339 
PARK AND 
CEMETERY. 
ANNUAL CONVENTION of PARK SUPERINTENDENTS 
The annual convention of the Amer- 
ican Association of Park Superinten- 
dents was held at Harrisburg, August 
S and 10, with a special trip to Get- 
tysburg Aug. 11. 
The Executive Committee held a 
preliminary meeting at 9 A. M. fol- 
lowed by the regular business ses- 
sion at 10 A. M. President William 
D. '\lanning of Baltimore, and Sec- 
retary F. L. Mulford of Harrisburg, 
filled their respective offices. .-V num- 
ber of new members were jiroposed 
and unanimously elected. J. Florace 
McFarland of Harrisburg, was elected 
an honorary member of the Associa- 
tion. 
The president made a brief address 
in which he congratulated the mem- 
bers upon the fact that the new mem- 
bers considerably outnumbered those 
who had lost interest and failed to 
pay their dues. He said that every- 
thing indicated a lively interest in 
park development and briefly sum- 
marized the condition of park work 
in the leading cities of the country. 
He referred to the physical welfare 
of the communities in which these 
parks have been established and 
stated the interest is growing 
stronger over the entire country. 
Near!}" every city is developing parks 
and although the raising of money 
is the chief difficulty, he said that 
Spokane, Wash., had set aside a large 
sum for park purposes. 
The Mayor of the city, who was to 
have made an address of welcome, 
was detained, and the delegates were 
welcomed by Wm. E. Bailey of the 
Park Commission. He said Harris- 
burg is proud of what has been ac- 
complished in the way of park im- 
provements, which was due to con- 
scientious w'ork and watching how 
other large cities had succeeded. He 
knew, he said, there is lots still to be 
done, but the principal difficulty is 
the lack of financial means, this year’s 
appropriation being .'iSOOO less than 
last year’s. 
William Shea, Assistant Superin- 
tendent of Parks, of Boston, respond- 
ed in place of Geo. A. Parker, of 
Hartford, and addressed the conven- 
tion regarding the real work of park 
superintendents. He spoke of the es- 
timation in which park superinten- 
dents are held by the average citizen, 
saying that they are pictured as easy- 
living creatures, whose chief and 
hardest work is riding about in the 
fresh air “having an easy thing of 
it,’’ Rut he was certain that all super- 
intendents would agree with him that 
it was not an easy job in any re- 
spect. 
The report of the secretary-treas- 
urer, F. L. Mulford, showed a grati- 
fying increase in membership and a 
satisfactory condition of the finances. 
The matter of the proposed changes 
in the Constitution and by-laws was 
then taken up section by section and 
after considerable discussion was 
adopted as follows: 
Tuesday Afternoon. 
The delegates started in automo- 
biles from CommoiTwealth Hotel, at 
2 P. M., passing the Twelfth street 
playground: the playground main- 
tained by the Roberta Disbrow Lloyd 
Sunshine Society, at the Penn School 
Building; a playground for boys 
maintained by the Park Commission; 
thence to Wildwood Park. 
A demonstration of a weed cutting 
saw, 300 yards long was seen here in 
one of the lakes. 
Many points of interest were passed 
during the drive, which terminated 
in Reservoir Park, where an excel- 
lent luncheon was served at 6:30 P. M. 
The evening meeting was held in 
the Music stand in Reservoir Park. 
A brief address was made by the Hon. 
E. S. Meals, Mayor of the City, who 
extended a most hearty welcome to 
the members of the convention. 
Mr. W. FI. Dunn, superintendent of 
Parks of Kansas Citj^ Mo., read a 
paper on “The Latest Conclusions 
About Road Surfaces,” which appears 
on another page. 
The matter of treating dirt roads 
with oil suggested by Mr. Dunn’s 
paper brought out considerable dis- 
cussion and several of the members 
gave their experience. Some ex- 
amples of successful treatment of dirt 
roads were given. Mr. Dunn, how- 
ever, said that he had achieved the 
best results from the use of oil on 
stone roads. Mr. Shea of Boston 
gave his experience with the use of 
an oil emulsion to lay the dust, and 
had found it a success, particularly on 
the hard stone roads. Wm. J. Zart- 
man of Brooklyn, said he used an 
emulsion as a dust allayer and it 
worked well. 
Mr. Reinisch, of Topeka, Kan., said 
they were just beginning to experi- 
ment with crude oil by mixing it with 
the surface soil to the depth of sev- 
eral inches. 
Several speakers advocated the use 
of asphalted oil as being much better 
than any emulsion. 
W. R. Adams of Omaha, Neb., de- 
scribed the various methods of treat- 
ing the roads in that city. 
Creosoted blocks were said to be 
one of the best of pavements were it 
not for the fact that they w'ere so 
slippery as to be »cceedingly danger- 
ous. Mr. Zartman thought the time 
would come when roads would be 
built for each class of vehicles — hard 
roads for automobiles and dirt or 
gravel roads for horse drawn ve- 
hicles. 
J. Horace McFarland was intro- 
duced and gave reasons for parks. 
He compared the definition of the 
word park now and forty years ago. 
The purpose of a park, he said, is to 
serve best those who need it most. 
In many cases, for example, in Cen- 
tral Park, New York, the automobile 
is an outrageous intruder in a park 
intended for quiet enjoyment o’f 
women and children. His address 
was listened to with the closest at- 
tention and was a masterly plea for 
parks, as places of both utility and 
beauty, and he contended that they 
were an investment, not “frills.” 
At the conclusion of Mr. Mc- 
Farland’s address the delegates found 
a special car in waiting to take them 
back to the hotel. 
Wednesday, Aug. 10. 
The executive and other commit- 
tees met in the morning. The mem- 
bers of the association went to the 
state Capitol and were shown through 
the building by special guides. From 
there the party went to the Mt. Pleas- 
ant Press, where they were received 
by J. Horace McFarland and shown 
all the wonders of a modern print- 
ing establishment. 
The meeting was called to order at 
2 p. m. A number of new members 
were reported on by the executive 
committee and unanimously elected. 
The question of the place of next an- 
nual meeting was then taken up, the 
names of Chicago, New York, Kan- 
sas City, Milwaukee, were proposed. 
The vote stood Kansas City, Mo., 12, 
Chicago 8, New York 6. The Kansas 
City vote was made unanimous. 
The following names were present- 
ed by the nominating committee and 
elected: President, Wm. J. Zartman, 
Brooklyn; vice-presidents, Wtn. H. 
Dunn, Kansas City, Mo.; Wm R. 
Adams, Omaha, Neb.; Chas. L. Keith, 
Bridgeport, Ct.; James B. Shea, Bos- 
ton, Mass.; Dr. Frank Baker, Wash- 
ington, D. C. ; J. W. Thompson, Seattle,. 
Wash.; F. L. Mulford, Harrisburg, Pa., 
i 
