The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-03-22
OUR ORPHAN PARKS
Should be Placed Under the Care
of Park Commissioners.
CITY FATHERS DISOWN THEM.
The Vultures Of Greed Are Preying Upon the
Brightest Cherubs Of This Beauti-
full City.

Public parks are the richest heritage
that city can bequeath to posterity.
Any man who would misappropriate
foot of this sacred soil should be drummed
out of town to the tune of the rogue's
march
The only argument which the set of
Oklahoma boomers have advanced in favor
OF the wholesale misrepresentation OF the
public parking grounds has been sheer at
old fogyism.
1t is humiliating that in the discussion OF
this question man must make plain that
his birthplace was somewhere outside of
Utah before he can have an unprejudiced
hearing of matters inside of Utah. This is
the anomaly of carpet baggism.
To establish this vantage ground will
say on the start that l came here with
boomers and am one of them. will fur
Their say that credit myself with knowing
more about public parks than the entire
city council rolled up In a heap, with the
mayor thrown in.
This exceptional knowledge is not to be
attributed to any remarkable precocity of
genius, but rather to a force of circum-
stances. 1t came about this way: When
an unsophisIicated STRIPPING I was elected
civil engineer of an eastern city, and for
four years practiced sewer building and
other public works-which, owing to my
llneXperience, had soon to be taken up and
renewed. was paid good salary for my
blunders, and while I was going to
school" picked up fund of information
that l fortified with the experiences of
other and larger cities,
The recent discussion in the city council
has demonstrated the fact that the public
parks are in state of orphanage. They
| have no friends. They are left to shift for
themselves. If anybody wants to take
them in out of the cold they are welcome to
them. There is a cold, mercenary, al
mighty dollar devilshness to be found in
the caviling discussions, which is a dis
grace to civilized community. The park
grounds are treated as so many acres of
ground, and are only valued by what they
will bring in the open market. There is a
homely saying that you should not look a
gift horse in the mouth, but that never was
intended for the city council, who would
| look through his vitals for dollar to turn
| his tail.
Other cities have discovered that public
parking grounds are toe sacred to be en-
trusted in the care CT city councilmen, and
have wisely provided park commissioners,
who have the entire charge of the public
parks. If this city had had park commits
sioners the Pioneer block would never have
been voted away. Such action would have
brought protest from the park commits
sioners as would have silenced the city
council for all time
! But our parks are orphans and no guar
dian angel came to their rescue while the
vultures of greed preye1 on these Brightest
Cherubs of the Beautiful City--unless the
| heroic efforts of Mr.. Hall at driving off the
Birds of Prey rises to that noble distraction.
! But Mr.. Hall received such drubbing
! for his pains as carried him over to the
park destroyers' side body and soul, as can
be seen by his vote in favor of Decorating
the Eighth ward square with public bust
ness buildings.
The introducing of any public business
building into park, destroys ii for park
purposes. People go to the parks to get
away from business, and yet there are
a lot of men in this city who make fine talk
about converting the Eighth ward square
into park by putting in the centre of it a
mammoth business house where the peo-
pie, sitting under the trees, will see
murderers logged to Jail and the over
taxed poor trudging up the heavy stone
steps with great burdens upon their bent
shoulders.
| Bosh!
| Better put livery stable with good
natured coachmen cracking the air with
their silken whips aud spinning their steeds
with streaming ribbons, than the city's
great business shop, where tbs dreary
monotony of its routine work is enough 10
drive man into defalcation-fo the nur-
| pose of getting away.
Parks are the pleasure grounds of the
people, and business men who care to let
| their souls expand after business hours
snatch untold comfort in the few minutes
spent in the patches of ground dedicated to
the birds and bushes, where fountains leap
with joy and dance their silver sprays in
the golden sunshine Here the poor can
come and forget their trouble, and think OF
God. Here they are the Patricians of all
the air which their lungs can breathe and
no man can command them to 'move on ~
1t makes little difference TO the people al
large whether few Office holders have q
great building to spludge about in, but il
makes a world of difference whether the
public parks are keptfor the people or are
given away to bank jobbers and TO build
q business house for the city and county
officials. These servants Of the people car
transact their business Just as well on a
business street, and 1t is all wrong to turn
the peoples paradise into the use Of the
money changers, making business thor.
oughfare of public park.
1t is especially important that grand
plan OF parks connected by bouleyards BIZ
made at once so that all the Improvement!
of the city shall conform to it. The Hay
market should be connected with the Pho
neer square and the latter with the Desere
university square and this again with CITY
Greek park. Then there should be {
boulevard from City Creek park to Hay
market and on to Liberty park SO that ont
can drive all over the city on q continuou
line of parks and boulevards
WAX WORKS
LIN Dali NAN Gid GI nc