PARK AND CEMETERY. 
35 
cities with directions that the finan- 
cial data be entered on certain forms 
that had been prepared in the par- 
ticular way in which the Bureau de- 
sired it. It was discovered that the 
accounts of the cities would not 
readily yield the information that the 
Census Bureau needed. The agents 
were generally required to go back 
of the public reports to the ledger ac- 
counts and even to the original 
vouchers. They have been spend- 
ing, since 1902, from one to two and 
three weeks to so many months, and 
in New York nearly a year to col- 
lect a simple set of totals of the re- 
ceipts and payments of the cities of 
this country. That is not a tribute 
to the condition of accounts in our 
municipalities. Directly the Census 
Bureau, as a matter of public econ- 
omy, became interested in the prob- 
lem of uniform accounting, for it 
was plain that if the cities could be 
induced to introduce a uniform sys- 
tem of accounting, this information 
which was desired and which the Di- 
rector of the Census had been author- 
ized to collect, could be obtained at 
much smaller cost and with much 
greater speed. Here then we have the 
connection between uniform account- 
ing and the Census Bureau. 
In the course of its work the Cen- 
sus Bureau has drawn up a series of 
printed forms for the collection of 
statistics of cities containing details 
relating to the receipts and payments 
of the cities in all of their depart- 
ments and as to certain general totals. 
I can best illustrate the very gen- 
eral character of these classifications 
by referring to the department in 
which you are most interested — 
parks. Receipts for recreation are 
reported in this general schedule un- 
der the following heads: Parks and 
gardens, baths, bathing beaches, 
celebrations and entertainments, and 
the total paid out for recreation. Pay- 
ments are shown under these heads: 
general supervision, buildings and 
grounds, park police, zoological col- 
lection, public playgrounds, music in 
parks, trees in streets, baths and 
bathing beaches, celebrations and en- 
tertainments and miscellaneous ac- 
counts. I need not go beyond that. 
The sechedule is probably less de- 
tailed than this as to other depart- 
ments. It is intended to be only gen- 
eral in scope. 
Last year another step forward was 
taken, in that statistical investiga- 
tions, which had been general for the 
city as a whole, were extended to spe- 
cialized departmental studies, taking 
Table 1.— ACRES IN PARKS, SQUARES, CIRCLES, TRIANGLES, AND BOULEVARDS 
Parks, 
Squares, 
Boule- 
vards, 
etc. 
Total 
area of 
parks, 
LAND SURFACE. 
WATER SURFACE. 
Total 
land 
Improved areas. 
Unimproved areas. 
Natural. 
Artificial. 
Total 
Im- 
proved 
Im- 
proved 
lawns. 
Planta 
Flowers 
and orna- 
mental 
plants. 
Ions. 
Trees 
and 
shrubs. 
Picnic 
grounds. 
Athletic 
fields and 
grounds. 
Roads 
and 
walks.' 
Build- 
ings. 
Unim- 
proved 
lawns. 
Other devel- 
oped but un- 
improved 
Unde- 
veloped 
1 Including area of curbs and gutters. 
Table 2.— LENGTH AND AREA 1 OF CARRIAGE ROADS. BRIDLE PATHS, AND WALKS. 
Parks, 
Squares, 
Boule- 
vards, 
CARRIAGE ROADS. 
Bridle 
paths, 
length In 
WALKS. 
Improved, 
Unimproved. 
.iSSS, 
Area In square 
yards. 
Length 
In miles. 
Area In square yards. 
Length 
In mites. 
square 
Concrete 
walks. 
Other 
walka, 
Total. 
Classified by material. 
Classified by treatment for dust pre- 
vention. 
Macadam. 
Gravel 
Asphalt. 
Other 
Treated 
with oil. 
Treated 
with tar 
compound. 
Other 
treat- 
ment. 
Not 
'treated. 
:::::::: 
i Exclusive of area of curbs and gutters. 
Table 3.— AREA, POPULATION, AND PARK AREA OF CITY, BY PARK DISTRICTS. 
Park Districts. 
Area of land surface of 
city. 
Population of city, 
1910. 
Acres in parks and 
squares. 
Acres in parks to 100 
acres of land surface. 
Number of people to 1 
acre of park. 
Number of people to 1 
acre of land surface. 
Square 
. miles. 
ACres. 
::: 
Table 4 — EXPENSES OF CARE, OPERATION, AND MAINTENANCE OF PARKS, LESS RECEIPTS FROM FEES, CHARGES, 
AND SALES ON REVENUE ACCOUNT, W1TH-A VERAGES PER ACRE OF IMPROVED PARK SURFACE. 
Parks, Squares, Boulevards. 
All park expenses. 
Expenses for park 
Expenses for high- 
ways. 
Expenses for police 
Expenses for light. 
Expenses for rec- 
reation and com- 
fort of visitors. 
Other 
expenses. 
Total. 
Average. 
Total. 
Average. 
Total. 
Average. 
Total. 
Average. 
Total. 
Average. 
Total. 
Average. 
Total. 
Average. 
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 
1 Id computing average acres of Improved park surface, the area of artificial lakes, lagoons, etc., Is Included as a part of such surface. 
Table 5 — UNIT COSTS FOR CARE AND MAINTENANCE OF LAWNS AND ROADS. 
Parks, Squares, 
Boulevards, 
etc. 
COSTS OF CARE AND MAINTENANCE OF— 
COST PER 
Im- 
Improved 
roads. 
Unimproved 
roads. 
Cleaning. 
lawns 
acre 
Per 
mile 
in 
length. 
Per 
100 
square 
yards. 
Per 
mile 
in 
length. 
Per 
100 
square 
yards. 
Mac- 
Gravel 
roads. 
As- 
phalt 
Other 
inP» 
proved 
proved 
roads. 
ad am 
roads. 
:::::::: 
proved 
roads. 
o 
SUGGESTED FORMS FOR REPORTING PHYSICAL STATISTICS OF PARKS. 
Those Suggestions for Uniform Arrangement of Data of Park Areas and Distanc-s 
and for Comparing Park Expenses Are Only a Small Part of the Elaborate System 
of Suggested Forms Referred to by Mr. Meyer, in the Accompanying Address. 
The Complete List Embraces Some Sixteen Pages of Suggestions for Uniform 
Reports on the Financial Transactions and Physical Statistics of Parks. 
