PARK A.ND CEMETERY. 
12 o 
NORTH DAKOTA CIVIC IMPROVEMENT CONVENTION 
Substantial evidence of the awaken- 
ing spirit of civic improvement in the 
Northwest was the civic improvement 
convention held in Valley City, N. D., 
June 4, 5 and 6, under the auspices of 
the Valley City Improvement League, 
the North Dakota Civic League and 
the State Improvement League. 
The afternoon session of the first 
day was presided over by Mayor 
Wood of Valley City, who said that 
the Civic League had a membership 
of seventeen towns. Many excellent 
laws have been framed and their pas- 
sage secured through the legislature 
by the press committee. The league 
is henceforth to be one of the institu- 
tions of the state. 
Dr. John M. Gillette, of the State 
Normal School, read a scholarly pa- 
per on “The Modern City.” 
The cities of the future, he said, 
will be the home of the race; they 
must be built along scientific and 
sanitary lines — it is possible to have 
a city healthier than the country, as 
witness St. Paul with a death rate of 
5 per cent less than the average rural 
death rate of the country, Minne- 
apolis with 4 per cent less and Chi- 
cago with 3 per cent less. Cities 
must be beautified and made healthy 
and orderly. 
At the evening session Hon. John 
MacVicar. of New York, Secretary of 
the League of American Municipali- 
ties, was the principal speaker. After 
a sketch of the problems confronting 
cities, Mr, IMacVicar arrived at the 
conclusion that it was men rather 
than measures that cities needed. He 
pointed out excellent charters under 
which many of the cities of the Unit- 
ed ■ States operated, conspicuous 
among which are Boston, Los An- 
geles, Galveston and Des Moines. 
The tendency of the day is toward the 
smaller council with more direct re- 
sponsibility to the people. Under the 
Galveston plan the government of the 
city is in the hands of a commission 
of five, of which the mayor makes 
one. The plan of departments and 
responsibility is carried out, but the 
city elections arc absolutely ’non-par- 
tisan. Th's system has many excel- 
lent features, but Galveston has good 
government because she has good 
men to rifn it. Men, not measures, 
should be the fundamental consider- 
ation in city government. 
Hon. H. C. Hansbrough followed 
Mr. MacVicar with a short address on 
the development of North Dakota 
municipalities. 
The morning of the second day was 
devoted to an automobile ride about 
the city and in the afternoon Gov- 
ernor John Burke addressed the con- 
vention which included an enthusias- 
tic audience of 800. His subject was 
assessment and taxation. 
He was followed by S. F. Crabbe, 
City Engineer of Fargo, who dis- 
cussed the problems of waterworks, 
sewerage, paving, etc., for different 
sized cities. 
In the evening a public reception 
was tendered the delegates and Gov. 
Burke. There was a good attendance 
and a very pleasant evening spent. 
On the morning of the third day 
the ladies took charge of the session 
and held an informal meeting, Mrs. 
A. D. Weeks gave a brief history of 
the Valley City Improvement League, 
its struggles, reverses and triumphs. 
She recommended the taxation of va- 
cant lots for the purpose of cutting 
weeds and keeping them clean. Miss 
Reeves, of Buxton, told of the Im- 
provement League of that city and 
the work it has done. Attorney 
Combs told of the work done by the 
local league and its value to the city. 
The first number on the afternoon 
program was a paper from Frederick 
Nussbaumer, Superintendent of Parks 
of St. -Paul, read by Mrs. Wm. Mc- 
Kinney. He reviewed briefly the prog- 
ress of the park system of St. Paul, 
from its beginning in .1873, when the 
city numbered but 20,000, to the pres- 
ent day; from a beginning of 256 
acres at Como which cost $100,000 to 
a park today embracing 425 acres on 
which $750,000 has been spent. In 
addition the city has four other parks, 
embracing 1,378 acres, four play 
grounds and thirty-two miles of street 
lawns. In the residence portions of 
the city of St. Paul, the driveways 
are but thirty feet wide, with street 
lawns on either side. Their ordinance 
provides that on thirty-foot streets, 
the walk is six feet, the street lawn 
9 feet and the driveway 30 feet. On 
50-foot streets, the walk is the same, 
the lawn 14 feet and the driveway 40 
feet. On a 100-foot street, the walk 
is eight feet, the lawn 20 feet and the 
driveway 40 feet. The city also es- 
tablished a house line, on which all 
residences must be set. By placing 
the house well back, making wide 
street lawns and narrow driveways, a 
street is given the appearance of be- 
ing wide and stately. On petition of 
property holders, the city takes care 
of the street lawns at a tax per lineal 
foot of not more than two cents and 
grasses and cares for them. Trees 
are p’anted at a cost of 12A cents per 
foot. The people are all taking ad- 
vantage of th's ordinance and it could 
not be dropped without a riot. Shade 
irees should he planted 40’ feet apart. 
The health officers should look after 
vacant lots, unsightly debris, etc., 
and help in keeping a city beautiful 
as well as sanitary. 
Hon. C. M. Loring, the father of 
the Minneapolis park system, was un- 
able to be present, but was represent- 
ed by Park Commissioner Milton O. 
Nelson, of that city, who delivered 
one of the finest addresses of the con- 
vention. He dwelt at length on the 
influence of the garden and the beau- 
tiful in nature in' its influence on hu- 
man life and enforced his points with 
many handsome stereopticon views. 
A symposium on “Out of Door Art,” 
participated in by Mrs. Oliver, of Lis- 
bon, Mrs. Bolley, of Fargo, and Miss 
Reeve, of Buxton, concluded the pro- 
gram. 
In the evening Mrs. Caroline Bart- 
lett Crane, of Kalamazoo, Mich., de- 
livered an inspiring address that de- 
lighted her audience for two hours. 
Her lecture was illustrated, and was 
a liberal education in the matter of 
town improvement, methods of hand- 
ling the poor and other of the wide 
range activities so well administered 
by the Improvement League of Kal- 
amazoo. 
