PARK AND CEMETERY. 
1 
mean an expenditure of $3,000,000. Buffalo is planning a 
great union station. 
Frank Chapin Bray, of Chicago, hade a brief oral report 
for the Press Department. This is an editorial committee 
which has endeavored to take some of the labor away from 
the general officials, to prepare bulletins for other depart- 
ments, clipping sheets, and secure publication of special 
articles. 
Graham R. Taylor, of Chicago, for the Department of So- 
cial Settlements, told of the wide range of activities and the 
powerful influence for good exerted by residents of social 
settlements. He spoke of a boys’ club connected with a 
settlement which held the balance of power in a ward elec- 
tion, and of the enthusiastic work of the boys and girls on 
cleaning up day in Chicago, and in their care for the play- 
grounds established by social settlements. 
Mrs. A. E. McCrea, of Chicago, vice president of the 
Department of Railroad Improvement, reported a steady 
growth in the interest and success of this work. There is 
now no road of any importance that has not either adopted 
or planned to adopt improvements for station grounds. The 
influence of this department is to be exerted chiefly in edu- 
cating the railroad officials to what constitutes good taste 
in landscape work. The towns vie with one another in the 
improvement of railroad stations, and these improvements 
often lead to the betterment of other parts of the town. The 
department plans to prepare brief leaflets for railroad officials 
in its campaign of “insidious education.” 
O. C. Simonds, of Chicago, made a brief oral report for 
the Department of Rural Improvement. Two bulletins are 
in print and others in process of preparation. Mr. Simonds 
noted a strong movement from the cities to the country that 
was bringing with it encouraging effort to improve. The 
work of the department is chiefly educative in its nature. 
Andrew Wright Crawford, of Philadelphia, vice president 
of the £)epartment of Parks and Public Reservations, was 
unable to be present, but his report was received, summar- 
ized by Mr. Woodruff, and ordered printed. It will be pub- 
lished in a future issue of Park and Cemetery. 
The report of Edwin L. Shuey, of the Department of Fac- 
tory Betterment, was read by Mr. Woodruff. He reported 
encouraging progress in the betterment of factory surround- 
ings and conditions, and said that a large proportion of em- 
ployers now believe in giving good sanitary places of work to 
their employes. 
The Wednesday evening session was devoted to Wiscon- 
sin’s contributions to civic progress. “The Traveling Library 
in Wisconsin” was the subject of an interesting address by 
Miss L. E. Stearns, the Library Commission Visitor of the 
Wisconsin Free Libraries. She said that Wisconsin was the 
first state to establish a compulsory school library law re- 
quiring every school to have a library. Every town but one 
of over 3,000 population in the state now has a public library, 
and there are four hundred traveling libraries in circulation. 
Milwaukee’s share in improvement work was presented in 
illustrated stereopticon talks by R. B. Watrous, secretary 
of the Citizens’ Business League, and Alfred C. Clas, Park 
Commissioner of Milwaukee. Mr. Watrous told something 
of the extent of Milwaukee’s manufacturing industries. 
Views of the parks, boulevards, public buildings, monu- 
ments, docks, and bridges were shown and interesting com- 
ments made about them. The City Hall, with its peculiar 
triangular, site, the bascule bridges, and the car ferries' were 
some of the interesting views shown. Juneau Park, opposite 
the Northwestern station, which was built on a site formerly 
occupied by a collection of tenements which had to be torn 
down, was one of the popular views. 
Mr. Clas gave a comprehensive report on the progress of 
civic work throughout the state and noted the important 
movements that were under way or in prospect. He spoke 
of the effort being made for establishing a state park in the 
territory including the Dells and Devil’s Lake. A strong 
sentiment has been aroused for the preservation of this re- 
markable region and a bill which has the backing of all of 
the prominent civic organizations in the state, is to be pre- 
sented at the next legislature. An effort was made to get 
the legislature to create the office of Tree Warden and an- 
other bill to this effect will be introduced in the next session. 
Mr. Clas gave a brief outline of the park progress in Mil- 
waukee and told of the distinctive features of each of the 
park areas. The city has 525 acres of parks but is in need 
of a comprehensive general plan as a guide for future de- 
velopment. Plans are being made for a new park of two 
hundred acres on the north side, and two sites are being 
considered. Play grounds are maintained in five parks, and 
this work is to be extended next year to provide for base 
ball and foot ball. Mr. Clas’ talk was illustrated with pic- 
tures of beautiful scenes about the Dells, Devil’s Lake, and 
other picturesque spots in the state, of several attractive sub- 
urban railroad stations, a number of scenes in Milwaukee 
parks, and several designs and foreign views illustrating 
what might be accomplished in establishing a lake side park 
along the shore line of Milwaukee. 
Thursday, October 25 th. 
Thursday morning opened with the reading of invitations 
for the next convention which had been received by letter 
and telegram from Jamestown, Va., in connection with the 
exposition 'next year, Los Angeles, Calif., Grand Rapids, 
Mich., Atlantic City, N. J., Put-in-Bay, Mich., St. Paul and 
Minneapolis. 
The paper on “San Francisco’s Opportunity and How She 
is Using It,” by Hon. James D. Phelan, was not presented 
as Mr. Phelan was not present and his paper had not arrived. 
The nominating committee through its chairman, Mr. Bray, 
announced the following recommendations for officers during 
the year, and they were unanimously elected as follows ; 
President, J. Horace McFarland, Harrisburg, Pa. ; First 
Vice-president and Acting Secretary, Clinton Rogers Wood- 
ruff, Philadelphia; Vice-Presidents, James D. Phelan, San 
Francisco, and L. E. Holden, Cleveland, O. ; Treasurer, Wm. 
B. Howland, New Yor’x; Chairman Advisory Committee, 
Robt. C. Ogden, New York. 
Vice-presidents in charge of the various departments are 
as follows: Arts and Crafts, Mrs. M. E. Johnston, Rich- 
mond, Ind. ; Children’s Gardens, Miss Mary Marshall But- 
ler, Yonkers, N. Y. ; City Making, Frederick L. Ford, Hart- 
ford, Conn.; Factory Betterment, Miss Gertrude Beeks, New 
York City; Libraries, Miss Mary E. Ahern, Chicago; Out- 
door Art, Warren H. Manning, Boston ; Public Recreation, 
Joseph Lee, Boston; Press, Harvey Maitland Watts, Phila- 
delphia; Public Nuisances, Harlan P. Kelsey, Salem, Mass.; 
Parks and Public Reservations, Alfred C. Clas, Milwaukee ; 
Railroad Improvement, Mrs. A. E. McCrea, Chicago ; Rural 
Improvement, D. Ward King, Maitland, Mo. ; School Ex- 
tension, O. J. Kern, Rockford, 111 . ; Social Settlements, Gra- 
ham Romeyn Taylor, Chicago. 
Resolutions were passed commending the faithful and en- 
eregtic work of the present officers, who responded with 
becoming and appreciative speeches. 
“Civic Beauty and Civic Safety” was the subject of a 
well considered and thoughtful paper by Fielding J. Stilson, 
of Los Angeles, Cal. Mr. Stilson said that civic beauty con- 
cerned every aspect of city making and urged more stringent 
building regulations, widening of streets, and laying out of 
boulevards as means for attaining greater civic safety. The 
