270 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
tainties, because a lapse in their care from what- 
ever cause, means increased expenditures to regain 
lost ground, while the cost of their maintenance is 
such a small tax per capita that no diversion of 
that tax to other channels should be considered. 
TERTETUAL At various intervals in the past at- 
CARE tention has been drawn to the neces- 
sity of care in regulating values in connection with 
the perpetual care of lots, so that endowments of 
sufficient amount should be required of lot-owners, 
in order to effectually provide for such care. In 
the reports coming to notice now-a-days the subject 
is frequently touched upon and in certain cases not 
without anxiety. The value of money with high- 
class securities is gradually decreasing and where 
but a few years ago six per cent, could be obtained 
there is today no certainty of securing over 3^ 
per cent. This on an endowment fund for a cer- 
tain sized lot of $100 does not provide a very large 
income to ensure the maintenance and care prom- 
ised under the deed, and in the event of being in- 
sufficient clouds the procedure. This question is 
an important one and one that requires the care- 
ful consideration of proprietors and trustees. What 
perpetual care means mustbe clearly defined, and the 
proposition so thoroughly understood, that the cause 
may not be subjected to a set-back now that it is 
making such excellent progress in public sentiment. 
Yhe Illinois deserves some congratula- 
‘EILL-‘B£ARD tions on the persistent manner in 
NUISANCE 1 • 1 r ..1. -i.- 1- 
which many 01 the citizens have 
prosecuted the campaign against the advertising 
bill-board defacement of our cities and landscapes. 
The rigorous denunciation of this method of adver- 
tising, so derogatory of all aesthetic principles, 
which was made at the convention of the Amer- 
ican Park and Out-door Art Association in Chi- 
cago last June, was another stimulating influence 
and was followed by the passage of an ordinance 
by the city council, which, however, was found 
inadequate for the purpose intended. More delib- 
erate judgment being formed in the meantime, a 
better ordinance, though somewhat restricted in its 
scope, has recently been passed, which provides 
that all signboards and billboards more than three 
feet square now within 200 feet of any park, park- 
way or boulevard, are declared a nuisance and shall 
be torn down and that such boards be prohibited 
in future. Thirty days were given for the work 
and severe penalties are provided after that time. 
Outside the city one of the most energetic factors 
in the warfare is the Quincy Park and Boulevard 
Association, Quincy, 111 ., which has recently se- 
cured the passage of an ordinance in that city pro- 
hibiting the affixing of advertising matter of any 
kind to electric light, telephone, telegraph and 
electric street car poles, trees and tree boxes. 
This association is actively engaged in the crusade 
and is pushing the work to extend its influence 
into the country districts and is laying plans so to 
broaden the scope of the movement as to enlist 
in the cause both county, state and the federal 
government itself. It is a work worthy of the 
active co-operation of patriotic citizens. 
’PROGRESS OF The growth of public interest in 
t^e improvement of the external 
IMPROVEMENT . - ,.r , 
conditions ot life over our large 
domain is remarkable, to say the least, and that it 
has all come about in the last quarter of the cen- 
tury, and to be more exact, in a really practical 
way, in the last decade, is actually surprising. 
Some of the states have made great progress look- 
ing to the various interests connected with the 
proposition, such as initiatory steps for forest 
preservation and culture, the setting aside and 
securing possession of beauty spots, historical and 
picturesque; the passage of laws looking to the 
organization of art commissions for the embellish- 
ment of their cities and many other similar steps 
having in view, in the main, out-door improve- 
ment. And the movement as a whole is engaging 
public attention throughout the country. As 
might be expected it is especially marked in the 
New England states, where the increase in park 
areas, the reserve parking of beautiful and pictur- 
esque localities, the growth and improvement of 
private estates, the increasing number of improve- 
ment societies, and the passage of laws to promote 
and encourage improvement is a bright augury at 
the beginning of this twentieth century for the 
immediate future. Among the noted recent efforts 
is that of New Hampshire where the institution of 
an Old Home Week Association, which was orig- 
inated in 1899 by Governor Rollins has had a 
marked benefit on the rural sections of the state. 
The Secretary of the Board of Agriculture was 
made secretary of the association and the duties of 
the two offices were combined in promoting the 
movement throughout the state. In 1889 about 
sixty Old Home meetings were held, which in- 
creased to 72 in 1900. One of the principal re- 
sults of this movement has been in awakening 
interest in the towns and the purchase of many 
abandoned estates by former residents of New 
Hampshire. These have largely been improved as 
summer residences and the promotion of a love for 
lands^pe beauty and art materially aided. The 
presei^^ion and cultivation of the forests is also 
receivingmctive attention with the probability that 
an appreOMion of the benefits to be derived will 
give the sta\p of permanency to every efl’ort. 
