Arizona republican., 1908-08-21
A TIMELY MATTER.

In all seriousness The hepuDllcdIl calls attention to a subject it deems of great importance though it does not require nasty or precipitate ac- tion. Nor is it here mentioned for the first time though thoughtful people does not seem to have been awakened by any previous reference to it.
 If the growth and prosperity of Phoenix continues as every citizen believes it will, not many years will elapse before the need of a spacious and attractive public park will be imperative and its desirabil- ity is even now apparent to all ob- serving people Such institutions as the city now has and which are in fact but a mockery of the name, are well enough for the purposes they serve and no word of detraction is uttered against them. Eastlake park as an amusement resort even in its present meager provisions has proved a blessing. The city and county plazas have both contributed in large measure toward making life in PhOe- nix tolerable for those who found time hanging heavily on their hands, and have also afforded a meeting place for the people when they sought to come together in large numbers for either business or pleasure. Neahr,s park, or the li brary grounds as it is now more familiarity known is only now being brought into practical use and the capitol grounds though a thing of beauty and a joy forever, are to look at rather than to use. None these places meet the requirements of a public park and none of them are large enough to ever supply that want however much they may be improved.
 It is unnecessary to recite the uses UT advantages OL d Nth htpl ana ornamental playground for the peo- pie, a resort for both the citizen and the visitor. There can be no con- troversy on that point for such in stitutions have become an integral part of modern civilization, if indeed they have not been so from the very beginning when the parent family took up life under the sheltering fo- liage of ancient Eden. Two ideas time. One is that a park worthy of the name cannot be created in a day, or a year. or even five years. The other is that if Phoenix is ever to have a park the sooner a site for it is secured the better for the city from a financial point of view.
 Every acre of land adjacent to the city is now either plated into city lots or the owners of it are contem- plating the near approach of the day when increasing realty values will indicate the wisdom of placing it on the market for suburban homes. It may even be said that the city has already waited too long and a desir- able location will now cost twice as much money as it would a year or argy and the city will awake some day to the necessity of a hundred thousand dollar bond issue to secure a patch of ground that can now be bought for a sum trifling in com parison.
 Such a park as the city will re- quire should be located as close in as it is possible to secure sufficient acreage, but probably that can not now be found within easy walking distance. It should therefore be select ed as nearly as possible to some car line or in a locality to which the building of a car line will be as sured in the near future There are many things to be considered and few of them can be spoken of in this brief treatment of the subject. One is a good water supply, for drinking, irrigation and perhaps lake and ornamental purposes. The ques- tion of topography is important though less so here than elsewhere for the reason that all the land is so uniformly level that almost anything undertaken for ornamental effect