PARK AND CEMETERY 
AND LANDSCAPE GARDENING 
Vol. XIX Chicago, May, 1909 No. 3 
Kansas City and the Billboards 
Kansas City, Mo., through her new city charter, believes 
she has found the first practical method of doing away 
with the billboard nuisance. The city council is given 
authority to prohibit by ordinance the construction or 
maintenance of billboards in any part of the city, but 
must remunerate property owners for damages thereby 
caused them, unless by consent, the amount of damages 
to be determined by jury. These damages and costs are 
to be considered as expended' for public improvement and 
are to be assessed against the property in the prescribed 
district. The charter also provides for regulation, and an 
ordinance to effect this has been declared valid by the 
Circuit Court, but inapplicable to billboards already in 
existence. According to court rulings, billboards may be 
taxed like other property, but cannot be taxed out of 
existence. 
Ng 
The Modern Cemetery 
The “modern cemetery” is essentially a progressive 
term. From the first inception of the enlightened idea, 
through all its practical adaptation, and even up to the 
immediate present, progressive improvement, both ethi- 
cally and materially, has marked its progress. First, the 
landscape, then the rules and regulations to maintain the 
change, and through it all radical reform in the matter 
of monuments and accessories. Reform in the latter di- 
rections is still an active principle, and in deference to the 
predominating influence of the landscape, the proportions 
of the monuments and headstones and the number of the 
markers are being sensibly subordinated. Footstones are 
rapidly disappearing, and headstones, so far as hei ght 
above ground is concerned, are being restricted; in Lake- 
wood Cemetery, Minneapolis, for example, headstones are 
now set level with the ground. Landscape art and memo- 
rial art will be the distinguishing features of the cemetery 
of the future. They will be veritable burial parks, in which 
affection and reverence will be stimulated by the beauty 
which, on every hand, will hallow the last resting places 
of those who have “fallen asleep.” 
The Appalachian Forest Bill 
The ridiculous condition of Congress as regards the re- 
lations of the representatives of the people to the people, 
was never better illustrated than by the vicissitudes of the 
Appalachian Forestry bill. There cannot be any question 
as to the importance of the measure in the light of 
recent investigations and revelations on the value and 
effects of forest areas on the country protected by them; 
nor does there seem to be any doubt as to the public desire 
to have the bill enacted into law. But filibustering sen- 
ators, serving either limited constituencies or special in- 
terests, determined that the bill should not pass at the 
last session, and so it was referred to the committee on 
“forest reservations and the protection of game.” A para- 
mount necessity at the present time of our national ex- 
istence is radical reform in Congress, to the end that the 
people may have such confidence in their representatives that 
the passage or rejection of a bill may be accepted in good 
faith. This is far from being the case now. The people 
are rapidly becoming profoundly impressed with the ne- 
cessity of preserving certain proportions of forest area, 
in order to secure better results and protection from 
rainfall, and the statistics gathered in support of the 
preservation of the Appalachian Forests invite immediate 
and serious attention, and the passage of the bill. 
Every friend of the forests should take particular care to 
let his representative and senators know that he is vitally 
interested in the passage of this bill. Before and during 
the next congress they should be seen, written and urged by 
every available means, till they can no longer ignore the 
demands of intelligent conservation. 
Ng Ng 
State Parks 
The public is rapidly appreciating the importance of 
conserving our natural resources, and is concentrating at- 
tention quite seriously upon state ownership. In this 
direction Wisconsin is taking a decided lead and in a 
wise and business-like manner. The board of' State Park 
Commissioners engaged a prominent landscape man to 
accompany its members in the examination and appraise- 
ment of its resources for the purpose of setting apart 
available areas. A high order of intelligence is necessary 
in this work of selection, because with the resources to 
be conserved there should be studiously considered the 
park-like promises of the tract, and its natural economic 
value in connection with the water flow controlled by it. 
That every state in the Union should take up this question 
needs no argument. In the majority of cases the most 
valuable areas for the combined purposes could be now 
acquired at reasonable prices, a condition which will not 
improve as the years pass, whereas such improvements 
and facilities for the public welfare will be beneficial to 
the surrounding lands and to the state at large in an ever 
increasing ratio. 
Ng 
National Federatian of Art Societies 
At time of going to press there is being held at Wash- 
ington, D. C., a convention of Art Societies at which it is 
proposed to form a permanent National Federation of Art 
Societies and Institutions. The convention was called 
by the Regents of the National Academy of Arts, and all 
societies composed of members having artistic aims, as 
well as town and village improvement organizations and 
associations looking to the improvement of public taste, 
have been invited to participate by sending delegates. 
Addresses will be delivered by eminent public men, and 
among the subjects on the program are; Artistic Control 
of City and Village Municipal Development; Art Exhibi- 
tions, Some Practical Method of Moving Good Exhibi- 
tions from Place to Place; The Education of the Public 
by Lecture Courses on the Fine Arts; More Effective Con- 
trol of the Government Fine Arts; The Possibility of a 
Bureau, with Consulting Board, to Control the Fine Arts 
of the Government; Art Education; Free Entry of For- 
eign Works of Art. The Regents of the Academy of 
Arts should be cordially supported in their belief that the 
time is ripe for the organization of a permanent Federa- 
tion for promoting the art interests of the country. We 
should have something to succeed thC' era of the strenuous 
life that has been now so long eating into the vitals! of 
the moral strength of the American people, and' we sorely 
need now that attention should be diverted to' something 
that will relieve the tension. It is quite logical to believe 
that th.e study of art and its promotion, in its relation to 
a higher development in the life and surroundings of the 
people will supply this diversion. 
