Evening star., 1938-05-15
By Cole E. Morgan.
YHEN President Reose

wv work relief policy the en-
ployment of such labor on
the construction of flood control and
power dams rather than in building
armories, stadiums and recreation
fields he indirectly called attention
to the fact that during the last few
years America has spent tens of mil
lions of dollars in developing the finest
''play plant" of any country in the
world.
Thus, while the President revealed
that the Federal Government is on
the verge of abandoning one of its
outstanding made work emergency
activities, there remains as a result
an immense residue of public golf
courses, tennis courts, swimming pools,
camps, rifle ranges. horseshoe pitching
greens, and the like, from which mil
lions of Americans will derive health
and pleasure for many years to come.
Chief agencies in this far-reaching
play building program have been the
Works Progress and Public Works Ad-
ministrations. AS evidence of the eX-
tent of these construction activities,
an official statement by the Works
Progress Administration placed at
S236,OO0,000 the amount put into the
expansion and Improvement of public
recreational plants of local commufli-
ties last year. This years expendi-
lures have been in keeping with that
huge sum.
Toic rikipolU with
the S30,000,000 that State and local
communities spent for the develop
ment of these facilities in 1929, the
last boom year.
The Public Works Administration
estimates that the cost of athletic
facilities to which it has contributed
Federal funds is in excess of $75,-
100000. The bulk of its outlays-
more than $50,000 000-has gone into
facilities for schools and colleges, yet
in the main adapted to general public
use when occasion demands.
THE administration attitude toward
public recreation is epitomized in
this statement of policy of the Works
Progress Administration:
Since the inception of a program
of recreation projects in the Works
Progress Administration it has become
possible, to develop consistent set of
principles to be used as guides in
program planning. These principles,
stated in their simplest form, are:
81. Organized supervised recreation
Is needed by all age groups, and con-
sequently recreation projects meet the
test of social usefulness.
%. The administration has taken
the position that organized use Of
leisure time should not be imposed
upon groups or communities but
should rather be allowed to grow from
within. Consequently almost every
recreation unit has been supplement-
ed by local community committee or
council.
''3. The project workers should en-
Joy the opportunity of maintaining
and improving their skills; they should
feel that their skills are needed. The
morale of workers depends upon this
sense of being wanted and of growth
In proficiency.
"a. If Works Progress Admins.
tration project is socially useful, If i
meets with the approval of local com
munities whose citizens have par
ticipated and if the workers are II
derive something more than mer'
subsistence from their experience i
follows that such projects should b
considered in the light of their per
manent survival as expanding serv
Ices"
DECLARING that recreation is
~ service that can be defended o.
the grounds of social utility" the W
p. A. adds:
Leisure time which is merely vast
ed or turned to unsocial purposes o
exploited by commercialized amuse
ments becomes a community and, il
the end, a national liability. On tn
contrary, when leisure is used for pur
poses of physical development, q
esthetic enjoyment, of mental explora
ton and of civic participation it be
comes a distinct asset.
Organized recreation, as a neces
sary supplement for a machine age
has now received almost universal SUP
port among educators, social worker
ministers and thinkers generally. Wit
these points in mind, 1t seems entirel