Editorial J^iote 
The Garden City. 
Considerable attention is being paid to the project 
now in course of development in England under the 
title of the Garden City. Some short time since par- 
ticulars concerning the scheme were given in these 
columns, and leading American magazines are now 
watching progress and keeping their readers informed. 
When the time was ripe for activity, a company was 
readily formed and funds provided, and now a site 
of some 4,000 acres has been purchased within 35 
miles of London and construction operations are in 
progress. The ideal advantages the system offers to 
the industrious and intelligent citizen should the orig- 
inators be able to keep out contaminating influences, 
which is strictly promised, cannot be overestimated. 
^ ^ V 9 
Good Roads. 
The matter of Federal aid in establishing better 
roads throughout the country is rapidly becoming a 
national issue. Arguments for and against the propo- 
sition have now been heard for years, and the question 
is rapidlv narrowing down to a more practical one. The 
agricultural press is busy educating the farmer, not 
only to the economy and necessity of good roads, but 
also to the reasonableness of demanding some share 
back again for nearby requirements of the taxes ex- 
pended upon public works in other lines of improve- 
ment. It should be possible to devise a scheme where- 
by financial aid could be afforded for this most impor- 
tant feature of internal commerce. All the products 
of the country of whatever kind, it may be said, have 
to begin their journey to the consumer over the coun- 
try roads, and these roads as a rule, and in the vast 
majority of cases, are practically out of business at 
certain seasons of the year, and at all seasons necessi- 
tate an absolute and deplorable waste of energy. 
* * 
Arbor Day. 
It has been our annual custom to revert to Arbor 
Day and its exercises about this time, not but what the 
suggestions of the past are not good for the present, 
but that as we settle down to a proper observance of 
the day, a better understanding of its import is being 
acquired by the people, and its influence in the good 
work of outdoor improvements more widely and wisely 
appreciated. Notwithstanding, however, all the bene- 
fits to be derived from its spirit and teachings, it is 
not so generally observed as it should be, and the main 
reason is a lack of the necessary qualifications in the 
average rural school teacher. Many of the states are 
now grappling with the question of centralized schools, 
so as to admit of the employment of teachers of a 
higher grade than those commonly engaged in the 
rural districts. When better conditions prevail in this 
regard, a great step will have been taken in the prog- 
ress of improvement ideas and the uplifting of our 
country citizens to a higher plane of citizenship. Re- 
and Comment. 
turning to the actual question of Arbor Day exer- 
cises, it is yearly becoming more apparent that to se- 
cure the best results there must be a systematic pro- 
cedure, and that under a leader having knowledge of 
trees and plants, their uses, adaptability and treatment. 
In this way some planting work of importance might 
be undertaken about the school grounds or of a public 
character, and increased or enlarged year by year until 
a full development was secured. What a pride and 
joy to the school citizenship such a consummation 
would be ! Some excellent suggestions along this line 
will be found in this issue, in an article on “Scientific 
Arbor Day Work,” by Mrs. Seavey. 
* * * 
The Menace to Washington, D. C. 
It is gratifying to realize how prompt the people 
have been to resent the action of certain bureaucrats of 
Washington in their determination to degrade the mag- 
nificent scheme of improvement for the nation’s capital. 
It astounds one to believe that the first attack upon the 
plans devised by the expert commission, and which 
were accepted by all classes as a fitting climax to the 
original conceptions of L’Enfant and Washington 
should emanate from the Department of Agriculture. 
That this department, while ostensibly encouraging 
artistic outdoor improvement throughout the country, 
should make such a false step is past belief. Our read- 
ers will no doubt have noted in the press, as well as 
from the article in our last issue, that it was proposed 
to encroach upon the 890 feet width of the Mall to the 
extent of 290 feet to provide for certain features in 
connection with the proposed Agricultural Building, 
thus reducing the width of this grandest of thorough- 
fares to 600 feet and very appreciably marring the 
whole plan. Immediately upon the intention being 
made public, the American Institute of Architects be- 
gan a campaign to avert the danger, and this has been 
quite vigorously backed by public opinion. 
As we go to press we learn that the committee in 
charge of the erection of the Department of Agriculture 
Building has voluntarily changed its plans of encroach- 
ing on the Mall. To Senator Newlands, of Nevada, 
and Congressman Powers, of Massachusetts, the pub- 
lic owes its thanks for this happy conclusion. This 
obviates immediate danger to the plans of the commis- 
sion, but its recurrence is possible with the next large 
building operation under departmental auspices. It is 
essential, therefore, to have the expert commission's 
plans officially adopted to make all future building ac- 
cord with them. Members of the House and the Senate 
have expressed their willingness to carry out the pub- 
lic’s wishes, and during the summer adjournment a 
bill is to be prepared with a view to securing during 
the next session of Congress an official endorsement 
of the ideas embodied in the approved report of the 
Park Commission. 
