The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-07-05

MT Hammer who is sometimes called the playground drummer although he has nothing to sell, visits various cities at the request of civic organizations, and aids them in organizing playground senti- ment in their localities. These serVlco.' are given without charge, as MT Han | mer's expenses are met by the National association, which even goes so far as to | furnish cities interested with working | nlans for playgrounds and with pro- Qrammes for organizing them and taking l care of the children. It will also assist in finding efficient playground supervisors for those who need them.a All of this is done with the idea of encouraging every city in the United States to provide ade- ouate play facilities for children. in the belief that the child who does not have to play on the streets has better chance to grow up into a healthy, law abiding citizen than one whose sole recreation is playing around street corners in danger from trolleys and automobiles and from the corruption of the street
 "The playground idea certainly IS spreading" said MT. Hammer. Without l exception, every city I visited gave me rot merely thoughtful hearing, but en- ! tertained me most royalty. Civic organ 1 izations commercial clubs, women's or ganizations, boards of trade. mayors oe 
 tions, held meetings and luncheoris at which many of the leading citizens were interested listeners. In many cases there was no need to inspire enthusiasm. They either had already started playgrounds or were ready to start them, and simply wished to learn what was being done in ether cities to make the work more effective. Others wished advice as to lay ing out their grounds, or locating them, and as to the apparatus necessary for their conduct.
 "As an indication of enthusiasm, I can cite the fact that California alone has set aside, recently, $1.3s6,C00 for playgrounds. Of this, San Francisco, burdened as she is with her problems of rebuilding, set aside $741 GOO for playground sites and equip ment. and gave the new playground com mission s20.000 for maintenance this year. Oakland has set aside s500000 for parks and playgrou 1ds, and Almeda has appro- priated s125,0oo for playgrounds. The city officers of Palo Alto will favor the lively playground movement ,now active there. and in Perkelev there is a campaign on for s5oo,c worth of playgrounds.
 Los Angeles. of course, has fine play ground system, as have other cities.
 "They are learning in the west the les son which we in the east learned too late. They have seen how. New York was forced to pay s1 ,000000 an acre for. a play ground because the need for playgrounds was not appreciated until everything was built upon and land was high One west ern city got taste of this. They had to pay twice as much for a piece of ground as had been asked the year be- fore As consequence. many cities are beginning to anticipate their growth into crowded communities by setting aside play space while the land is yet cheap. In the state of Washington they passed a bill. aiterward vetoed which required that every new city laid out should set aside 10 per cent of the land for parks and playgrounds. This bill is to come up again. What is most hopeful however IS that the playground movement Is not limited to those cities which are so crowd