Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-09-19
PROF. MAcBRiDE SAYS CITY is
ENDOWED WITH MAGNIFICENT
SITE BUT THAT is ALL.
PARKS ARE NEEDED
Makes Excellent Address on TOUT
door Art"-Business Session is
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Com
mittees Report.
From Thursdays Daily.

= 1TOIu lie SlduupOlilI VI puy olSal 6Soo
graphy she is a magnificent burg; ma
ture has done all in her power to give
the citizens something to be proud
of but the people are to blame for
the fact that Ottumwa is not beau
tiful city-for Ottumwa needs parks"
These are some of the plain truths
presented by Thomas Fl. Macbride,
professor of botany in the State uni
versity, in his address last evening at
the opera house before the members
of the eleventh annual convention of
the Iowa league of Municipalities. His
address was upon Outdoor Art" and
aided by set of magnificent stere-
optican views he held the clostest at
tention of his audience.
The pictures used by the speaker
were all made from Photographs gath
cred by Mr.. Macbride in his extensive
travels and his familiarity with the
scenes as we'll as his fund of ex-
periences made his remarks vastly in
teresting Beginning with early Ro-
man empire, with its stiff grandeur of
architecture and noticeable lack Of
outdoor beauty, Prof Macbride fol
flowed the course of advancement in
civic beauty up to the present day,
portraying by word and picture what
truly remarkable change has taken
place. Mr.. Macbride's one great theme
running throughout his discourse was
the value Of city parks. He could not
say enough about them and having
been largely responsible for the pres
ent beautiful parks in Iowa City he
demonstrated that he was consistent
upholder of the subject. His plea was
for the poorer classes. He stated that
the rich are able to buy and hang on
to beautiful scenes and good sites;
that if the rich wanted a glimpse of
nature they either hired a landscape
gardner or else purchased a summer
home away from the city. But, he
urged that the poor people could not
do this; that the present race owed
1t to posterity to provided parks, for
the poorer people and their children.
Talks of Ottumwa.
Becoming specific he spoke at length
of the actual situation in Ottumwa.
He stated that the citizens here have
pne of the most beautiful sites imagi-
nable but the city itself could be much
Improved. He complimented many
the necessity of parks. He advocated
buying park outright. In connection
with this he told what a beautiful
park could be made If the city would
acquire land taking in the bluffs on
the South Side of the river, several
miles west of Ottumwa He also
spoke of the possibilities of making
Turkey Island a natures paradise
Speaking of Caldwell park he said
that it was a magnificent piece of land
and admirably suited for small park
but that the city should acquire it's
ownership. In connection with this
review Of Ottumwa's possibilities he
spoke Of what an excellent memorial
it is to any man to donate natural
park site to his city and have the
name live after him for ages.
Swinging from Ottumwa specifically
he spoke at length upon what the
citizens of today have to look forward
to in civic improvements and what
they may reasonably hope to win.
Cleanliness Necessity.
I'm the first place." said he. "it will
city beautiful will be clean city. To
look at some of our American cities to-
Gay 1t might seem that if the city we
seek is to be known by its cleanliness.
we may as well give up our dream at
once. Filth is so well-nigh universal
and we have become SO habituated to
1t that to even talk Of cleanliness pro-
yokes smile. And yet, the thing is
possible and the established fact draws
near. Paving, drairage and efficient
city management are here in large
measure, the conditions of our new
Utopia. Streets properly paved and
kept in repair, streets properly drained
rightly swept by night and by day, will
be clean.
There are two principal sources OF
filth in our American cities; the first
Is the unpaved part Of the city and
country; the second is SCOT. Much of
the filth Of the streets of our towns
comes from districts unpaved. The
wheels Of vehicles bringing burdens
over the country roads deliver to our
pavement a burden of clay and mud
that is not their own. But the extern
sion of pavement to the country will
almost wholly remedy this; even il
the rural trolley-car does not long be-
fore, permanently retire the farmers
wagon or at least limit it's service tc
short Journeys about the farm. Apart
from this extraneous defilment there is
no reason why the streets of the city
once they are paved. may not be just
rs clean as your own coach road 1t Is
simply question of housekeeping. The
thing is perfectly feasible Think what
Inference it would make If the
str cts of our cities were only once
eli N! Mud in winter; no dust il
summer! I venture to say that the
actual damage done in one summer ir
arv Iowa city by dust alone would &C
far toward paving the outlying streets
vhence the dust in large measure
Comes.
SCOT and Smoke Nuisance.
THE second source of disorder, this
sooty flue of the factory or heating
plant or the water works is much more
difficult to manage. Showers of 500
all winter long, sometimes year in ant
year out, defile every city from side
to side and smear and streak and ruiz
all our noblest architecture. The mud
nuisance can and will be abated; the
smoke nuisance must be. Why mer
are willing to spend thousands ane
thousands of dollars in our palatia