The Washington times., 1915-06-28
BOULEVARDS AND PARKS

bOULENARDS AND PARKS
In Kansas City the question of
the hour is, in effect, whether the
jitneys are to be allowed to use the
public streets. 1t is charged that
they are running through the boule-
wards, wearing them out, while
street cars could be handling the
people without destruction of the
boulevard surfaces. Therefore, on
behalf of the city railway interests,
it is urged that the jitneys should
be suppressed so that the people
would have to ride on street cars,
so that the traction company would
hold it's business-and the boule-
wards would be reserved for the
benefit of the people able to have
pleasure vehicles.
Apropos of which the Kansas City
Star recently printed this editorial:
Whom are the boulevards of Kansas
City built for?
ptOplt VI NdhSdB lily.
Have the people been able to use
them more extensively than ever Of
late?
Yes. through the advent Of the lit
neys, which carry thousands of people
over the boulevards every day.
But do not the jitneys help wear out
the boulevards?
Yes. Just as the use of a book In the
public library helps wear out the book
II the books in a public library were
not handed out to be read. there would
be no need for rev ones. II all ve-
hicles were kept off the boulevards
they would last much longer But IL is
generally assumed that library books
and public boulevards are to be made
OF the most service possible even II 1t
does wear them out.
Is 1t the jitney drivers who help wear
out the boulevards?
No. it Is the people who are able to
ride over the boulevards in large num-
bers for the small sum OF cents who
produce the wear.
If the city administration should
drive the jitneys off the boulevards
who would be the chief sufferers?
The people who own the boulevards.
and whose only opportunity to get their
moneys worth from them comes from
ability to- ride in the jitntys.
The jitney question not having be-
come an acute issue in Washington,
this may seem to have small relev-
ancy here. But in fact, as it relates
to the parks, it has a great deal.
There are invested many millions
of dollars in the parks of this Dis
trict. BY far the greatest of them
is Rock Creek park. That park is
inaccessible, under ordinary condi-
tions, to most of the people. 1t is
without transportation. It's beauti-
full, winding roads, shady dells,
wooded slopes, are for the delecta-
tion of the few who can drive
through it in automobiles.
Kansas City is asking, for whom
are its boulevards built; and the
reply is, for the people. Washing
ton might we'll ask if its parks, its
greatest and most desirable of parks
particularly, were provided for the
public, or whether the public is to
be excluded from them.
The public as a whole will not be
able to use the parks until means of
transportation are provided. The
hot weather of another summer is
upon US. Shall the mothers and
babies that need the parks be forever
denied the privilege of using them
because of lack of facilities to reach
them? 1t is time for this question
to be taken up and settled in the
right way.
The people who have the means
to get to Rock Creek park will not
be motoring that way for the next
two months; they will be in Maine
and the Adirondacks and the White
mountains and wherever else they
may choose to go. But the multi
tudes left in Washington, who can
not go to seashore or mountains, and
who will really need the parks, ought
to be enjoying them. They will be
unable to do so for want of street
car or some other transportation
opportunities to get there.
Would it not be worth while for
somebody connected with the mu-
nicipal administration, or with some
of the local charity organizations, to
make this summer a survey of this
whole question, by way of providing
reinforcement to a demand upon
Congress, next winter, for provision
of car line through Rock Greek
park?
Suppose it didn't pay! Neither
does the park!
Suppose it cost a million dollars.
Shall twenty million dollars worth
of park be sacrificed in order to save
a million in means to get to the
IparkH