PARK AND CEMETERY 
59 
ON CONSOLIDATION OF CHICAGO’S PARK SYSTEMS 
The West Park System. 
The West Park system has a 
varied history. Political manage- 
ment, extending over several admin- 
istrations, brought about demoraliza- 
tion. A few years ago, under the 
presidency of Mr. B. A. Eckhart, and 
the superintendency of Mr. Jens Jen- 
sen, there was a complete reversal of 
policy. These two men effected rev- 
olutionary changes in park manage- 
ment and wrought great improve- 
ments. Following the retirement of 
Mr. Eckhart as President and of Mr. 
Jensen as Superintendent, there has 
been retrogression. The dominating 
control at the present time is polit- 
ical. The actual directing head of 
the West Park system is not the 
Superintendent, but the Secretary, 
who is primarily a politician. The 
note of political control is more pro- 
nounced in the West Park system 
than in either the South Park sys- 
tem or the Lincoln Park system. The 
Commissioners and the Secretary 
have sought to avoid the scandals 
that characterized the administra- 
tions prior to Mr. Eckhart’s time. 
Apparently they are trying to do as 
well as they can without eliminating 
political considerations in park man- 
agement. They are striving to meet 
the needs of the district for addi- 
tional park and playground facili- 
ties, in which they are hampered be- 
cause the revenues are not commen- 
surate with the needs. Instances of 
inefficiency, unbusinesslike methods 
and waste on a small scale are cer- 
tain to develop, however, when polit- 
ical motives are allowed to enter in 
park management. 
A few such instances, illustrative of 
the point in question, are presented 
herewith. 
William Holliday, a mechanic em- 
ployed to repair automobiles, was 
carried on the payroll for 243 contin- 
uous days, Sundays and holidays in- 
cluded, for 10 hours a day at 70 cents 
an hour. Holliday’s bills were paid 
at once, without proof of their cor- 
rectness. Moreover. $395 was ad- 
vanced to him from the contingent 
fund. On March 1 , 1911, Holliday 
was placed on the payroll at $4.50 a 
day. On September 1, last, he was 
still on the payroll, but no deduction 
had been made from his wages on ac- 
count of the $395 over-payment. Au- 
tomobile parts and supplies used by 
Holliday in repair work were pur- 
chased by him personally. On Sep- 
( Concluded ) 
tember 1, 1911, $9,212.52 had been 
paid Holliday in cash, of which $5,- 
111.27 was for supplies and parts. 
The reason given for allowing Hol- 
liday to make these purchases was 
that he could secure a larger dis- 
count than the Park Board, which 
he would divide with the Board. Ex- 
aminations made by the Bureau in- 
dicate that Holliday not only charged 
the Board full price for articles on 
which he obtained a discount, but in 
some cases he charged the Board 
more than the list prices in the print- 
ed catalogues of the dealers. He was 
paid by the Board $30 for a cylinder 
which an auto company furnished 
him free of charge. Moreover, the 
park records show no refunds or 
credits for articles which Holliday 
returned unused, and for which he 
received either cash or a credit on 
other purchases. The transactions of 
the West Park Board with Holliday 
furnish a striking example of waste 
of public funds. 
In April, 1911, employes of the 
West Park Board were used for sev- 
eral days to do work about a polit- 
ical club house, of which club the 
Attorney for the West Park Board 
is president. They were engaged in 
sodding the lawn and in trimming 
and planting trees. The sod was 
brought to the club house in a West 
Park wagon. Bureau investigators 
observed the West Park Attorney 
directing the work of the park em- 
ployes on the club house grounds. 
The South Park Board and the 
Lincoln Park Board each has one at- 
torney. The West Park Board has 
a $3,000 attorney, an $1,850 assistant, 
a $1,200 stenographer and special 
counsel when occasion requires. The 
stenographer, instead of making his 
headquarters at the administration 
building of the park system, occu- 
pies a part of the downtown office 
of the park attorney, where his name 
appears on the door as a practicing 
lawyer. 
Joseph P. Kinsella, a member of 
the Illinois Legislature, and brother- 
in-law of the Republican committee- 
man for the Sixteenth Ward, has 
held for several years a very favora- 
ble concession in Humboldt Park, 
granted him without advertising or 
public bids. Mr. Kinsella pays the 
Park Board $600 a year. In return 
he gets living quarters for himself 
and family in the park building, with 
light and heat. In addition to the 
right to maintain refectory service 
in the pavilion, he is allowed to 
operate candy stands throughout 
Humboldt Park. Kinsella has also 
operated a pay cloak room, rented 
skates, sold skate straps, and was 
allowed to keep a piano in the assem- 
bly hall, for the use of which he 
charged $3 a night. The hall was 
used 245 times during 1910 for dances, 
receptions, etc., which made it pos- 
sible for the piano to earn $735 dur- 
ing that year. Although he has the 
exclusive refreshment privilege and 
abundant table facilities, Kinsella 
sells only soda water, ice cream, 
candy, peanuts and cigars during the 
summer season. There is no place 
in Humboldt Park where the public 
can obtain lunch or coffee, except 
during the skating season, when Kin- 
sella meets the demand. Coffee and 
lunch should be served in this park, 
as in others, during the summer sea- 
son. 
The West Park stables have more 
men to care for 71 horses than the 
South Park Board finds necessary for 
115, or the Lincoln Park Board for 
85. The cost of forage per horse in 
the West Park system for 1910 was 
$40 (over 25 per cent) per horse 
higher than in either of the other 
two systems. The average prices 
paid for horses during 1910 was $310 
by the West Park Board, $273 by the 
Lincoln Park Board, and $269 by the 
South Park Board. Considering that 
horses of the same kind are used, 
the West Park system shows an ex- 
cessive cost of approximately $40 
per horse. Comparisons of labor 
cost per square yard of pavement 
laid by the different Park Boards 
show the highest cost or lowest effi- 
ciency in the West Park system. 
Following are the figures: West 
Park, 11.08 cents a square yard; Lin- 
coln Park, 10.22 cents; South Park, 
8.63 cents. 
The Lincoln Park System. 
The administration of the Lincoln 
Park system has been conservative, 
careful, and in the main creditable. 
The Lincoln Park extension work 
has been well conducted. The new 
bathing beach at the north end of 
Lincoln Park has been much appre- 
ciated by the public. While this 
Board has not been so aggressively 
brilliant as the South Park Board 
has been in certain respects, neither 
has it pursued a course to justify the 
criticisms that may be directed 
