Omaha daily bee., 1905-08-09
OUR LETTER COX
Proposed sale Of Park Lands.


/ give respectful notice 70 whom Il may
concern that there will be no sale Of Omaha
/ park lands n there Is any law TO prevent
/ it. These lands were purchased by the
| people for the people OF this and future
| generations, and the title to them is vested
| In the people. They were bought and
solemnly dedicated to a specific and inn
| portant public use, and not a single acre
OF them will be sold for any other use,
| II this can be legally prevented. specu-
| lators in boulevard extensions should not
be allowed to triae with Omaha's priceless
park lands. The sons and daughters Of
this great and growing town, native and
adopted. their children, their grandchil-
dren and their great grandchildren, are
to live in the future Omaha, with hun
dreds Of thousands more, and these park
| areas are to be- and will be, sacredly
| preserved for their use, health and happi-
ness. They will remain here. with hun
dreds OF acres more added to them, II
mistake not, from generation to genera
/ ton.
And Fontanelle park Is n Cow pasture"
is Il? Ten thousand people lived in walk
| ing distance OF It when It was bought
1t is a beautiful spot Of ground. and the
| Cleveland plan Of Il is the perfection
/ Of landscape art. Whose fault is 1t that
/ the people Of that part OF Omaha have
been senied the benefit Of its proper de-
! velopment? The honest and skilled head
and hand of Superintendent Adams should
have been free to put 1t in the way OF
sylvan decoration years ago.
And Blmwood, too. Not by long shot.
| II, as 1 have said. there Is any law to
prevent. Parks are the crowning need
and glory OF all great cities in the modern
| world worthy Of the name. Twenty years
! hence, with its grown trees and wealth
! OF shrub and lawn and flowers, Elmwood
! will be to Omaha what Central park is 10
| New York And what is twenty years in
the life OF a great city? In those coming
days tens Of thousands of people will sur
round Elmwood and line the broad ave-
| nues and boulevards which will then con-
meet It with the business center OF the
city and with Hanscom and Riverview 10
| Miller and Fontanelle. Are there any
doubling ounces left in Omaha who are, SO
| densely dull as not to the sure signs
| OF what Omaha will be I'm population and
wealth in 1925? II there are any such
hasten to express to them my sympathles
and regrets, and 10 ask them TO study
stickney. l would also urge them tc
mark the growth OF the great chain Of
cities that have grown up during the lives
of living men on the imperial parallel o
41h degrees Of north latitude, and husf
their drivel
In actual development Omaha is not ye
forty years old. The first fifteen years o.
the white occupation have no right TO b'
counted l saw 1t when not more thar
twelve white persons could call it home
1t now contains including South Omaha
not less than 10000 Inhabitants. It 4
] ha Ng r.,
Union Pacific, under Hartman, with 81
mighty development by Burt. in its con
quest OF tributary territory TO Omaha
, counts for five ordinary railroads Fiv
added to fifteen makes twenty. Nebrask
} alone contains more people today tha
Ohio had thirty-fve years after it's frs
occupation and one-third as many as tn
entire United States had when they de
clared their independence. But Nebraska
with all its strength, is only small fraC
ton of the resources that are TO max
, it beyond the possibility of failure, an ir
dustrial and commercial center. with
population mounting into hundreds q
! thousands in the next twenty years.
Sell the park lands, did you say? NJ
for money. Can the value of parks in tn
congested population of great cities. 1
giving health. happiness and the rehnin
influences of the beautiful in nature an
$ art be measured by dollars and cents
l will not stop to answer my own quei
S ton.
I quite agree with Commissioner Cornis
a and Mr.. Dumont that the lowland add
q tlon TO Riverview would be a good thin
A A finished park requires smooth and lev
e expanses added to the purely plcturesqu
. Neither Hanscom. Riverview nor Mil,
. park has this necessary element Of beaut
y Elmwood combines the two in fine propo
.. | ton. GEORGE L. MILLER