302 
of the land for a good class of residences 
is often the really important consideration. 
A metropolitan form of assessment for 
parkways comes under consideration only 
as incidental to a metropolitan system of 
parkways for which as yet no adequate 
laws exist. The introduction of the auto- 
mobile and motorcycle, as well as the in- 
crease in the extent of the suburban type 
of residential districts and their spread 
into county after county outward from 
New York, makes it increasingly necessary 
to devise parkways on a more comprehen- 
sive scale than has been or can well be 
done by particular counties acting inde- 
pendently. It might well be that many 
residents of Madison and Morristown 
woul ( d like a parkway from New York, 
or at any rate from Jersey City or Ho- 
boken, by way of the north end of South 
Mountain and the residential sections of 
Essex County, partly in order to be free 
of the car tracks and the heavy, slow- 
moving freighting wagons and crowded 
condition of the old main roads, partly to 
reduce the number of dangerous grade 
crossings, partly to secure a smooth, 
hard pavement, and partly to avoid the 
more or less closely built up sections, 
with their swarms of people and their 
many sordid, unlovely features, and part- 
ly to pass through the more agreeable 
farming and woodland and suburban 
residence sections. The levying of as- 
The Park Institute of New England 
held a busy, well-attended and enthusias- 
tic meeting at Lowell, Mass., November 
18, and enjoyed a program of addresses 
and discussions that were of much value 
in spreading knowledge of modern meth- 
ods of management in parks and play- 
grounds. 
The meetings were held in the alder- 
manic chamber of the city hall and the 
principal address of the day was deliv- 
ered by James B. Shea, first deputy com- 
missioner of parks of Boston. Other 
speakers were John H. Dillon, chairman 
of the Boston Park Commission; Joseph 
McCaffrey, supervisor of playgrounds of 
Providence, R. I., and George A. Parker, 
superintendent of public parks, Hart- 
ford, Conn. Questions were asked and 
answered and the discussion was at all 
times interesting. 
George H. Hollister, superintendent of 
Keney Park, Hartford, Conn., and man- 
ager of the Park Institute, called the 
meeting to order at 2:35 o’clock and in- 
troduced Mayor Dennis J. Murphy, who 
said, in part: 
“It is a great pleasure to meet the members of 
the Park Institute. Lowell always welcomes an 
organization which has for its principal object the 
development of greater civic pride and beauty. We 
hfere are hampered as the citizens of many cities 
are, through the small appropriation which is made 
annually for the upkeep of a park system. But it 
is astonishing how much has been done here on 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
sessments by a metropolitan commission 
in different counties, according to the 
benefits ascertainable, would be almost 
the only way of so distributing the 
financial burden of such an extensive and 
expensive parkway as to make the un- 
dertaking feasible. 
The matter of annual assessments for 
maintenance of parkways has not re- 
ceived as much attention on the part of 
the public authorities as it should. Bet- 
ter laws are needed. In some cases the 
law permits the assessment annually of 
an arbitrary amount per front foot on 
land abutting on the parkway. (For in- 
stance, see Charter of Kansas City, Mo., 
Art. 13, Sec. 34.) 
In the case of parkways so located 
and improved as to form valuable parts 
of state automobile routes, the state 
should make a suitable contribution, 
both to the cost of laying out and im- 
provement and to the annual cost of 
maintenance. In both cases the amount 
should have some correspondence with 
the value of the parkway from the point 
of view of automobilists and to the rela- 
tive wealth of the county and state, or, 
in other words, their relative ability to 
pay. The state might reasonably derive 
much of its contribution from automo- 
bile licenses, which should vary with the 
weight and power and speed of the auto- 
mobile. 
from .$12,000 to $13,000 a year. We cannot have 
any too many playgrounds and parks. Our boys 
and girls are much responsible for their develop- 
ment to the environment, and parks and play- 
grounds contribute very much towards the sum 
total of the proper environment. I trust that in 
the near future Lowell will have a large sum of 
money to place at the disposal of the park board.” 
Robert F. Marden, president of the 
Lowell Board of Trade, was next intro- 
duced, and he said: 
“The whole public of Lowell is trying to go 
to the Kasino, at one and the same time, gen- 
tlemen. I have come here to assist in greeting 
you and to ask you to go to see Lowell’s indus- 
trial exhibit. Perhaps you can explain the psy- 
chology of such a movement. The Park Institute 
has struck Lowell when Lowell is boiling on just 
one thing — boiling over its wonderful display of 
manufacturers. If we can make the public spir- 
it turn itself to account for park improvements 
we may then be able to get to the real park 
system, which you gentlemen know so much about. 
We have river banks here, which are now dump- 
ing grounds, and which can be made into beau- 
tiful parks. All we need is public spirit. Our 
mayor is back of all that we do. The organiza- 
tion which I represent is not political, but we 
like to have the mayors with us. The park sys- 
tem needs the backing of the public. We have 
some very remarkble places here, capable of won- 
derful development. I hope you will leave here 
the seeds of some of the fine things which are 
needed. I congratulate you, Supt. Kernan, upon 
the gathering you have here today.” 
John H. Dillon, chairman of the Park 
Commission of Boston, was then called 
upon by Manager Hollister. Mr. Dillon 
said : 
“No one who* has met the young mayor of Low- 
ell would doubt for a moment that he would be 
anywhere except for a progressive park system. 
No man as progressive as he is, but that realizes 
that a park system is the lungs of a city. Every 
dollar expended is returned three- fold. When 
environment is such that tired women and sickly 
children of the tenement houses, during the sultry 
blasts of mid-summer, can go to an open space 
where there is green grass and clean air, and can 
rest there, then the original expenditure is worth 
a hundred times its first value, for park spaces 
and green grass and fresh air bring back to life 
and health many a tired mother and sickly child. 
“Parks are not of recent origin. They date 
back to the times of the early Greeks and Ro- 
mans, and we are simply following in the foot- 
steps of the first great civilizers. Where cities 
have created park systems, they are not only 
attractive but they save many dollars to the peo- 
ple in the summer months. Parks should be for 
the people, there should be no ‘keep off the grass’ 
signs on them. They should be thrown wide open. 
Playgrounds should be open at all times. They 
are the greatest possible inducement to keep the 
boys off the streets. And I will go a step farther. 
More public buildings should be opened evenings, 
for the very same reason. 
“It would be hard to realize what the peop’e 
of the west end of Boston would do if it were 
not for the common. At night, in summer, the 
people of that district sleep there. And I can- 
not imagine what thousands would do if they 
were forced to give up the use of Franklin park. 
On pleasant Sundays in summer, from 75,000 to 
150,000 go there, and many who go, take their 
meals there with them. 
“The work the park superintendents of various 
cities are doing is very closely allied with char- 
acter building. The strength of the youth is in- 
creased, stamina is built and the morals are kept 
right. These are the points the youth of today 
must have, for, in a verv few years they are 
to take our places, and they will be expected 
to build better than we have done. And there is 
no better way to increase strength and health than 
to provide adequate parks and playgrounds.” 
Joseph J. McCaffery, supervisor of 
playgrounds of Providence, R. I., spoke 
particularly on playgrounds, as follows: 
“There must be suitable apparatus in play- 
grounds if the children are induced to go to them,” 
he said. “And there should be fencing about all 
playgrounds. r /he only punishment which can be 
meted out to a playground patron who transgresses 
the rules is expulsion from the grounds. Fences 
also serve to protect the girls and the smaller 
children from molestation. And the shrubbery 
is better protected in this way. I believe in the 
sand-bin as a means of engaging the attention 
of the smaller children. The sand sterilizes itself. 
I believe in swings, but am against regular gym- 
nasium equipment because too many accidents 
occur when it is used. And if swings are used., 
they should not be the high ones. All equip- 
ment should be placed at the rim of the grounds, 
for the centre is needed for the playing of games. 
The ‘giant’s stride’ is another good piece for the 
older children. The smaller ones should not be 
allowed to use it. A slide gives a great deal of 
satisfaction, but it should be of wood. Steel 
slides are all very well until the warm weather 
comes, and then they get very warm, and, if 
scratched at all, rust. The ideal arrangement for 
a playground is to have it divided into three 
parts, one for the boys, one for the girls and 
one for the smaller children. Garibaldi park, in 
the Italian section of Providence, is on three dis- 
tinct levels, and it is considered an ideal arrange- 
ment by many. Of course this could not be done 
everywhere. Of course there should be bubblers 
and sanitaries placed on all playgrounds, and it 
would be a good thing to have water taps on 
them, also, for in very hot weather it is very 
desirable to wet down the grounds.” 
Mr. Dillon thought that there is very 
little danger in the swings, but was op- 
posed to the slides. Wooden slides, after 
a time, get very splintery, and children 
suffer as a consequence. Boston chil- 
dren like the swings, he said, and also 
merry-go-rounds and the teeter ball. Mr. 
Dillon was opposed to the sand boxes, 
as it is impossible to keep them sanitary 
when small children play in them. 
Mr. McCaffery said that merry-go- 
rounds are very costly, and the children, 
PARK INSTITUTE OF NEW ENGLAND AT LOWELL. 
