152 
belongs in this matter, there is one phase 
of the present situation that all should 
agree upon, and that is the elimination of 
the sensational in apparatus. The leap for 
life, marvelous merry-go-rounds, shoot the 
chutes from the heights of heaven and 
other Coney Island amusement devices have 
no proper place in the public playground. 
We cannot justify the present large ex- 
penditures of money for public play- 
grounds as mere hilarious amusement cen- 
ters designed to tickle the sensory nervous 
system of children and young people. Only 
upon the high ground of establishing an 
auxiliary to the public school, a new and 
needed school of citizenship and a bulwark 
to the health, strength and courage of the 
nation is the present expenditure of money 
justified. 
Where large areas are available, it is ad- 
visable to include as part of the boys’ play- 
ground the running track described under 
Group Three of our classification of facili- 
ties. 
The arrangement of apparatus in any 
given area is still another problem. I be- 
lieve that the best procedure is to couple 
this problem with that of the provision of 
shade and to treat these problems as one. 
In other words, plant the girls’ and chil- 
dren’s playgrounds as groves, planting the 
trees 25 or 30 feet apart, and then pro- 
ceed to arrange the games spaces and ap- 
paratus between the trees. Whatever is 
lost in freedom of action in games will be 
more than offset in the shade secured. The 
gymnastic apparatus in the boys’ play- 
ground mav be placed in one group, or di- 
vided and distributed to several points. In 
either case the apparatus should be placed 
with reference to good composition and 
finality of expression. Shade is not so im- 
portant a factor in the boys’ playground as 
in the girls’ and children’s play space, al- 
though some attention should be given to 
the matter of supplying a few shady rest- 
ing places which the boys may make use 
of between their efforts in vigorous sports 
Drinking fountains, bulletin boards for 
posting rules and announcements, and a 
number of seats or benches for rest should 
be supplied in each playground. Perma- 
nent and comfortable benches should be 
nlaced in good number in the children’s 
playground for the use of caretakers or 
parents who accompany small children 
Toilet facilities should be close at hand. 
The management of the play areas and 
facilities just described is of great impor- 
tance. Tt is in these playgrounds that there 
has been a demand for a change from cus- 
todial to trained management. The prob- 
lems of management here are : Inspection 
and care of apparatus, sanitation, hand- 
ling of supplies, hours of use of the fa- 
cilities, discipline, practical plans concern- 
ing use of plays, games, and many other 
activities, adequate care of those who re- 
ceive injuries, and the great field of social, 
educational and civic relationship of the 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
playground to the neighborhood which 
it serves'. Obviously, these playgrounds 
should be entrusted only to the manage- 
ment of intelligent and trained people. At 
least one man and one woman will be 
needed to manage the playgrounds de- 
scribed above. While it is possible to 
give a number of rules covering the fac- 
tors of management, it is advisable to con- 
fine these largely to organization and phys- 
ical aspects as contrasted with the factors 
of activities. Adequate management here 
becomes complex because of the rapidly 
changing conditions to be met in the han- 
dling of people of all ages in their pursuit 
of play and pleasure among many recrea- 
tion facilities' in small areas. The mani- 
fold possibilities in the modern play- 
ground for intellectual, social and physical 
recreation require an elastic scheme of 
management in the hands of persons of 
judgment, knowledge of the needs of peo- 
ple and sufficient vision to see conse- 
quences of right or questionable uses of 
facilities. The men and women employed 
for playground service, therefore, should 
not be regarded as mere instructors, play 
bosses or leaders of games, but rather as 
thoughtful managers, interpreters of child 
and adolescent life, chemists of human de- 
sires, and captains of the marching legions 
of young people on the way to a square 
deal citizenship. For where else will this 
much talked of square deal spring if not 
from the playground. Plant and nurture it 
here, and later it will stand the test. 
The length that this paper has already 
reached restrains me from entering upon 
a discussion of the swimming pool and 
field house, two facilities of the modern 
play and recreation center worthy of seri- 
ous study and almost endless discussion. 
Taking it for granted that the swimming 
pool and field house will soon become, 
where it has not already become, part of 
the' problem of facilities and management 
of recreation centers', I shall close my pa- 
per with a brief discussion of the prob- 
lems of general management of all tbe 
facilities and activities to which the park- 
boards of this country have fallen heir in 
increasing manner the last six or eight 
years. 
The problem of general management of 
recreation facilities concerns tbe large cit- 
ies chiefly, but to some degree, at least, it 
concerns all cities of whatever size having 
public park departments or boards. One 
of the first questions in general manage- 
ment is that of organization and personnel. 
The larger the city in population the 
greater the need of and demand for play- 
grounds. The larger the city in population, 
other things being equal, the larger the 
park department, if not in area of parks, 
then in extent and diversity of park serv- 
ice and work. The greater the city in pop- 
ulation and land values, the greater the re- 
sources, income and expenditure for park 
purposes. Again, the larger the city, the 
greater the number of social, civic and re- 
form organizations, urging, criticising and 
praising the park board or department for 
the things it has or has not done to ad- 
vance the playground idea as a matter of 
first importance in park development. These 
conditions present one of two alternatives 
to the park department or board : either to 
carry on an unholy war to keep the play- 
ground idea down, out or under, or to ac- 
cept it with open arms and proceed with 
its development in a manner commensurate 
with the social needs of the city, the re- 
sources at hand and the possibilities in- 
volved. Pursual of the latter course means 
the introduction of a maze of new prob- 
lems in planning, equipping and managing 
the new work. These problems are so 
new, numerous and without precedent in 
their solution that the employment of a spe- 
cial worker to head up and carry through 
the work seems inevitable. The “super- 
visor,” “manager,” “director” or “superin- 
tendent of playgrounds” is, therefore, add- 
ed to the operating force of the park or- 
ganization. The nature of this man s work 
soon brings him into the public eye 
through the press or personal contact with 
leading citizens and organizations who are 
interested in his work. He is called upon 
to furnish material to the press, make 
speeches before organized bodies and par- 
ticipate in city-wide discussion concerning 
recreation problems. No matter what title 
and precise official place you have given 
this man in the organization he becomes, 
in a public way, superior to and overshad- 
ows the head gardener, the head animal 
keeper, engineer and maintenance chief. 
He may even seem to overshadow his su- 
perintendent m relations with the superin- 
tendent’s superiors and a certain portion of 
the general public. It is not enough to say 
that “if this fellow knew his place, tended 
strictly to his job. didn’t lose his head, over- 
shot his mark and swell with importance, 
there would be no serious questions con- 
cerning organization and personnel. The 
increasing development of playground and 
recreation facilities of intricate nature in 
park systems, and the need of high-grade 
men to take charge of and remain with this 
work, suggests that park superintendents 
give this matter frank discussion and earn- 
est effort toward a solution of the problems 
involved that shall at once preserve the 
dignity of the park superintendent and en- 
able the playground man to fill his func- 
tion. In my judment, based upon actual 
experience and studied observation, there 
are but three practical solutions of this 
problem. I recite them in their application 
to the simple to the conflex, small to large 
systems : 
Plan (A) : Appoint a high-grade leader 
or director of play activities in each of the 
playgrounds or centers of directed recrea- 
tion work and let the superintendent treat 
directly with each one of these leaders as 
he would treat with a foreman or gang 
