Detroit evening times., 1945-06-06

i about Juvenile delinquency. The
words themselves are barharous and
pathological. What they mean, suppose,
is youngsters on the loose.
War, like time, devours everything,
and we can't expect because of the thou
sands of miles Of ocean which protect us,
to be entirely exempt from the conse-
quences of the most devastating war IN
history
Some of the effects are subtle and OBJ
scure; others are obvious and easily
recognizable. None of us knows just
what a war of this kind does to young
civilians. All we know is that some OF
the influences are bad and should be
counteracted.
1t is not my job to weigh the various
means of meeting the impact of war on
children or adults, and | have no talent
for this sort of thing. There are various
devices, most of them old and homely,
and involving no great excursions into
psychology.
The only contribution my particular
group can make is in the field of recrea-
ton, and we do our best in this field by
PROVIDING PLENTY OF PARKS AND
FAIRGROUNDS, lots of outdoor games
and exercise, and by stimulating COM
petitive sports.
Personally place great emphasis on
competition In sports. 1t stimulates not
only the competitors, but the spectators
and also families and friends.
ITO PROMOTE greater participation of
Il the younger generation in active
competition, seasonal tournaments have
been conducted during the last few years
under the sponsorship of the New York
Community Trust, the New York Founda-
ton, the Park Association of the City of
New York, Inc, the New York Daily
Mirror and the New York Journal
American.
During the past year alone over $4,000
children competed in 20 sports for prizes
donated by these sponsors, before 100000
spectators.
These competitions were conducted in
the Fairgrounds, athletic fields, play cen
ters. swimming pools, gymnasiums and
golf courses throughout the city.
Let me cite chapter and verse. In
New York City in the past 10 years we
have quadrupled our recreation facilities.
I am speaking now not OF acreage,
which is no measure. since a new play
ground in congested area may be more
useful than hundred acres of forest on
a side hill measure by the actual in
crease in the number of Fairgrounds,
which have risen since 1884 from 119
to 492, by the number of swimming pools,
indoor and outdoor, tennis courts, base
ball and softball diamonds and similar
facilities which have also quadrupled. |
measure also by other park and recrea-
ton facilities for people of all ages
THERE are available in our city park
i system today not only for organ
lied tournament, but for informal neigh
borhood competitions, Isl b as e b a ii
diamonds, 274 softball diamonds, 522
tennis courts, 1,041 handball courts, 383
outdoor basketball courts, 95 football
fields, 10 golf courses, II outdoor swim
ming pools, 9 indoor swimming pools and
hundreds Of other minor play facilities,
all of which are used many times each
year by the over one million children in
the city
How have these results been accom-
plished: Not by gestures, surveys. reports
or by mirrors or magic. They have in
volved hard work and taking advantage
day In and day out of every conceivable
opportunity.
We have rebuilt the older parks.
We have placed protected Fairgrounds
Tor small CnllQTen dIOuUu DOluCl o.
We have reclaimed land in swamps
and meadows and along the waterfront.
We have filled in behind bulkheads and
riprap.
We have used sanitation ashes and
refuse, bringing it in by scow and truck,
and covering it with earth as 1t arrives
so as not to create a neighborhood
nuisance.
We have Included Fairgrounds along
the borders Of parkways and main ar
teries, under and adjacent to new bridges
and their approaches in new housing de-
velopments, public, semipublic and private.
We have arranged to share play
grounds with the department of educa-
ton in the establishment of new schools,
and have converted abandoned school
sites into recreation areas.
We have picked up odds and ends of
city rapid transit and water supply lands
and surface easements and developed
them for public use with trees, benches,
ball fields and Fairgrounds apparatus