Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1877-06-01
PARK s.Improvements.',

Park improvements"
If our present Incorporate Counci
carry their work of demolition of the ParI
much farther, it is not easy to see wha
will be left for their successors to signalizr
their Inauguration into Office with. Thi,
is now the second council that have found
nothing so necessary to do on entering up
on their duties as to pitch into that unOf
Tending park, and in the face Of the oppO-
sition of large proportion of their fellow
| citizens, to cut away, as has been said by
a neighboring print-the Sert'net-the
prettiest park in the State. The persistant
and ruthless determination to make this
the scene of the display of official power,
is not little surprising. It would seem
as if in a village of our present incorporate
limits, there were many ways in which the
fervOr of new council could find ample
scope and employment for improvements,
such as would meet with the general and
hearty approval Of the people, instead of
making this park the object Of the concen-
trated effort and attention of the whole
body polite. That there was little or
nothing demanding this direction of off
cial labor, is perhaps, best shown, by the
reasons given for the sacrifice. Let US
give some Of the arguments submitted for
this step.
The first general argument is that the
trees are too thick-that the grass cannot
grow. That they are closer together than
they should have been, is no doubt true.
Few people, while putting out trees, rea-
lie that they are to grow and spread, and
strsteh out towards each other. But they
are there, and were put there by design
for their beauty and the beauty of the vii
lage, and after twenty years growth and
yigor, such as no similar body of trees per-
haps- ever had, they cannot be cut out at
random without seriously marring the de-
sign In no other way can this thing of
beauty be preserved so well as by letting it
remain substantially unmolested. Grass
is desirable to be sure, but it is difficult to
make grass flourish in the shade and espe-
cially if 500 school children use the prem
ises as playground. If, however, grass
is the chief object in park, how is it to
be secured, even after doing great injury
to the park by cutting out half the trees,
with the surface covered several inches
deep with gravel that is without nutriment
or nourishing qualities? and though grass
should come up it could not withstand an
August sun for 4S hours. Another argu-
ment is that the trees will die if permitted
to stand so close together. This argument
is answered by brief observation about
the village; single trees, or single rows of
trees, have. and are dying all about the
village and all around the park, while not
single one, we beieve, of those in the
park, have, in 20 years time, died out An
other argument heard, is that the space
left by the cutting out process will all be
filled up again in a short time. Well,
what have we gained then, and what are
we to do? go to work and cut out again
probably, as some subsequent council will
want that same sun. Still another argu-
ment is that the thinning out is required
for the comfort and happiness of those who
are to come after US, a generation or two
yet unborn. This is a stretch of generosi-
ty not common in this world, that all our
labors are for the benefit of posterity, and
the comfort and refreshment Of grateful |
shade from the burning rays of midsum-
meT, are not to be taken into the account by |
the present generation. The last argu-
ment that we have heard for this Wanda |
ism, and which we shall notice, is that so
many trees are unwholesome. This argu-
ment is about as well taken as all the rest.
1t is, we have understood. philosophical
fact, that in the processes of nature the
respiration and elaboration of growing veg
eTables, the leaves take up the nitrogen,
or deleterious gas of the atmosphere, and |
give out oxygen, life sustaining fluid.
and thus these trees and this park fulfill |
the mission of contributing to public |
health.
We have thus shown the fallacies re-
sorted to Justify this unnecessary and un-
fortunate step Of the council. The strong
argument against the course is the large
majority Of the people, who are opposed |
to it. and feel injured and hurt that so i'm
portant decision affecting so intimately |
their pleasure and pride, and the taste and
character Of the village, should have been
entered upon with so little thought and re-
spect for the feelings Of the citizen. The
feelings of some Of our citizens are very
strong and earnest and they cannot see suf-
fcient reason for their being put in this
by the following up with such
extreme earnestness a measure that is
50 uncalled for by any village exigency or
necessity.