The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-04-30
ALL MUST SERVE
Ross Crane Points Out Great
est Needs for Topeka.
Urges Cooperation in All Plans
to Better City.
CHILDREN OUR BIGGEST ASSET
Each Child Worth $4,000, Lee
turer Tells Audience.
City Is Fortunate in Not Having
Much to Undo.

What Topeka needs most is more
people who are willing to serve She
community and cooperate in all plans
for the betterment of the city, said
Ross Crane in his eliminating lecture
of the Better Homes Institute" at the
city auditorium Friday night.
when business men are ready to
serve the public in the way that the
members of your city planning board
will serve, you are making much prog
ress toward the ideal CITY," the lee
turer declared. But they must have
the backing of the community. the
help of those who are farsighted
enough to think of Topeka's develop
ment in the next twenty-five or fifty
years"
Topeka's children are its biggest in
vestment, Crane said.
THE main business of your town
concerns your boys and girls, he said
Each is worth at least $4,000 right
now and estimating that there are
5000 children in Topeka, you can
easily rate them the towns biggest in
vestment.
whether children become respecta-
BILE citizens or outlaws depends not SO
much upon what the parents do for
them as what the community does Tor
them" Crane emphasized. With cleV-
or chalk sketches he showed the boy
gazing longingly toward the bigger
city because his home did not satisfy
him. =.
Make your town everything it,
should be and then the larger cities
will not draw your children away.
he said. when the boy leaves his
home town it is because his home
town doesn't satisfy him.
You may think the making OF the
Topeka plan a big undertaking.,
Crane said. at is big undertaking
and will cost much money. But the
city must have it for its best develop
ment If you don't have it now. you
will have to have it eventually. and
every years delay will make the work
ing out OF the plan cost hundreds OF
dollars more than the immediate ex-
ecution of the plan.
''St. Louis is now working out It's
city plan. st. Louis discussed having
the civ plan ten years \ ago, but
thought it could not afford it then.
The plan is costing the city twenty
times as much to work out as 1t would
have cost ten years ago.
Topeka Is Fortunate.
Topeka is very fortunate. It has
less to undo to make it the ideal city
than almost anywhere 1 have visited,
Crane said. Some of the assets he
listed as an excellent foundation for
making Topeka an ideal city were;
The three hundred acres of parks
in the city and adjoining the city
Crane said Topeka had larger
park acreage than any city he had
visited. He spoke highly of the
finely balanced park system of the
city, saying that there was scarcely
any part of the city without a park
enjoyed by the community.
The foundation for a civic center
furnished by the state capitol and
its grounds. Crane said that all
property facing the capitol square
should be acquired by the city to
make z. beautiful civic center.
Its remarkable parkings along all
city streets. No where has he seen
such wonderful parkings, he said.
and nowhere do trees contribute
more to the beauty of a city than
they do in Topeka.
Washburn college and Bethany
college. Such institutions may well
be the envy of other cities he said.
The natural advantage of the
winding Shunganunga creek and the
banks of the Kaw for a beautiful
boulevard with parkway,
The Chamber of Commerce with
100 members. He said there could
be no better organization for push
ing civic Improvement.
The public spirited Woman's club,
and civic organizations. He declared
that there should be woman on
the city planning board.
He Approves Planning Projects.
Crane urged the execution of the
planning board projects, such as the
Strengthening and widening of the
Shunganunga and the making of
centralized traffic way thru the city.
lie also urged the immediate forma-
ton of a boulevard system for the city
connecting the city's parks and other
beauty spots. He recommended
planting of shrubbery everywhere
about the city.
You can't have too many freeS and