The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-13
'bELL.AN|Y r PUbL|(,PLAN Cleveland Expel Chamber of C BE LUNCHEO Address High School l O'Clock This Nor
 Why Recreati0
 Are Need'
BE LUNCHEO

1 What Birmingham ne the ln-
 cipiency of such a movem the de-
 velopment of the reereatvt of city
 life is plan; but there c no plan
 unless there is a man wit ideal
 vision and executive ability, George l A. Bellamy last evening in ing the
 .eynote of his address on City's I Recreation Problem" at the, lber of l Commerce. MT. Bellamy. VI play
 ground supervisor of HiraBS buse in | Cleveland, O., and a promine Y member of the National Playground eiation,
 arrived in this city yesterday npf'ning. | The civic improvement committee of | the Chamber of Commerce has arranged
 a subscription luncheon to be given to- l day at 12.30 o'clock in the Indian room
 of the Florence hotel in honor of MT.
 Bellamy. He will address the pupils of
 the Central High School this morning a | 10 o'clock, an occasion to which the
 public Is extended an invitation. En
 route to Atlanta, and touring the larger cities of the southern states. which are
 as yet not actively @ffiated with na- tional playground association, Mir Bel lamy is endeavoring to inaugurate the | formation of a southern committee. This board or group of some fifteen citizens | from the cities of Alabama, Georgia. Mis- sissippi and other adjacent states, is ex-
 pected to employ a field secretary whose
 duty it shall be to visit the states con-
 tributing to the financial support of such
 an official and spend a certain period Of l time with the people to insure the proper beginning of the playground for that par ticular town or city. Should this com
 mittee be organized and the secretary
 engaged, headquarters would be estab-
 lished in some one of the larger cities on | which would fall the heaviest financial
 obligation inasmuch as the advantage of having the secretary located there would be superior to those enjoyed by the other cities
 Mir Bellamy is very deslrous of having those Birmingham citizens studying and working for the social center play ground to set the committee operation in motion by issuing call to the citizens of this and other states to form such body. Upon his return from Atlanta, which is scheduled for Friday, Mir Bellamy will make a personal survey of the park and playground facilities of this city in com pany with Secretary McGrath of the As sociated Charities and Hugh Martin of the park commission.
 Dr. J. H. Phillips, superintendent of the
 Birmingham public school system. pre- sided over the gathering last evening, | which was limited in numbers but very l representative of those responsible for rne
 strides accredited to Birmingham in the
 public playground movement. MT. Beliamy
 answered questions at the close of his ad-
 dress. He thoroughly pleased those who
 attended his informal discourse and 1 proved to be the recreation expert an- | ticipated by those in charge of his ent ar- l tainment here.
 | Machines have been invented to give
 the laboring man shorter hours and other
 influences have been brought to bear to
 give him more leisure said MT. Bellamy,
 consequently making the question of
 recreation for the idle hours one of the
 most important to be faced by the city of | today.
 'Commercialism has taken advantage
 of this hunger for pleasure and recreation
 in deliberately disgusting vices as amuse-
 ments and offering them to the young boy 1 and girl to the young man and woman
 after their days work. The saloones have
 opened reading rooms where some form l of drinking is essential the dance half5 have encouraged drinking and even t motion picture industry, which offers l of the best educational factors obtaina ,,
 if rightly used, is turned into iniquit IS | channels
 | Ut is just as necessary to proteo he | recreational facilities of city as { ve
 the property from fire losses. and ou begin on small scale I believe Il sou
 can fully demonstrate this to yo vie | authorities so that a sufficient ar ria tion will be set aside for the mai lnce | of this department. I wish that ing ham would create a commission ablic l recreation that would have irect | supervision of all forms of ann 1t for | children and adults available il ,ity."