress made in 

 this direction in the last few years has been remarkable. It is 

 a movement that has had development in a number of direc- 

 tions, most of which have been without any related thought, 

 and yet the sum total, as represented by public appropria- 

 tions and by opportunities afforded, has reached handsome 

 proportions and represents a vast amount of opportunities 

 for good which may be freely availed of by every one at no 

 individual cost. 



Some figures representing the annual expenditures of the 

 city of New York for recreation purposes will show how far 

 this movement has progressed in the metropolis and explain 

 how varied are the interests concerned: For music in the 

 parks, $50,924; music on recreation piers, $70,206; main- 

 tenance of recreation piers, $74,574; Central Park 

 menageries, $30,500; Bronx Zoological Garden, $134,905; 

 Aquarium, $41,500; Brooklyn Museum, $70,000; Metro- 

 politan Museum of Art and American Museum of Natural 

 History, $310,000; Harlem Speedway, $18,600; play- 

 grounds, baths, etc., in parks, $61,000; other bathing and 

 swimming facilities, $165,540. These figures do not include 

 expenditures for parks, recreation expenditures by the Board 

 of Education, and other items which might properly be in- 



cluded under this general head, but they illustrate sufficiently 

 the very large appropriations New York makes toward this 

 end, as well as the varied interests represented in this ex- 

 penditure. 



As a matter of fact, the recreation facilities freely afforded 

 the people in New York are much more extensive, since 

 private enterprise has not lagged behind public leadership, 

 and in a number of cases the public appropriation has super- 

 seded and expended moneys previously provided by private 

 means. The exhibit is an interesting one in itself and also 

 as an indication of a very pronounced modern tendency. It 

 means a positive recognition of the value of sport and play in 

 civic life. It means that play as well as work is recognized, 

 and handsomely recognized, as having distinct civic worth. 

 It means that not only the children but the grown folk as 

 well must have opportunities for healthful recreation in our 

 crowded cities, recreation that they can not supply themselves 

 with alone, but for which public opportunities must be 

 provided. 



It is a movement of the utmost significance, because it 

 indicates a new departure in public life, a new conception of 

 the relationship that should exist between the municipality 

 and the people who live in it. It would be too much to 

 commend all the disbursements of New York under this head 

 as wise and good, but the underlying idea is of the very best. 

 It is noble work that, within certain somewhat narrow limits, 

 is well done. The future, in this direction, is very bright. 



