PARK AND CEMETERT 
373 
ization would require all the sessions of the present meeting. 
In the first place, let me touch upon one of the dangers of 
the situation. Recently our leading periodicals have called 
attention to the defacement of Niagara and to the possibility 
of the diversion of its waters so as to rob that great natural 
wonder, the gift of our benign Creator, of its beauty and 
effectiveness. Unless the people of this country and Canada 
bestir themselves mightily and speedily, commercial interests 
will destroy the Falls and deprive us of one of our greatest 
natural assets. We cannot too soon or too strenuously enter 
upon a campaign for the preservation of Niagara Falls. 
There has been no diminution in the interest of the people 
in parks. Far-reaching park systems have been inaugurated 
or planned in Providence, Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Mil- 
waukee, Portland, Chicago, Seattle, Ottawa, New York, 
Essex County, New Jersey, Staten Island, Cleveland, St. 
Paul, Minneapolis, San Diego, Baltimore, Kansas City, to 
mention only those quoted by the Chicago petitioners of a few 
months ago. The Lake Front of that great city has been and 
is being redeemed, and she is now reaching out for an outer 
belt system that will rival Boston’s. 
We have the authority of the Federal Bureau of Forestry 
that the year 1904 saw large gain in the popular acceptance 
and application of the principles which govern the proper 
care and use of woodlands. “Many landowners and great 
lumber concerns now realize that conservative forest man- 
agement means actual gains to them in dollars and cents. 
State forest departments were created, better forest laws en- 
acted, and many object lessons given of the opportunities to 
maintain and extend the forests within the various com- 
monwealths. The Bureau of Forestry surpassed any pre- 
vious year in the variety and extent of its investigations and 
experiments. The remarkable advance of forestry during re- 
cent years was fittingly marked by a forest congress extend- 
ing through four days of the first week in January, 1905. 
This meeting far exceeded in size and importance any simi- 
lar gathering that has been held in America. 
Unquestionably the most potent single factor in the present 
day movement for civic improvement is the influence of 
women. They are the natural domestic housekeepers, and 
what more proper than that they should become civic house- 
keepers? They abate nuisances in the household. Why not 
in the city? They make the home a place of beauty, a joy 
to the eye. Why not the city? Moreover, patience and per- 
sistence more frequently characterize their efforts than those 
of men. These qualities combine to make them effective as 
a factor when they apply themselves to the work of civic im- 
provement. 
Thus far, however, notwithstanding the growth of the 
movement in every direction and in every phase, notwith- 
standing the great increase in the number of organizations 
and in the number of individual workers, notwithstanding the 
great interest that is exhibited on the part of the great public, 
we must realize that the surface of improvement worx has 
only been scratched. We have but to look around us on 
every side to see the need for still greater improvement, for 
still more vigorous and strenuous effort, for still higher 
standards, to appreciate the immensity and the difficulty of 
the situation as it confronts us. The note of greatest promise 
in all this work is the fact that there is an equal appreciation 
of the need and value of individual and of organized effort. 
We have seen time and time again what has been done 
through the initiative of public-spirited, earnest, useful citi- 
zens, but we must not overlook the fact that the influence of 
such citizens can be greatly enhanced by effective organiza- 
tion. 
The report of the Nominating Committee and the 
election of officers was the next business. Harlan P. 
Kelsey, chairman of the committee, said that it had 
been the effort to make as few changes as possible 
while the work of the Association was in its formative 
stage and that all the officers who could possibly serve 
another year had been retained. The recommendation 
was unanimously adopted and the following is the list 
of new officers elected : President, J. Horace McFar- 
land, Harrisburg, Pa. ; Secretary, Clinton Rogers 
Woodruff, Philadelphia; Treasurer, William B. How- 
land, New York ; General Vice-Presidents, George 
Foster Peabody, New York, and Franklin MacVeagh, 
Chicago. Department Vice-Presidents are as follows: 
Women’s Outdoor Art League, Pres., Mrs. Edw. L. 
Upton, Waukegan, Illinois; Parks and Public Reserva- 
tions, Andrew Wright Crawford, Philadelphia ; Arts 
and Crafts, Mrs. M. F. Johnston ; Children’s Gardens, 
Dick J. Crosby, Washington, D. C. ; City Making, 
Frederick L. Ford, Hartford, Conn. ; Outdoor Art, 
Warren H. Manning, Boston ; Factory Betterment, 
Edwin L. Shuey, Dayton, Ohio ; Libraries, Frederick 
M. Crunden, St. Louis ; Public Nuisances, Thomas H. 
McBride, Iowa City, Iowa ; Public Recreation, Joseph 
Lee, Boston ; Railroad Improvement, Mrs. A. E. Mc- 
Crea, Chicago; Rural Improvements, O. C. Simonds, 
Chicago ; School Extension, Edward T. Hartman, 
Boston; Press, Frank Chapin Bray, Chicago; Social 
Settlements, Graham R. Taylor, Chicago. 
Before the adjournment of the meeting. Secretary 
Woodruff announced that invitations for the next 
Convention had been received from Los Angeles, Cal., 
Chicago, Columbus, O., Hartford, Conn., Minneapolis, 
Milwaukee, Portland, Ore., Decatur, 111., Louisville, 
Ky., and for 1907 Jamestown, Va. 
At the close of the morning session the delegates 
were taken in special cars to the beautiful country 
home of the Clifton Qub on the lake for luncheon, re- 
turning to the city for the afternoon session in the as- 
sembly room of The Hollenden Hotel. 
“The Cleveland Home Gardening Association’’ was 
the subject of an address delivered by Starr Cad- 
wallader, secretary of the Detroit Chamber of Com- 
merce formerly head worker of the Goodrich house 
and a prominent member of the Home Gardening As- 
sociation. He gave an interesting accourrt of the 
work of the association during the past six years in 
Cleveland. The Association, he said, had successfully 
opened up one more avenue of approach to a more 
beautiful city. E. W. Haines, president of the As- 
sociation, who has given much of his time and means 
to organizing the work, was credited with being the 
man behind the movement. The methods of work, 
which have been previously described in Park and 
Cemetery, were given in detail for each year. Dur- 
ing the six years of its history over one million pack- 
ages of seeds have been distributed. During the past 
season there were 364,000. In 1904 school gardens 
were maintained at four buildings and during the pres- 
ent season a new plan for the cultivation of vacant 
lots has been inaugurated, and an exchange garden 
started where plants that would otherwise have been 
destroyed have been presented to the Association by 
nurserymen and others and furnished schools and in- 
dividuals who wished to make use of them. More 
than 20,000 plants have been sent out from here this 
