Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-12-07

The sixth annual meeting Of the Amer
lean Civic Association will be held in
Washington next week. This meeting
promises to be one of exceptional inter-
est to students of civic betterment, and
it is predicted that the addresses. of the
occasion. most Of them TO be delivered
by experts in their respective lines Of
work. will mark a new epoch In civic
literature. A large percentage Ct the
800 members Of the association will be
present. in addition to delegates from
the states appointed by the governors
and delegates from affiliated. societies.
One Of the matters on the program
for prolonged discussion is that Of state
parks While the national government
for years has been segregating its beauty
spots and transforming them into per-
petual pleasure grounds. the states have
done little in. this direction. The Amer
lean Civic Association has for one of It's
tenets the doctrine that the whole coun-
try shall be led to join in a. movement
for parks wherever there are people who
need them. Some of the states already
have realized the Importance OF dedt-
eating large tracts Of land to the pub
lie veal, where recreation may be al
forded from the grinding cares that IN
fest the day and where human life, bird
life, animal life and forest life all may
be conserved.
Another matter that will call forth
many valuable papers, will be the sub
ject of city plan
Cities If the World ming. The best
ideas Of the cities
to Furnish Ideas. Of the world will
be brought to Washington and placed at
the disposal of the association There
will be an address on the A b OF city
planning by..one of the. greatest authori-
ties of the world. Another address will
tell the people just how to plan city.
Then another expert, with years ex-
perience in the field, will tell how to get
out the vote after the plans have been
made Some cities have come to the
point where their people are willing that
the plans should be made, but once they
are made the voters will not carry them
out. This happened in Reading. Pa, not
long ago. The municipal engineers laid
out new Reading that would have been
delight to the eye, comfort to the
body and joy to the soul. But the pro-
gressive Readingites did not know how To
turn the tide of public sentiment In favor
was lost.
The compilation of the data gathered
in the recent federal census has taught
some remarkable lessons. One of these
lessons Is that, almost without exception,
the cities that have shown the greatest
spirit of civic improvement have been
the cities that have had the greatest
growth in population in the past ten
years. Call the roll of the cities
Los Angeles, Birmingham. Seattle. At
lanta, cities all through the north, the
south. the east and the west, and civic
progress has been requited with city
growth. and this i'm turn. has produced
wealth and added prosperity.
The American Civic Association was or
ganized in ST. Louis in the days of the
Louisiana pur-
Saving of Niagara chase EXPOSE
Victory Of Infancy. created by
merging two organizations, the American
Park and Outdoor Art Association ana
the American League for Civic improve
ment, into one. 1t included In its OBJECT
the purposes for which both or these Or
ganizations Lad been founded. 1t was
not vet out of it's swaddling clothes
when it began it's celebrated fight against
the commercialism that would have turn
ed Niagara into a barren cliff in order
to utilize the powers OF its waters 1t
was an uphill fight. and the assent OF
Canada and the United States was neces-
sary to win 1t. But the association sue
ceeded IN having Niagara preserved until
snch time as treaty negotiations can be
settled.
There are number of departments
conducted by the association. One of
these is the department Of nuisances 1t
carries forward a propaganda for the
abatement of nuisances of all kinds and
varieties. The entire literature of smoke
prevention has been boiled down in it's
essence. extracted and bottled in little
booklet issued by the association. This
booklet shows that smoke is nuisance
to the public and waste to the fac
tory creating it. 1t gives the experiences
of cities and factories that have abated