tioned the fact that in 1883, the year be- 
fore the World’s Exposition was held on 
these grounds, the total assessment of 
what is known as the Sixth District was 
$8,690,280; today it is $19,198,126, an in- 
crease of, say, 120 per cent. During the 
same time the assessment of the entire city 
increased from $113,130,262.78 to $147,851,- 
643, an increase of, say, 30 per cent. What 
was at that time in many cases swampy 
fields and almost entirely an unbuilt and 
unimproved section is now quite closely 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
covered with modern residences ; and the 
large section known as the Sixth District 
includes what is today universally accord- 
ed to be the most progressive part of the 
city of New Orleans. 
While there is nothing of the glamor 
of romance about the earlier history of the 
ground, there is something of interest at- 
taching thereto. 
The two arpents fronting on the river, 
purchased by Foucher in 1825 (adjoining 
207 
his original plantation and now a part of 
the park) were a part of the home place 
of the noted Louisiana historian, Gayarre, 
who learned his “a b c’s” at Lefort’s 
school, situated on the Foucher place about 
where the sugar experiment station is now 
located. It was originally the property of 
his grandfather, Etienne de Bore, noted 
not only for his eminent services in the 
early history of the colony, but as the first 
successful manufacturer of sugar in what 
is now the United States. 
PARK SUPERINTENDENTS’ ANNUAL MEETING 
The Executive Committee of the Ameri- 
can Association of Park Superintendents 
has fixed the date for the holding of the 
eighteenth annual convention of that or- 
ganization at New Orleans on October 10, 
11 and 12. 
A program of lectures and papers is be- 
ing prepared, to be presented by numerous 
eminent men connected with the park and 
recreation movement. 
There will also be numerous social fea- 
tures, outdoor demonstrations and inspec- 
tion trips, and inasmuch as this will be 
the first convention of the organization in 
a city south of Washington, D. C., it is 
expected that it will be a record-breaker 
in the matter of attendance, because the 
trip to the South will be a popular one in 
October and there will no doubt be a 
large attendance of park executives of 
cities of the South which have been ad- 
vancing rapidly in recent years in the way 
of park development. 
Mr. Wm. Allen, secretary of the New 
Orleans Association of Commerce, is chair- 
man of the local committee on arrange- 
ments. Announcement will be made later 
of the convention program in detail. The 
officers of the organization are: Emil T. 
Mische, president, Portland, Ore.; Roland 
W. Cotterill, secretary, Seattle, Wash. 
THE A. A. C. S. CONVENTION AT NORFOLK 
Despite the hot spell that had practically 
the entire country in its grasp, Norfolk 
was not as warm as many who journeyed 
down into the old Dominion State to at- 
tend the thirtieth annual convention of 
the Association of American Cemetery Su- 
perintendents, August 22, 23 and 24, thought 
it would be, and those who remained away 
because of the weather missed a most de- 
lightful occasion. 
Each of these annual gatherings brings 
together a goodly representation of the 
foremost cemetery experts of this country, 
whose presence is sufficient to insure busi- 
ness sessions replete with interesting and 
instructive discussions, while the entertain- 
ment provided for the visitors is always 
enjoyable and ofttimes unique because of 
features made possible by local conditions. 
This was true of the Norfolk meeting. 
The attendance was fully up to expecta- 
tions, the addresses and discussions were 
of a high order, and certain of the most 
enjoyable features of the entertainment 
were so different from most conventions 
as to put the Norfolk convention in a 
class by itself. 
President James Warren, Jr., of Provi- 
dence, R. I., presided over the business 
sessions, which, on the first two days, were 
held at the Monticello Hotel, and on the 
third day at a seaside pavilion at Cape 
Henry, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. 
Rev. Myron B. Marshall, rector of All 
Saints’ Episcopal Church, opened the meet- 
ing with prayer, and the Hon. Wyndham 
R. Mayo, Mayor of Norfolk, extended a 
cordial greeting from the city of Norfolk, 
which, he said, “was not necessarily 
doomed because of the presence of ceme- 
tery superintendents.’’ The Mayor spoke 
feelingly of the relations existing between 
the keepers of cemeteries and the people 
of the community and of the high esteem 
in which the former are usually held. 
President Warren made a fitting response 
and then proceeded to read his annual ad- 
dress, in which he expressed his sincere 
thanks for the honor conferred upon him 
in being elected to preside over the or- 
ganization. He recommended the contin- 
uance of the question box as a regular fea- 
ture and advised the appointment of a 
member in advance qualified to speak upon 
any questions that might be submitted. 
“This association,’’ Mr. Warren saicl, "has 
broadened the ideas of cemetery managers 
and has added greatly to the beauties of 
cemeteries throughout the country. Through 
its influence cemeteries generally have been 
brought under a comparatively uniform set 
of rules and regulations, or as nearly so 
as local conditions will permit. 
“I know of no profession which requires 
a greater general knowledge of almost all 
kinds of work than that of the superin- 
tendent of a modern cemetery.’’ After 
enumerating the more important of these, 
he said : “But most of all, the superin- 
tendent must he capable of meeting the 
people, and, too, under the most trying 
conditions. The superintendent is too often 
regarded as being too arbitrary when he 
is only trying to do that which will prove 
of the greatest good for all.’’ “Superin- 
tendents,” he said, “should cultivate tact if 
they did not possess it as a birthright.” 
Secretary-Treasurer Bellett Lawson, Jr., 
of Chicago, read his annual report, in 
which he dealt with the usual statistical 
information regarding the membership and 
finances of the association. Sixteen new 
members were added at the Minneapolis 
meeting and seven applications had been 
received since that meeting. Five deaths 
were reported, viz. : T. Donlan, Oakdale, 
Wilmington, N. C. ; R. D. Fletcher, Wood- 
lawn, Titusville, Pa.; R. S. Franklin, presi- 
dent Island Cemetery, Newport, R. L; S. 
C. Penrose, Wilmington and Brandywine, 
Wilmington, Del.; C. W. Ross Newton, 
Newton Center, Mass., and John Meisch, 
Holy Sepulchre, Rochester, N. Y. 
The report referred to a very complete 
mailing list of cemeteries that had been 
compiled by George M. Painter, member 
of the Executive Committee. 
The miscellaneous disbursements for the 
year, amounting to $717.32, were slightly 
in excess of the receipts. The cash bal- 
ance was $464.99. 
Tuesday afternoon the association and 
its friends were the guests of the Tide 
Water Automobile Association, of Nor- 
folk. A long procession of well-filled cars 
left the Monticello Llotel for a drive 
through the residential portion of the city, 
the parks and cemeteries, with Ocean View, 
a seashore resort, as the objective point. 
All of the cemeteries of Norfolk are un- 
der municipal control, in charge of J. M. 
Broughton, superintendent of cemeteries. 
Elmwood, Cedar Grove and W'est Point 
comprise some seventy acres and were first 
establislied in 1823. These grounds are 
gradually being transformed to conform 
