New-York tribune., 1897-07-11
A NEW DANGER TO CENTRAL PARK.

Il IL announced that President Mcmillan has
instructed his police to give the freedom OF the
meadows of Central Park to all who choose to
wander over them This Is not surprising. TO
one who has no clear idea Of the true purpose of
an urban park the injunction to walk on gravel
instead of on turf seems like needless re-
straint upon personal liberty. The expansive
official benevolence toward the masses argues
cloouently that the Park belongs to the people;
that It is theirs to use and not to look at only;
that It is tyranny to hinder them from doing as
they will with their own. This is the Identical
old fallacy so familiar to every one who knows
anything Of park history, which has beguiled
Park Boards over and over again into abolish
Ing wholesome laws Indeed. Mayor Strongs
first Park Board adopted the same plausible
theory. and was driven to recant it, after the
Park had suffered serious injury. This was
only two years ago. but Mr. Mcmillan seems
never to have heard of it, or he has already for
gotten the lesson.
1t Is true that the Park belongs to all the
people but it does not follow that therefore
few of the people have a right to do as they
please with it. The value of Central Park lies
In the refreshment 1t affords to visitors. and 1t
Is the verdure Of the Park, the quiet, restful
beauty is its highest use, and therefore the OBJ
liberation of its beauty destroys its value. The
same sophistry is behind the statement that the
Park is to use and not to look at 10 look at
scenery Is the way to enjoy 1t, and 1t may well
be that a stretch Of turf is more useful to the
eyes of thousands who lCok at 1t and across 1t
than it can be to the soles of the boots which
trample on 1t.
The fact Is that visitors are kept of the grass
of Central Park only part of the time. and mat
because the area Of turf is so scant IN proper
ton to the number CT visitors that without
some restriction Of this sort the lawns would
soon be deserts. The great meadows OF PROS
pect Park are large enough to recover uall!
from the trampling of a smaller number OF visi-
tors and they are thrown open nearly all sum-
mer In Central Park tens Of thousands OF per-
sons are often engaged at once in games ana
amusements of one kind or another. ana the
grass is free to all Picnic permits have been
issued to as many as thirty thousand chiidreh
on single day. When the grass becomes worn
the games are stopped for few days uhtii IL
grows green again. and there Is no question pu'
that il gives more solid comfort to children, OLD
and Young. than it would if it were free the
year round.
One aggravaton of the difficulty just now Is
the laxity Of discipline In the ParK ponce
There never were as many nnslGnt! pains
across the lawns of Central Park as there are
to-day. Never since the Park was planted were
the strawberries mutated as they have peeh
this wear. Branches of Towering trees ana
shrubs by the armful and often by the carnage
ful have been taken out Of the Park openly,
and the police have winked at the theft. This
snirit Of lawlessncss is ncouraged by the new
order to the police. who need no cxhortation
IN greater laxity. New-YOrk has law-abiding
nonu,aton. but there is q class which 1t will
NOT take long to educate up to its new privi-
leges. and II the police allow depredations now
we may expect wholesale destruction in the
future This jll-considered order ought to be re-
yoked at once.