New-York tribune., 1905-07-18
USE AND ABUSE OF PARKS.

A correspondent whose letter print in an
other column takes exception to some recent
remarks of this paper concerning the debarring
Of family luncheon parties from Prospect Park.
We began the article to which he refers with
the observation that there is a good deal TO
be said on both Sides" and we are glad to
give him an opportunity of presenting his side
of the case albeit we cannot help thinking that
in some Of his assertions he goes to an unwar-
rantabe extreme and pictures the appearance
and conduct of the crowds worse than they
really were. Doubtless there were some Of
fences as gross as those which he cites, but they
were surely rare exceptions, and must not be
taken as typical of the whole.
To one statement OF our correspondent we
must take explicit exception That is that
many receptacles were provided for the ref
use of the luncheons, but the people would
not take the trouble to use them In q GER
tain part of the park there are such recepta-
ces, but that is place not big enough to hold
q 1.-THE of the people who wanted to use it. On
the meadows between the music stand and the
Maryland monument where the masses of the
people gathered, receptacles were provided,
or, If there were any, they were so few and far
between as to be imperceptible to a careful OBJ
server. We think they should have been pro-
yided, and it was a mistake to let the people
occupy and use the meadows In the way they
painted green, scattered about the meadows on
the morning of each Sunday and holiday and
removed after nightfall would not have marred
the appearance of the park materially, and If
a few policemen had been distributed through
the crowd to direct attention to the baskets and
to reprove or arrest those wantonly defling the
sward there would have been little Of the lit
tering of which complaint has been made. Tho
trouble there, as in many other cases in this
city, was that no rational attempt was mi4e
to enforce rules of order, but the people were
permitted to run wild into all sorts of license.
and then, when conditions became too bad, there
was rush to the other extreme and the people
Were excluded altogether.
We are as jealous of the appearance of the
parks as any one can properly be. We do not
believe in letting "hoodlums" ravage them.
Neither do we believe in letting rich people
''scorch" through them in automobiles at ex-
press train speed or turn their pet dogs loose
in them TO chase squirrels and tear up flower
beds. We venture to say that such offenders
are at least as numerous in Prospect Park as
the vomiting men and naked babies who have
so disgusted our correspondent. We should like
TO see all such abuses suppressed, and are
convinced that 1t could be done by proper po-
lice work. The vast reform for cleanliness, de-
cency and health which has been effected by
the anti-spitting crusade is an earnest of what
can be done in other directions, If only the nee
essary sense is used and the necessary pains
are taken. 1t will be worth while to do It.
The parks are for the people. They are for the
people TO use and to enjoy, but not to abuse.
IL there are any considerable number Of the
people who are inclined to abuse them, they