Newark evening star and Newark advertiser., 1912-12-05

not have been short OF money this
year If it had not been loaded up
with work, and urged by you to do
that work under the promise given
separately to my two colleagues and
myself, that sufficient funds would be
provided at the proper time. The
mayor and Common Council by reso-
lutions turned over to the Playground
Commission during the current year
six additional play places, but the
mayor and Common Council made no
legal provision for the operation and
maintenance of these additional rec
reation places. You, the mayor, did
say to me, as president of the COM
mission, and my two colleagues re-
ported at various meetings of the
board that you had also said to them.
Go on with this work and the money
will be forthcoming at the proper
time This statement was made sew
eral times and so reported at board
meetings.
Following the official custom, we
went on with the work of these new
play places as far as we could, and
gave the public the benefit of them.
When we called upon you, as mayor,
TO confer about the situation last
month and explained our needs, the
answer we received was that experts
would examine our books and they
were told. TO go as far as they
liked. These high-priced experts
have been going as far as they liked
for weeks, and the result of their
findings is nil.
Experts Report Exaggerated.
Our books, which were kept after
the manner arranged and approved
by the city auditors department,
were found correct in every detail.
An alleged expert in playground at
fairs was hired by your investi-
gators; he visited our Fairgrounds
late at night, near the closing hour,
when the activities OF the day were
| about finished. His visit to each play
centre was of brief duration. His
| criticisms based thereon are of the
most trivial character. His sweeping
condemnation of the entire play
ground system, based on these brief
visits late at night, would be absurd
were it not for the fact that he was
accepted as practical playground
expert, and that he used the name OF
| q great pnilanthropie institution to
| fortify and magnify his trivial criti-
cisms. A complete refutaton of his
| charges was made at an investiga-
| tion held by the Playground Com
| mission on November %. The testi-
niony of these witnesses show that
| the so-called experts report was ex-
| aggerated, untrue and. in a degree
purposely misleading. In enclose
herewith copy of the report OF our
| investigation.
| report by qualified expert might be
| given to the people of Newark, an
appeal was made to the officers Of the
National Fairgrounds Association,
Mr.. T.. 3. DeGroot, of Chicago, who Is
recognized throughout the United
| States as one of the highest in au-
thority on playground work. came to
Newark and made an inspection oil
our playground .systeni. He visited
| each and every playground and
recreation house; he questioned the
employees, and at the conclusion OF
his investigation prepared brief pre-
| liminary report. Il sent you a copy
of that report). In his report Mr..
DeGroot tersely showed the absurdi-
ties and trivialities of Mr.. Hammer,
the so-called expert. Mr.. DeGroot
eommends our playground system and
Its general management. He declared
| that our system is satisfactory one;
that our grounds and property in
general are we'll kept; that our SUPER
visor has achieved a degree of emf
nence and has made his contribution
| to the playground movement in the
| United States. In a supplementary
statement Mr.. DeGroot declared that
Mr.. Hammer is not qualified to pose
as an expert in practical Fairgrounds.
Mr.. DeGroot also made the striking
| but not astonishing statement that
Mr.. Hammers reports impressed him
as being part of ''frame-up." Mr..
| DeGroot, as an official of the National
Playground Association, will bring
| this matter before that body in the
near future.
"As an illustration of the difficulty
we have had in trying to get fair
hearing before the finance commit
| tee, | might cite that l appeared be-
fore that body on November 27 last,
accompanied by Mr.. DeGroot. When
| stated to the committee that Mr..
DeGroot was high playground au-
| thority and had a brief report to
make of his Investigations, we were
| told that the committee did not
wish to hear any other report than
the one they paid for. 1t was only
| after continued insistance on my part
that reluctant consent was given Mr..
DeGroot to read his report. After
ward l attempted to formally offer
the ocial report of our investigations.
but the finance committee adjourned
while l was still making my appeal
No Deficit In Funds.
aIn conclusion would like to refer
once more to this imaginary deficit
| in our department. Your high
priced experts in their report state
| that there has been overexpended
during the year an amount of S2SS,So.
| maintain that this so-called deic1t
is a fiction.
"I contend that there is no denclt
in the playground funds.
THE resolution passed by the Com
mon Council authorizing a. bond issue
of $4,000 for the purchase of city
playground property also contained
an item of $7,529.87 for repairs and
equipments. Why haven't the eA-
perts placed this to our credit, thus
showing a large balance on handE
'It has been my contention all
along that certain items which are
charged to us for maintenance and
operation should come out of the con-
struction fund. We have Appealed