The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-06-12
ABOUT A CITY PARK
Eloquent Words of a New
Jersey Man on Their Benefits
APPLIES TO WICHITA
Exert Influences For a Higher
Humanity.

Wichita is just now taking great inter
| est in her public parks, especially IN
| Riverside, like to which there is nothing
in the state for natural beauty and fu-
| ture possibilities Mr.. Church Of the New
Jersey Park Commission, in late paper
on Park Benefits" printed in the Pnlla-
delphia Public Ledger, says some things
| that every one interested in our parks
ought to read. He said:
"But there are other and higher bene-
| fits than those that proceed from an IN
crease Of revenue. There are Influences
! that tend to elevat mankind above the
sordid gain getter, and to develop and
| nurifv those instincts which spring from
his higher nature. Such moral influences
are exerted in large measure by the parks
! Foul air prompts to vice and oxygen 70
virtue as surely as the sunlight paints
the flowers of our garden said an enain-
ent writer on these subjects. There are
mugtitudes of people in every community
| business and professional men, to4lers d.
loom or factory, young and old, men VINO
cannot go far away fro milne scene u
their daily labors. They struggle on IN
narrow streets or dingy offices and fac
tories, often in an unwholesome atmos-
nbere and in hubbub and discordant
sounds, but the yearning for green pas
lures and still waters, which the Creator
has implanted in every human breast,
| never leaves them. Who can estimate the
| benefit to them of open spaces near their
vry doors where they can go and see
the flowers bloom, hear the birds sing
watch the sunlight on the water, catch
the music Of the winds and thus educate
and develop their higher selves And
this education will bring about higher
type of humanity and stronger national
morality Fresh air. I quote, and more
of it is one of the cries of the millions.
Alas for those who get it not and for the
folly of cupldity of those who deny their
fellows. The great masses need more ell
bow room, more ozone, more rest and
more of Gods world in their eyes and
ears. 1t is hard to sing psalms in sewers
or ITO be decent and Christianlike in
chimney 1ue. Anarchy and riot creep
from the darkness of the cellar, and the
more we see to it that the masses can
roll on the grass, sit under the trees, hear
the songs of the birds and the waves,
the less of social gunpowder will be lying
around loose waiting for the match.
There is more than sentiment in these
statements, and it is generally conceded
by writers on social questions that munic-
ipal developments of this character tend,
in a marked degree, to the prevention OF
vice and the perpetuation Of more desir-
able types of humanity.
Parks have even a more direct and
immediate effect upon the life of the COM
munity in which they exist. 1t is one of
the principles of park making to take
land which would be difficult to use for
any other purpose and dangerous to the
general health and eliminate its insight
ly and menacing character by converting
1t into a pleasure ground. The Back Bay
fens in the city of Boston are a good ex-
ample of this. For years they had lain
as the Hackensack and Newark meadows
now lie, unsightly stretches of useless
land, too insecure for the erection of fac
tories, too marshy for the erection of
houses. The Metropolitan Park commits
i've system of pumping from the streams
and lagoons and the erection of a drain
age system, has made them one of the
most picturesque features of the park
system. This enterprise is worthy Of the
careful study of the cities of Hudson and
Essex counties, rOthe meadow land be-
tween Jersey City and Newark are now
only an offence TO the eye and a menace
to the public health; but with a portion
at least appropriated for park develop
ment, desirable improvements would
doubtless follow, which would in time be
of immense financial benefit to the com
munities interested, and, indeed, to the
whole state.
The lands which form Branch Brook
park, the central feature of the Essex
county park system, are for the most
part low and swampy. and it would have
been almost impossible to render them fit
for residential purposes. There was no
adequate provision for the surface water
which in some places collected in stag
nant pools. The cutters were the only
available sewers. and the water for the
tenements which were rapidly being
erected, was taken from the wells dug in
the marshy soil into which the sewage
filtered.
1T can easily be seen what a menace
to public health such district would be-
come The park has eliminated these
undesirable features. The buildings have
been acquired and removed. and drain
age system provided which viii utilize
the now stagnant water by crea ting a
brook through the center OF the valley.
The surrounding swamp land thus drain
ed will be already adapted for park pur-
poses. and thus. instead OF a pest hole.
Annual Sales over s zoo, 900 Boxes
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