E 
PARK AND 
AND LANDSCAP 
CEMETERY 
GARDENING 
VOL. XXII 
FEBRUARY, 1913 
No. 12 
EDITORIAL 
Making the Parks 
The interesting proposition set forth in our last issue by Mr. 
George A. Parker on making parks self-supporting is a valuable 
thought, and there is much in it that can be utilized by modern 
park makers in making our parks more genuinely useful to the 
people. It is, however, an excellent idea that might well be pushed 
too far, as pointed out by Mr. Theodore Wirth on another page 
of this issue. The primary purpose of the parks is not to make 
money or to pay their own way, but to give the people service. 
The idea of making the park self-supporting is one that might 
easily be overworked. The most remarkable development in the 
way of park service in this country along the line of Mr. Park- 
er’s suggestion is that of the South Park System in Chicago, and 
these great play parks are not by any means self-supporting. The 
idea of making a park system as a whole self-supporting is not 
The Lincoln Memorial 
Both houses of Congress have finally voted to build the 
$2,000,000 Lincoln Memorial Greek Temple in Washington, and 
the President has signed the bill, so that it is practically sure that 
the work is going forward. There was, of course, a reasonable 
objection to the erection of a Greek temple in memory of a 
rugged American like Lincoln, and he might have been more fit- 
tingly memoralized in a series of beautiful sculptured groups in a 
magnificent landscape setting. Such a memorial would have been 
much more appropriate to Lincoln’s character and much more 
American. The commission entrusted with this work seems to 
have gone ahead rather hastily on the supposition that it is not 
possible for American architects and sculptors to conceive of a 
monument on which it could adequately expend an appropriation 
of $2,000,000. Consequently it seemed necessary to resort to the 
plan of building an immense Greek temple that would use up 
enough material to expend the immense appropriation. We be- 
lieve, and have noted in these columns, that it would have been 
Pay Their Way 
one to be encouraged, as Mr. Wirth points out. The idea, how- 
ever, in Mr. Parker’s paper that the parks should give a wider 
variety of service that the people really want and make it pay for 
itself, is a good one. The greatest progress in this line has been 
along the line of eliminating concessions in the parks. The 
service that must be given in the way of selling goods and pro- 
viding amusement should be done by the park commissioners 
themselves. This first-hand service to the public is the lesson that 
can be learned from Mr. Parker’s address, and we believe that it 
is the idea he is trying to impress upon the people — that park 
service should be given direct and as nearly at cost as possible. 
There is much food for thought both in Mr. Wirth’s and in Mr. 
Parker’s ideas of park service. 
and Washington Parks 
possible for American art to have produced a magnificent sculp- 
tured memorial that would have been a real memorial to Lin- 
coln, typical of his life and character. However, the beautiful 
Greek temple has been finally decided upon, and as one consola- 
tion it seems to have brought about a furthering of the plans 
for a comprehensive system of parks in Washington. It is now 
believed that the proposition to connect Potomac Park and Rock 
Creek Park, to build a Lincoln memorial bridge, and to make 
other improvements in the Washington Park system will be 
pushed forward with vigor. If, this great park development can 
be secured it will be one of the best results of building the Greek 
Lincoln memorial. It is now urged in Washington that the next 
logical step to take in the execution of the park plans is the con- 
struction of a suitable boulevard and parkway leading down to 
the Lincoln memorial and connecting Potomac Park with the 
Rock Creek Park. It is hoped that these park plans will be 
pushed forward as rapidly as the Lincoln memorial plan. 
The Need of T rained Foresters 
The Massachusetts Forestry Association’s appeal for in- 
creased membership and a large addition to its list of local 
branches in the state is timely. The state has over a million 
acres of so-called wild and waste lands, a large part of which 
in the past produced magnificent forests. Several of the Euro- 
pean nations are practicing forestry on a profit-yielding basis, 
many towns and communities own forest tracts for fuel-supply 
and returns, and the forestry industry is a successful one. It 
could also be made economically useful and financially profit- 
able in our own broad domain and would be a beneficent work. 
Editorial 
A movement has been started in Montana to have the govern- 
ment set aside as a national park that section of the Cabinet 
Mountains in Lincoln County, in which the Black Wells Glacier 
and Granite Lake are situated. Special effort will be made to have 
the legislature bring the matter before the national government. 
The plan to make a park out of the spot on the New Jersey 
shore where Washington crossed the Delaware River in his his- 
toric journey in 1776 has taken on an interstate aspect. Penn- 
sylvania is now planning to make a park of the place where 
Washington started on the Pennsylvania side of the river. Wash- 
ington’s Crossing Park might well be made an interesting inter- 
state reservation, and it is to be hoped that the authorities on 
Besides the need of foresters for reinstating our denuded 
forest lands, every town and city of any importance in our 
country should maintain a trained forester for the care of its 
woods and street trees. And it is absolutely necessary to 
secure results that trained men should be engaged for this 
puprose. To this end the Massachusetts Forestry Association 
is exerting its influence, and it would be for the welfare of 
the country if more such effort could be organized and put 
into effective action. 
Notes 
both sides will take steps to have this historic ground reserved 
for the people. 
There is talk in Minneapolis of having the statue, “Father of 
Waters,” placed in the new Gateway Park and given an adequate 
architectural setting. There is a magnificent opportunity here to 
make a wonderfully interesting presentation of the “Father of 
Waters” somewhat along the line of Mr. Taft’s symbolic presen- 
tation of the Great Lakes that is now under way in Chicago. 
The great head of the Mississippi, which makes the most interest- 
ing figure of the Minneapolis park system, might well be an in- 
spiring sculptural theme that could be worked out for the Gate- 
way Park. 
