THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 
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| American Association of Park Superintendents 1 
OFFICIAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
EMIL T. MISCHE, President, Portland, Ore. R. W. COTTERILL, Sec.-Treas., Seattle, Washington. 
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ASSOCIATION NOTES. 
The question of the exact date of our 1916 convention will be 
determined by a mail vote of the executive committee during this 
month. Very few members responded to the appeal made in 
last month's Chronicle for an advisory ballot by our members. 
We are in doubt as to whether it is because members do not read 
these columns or just indifference. At any rate at this writing 
(April til the secretary has heard from just half a dozen mem- 
bers on the subject, and all of these favored October. A definite 
announcement of the action of the executive committee will be 
made in the next issue. 
The following of our members were in attendance upon the 
National Flower Show at Philadelphia early this month: Theodore 
Wirth, Ceo. Bergevin, Alex dimming, M. C. Ebel, W. .T. Stewart, 
Dan McRorie, F. J. Huss, F. L. Mulford, Chas. Seybold, and Wal- 
lace R. Pierson. 
Gustave X. Amryhn, of New Haven, has recovered from injuries 
in a railroad accident some time ago and is now able to be on 
the job again in New Haven parks. 
Francis J. Huss. of Hartford, recently was awarded a First 
Certificate by the Connecticut Horticultural Society for an ex- 
hibit of Cinerarias from Goodwin Park. Mr. Huss also delivered 
an address on the subject. 
Win. S. Manning, of Baltimore, was married recently to Miss 
Ida Dorothy Pfeiffer, of East Orange, X. .1. Our congratulations 
and best wishes are extended. 
This department is going to be rather short of news this month 
for two very g I reasons. The president is sore because the 
members (with but live exceptions) failed to respond to his re- 
quest for a program of articles on subjects assigned for publica- 
tion in these columns, and the secretary has been unable to get 
any news from members. 
Beginning witli next month we hope to start a series of illus- 
trated articles descriptive of the park systems of cities of the 
South, so that our members who contemplate attending the Xew 
Orleans convention will have an idea of what there is to be seen 
and can better decide as to their route and what stop-overs to 
make. 
BILL TO ESTABLISH A NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM. 
At the suggestion of the American Civic Association of Wash- 
ington. I). (_'., Congressman Win. Kent has introduced a bill (H. R. 
£668) for the establishment in the Department of the Interior of 
a service to be called the National Park Service, which shall be 
under the charge of a director who shall be appointed by the 
Secretary, and there shall be in said service such assistants and 
other employees as the Secretary of the Interior shall deem neces- 
sary. The directors shall have the supervision, management, and 
control of the several national parks, national monuments. Hot 
Springs Reservation in the State of Arkansas, and such other 
national parks, monuments and reservations of like character as 
may hereafter be created or authorized by Congress. Representa- 
tive Kent asks those who are in sympathy with this bill to 
develop national playgrounds, to inform the Senator of their state 
and the Congressman for their district. 
What Small Communities Can Do in Park Work 
By Conrad C. Wolf, Minnesota 
IN order that the reader may better understand why 
the park system of Hibbing, Minn., is developed 
in a merely temporary way, I must first state the 
peculiar situation and conditions with which we are 
confronted. 
The history of Hibbing dates back twenty-two 
years ; at that time only a small lumber camp in a 
dense forest of magnificent White and Norway Pines. 
No one in those days had an idea or thought of iron 
ore deposits in this section. This original lumber 
camp was incorporated as a village and grew rapidly ; 
substantial business blocks were erected, public im- 
provements such as streets, water and sewer systems 
were put in place, everything giving the impression of 
a lively community of permanency. Then iron ore 
was discovered and it proved step by step that the 
village had been located upon the richest body of iron 
ore yet found. 
While this place still is spoken of as a "village," its 
wealth and importance to the iron industry and even 
to the world is greatly out of proportion to its size. 
The population of Hibbing is at present 15,000, while 
during the shipping season (April to November) the 
population increases sometimes to 20,000 and more. 
Its assessed valuation is more than $89,000,000. The 
Hibbing district is estimated to contain half a billion 
tons of iron ore, richer in content and more accessible 
than a like quantity in a like area in any other part in 
the world. 
Seventy-five per cent, of the population are foreign- 
ers, are of the hardy peasant class, full of life, ambition 
and determination. 
1 he fact that Hibbing is located upon so rich a body 
of iron ore, and that millions of tons ate shipped an- 
nually, makes it certain that some day all the wealth 
will be gone; and while Hibbing today is practically 
surrounded from all but one side by huge open pit 
mines, in time it will have disappeared altogether and 
of course the parks and boulevards will share the same 
fate. 
Now the reader may think, why cannot the village 
council and the park board get together and purchase 
a suitable piece of property for park purposes off from 
the ore bod}? The answer is, Hibbing is just like a 
little island in a large area of property which is owned 
or controlled by mining companies or the United 
States Steel Corporation, and of which not a square foot 
could be had at any price: and to build a park oft' the 
ore body would be useless, for the distance from the 
populated district would be too great to be of any 
benefit to those people who need a park the most. 
For these several reasons we have to content our- 
selves to build parks and playgrounds on places which 
eventually will have to give way before the mighty 
steam shovel. 
While Hibbing is the richest village on earth and 
has millions of dollars in taxable property from which 
to draw funds for the conduct of its municipal affairs. 
and although it has spent a great deal of money for 
needed modern improvements the last few years, the 
apportionments for park purposes have been very mod- 
erate. The table below will show the annual park ap- 
propriations since the inception 
how the money was spent. 
of the Park Boan 
md 
