The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-11
TOBOOST PLAYGROUND PLANS Cleveland Man Will Speak
 Here Tomorrow HUGH MARTIN TALKS Member of Park Commission Stresses Importance of Suitable Play
 grounds in Conserving
 em Morals of People
HUGH MARTIN TALKS

The coming of George Bellamy. su- pervisor of the Hiram House play ground of Cleveland, Ohio, and prom inent member of the Playground and Recreative Association of America, has given an added impetus to the play ground movement in this city and is expected to bear fruit in the eultivat- ing of a wider public knowledge of this subject. He will deliver a public ad- dress in the Chamber of Commerce an- ditorium tomorrow evening and will be rendered a subscription luncheon at the Indian room of the Florence ho,. on the loiiowins day al Hugh Martin, member of the X commission and well known pref;l- tect of this city. in speakinr 1t pnPPhe various phases of the playg,uh,aa is- sue in general. said:
 "We want playgrounds for children in order that we may conserve the health of our people. A great deal Is being done in these days to protect us against the spread of disease. We are fighting with intelligence and with new found zeal the great white plague, but the dread disease of tuberculosis must be successfully fought by developing stamina. physical strength, through ex- ercise in all the physical activities. We must nourish that strength in child hood. We do not want simply hos pitfalls, and pavilions. and notices giving instructions to those who are unfa- miliar with necessary prevention. We want to save the health of our cnii- dren, so that We may nurture a strong. well favored community. That is the surest way to stamp out disease. If we were thinking of nothing but the preservation of health and the proper function of government in protecting against the unnecessary exposure of the people to infection and the inroads of disease, we would make 1t one of our first objects to secure adequate playgrounds for children in the free air, and give them opportunities of recreation not afforded by their over crowded abodes.
 Conserve MarOls
 We want playgrounds for children to conserve the morals of the people. There may be some who look upon hu- man nature as hopelessly debased and beyond recall, as exhibiting here and there extraordinary illustrations of spasmodic virtue-virtue In spite of tendency.
 "The best way to train boy to do right is not to lecture him into tears about his wrongdoing, but to show him the delight of an honorable and happy boyhod. It is to give him opportunity to prove what is in him in good works. And the good will always. in the main, with exceptions that only prove the rule. prove to be the greater attraction.
 If there is one thing that we need more thar another it Is the constant em- phasis among our citizens of that spirit of fair play, that willingness to give and take, that generosity in defeat and that lack of assertiveness in victory which we identify. with true sport, and which IS learned best of all in childhood upon the playground.
 Pittsburg Case
 '"Three boys were arrested for footing triDkets from 10 cent store in Pittsburg. They had rendezvous where they hid all their curious collections. Another boy knew was taken into a vacation school. He had been the toughest boy in the day ScnOOl. lie made a cOllecllOn or DuSS ana butterflies. He caught caterpillars, fed them, made cages for them, watched them spin their cocoons made a net, caught specimens and mounted them, and his col lection at the end of the summer was something Of work of art, Many klepto- maniacs gather most useles sthings. and who will say that the thief and the scien- tist do not sometimes take their first departure from each other because of su- pervised and unsupervised play.
 we are gradually awakening to the realization of what the instincts have meant in the progress of the race and what they mean in education.' The multi plying of instincts and the enlargement of their application have determined the line of all animal and human advancement.
 "This getting together of youths. whether in groups for loaflng, in clubs, or in gangs. belongs essentially to the instinct of cooperation. Upon this instinct depends the capacity of people for any great public or national achievement. The nations of the earth which stand in the front in human progress are the nations which have shown the greatest capacity for getting together. for cooperative ac- ton. This instinct developed to a high degree is absolutely essential to a true de. mocracy."