Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1923-08-17

When men step playing they begin
TO grow old. When children stop
playing they don't grow at all. All
this is according to nature. The proof
of these assertions is abundant,
But there is also vital underlying
relationship between the two that Is
worth while pointing out, and that Is
that the play spirit can be saving
bond of sympathy between Young and
old. The parent VINO has lost thus
spirit will soon be out Of touch with
his child, viii simply not understand
the youngsters desire 10 irolic, VIII,
Of course, not play with MIN. Then
and there begins that fatal alienation
TO which so much Of modern juvenile
delinquency IS Que.
The dull, stiff gIoWering public
official is not likely To busy himself
with the establishment Of Fairgrounds
in his community and he thus Is de
uying the God given and American
Constitutional right Of happiness to
the children of his community. lie,
too, is a contributor. though his sins
of omission, 10 the cause Of delin-
quency among youth. And what a
lot of such fellows there still are in
America. They and those parents
are the real deinquents. And we
ask: "Why, o why, do our children
leave homeland the home town.
Forsoothl Why shouldn't they?
Play Needed as Never Before.
But what we want particularly to
stress in this little article is this;
that recreation, constructive recrea-
ton is needed IN these days as never
before, and needed ON a larger scale
than ever before. About five hun
bred cities of 5000 population and
upward have at present something.
worth while in the community recrea
ton line, but there are some five
hundred more that haven't made a
beginning or have only begun to turn
a hand in this direction The result
is underdeveloped human beings,
of citizenship. 1t doesn't pay.
If adequate provision of play
grounds, athletic fields and community
centers can cut down juvenile de-
linquency at least fifty per cent, and
it can and is doing it in enlightened
communities, then isn't it the height
Of common sense to establish these
things and save $4,000 out of the
100000 young people who now go
through our courts annually for yio
lation of law? Wouldn't it be a
money-saving as well as a sorrow
saving and disgrace-saying process to
cut down that proportion of youth I'M
der twenty-five years of age who now
make up rs per cent of S5 per cent
of the inmates of our penal and re-
formatory institutions?
We are a restless people and
We're living in a complex, strenuous
age. Some writers raise the ques-
ton as to whether our civilization can
survive and they discourse upon the
Revolt Against Civilization. The
nerve doctors are crying out to us
to calm down or we'll perish; they
point to the 100000 now in our pub
lie hospitals for the mentally sick;
more and more they are prescribing
expressive recreation as a remedy.
Then there is the industrial situa-
tion-the striking characteristic of
which is the dominance of the auto
matte machine. Here is where the
modern worker is so vitality affected.
Have you read Arthur Pounds Iron
Man?' No? Get it quickl The nub
of his thought is that the millions
who merely tend machines and
merely make certain motions repeat
eddy thousands of times day are
having some of their finest instincts
of creation choked, and that where
this goes on day by day, week by
week through the years, the result
is bound to be sour, restless human
beings who in turn become incompe-
tent husbands, parents and citizens
a pitiful degeneration.
Mr.. Pound sees little hope within
industry for a change in this condi-
ton of affairs and that, therefore,