292 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
OFFICIAL COMMUNICATIONS 
JAMES B. SHEA, Boston, Mass., President 
AND CONTRIBUTIONS 
J. J. LEVISON, Brooklyn, N.Y., Sec.-Treas. 
THE ASSOCIATION QUESTION BOX 
Boulevard Signs. 
A member inquires: “Have you any de- 
signs or sketches of boulevard signs, some- 
thing that will stand the weather and be 
of neat appearance?” 
I am sorry to say that I have had no 
experience with such signs as you speak 
of. Of course, we use an enormous num- 
ber of signs and labels. For tree labels, I 
designed and had executed a cast label, of 
which you already have a sample, and I 
believe that this is the best permanent 
label for use where the legend does not 
have to be changed. For large signs they 
do not have to be made of composition 
metal, but can be cast in iron, making the 
cost very much less. If the signs are to 
be put on lamp posts, a plain, perforated 
metal is, I believe, the best. Enameled 
signs are handsome, but not lasting, as the 
enamel is very brittle, and the slightest 
shock will fracture the surface, after 
which rust will form back of the enamel, 
forcing it off. For the thousands of la- 
bels which we use for our animal cages, 
we have adopted a style made of zinc, 
Nos. 9 and 12 gauge. The zinc is cut to 
the requisite size, washed in dilute ascetic 
acid, and receives three coats of white lead 
paint, tinted a light sage green. The last 
coat of this is applied perfectly flat. The 
lettering is then applied in drop black, 
ground in japan, and after thoroughly 
dry, the whole label receives a coat of the 
best spar varnish. These labels stand well 
indoors and out, are cheap, and can, of 
course, be made of any reasonable size. 
For outdoor signs, giving directions, etc., 
we use a sign made of cypress boards, but- 
toned in the back with small iron channels, 
notched out so as to permit a certain 
amount of movement in the wood as it ex- 
pands and contracts. That is to say, the 
holes in the channel iron through which 
screws enter the wood are not round, but 
oval. These sign boards receive at least 
three coats of lead and oil paint, the last 
being of a bright green color. The letter- 
ing on these signs is white and of plain 
black letters. These signs will last for a 
number of years if occasionaly var- 
nished. H. W. Merkel, 
Chief Forester and Constructor, 
New York Zoological Park. 
Concessions in Parks. 
In answer to the query of Brother J. 
F. Macpherson regarding concessions in 
parks, my reply would be that there should 
be none. Any service that it is advisable, 
desirable and feasible to give the public 
in public parks should be rendered directly 
by the authorities in charge of the parks, 
the commissioners. In rendering such 
service, the aim should be to give to the 
people making use of such service a fair 
value for their money. Above all, the 
public are entitled to the best service and 
the best quality of goods, but they are not 
entitled to get it at a price below fair 
competition. To sell at cost means un- 
fair competition against those who are 
making their living in a legitimate busi- 
ness ; to sell at a loss means to use the 
money of some of the taxpayers to pay 
for the pleasure of others, for which the 
latter should and can pay if they need it. 
Let the park authorities run their own 
concessions in an ordinary, efficient, busi- 
ness-like manner, and let the earnings so 
produced be reinvested in • park and serv- 
ice improvements, which will benefit all 
and be a burden to none. 
Park authorities can give better service 
to the people by rendering same through 
their own employes than through conces- 
sions, whose actions and service it is 
harder to control ; besides, public prop- 
erty and the rendering of public service 
should not be made the means of private 
benefit and greed. 
We have no trouble here in getting peo- 
ple to make use of our parks, and our 
only aim, so far, has been to make the 
parks accessible and the natural features 
useful. Our boulevards are through 
woodlands, over hills, along the lakes, 
through glens and meadows, and are so 
much more attractive than the finest resi- 
dential streets that everyone makes use of 
them as often as possible. Our lakes are 
popular ; they are used for boating and 
fishing, for which licensed private boats 
or rented park boats are available. Our 
refectories are swamped every favorable 
holiday and evening because we serve 
good drinks and food at a fair price. We 
furnish good music, free of charge, at our 
principal lake park and our larger neigh- 
borhood parks, and the people appreciate 
it and make good use of the opportunity. 
We offer good facilities for bathing in our 
lakes, free service, and but a very small 
rental for suits rented. Our playgrounds 
are made good use of wherever they are 
established, and the demand for more of 
them is increasing and justified. The win- 
ter months, long as they are, offer an 
agreeable change in park activity, for we 
maintain over twenty skating rinks ; we 
have bob and toboggan slides, and there 
are horse and ice-boat races on the lakes. 
True, we can accommodate many times 
more people than now make use of our 
parks, but we are satisfied with the gain 
we are making and believe that we can 
steadily increase the number of visitors 
to our parks by continuing to attract them 
through the natural beauties of our parks 
and the true recreation they offer, rather 
than through side-shows, which, I cannot 
believe, are really necessary to induce peo- 
ple to make use of their parks. The sug- 
gestions in your letter of inquiry of De- 
cember 1, 1912, Brother Levison, are good 
ones, however, and should be followed. 
To give people opportunity to learn the 
names of trees, shrubs, flowers and ani- 
mals means to educate them to a better 
understanding, appreciation of value and 
greater enjoyment of their possessions. 
Give them to understand, at the same time, 
that they own the parks, and you will 
have no use for all kinds of signs “to not 
do this, and not do that.” 
And now I must cross swords with our 
good, enthusiastic Brother Parker, for I 
have just read his lecture on self-support- 
ing parks. My good friend, you missed 
your vocation. You should be a banker, 
for you are so eloquent in dabbling with 
figures that you could put J. P. Morgan 
to shame. I am convinced that if you 
were a banker you would now be at the 
mercy of Untermeyer before the Pujo 
committee in Washington, but I am also 
sure that if you were in that, in some re- 
spect, enviable position, I would ask you 
for a million dollars for some of my park 
development schemes, and I know you well 
enough to feel sure that I would get it. 
I am not going to get into a long contro- 
versy with you, because we are too far 
apart and I have neither the time nor skill 
to battle with you by pen, but I will say 
this : It is my belief that well selected, 
well appointed and well managed parks 
are well worth the small taxes they cost 
to maintain ; that to maintain them en- 
tirely through receipts from dancing halls, 
bowling alleys, moving-picture shows, etc., 
is as unnecessary as it is undesirable, and 
that to throw the parks open to all kinds 
of amusement, which will detract the at- 
tention of the people from the real pur- 
pose for which the parks are intended, is 
