PARK AND CEMETERY 
AND LANDSCAPE GARDENING 
Vol. XVII Chicago, January, 1908 No. 11 
Politics and Parks 
It is gratifying to note that political interference and con- 
trol in park affairs throughout the country is becoming far 
less obtrusive, and, by inference, therefore, of far less com- 
mon occurrence than in the years past, due unquestionably to 
the revolution in public sentiment for a higher morality in 
public service. It was to be hoped and expected that the 
Chicago parks had also been removed forever from the sus- 
picion of political corruption, but the change in the board of 
management of the West Side system, in the removal of the 
president by the governor of the state, creates the suspicion 
that the confidence that has been placed in that official has 
been misplaced so far as politics in the parks is concerned. 
At the time of Governor Deneen’s inauguration the West 
Side park system of Chicago was little short of a disgrace 
to the city, owing to the jobbery and maladministration in 
its affairs. A new order of things came about when the suc- 
ceeding board took hold of affairs, and under the presidency 
of Mr. EckhaCdt, assisted by Mr. Jens Jensen, superintendent, 
great improvements have been made in the system and others 
are under 'way and in contemplation, and both press and pub- 
lic have warmly endorsed the efforts of the businesslike man- 
agement. What the present change portends it is too early 
to anticipate, but if the West Side park system, is again to 
become a political catspaw, it is to be sincerely hoped that 
the outraged citizens will see to its being a costly mistake for 
some reputations at least. Paiks, nowhere and under no con- 
sideration whatever, must be held up by political trickery to 
pay political debts. 
Important Subjects for National Consideration 
At the recent Providence, meeting of the American Civic 
Association, the following resolution was unanimously adopt- 
ed : “Resolved, That the American Civic Association heart- 
ily endorses the plan for the development of Washington City 
prepared by Daniel H. Burnham, Charles F. McKim, the late 
Augustus St. Gaudcns and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., as a 
noble composition carefully prepared by these eminent men 
in entire harmony and accord with the plan of Washington 
City as left us by George Washington, and earnestly requests 
that the Congress of the United States make this the unal- 
tered and legal plan for the future development of the Capi- 
tol City.” Another matter of great importance transacted at 
the meeting was the transmission of a telegram to President 
Roosevelt urging him to “use to the utmost the power of the 
Federal government in support of such action, as will forever 
insure the continuance in awe-inspiring grandeur of the Grand 
Canyon” of the Colorado “and its surroundings.” Both these 
objects of the association’s interest are matters of national 
importance and should receive the unqualified support both of 
the people at large and Congress itself. There can be no 
question as to the preservation of the Grand Canyon, and 
whatever technical differences of opinion may arise on the 
Washington development plan, it was decided upon by the 
best commission the country could name, was endorsed by 
influential and competent authorities, and if carried out on 
wise and liberal principles by Congress, it will make our Na- 
tional Capital, in all probability, the grandest and most beau- 
tiful city in the world. 
Vig Vig 
A Valuable Ruling in the Billboard Campaign 
It is a happy consequence in all improvement ideas when 
they assume national proportions, that judicial sentiment rap- 
idly falls into line with the people’s judgment. This is spe- 
cially marked in .the billboard campaign. In its early days 
when the courts were occasionally appealed to to check the 
evil, it was a matter of great uncertainty as to from what 
point of view the judge would render a decision, the aesthetic 
or commercial, and too often the “immortal dollar” won. 
Things now, however, are greatly changed, and many vigor- 
ous decisions are on record giving a legal value to beauty as 
an asset of the community. In England new legislation on the 
subject makes positive acknowledgment of the claims of the 
landscape and the people’s rights in the same, and a recent 
ruling of the Superior Court of California, when refusing to 
grant a restraining order in the long-fought battle of San Jose, 
Cal., against offensive and vulgar billboards, should give much 
encouragement to the cause. In denying an injunction to pre- 
vent the San Jose police from exercising its power under a 
very drastic ordinance regulating billboards, the court laid 
down the following legal principles on the subject: “That 
which is offensive to the eyes or to public morals is a subject 
for police- regulation the same as noisome odors or other 
nuisances. A man has no more right to flaunt a vulgar dis- 
play on a billboard in the face of the public, than he would 
have to offend the sense of smell by burning sulphur on the 
corners of the streets of the city.” 
Ng Ng 
Forest Preservation 
The recent report on “The Waning Hardwood Supply” is- 
sued by the U. S. Department of Agriculture bears most sig- 
nificantly upon the proposed legislation to create national for- 
ests in the southern Appalachians, particularly, and the White 
Mountains. The pamphlet in question offers as a key to the 
solution of the problem of hardwood supply, that the Appala- 
chian ranges from Maine to Alabama should be so farmed in 
the future as to be made to produce, in connection with other 
districts of the country, sufficient lumber to fill the demand 
for the purposes for which hardwood is essential in our man- 
ufacturing industries. The timber resources, even of our im- 
mense country, have been simply ruthlessly wasted, in spite of 
the examples and government actions of other countries ; until 
today students of the situation look with alarm to the future, 
and experts in forest reproduction and maintenance are bend- 
ing every energy to introduce changes in our laws and busi- 
ness rapacity, to, at least, mitigate the pending calamity. The 
forest reservation laws and management are already showing- 
such promising results that Congress should not hesitate to 
pass the necessary legislation and provide very liberal appro- 
priations for well considered projects of forestry rejuvenation, 
and no more delay should be permitted in passing the bills 
for the preservation of the forests under the Appalachian and 
White Mountain projects. To delay longer in the face of the 
evidence is to encourage popular indignation and distrust in 
the wisdom of our representatives. 
