Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-04-22
TWO WISE SUGGESTIONS.

Recently Mr.. J.. Frank Foster, super
intendent of the south park system in
Chicago, asserted In a public address
that the establishment OF Fairgrounds
for children would prove effective to a
high degree in prevention OF crime.
and would largely depopulate the semi
penal schools forthe yonnE-TAe small
park system and playground are not,
Mr.. Foster insisted. to be COMPOUNDED.
The equipment of the ideal play
ground. according to the notion of the
speaker, includes two ball fields. a run
ming track, sand pits for small child
rem, a swimming tank, a wading pool,
and a building which can be used the
year round for meetings of boys and
girls and neighborhood clubs. Such
| Fairgrounds are educational and should
be under the control and management
Of the board of education.
Another excellent suggestion Is made
by a Chicago newspaper. calling the at
lCllllOu VI tIiG SAlIN-IiCly I'LL " lax
hospital needs of cities great and small.
That paper wonders why sincere phi
lanthropists like Andrew Carnegie do
not spend their charity funds on free
hospitals instead Of in building library
homes. Books are so cheap and plenti-
| full nowadays there Is no danger that
any person who really desires instruc-
ton will eve lack the means, nc mat
ter how poor he may be. But thru
out the country there is a crying lack
Of institutions for the relief and care
of the sick poor"
Both these suggestions are In the line
of good sense and charity. The urgent
need of some system whereby the sick
who are unable financially to pay COM
petent nurses and procure sick room
necessities may have proper attention
at a cost commensurate with their
means or at no cost at all In the case
Of the very poor, becomes evident
whenever an epidemic of disease pre-
walls. Sickness or injury is given added
terror in the iaborer's family by the ex-
pense attendant always, and the fire.
quent impossibility of providing proper
attention and care because Of poverty.
Sickness in families crowded together
in cheap tenements Is a bid for a higher
death rate and the dissemination of
the disease. Some method of affording
cases of sickness as under present con-
ditions may be obtained only by the
rich or well to do, has become advisable
and even ESSENTIAL. Sound bodies ar as
necessary as sane minds and free hos
pitfalls are today q more insistent need
than free libraries. If the philanthropy
list is not soon Forthcoming the cities
must build n support such institu-
lions from public funds as of public
necessity and for public protection.
In Brooklyn and other eastern cities
the playground question has been par
TALLY solved, by a plan similar to. that
of the Y. NJ. C. A. system. Parents
subscribe in sums Of from IS to $40 for
privileges and Send their children to
play under supervision OF competent
physical instructors. These are in loco
parents to the children while inside the
playground and all vice, profanity, or
immortality of any kind are forbidden
and guarded against. Fairgrounds of
this charactey are an educational aid
as we'll as a guard to the young against
decentralization. Too often the play
ground atmosphere grows degenerate