South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1922-01-12
H. o. Berg Addresses Local
Recreation Committee
Seebirt Gives Talk.

Organize the leisure time OF our
people" was the plea made by II.
o. Berg. field secretary OF the Ma
tional Playground association, in a
talk before the recreation commit
tee and its guests al a gee together"
dinner given Wednesday evening at
$3.50 o'clock at the Washington
school.
The toastmaster introduced me
as a field secretary he sad but
I am a salesman. introducing a
commodity 10 which you. perhaps.
haven't given much thought
sell wholesome leisure That state
ment is always greeted with sur
prise, but consider that the indus
try which I representative industry
Of amusement-is one Of the great
est in the country. and Il VIII not
seem so strange. The motion pic
ture industry ranks fifth in the
great businesses Of the country. and
the money invested in al forms Of
recreation almost equals that Of our
great Industry. steel.
Pay Fabulous Sums.
In our business we pay our big
PEOPLE amounts that make your
great captains Of industry seem like
pygnies. Millions are given each
year 10 Charlie Chaplin Babe Ruth
and hundreds Of others who enter
tain us during our leisure hours.
have, nevertheless, been ridiculed
time and time again for my part in
this business. l have been called
the man who has nothing to do
and menace 10 society because !
recommended the use OF school
houses for community centers where
the adults and children could meet
for entertainment, billiards. dane
ing and other forms of amusement.
That is only directing the use Of
spare time under wholesome influ-
ences.
Nations have fallen through the
wrong use of leisure time. Rome
was once a great city. yet in her
greatness and wealth she found time
for too much OF the wrong kind of
pleasure, and history records her
ruin.
The nUmberless inventions Of the
age have made ii a time of enforced
leisure which must be provided for.
In my boyhood l had 10 bring in
the coal run many errands. saw
wood, fill the kerosene lamps. beat
the rugs. The boy Of today has a
coal bin that is but step from the
furnace, the telephone cares for
many errands he might otherwise
! have TO run, a snap of a button fur
nishes light, and a vacuum cleaner
takes care Of the rugs. What is the
boy TO do with the time he finds on
his hands?
Boy Not Only One.
The boy is not the only one with
leisure. The working man, as a
result of the war, has higher wages
than ever before, and he now has an
elght-hOur day. He has money to
spend and time TO spare, and it's up
TO US TO give him clean entertain
ment for that time and money. The
business world, realizing this, has
provided commercial recreation, but
this can take care Of very few.
The movies are very popular as
a recreation, but there are kinds
which do a great deal Of harm. It
isn't censorship that we need. it is a
demand from the churches, schools
and united public cor the very best.
As long as there is a demand for the
sensational film, the producers. be-
ing only human, will provide it. and
undirected children will go to see It.
An investigation in Milwaukee show
ed that three-fourths OF the children
there go 20 the movies unescorted
by their parents. A number OF them
went regularly six or seven times a
week, and the great majority went
twice or three times. The public,
! cooperating with theater manage
! ments. can provide good matinees
for children. and thus solve al least
a part OF the spare time problem.
The Boys clubs where boys
| from Il to II years Of age meet 20