PARK AND CEMETERY. 
484 
American gorge at Niagara is now pro- 
ceeding. 
We have . had to pay attention to other 
great scenic possessions, for self-interest 
ruthlessly destroys natural scenery for pri- 
vate profit. The Grand Canyon of the Colo- 
rado is now erected into a national monu- 
ment, following upon a protest against its 
desecration by trolley lines, first made, I 
believe, by this association. Concerning our 
unavailing efforts for the saving of the 
White Mountains, it may be said that the 
people of Speaker Cannon’s district in nii- 
nois can speak more effectively than all the 
nation: but even the Speaker, it is said, can 
be eventually influenced, though whether 
that is possible before the forest-covered 
White Mountains have become bare and 
eroded cliffs I do not know. We have, so 
far unavailingly, urged upon the' Secretary 
of the Interior the wrong of giving to San 
Francisco an essential part of the Yosemite 
National Park for a water supply. 
To describe in just detail the work of 
those of our fifteen departments which have 
been efficient would unduly extend this ad- 
dress. Some of these departments have done 
strong and vital things for the country. 
During the life of the association, con- 
tinual effort has been niade to maintain 
saving co-operation with other organizations 
having approximate aims. Our close rela- 
tion with the National Municipal League 
has enabled us to avoid duplication of effort 
and inquiry. We have constantly communi- 
cated wuth all uplift organizations, and our 
relations with the Merchants’ Association 
of New York, the Appalachian Mountain 
Club, the Sierra Club of California, the 
American Scenic and Historic Preservation 
Society, the American Forestry Association, 
the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, 
and with literally hundreds of Boards of 
Trade, Chambers of Commerce and women’s 
organizations throughout the country, have 
been close, and have tended toward the 
general good. 
A rather notable instance of fraternal 
co-operation has occurred within two weeks, 
in connection with a letter of greeting asked 
for and transmitted to the annual meeting 
of the Ontario Horticultural Association, 
including within its membership sixty-six 
separate associations in the province of 
Ontario, each in its own community aided 
by the provincial government, and charged 
with the duty of fostering civic uplift. Ag 
a consequence, two fraternal delegates from 
this organization are now with us. I have 
ventured to propose to the Ontario Horti- 
cultural Association, after a study of the 
situation on the ground, and after meeting 
with many of these admirable Americans 
in their own communities, the naming of 
three on a committee of five or seven to 
serve as a Canadian committee, which 
might advance the aims of this association 
across a border-line, which, so far as im- 
provement impulse and uplift endeavor are 
concerned, should not exist, and does not 
bar co-operation and fellowship. 
The constant demands or appeals from 
organizations and from individuals the 
country over bring me to the association’s 
work of today. Consider for a moment just 
what the officials do in fostering the asso- 
ciation’s work as a clearing house of civic 
information. Here, for instance, is a letter 
from the Engineers’ and Architects’ Club 
of Louisville, Kentucky, desiring to pro- 
mote a movement for better roads in that 
state. The librarian of the Rosenberg Li- 
brary in Galveston, Texas, writes in thank- 
fulness for a publication sent, and proposes 
that the attention of the Galveston authori- 
ties be called to the necessity for a plan 
which will give that interestingly new 
community some beauty in addition to con- 
siderable efficiency. The engineer of a con- 
cern exploiting water powers in Maryland, 
proving astonishingly to have leanings in 
the right direction, asks by letter and in 
person for such guidance as will enable him 
to develop water power without destroying 
beauty which he thinks ought to belong to 
the city of Baltimore. The chairman of the 
art committee of the General Federation 
of Women’s Clubs asks for suggestions as 
to the work of that committee, and says, 
“I must look to you for practical sugges- 
tions.” A woman who has been for some 
years resident in Japan and is spending a 
year of rest in this country, comes to us 
for details as to how she may prepare for 
introducing ideas of civic advance into the 
Flowery Kingdom. We are asked to aid in 
urging upon the authorities in Denver and 
upon the voters there, the advantage of 
sustaining a grouping plan or civic center 
at the polls. The Board of Trade in Dow- 
ell, Massachusetts, wants to know how it 
may combat the plague of billboards which 
have suddenly loomed large to its secre- 
tary as factors for ugliness in a city now 
wanting to be beautiful. Mayor Ward, of 
Birmingham, Alabama, writes of his re- 
markably successful work in promoting dis- 
trict cleaning-up, and adds, ‘T thought you 
would be interested, for you have inspired 
it all.” 
These are concrete instances chosen from 
the mail of a week or two. Throughout the 
year the same stream of inquiries, from in- 
dividuals as well as from organizations, 
marks the demand upon the association, 
and makes up its all-too-heavy and some- 
times ill-done daily work. When it is real- 
ized that your president, serving as well as 
he can in connection with the conduct or 
the neglect of the business which brings 
him a livelihood, and in connection with 
his local park work, has written more than 
nine hundred communications upon the 
direct work of the American Civic Asso- 
ciation within the past six weeks, most of 
them informative and constructive in char- 
acter, it will be seen that the operations 
of the association are by no means per- 
functory or indefinite. The secretary’s ac- 
tivities are more than double, for they 
include also the dealing with memberships, 
and the sending out of literature. Consid- 
erably more than a thousand letters have 
been written in getting the program for 
this meeting in order, within the four 
months of its planning. 
The things doing now include constant 
attention to the campaign against the 
spread of objectionable billboards; to the 
regulation and extension of properly guided 
tree planting; to the promoting of intelli- 
gent city planning; to the maintenance of 
the fight against Niagara desecration, and 
against the nuisances of overhead wires, 
smoke, flies and mosquitoes. The great 
conservative movement is continually fos- 
tered. and a dozen other subjects come into 
the day’s work. 
Added to these definite things doing, 
there should be a statement in respect to 
the scores and hundreds of inquiries as to 
what to do in the beginning of a civic 
awakening. No small part of the work of 
the association in the present day is the 
guidance of efforts, usually at first fostered 
by some organization of women, which have 
for their aim the improvement of conditions 
in communities large and small. Patiently 
the same thing is written over and over 
again; sometimes less patiently is answered 
the request of a woman (usually not a 
member) who is about to write an essay 
on civic improvement, and who asks seven 
thousand questions, the sum of which means 
that she wants her paper written for her! 
It has been the rule of both the active 
offices of the association to disregard no 
respectful communication upon any subject, 
whether from members or not. I cannot 
avoid just a little mournful philosophizing 
on the scanty courtesy which asks freely 
where there is no claim, receives freely 
without charge, and then fails to acknowl- 
edge in any way the help received! In 
literally hundreds of Instances, I have 
written careful and extended letters, giving 
definite advice as asked, and often sending 
without charge valuable documents. Later, 
clippings coming in (at our expense) Indi- 
cate that full use has been made of the 
communications sent; but without any re- 
cognition or recompense for postage or 
documents. If I had to judge only by my 
correspondence experience, I would need to 
conclude that American club-women were 
notably lacking in common courtesy! But 
I know that it is thoughtlessness only. 
No inconsiderable part *of the associa- 
tion’s work is in dealing with the Federal 
and State authorities. During the year 
many letters pass between the association 
and the President, the Secretaries of State, 
War and Interior, while the Forest Service 
is constantly in communication with us. 
We have had to do with forty of the Gov- 
ernors of states, and with scores of Con- 
gressmen. I may perhaps be permitted the 
reflection that all these most excellent great 
men are very human, “just like you 
and me.” 
The demand for addresses is continuous, 
and hard to resist, even though time be all 
too scant. I have, since the Providence 
meeting a year ago, delivered forty-nine 
addresses and lectures, in thirty-six com- 
munities, upon improvement topics. As 
many more have been wanted. One ad- 
dress, made at the request of its president 
to the Sphinx Club of New York, in Feb- 
ruary last, upon “The Doom of the Bill- 
board,” was peculiar in the violent reply 
that it provoked from the paid attorney of 
New York’s chief billposter. 
Another of the important parts of the 
work of the day is the inspection of edi- 
torial comment as shown by clippings from 
American newspapers upon subjects In 
which the association is interested. Few 
opportunities are lost to reach directly into 
an opening which may appear in a favorable 
editorial on tree planting, or on city plan- 
ning, or on billboard reduction. In a re- 
markable manner the press of America as 
a whole has served as an organ of this 
association, and our wisdom in dealing di- 
rectly and frankly with it is shown in the 
hearty co-operation of editors everywhere 
in the uplift work for which we stand. 
Interesting exception is noted in the case 
of certain Niagara newspapers, which find 
pleasure in calling your president a “med- 
dler,” a “humbug,” the “paid agent of the 
coal trust,” and otherwise excoriating him. 
The billboard periodicals are also quite 
complimentary, in a Pickwickian way, made 
more interesting because the editors pro- 
duce all their facts from their imaginations. 
In considering the w^ork of today I can 
do no better than to quote the broad view 
of the head of the Ohio section of the 
Women’s Outdoor Art League: 
“Marked improvement has governed civic 
conditions. Every center is raising its head 
to more uplifting influences. Civic clubs, 
both for men and women, are the rule, not 
the exception. Civic consideration is taking 
root in our public schools; civic pride Is 
increasing, and ugliness is on the wane. 
I am speaking now of what I have observed 
rather than generalizing, for civic bread 
cast upon seemingly indifferent waters Is 
returning many fold.” 
Among the important activities of today 
is one in connection with the great con- 
servative movement which took form at the 
White House Conference of Governors, In 
May last. The aid of the association was 
asked and frankly given, in spreading in- 
formation concerning the project, and our 
aid was acknowledged as most effective and 
helpful. At that memorable meeting it was 
my privilege to make a plea for the preser- 
vation of scenery, seemingly overlooked by 
those who are in the forefront of the move- 
ment to stop the waste of forests and soil, 
of mineral and water. That preservation 
of scenery, which has so much to do with 
the happiness and the efficiency of mankind, 
should go hand In hand with the preserva- 
tion of the material adjuncts to prosperity, 
is obvious, and I am assured by the able 
chairman of the Conservation Commission 
that concrete attention will be paid to this 
insistence as the movement takes form. 
Many members of the association have been 
