Evening star., 1935-04-18
RECREATION BODY:
PUSHES ITS PLANS
Group to Coordinate U. S.
and D. c. Activities Is
Approved by King.

The committee created recently to
coordinate Federal and District rec
reational activities is ready to go for
ward with it's plans again today,
Chairman King of the Senate District
Committee having given his consent
late yesterday to such procedure until
the next session of Congress.
The recreation group, composed Of
representatives of the District gov
ernment, the public schools and the
National Park Service, has been mark
ing time for two weeks, after Sem
ator King asked that the proposed
plan of coordination be held in abey-
ance until he could consider it
further
The Co-ordinating Committee is
composed Of Henry I. Quinn, repre-
senting the Board of Education; Com
missioner George E. Allen. for the Dis-
trict government, and c. Marshall
Finnan, of the Office of National
Capital Parks. with Frederic A. De-
lano as non-voting chairman.
Plan Approved for Present.
After going over the whole problem
for more than an hour at the Capitol
yesterday with these and other in
trested officials, Senator King con-
cluded:
Il am not quite satisfied with this
arrangement. but in view of the fact
that Mr. Allen and Mr. Quinn have
assented to it I am inclined to be-
lieve the best thing to do now is not
to depart from this plan for the pres
ent. but to continue to study the prob
lem and consider a more permanent
plan at the next session Of Congress. -
One of the first steps of the recrea-
tion group will be to appoint paid
executive officer to direct the CO.
ordinating work Senator King said he
did not like the idea of employing a
man at $4,000 year for that pur-
pose. urging instead that some one al
ready in the service of one of the
recreational agencies be assigned
Members of the Recreation Commit
tee thought some one not connected
with any of the existing agencies
could accomplish more in obtaining
greater coordination, eliminating
overlapping and getting greater use
out of available facilities.
Federal Authority Hit.
Senator King began by explaining
he called the conference because he
felt the proposed co-ordinating plan
conferred too much authority on the
Federal agency, the Interior Depart
ment He emphasized he 4 for giving
the Commissioners as much as possible
of the authority over the District OF
Columbia.
Declaring the law puts administra-
tion of District affairs under the Com
missioners. Commissioner Melvin C
Hazen added: The only question tc
determine is whether Fairgrounds are
a municipal activity. We think they
are"
Commissioner Allen said that. fun
damentally, he agreed with Hazen
but that President Roosevelt had
written to the Commissioners, the
School Board and the Interior De-
partment calling attention to the need
for co-ordinated effort in recreation
'tand We got together" Allen said
he. knew none of the agencies would
be willing to give up any of its func-
lions. and that under the co-ordi-
mating plan agreed upon each agency
retains control of its own.
Quinn advocated placing under the
school system all recreational activity
for children of school age, pointing
out that there are 260 acres of school
Fairgrounds, as. compared with about
20 acres of municipal Fairgrounds
washington, he said, never has had
an adequate program of physical edu-
cation for school children. He added
that the school system has just estab-
lshed o physical education depart
n1ent.
Work Subject to Approval.
''why should the Federal Govern
r1ent have anything to do with school
Fairgrounds" interrupted Senator
King.
1T should not, and that is not
contemplated by this temporary one
year plan of coordination" Quinn
replied. ANY recommendation of the
new commission is subject to approval
by the agency whose facilities would
be affected by proposed change. We
tives, but we can cooperate to pre-
vent overlapping and to work together
to get better facilities"
How did you happen to bring the
Federal Government into it?" Senator
King inquired.
Quinn said it was because the Fed
eral Government has been successful
In saving areas for recreational pur-
poses which the District might not
otherwise have obtained. Commissioner
Hazen interrupted to point out these
Federal areas have been bought with
District funds. Quinn said that was
true, but he thought the Federal
agency had been able to get through a
park program that District agencies
would not have been able to get.
I am frank to SAY, I couldn't see
why the set-up was made of develop
ing so much of this recreation under
the Federal Government, but it has
been done and the District is getting
the advantage of it," he added.
Mr.. Delano. chairman of the Ma
tional Capital Park and Planning
Commission, told Senator King that
for or 10 years he has been trying
to coordinate the interests of the diff
ferent agencies. About year ago, he
explained, the park and planning
group offered to have the Recreation
Association of America make survey
OF the city's needs. He said the re-
port did not please everybody and
that in some respects it did not please
him, but a copy of it went to the
President, who wrote the letter pre-
viously referred to, suggesting that
the different groups coordinate theil
recreational efforts. He said he
agreed to serve as non-voting chair.
man Of the co-ordinating group which
was formed. He declared it is not q
commission. but only an informal
committee Of three, not giving up any
Of their respective functions
Referring to the suggestion o
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