Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1897-05-17
DREAMS WILL BE FULFILLED.
SOME DAY KANSAS CITY PARKS
WILL BE THE WORLDS ENVY.
Rev. DIR. jenkins Is of This Opinion
and Tells How He Would Like TO
See the Cash Raised for
the improvements.

the subject Of kansas City PARKS anu
How to Get Them" The address was
listened to by a large congregation
In the histories of all ancient kings.
said DR.. Jenkins, I'VE read invariably of
their pleasure gardens, their parks and
their hunting preserves. Solomon had such
both in the vicinity of his capital Jerusa-
lem, and in the northern boundaries of his
territory, upon the sides of Mount Hermon.
The reservoirs which he built TO supply
city and plaisance with foundations still, at
least in part. exist. Even upon the dead
level plains of MesOpOtamia the kings OF
the East erected vast towering terraces in
pyramidial form, with winding drives to
the top, the famous hanging gardens OF
Babylon constituting a feature of that
mighty city. Athens had its open groves.
in which Paul disputed with the learned
men who made these delightful shades
their favorite resort. Antioch, the more
famous of the two cities by that NAME.
had a magnificent boulevard running
through the heart of it, with stately rows
OF palms running through the center ana
upon either side.
1T is not to be wondered at, then, that
in our modern cities these 'paradises,' as
Nenophon called them, should still con-
S Sne 6nd ( qb Between forty aqytu and hfty SUCH
breathing places in which the millions of
the metropolis can escape from brick and
mortar. and in the West end at least enjoy
such rural privileges as few kings possess.
Hyde park and kensington gardens, prac-
tically forming one enclosure, contain
about 900 acres. and are thronged at fash
ionable hours as few other resorts can be-
II we cross the channel and visit Paris We
ind at the end of the glorious drive
through the Champs Elysees. the Bots de
Boulogne, containing ESQ acres, or nearly
from the city ever provided for man. The
Berliner born would not have his beautiful
Inter den Linden and the Thiergarten to
which 1t leads forgotten, nor the Austrian
forget to mention Nienna'S HOf and NolkS
Garten. Even niue eIorence mas us iuyF Hni
Arno, where the spring comes almost as
early as beside the distant Mediterranean,
and from the first Of March the ldler IN
old Rome lies beneath the dark yews which
face her Pincian hill and looks out over
the sleeping city, breathing in the fra
GRANGE of camelias and heliotrope, listen
ing TO the splash of fountains and watch
ing the life of this new-old Rome as it
drifts below him to or from the Corso.
1T is astonishing to the observer how
rapidly in the matter of these resorts for
up with the venerable East. Within the
past thirty-ffve years New York has con-
of Hesperides. No wonder that Phila-
delphia is proud of her Paramount, with
its shady drives and crystal rivulets and
velvety lawns and wide eXpanse OF con-
tiguous river. Nor will Baltimore be out
done when her beautiful Druid Hill park
is completed, lying as 1t does upon a mag
nifcent elevation, from which one sees
earth and sea in splendid panorama Chi
cago will not be true to herself, despite her
site of sand and swamp, if in a single gen.
Grafton she does not put to shame the
grandeur Of kings. And our own children.
IN they be so happy as to live where they
can overlook the Missouri and the Kaw,
will doubtless behold far more than. we
which we can see the hills and valleys, the
forest and rivers which give to our own
site an outlook which few cities can rival
and almost none surpass.
Some day, and of this 1 suppose no loyal
Kansas Cityan has any doubt. over these
streams will leap in foaming cascades as
they come laughing and singing down the
rocky sides of Caserta- or through the
trees which crown the heights of Tivoli. 1
do not know a city ywher which can
present such a panorama of beauty to the
passers-by as we can do here, given time
and money w~herewith to accomplish the
possible results.
investment of S2.5O0.O00 in round numbers,
is what makes one pause. We have all seen
better days, and in flush times most of
us would rave thought nothing at all of
giving our l. o. U. for that amount, or as
much more as anyone might desire. Mill
ions were bagatelles then, and we did not
dream Of the evil days in which we would
gladly, not to say humbly, accept change
for a nickel. 1t is confessedly a long while
between sales. and we are not as certain
as we like to be from what quarter the
overdue taxes are to come. 1t does not
seem as If it was the best time to provide
for posterity when providing for daily
wants has become so serious a problem;
and so between the ideal and the practi-
cal the city is hung like cof-
fin, neither upon the solid earth not quite
lost in aerial blue.
"It seemed to me that this was not a
bad time in which to direct attention to
one point OF our economic compass from
which all that we desire might be de-
rived. and to means by which the best
wishes of all citizens might be realized
without burdening a single citiZeR The old
proverb is quite right which tells us that
"A penny saved is a penny earned and
this city is spending every year for worse
than nothing every cent it would cost to
buy in the whole three systems of parks
r-fFhnrrf nddfpu q nnpf ~ MIR a NaG
II have been looking over the drink bill
of the city, and have come to the c~onclus-
ion that by cutting this off we can easily
have all the parks we wish. not to say
more than we need. That there must be
money in the business is made pretty evil
dent when we learn that one firm engaged
in the conversion of spring water into beer
has enough cash on hand to buy up thirty
four saloons and a surplus left over SUN,
cient to build a little eXhedra. We could
wish to reverse the proportion and have
thirty-four eXhedras to each one saloon.
but that is to be thought of later. 1t is
evident that there is money in the business
II II costs a resident community the en-
ployment Of the best legal talent and con-
slant attendance upon court 10 keep the
traffic out from under the shadow of our
schools and churches. But how much2
That is the important question. How far
would the cost Of beer and whisky go in
one year toward the establishment of such
parks as our city fathers have contem-
plated? Why, Just so far as this-the drink
bill of Kansas City would buy in the whole
North park district and the whole West
Terrace ana the whole OF the Penn valley
tract inside of a twelve-month without a
dollar of taxation and leave not a cent be-
hind.
1T is not difficult to arrive at the per
capita cost of drink i'm a country which
derives a large part of its internal revenue
from a tax upon the manufacture of beers.
wines and liquors. And from the govern
ment reports TO congress we know that the
federal license is collected upon more than
1.000.O00.00 900 gallons of beer, nearly 100. 0O0. 600
gallons of spirits. most Of which is whisky,
and upon 21,O00,0OO gallons of wine. The
drink bill of the nation amounts, at a mod
crate estimate. to $3.50 per capita. which
for 100000 people would just pay the pur-
chase price of our whole park system and
the next year would put il in full glory
with fountains, arches, statues and no
end Of wonders I think you will see how
the population of a city of this size drinks
up three parks a year. How can we get
them for bona fide possessions? That re-
minds me of the little boy in the primary
school who wrote a composition upon pins
and said that pins had saved the lives of
thousands of people by their not swaller-
ing Of en- And the way to get city parks