1. Most of the industrial executives responding feel that recreation for their employees should be furnished by the municipal or community depart

ment.

2. A few feel that the program of the municipal recreation department should be supplemented by a program furnished directly to their own employees.

3. All indicate that industry is responsible for a recreation program, supplied to their employees direct or through a municipal department.

4. All of those responding think it their duty to support recreation through taxes, financial appropriations or personal effort.

5. Several point out that duplications must be avoided and that cooperation is necessary.

6. All agree that their industries are benefitted by recreation through larger production, better cooperation or finer spirit.

7. Some view plant recreation with distrust, feeling that employees do not like paternalism.

8. One executive thinks that tax-supported recreation is better because the working man pays his share, and thus appreciates it more.

One letter from one of America's largest industries is worth quoting in full because the attitude which it states so well represents the general attitude.

"As the interest which industry should take in the matter of public recreation, we believe that workmen who are contented with their living conditions are much better producers than those who are, for one reason or another, dissatisfied with their home surroundings. The number of changes occurring in such a working force is reduced to the minimum, thus obviating a loss to industry which is everywhere acknowledged as highly detrimental. Furthermore, their mental attitude towards their employer and towards their job is apt to be colored by their home conditions.

"While recreational facilities afforded an employee and his family constitute only one of several elements helping to make living conditions desirable, it is important enough, in my opinion, to warrant the general interest of the employing industries in its proper promotion. Oftentimes it affects the younger members of his family more than the workman himself, but in the end it helps to make his home problems easier for him, to say the least about it.

"Now as to the interest which an employer should take in promoting recreational facilities in a community, there has always been the feel

ing and as a matter of fact it is the policy of the company not to assume any official connection with the life of any of our workmen after his working hours are over and he leaves our plant. It is rather the policy to let each man order his outside life according to his own inclination rather than to meet the ideas of some company supervisor. We believe that his working conditions should be well ordered and healthful; that his recompense should be liberal; that he should be helped if he is in trouble to any extent possible under the circumstances, but we do not believe in mixing into his activities after his working hours are completed. Under these circumstances, we make no studied attempt to foster plant recreational work, believing that that is rightly a community activity rather than an industrial one. Knowing, however, the indirect value of the recreational work when conducted as a community or neighborhood affair, we have always supported municipal activities of this sort and are perfectly willing to pay through taxes any reasonable amounts which are devoted to this purpose. We are further willing to cooperate at all times with the efforts to organize and successfully promote this sort of work under civic direction. In fact, we believe that there is much more benefit to be derived through interest taken along these lines than in any direct expenditures confined to our own employees and under plant auspices alone. Sooner or later, the latter activities are apt to develop an artificiality which defeats their good effect and come to take more of the nature of an advertising campaign than otherwise. This is never true of neighborhood activities really conducted by the people themselves under municipal or other organized civic supervision."

A Plant and Flower

Naming Contest

The Sheboygan, Wisconsin, Department of Public Recreation has initiated, with the cooperation of local florists, a plant and flower naming contest. Eighty-seven plants and flowers were displayed for two days, each bearing a tag with its name printed on it. On the third day the tickets were removed and numbers substituted for them. The contestants were then asked to list the names of as many flowers and plants as they could identify.

In discussing this topic, I have taken the liberty of enlarging the subject to include not only state and county parks but also national parks and forests. I like to think of the public recreation system as existing for the purpose of "out-witting" the cities, to use the words of a prominent educator. I like the term, but perhaps another expression would be a little better in this assembly. Possibly "out-guessing" the cities would be more appropriate. That is a term which is used so much in baseball and other activities with which we are familiar.

It seems that the city imposes upon those who live in it certain conditions of life which deprive the city dweller of many of the advantages which ordinarily he would enjoy if he did not live in the city. The city makes artificial conditions and one is not permitted to secure the experiences in life which normally he would secure, just by reason of the fact that the very environment of the city deprives him of certain exceedingly rich experiences. I refer particularly to the experiences which can be obtained only by first-hand contact with nature. The city recreation system is one of several agencies which is working upon this problem of out-witting the cities, and various methods and devices are employed by these agencies in carrying out their purpose.

Our public school departments, for example, introduce courses of instruction in nature study and in general science, and other courses, for the purpose of imparting to the child knowledge regarding his natural environment. In some schools a small garden plot in the school yard serves as a place where the child may observe at first hand. the forces of nature as they are revealed in the growth of shrubs and flowers. Municipal playgrounds also provide substitutes for various elements which are found in natural environment in

*Stenographic report of address given at the Recreation Congress, Memphis, Tennessee, October 5, 1927.

the form of playground apparatus which is supposed to give a child those experiences which he would normally have in reacting naturally and normally to the trees, rocks and boulders he would have were he out in the country.

The larger cities have developed park systems and transplanted a sample of nature, you might say, into the heart of the city, and in that way are trying to bring the city dweller in touch with the great out-of-doors. I liked the term which was used yesterday, when parks in our cities were referred to as lungs, the mechanisms by which the city dwellers may breathe.

But after all, no matter what measures we may take to transplant the country into the city and to provide substitutes for some of the experiences which one might have in the country, nothing that we can do can take the place of the natural environment; nothing can take the place of the wide open desert, or of the tall mountain peaks, or fast flowing streams or gentle brooks meandering down their slopes shaded by beautiful trees. Nothing can take the place of the grass covered meadow. Nothing can be substituted for these natural beauties and natural objects which bring about experiences very valuable in the development of the race. It is indeed fortunate that there are opportunities today whereby men and women, boys and girls, may escape from the restricted environment of the city and imbibe some of the pleasures of life out of doors.

Yesterday we heard how much of the space of our country is available for this purpose and how little is required for purposes of production. It is our good fortune that a large number of the most picturesque places in our country are owned by the national government and by the state governments. And county and city governments are more and more realizing that they also ought to acquire some of these beautiful outdoor spaces, for the purpose of recreation for their people.

The national government owns 153 national forests which cover an area of over 230,000 square miles, or more area than is included in the states of Ohio, Virginia, South Carolina and California combined. There are in the United States 578 state parks which have an area exceeding five hundred thousand acres, and states are more and more acquiring state parks almost entirely for recreation purposes. There are numerous counties which have county parks and numerous cities which are acquiring places outside of the city limits for purposes of recreation.

To secure the greatest recreational advantages from these great public areas-national parks and forests, county parks and cities with recreation reservations, it is necessary that they be administered with an intelligent understanding of the recreational needs of the people. I think it is greatly to the credit of the United States Forest Service that the great national forests are administered with that idea in mind. The leaders in the forest service think of their responsibility as being connected with forestry, with grazing, and also with recreation, and they administer the great national forests with a view to accomplishing the objectives along all three lines. It is not an easy task to reconcile the interests of forestry, grazing and recreation, but I think it is a real achievement on the part of the United States government and of the Division of Forestry of the Department of the Interior, that the great national forests have been used not alone for grazing and forestry, but also for recreation.

However, this requires more than general administration. It requires also such things as the improvement of transportation. It is necessary that highway construction programs be formulated and carried out, and that public carriers be given all possible assistance so that those with comparatively no means may have also an opportunity to visit these great recreation areas. It is desirable that conservation be promoted; that certain areas be set aside for definite recreational use-some for camping, some for hunting, others for fishing, hiking, boating, swimming and other specialized uses,

Now these obvious things which it is desirable to bring about and which I have already mentioned, are not special functions of a municipal recreation department. However, the municipal recreation system can lend encouragement to all of these worthwhile movements.

There are, however, a number of specific things

which a municipal recreation system can do to secure the values of these great areas. One of these is to establish municipal camps in these areas. Usually the establishment of a municipal camp will consist in the designation of a place for camping purposes, the provision there of the necessary minimum conveniences to enable people to stay overnight, and the making available of articles of equipment, perhaps on a rental basis, and of food and other supplies by purchase.

There are a number of camps or examples of this kind of camp service. The one I am most familiar with is near the city of Denver, which has developed a municipal park so situated that it is possible for one to leave the city at midday when the temperature is around one hundred degrees in the shade and no shade, reach this great park in two or three hours and participate in sports and other activities. Equipment may be rented and supplies may be purchased. Another example is the Big Pine Camp conducted by the county of Los Angeles in the San Bernardino National Forest, and still another is the Palisades Park which you perhaps are all familiar with, but which is not administered by a city recreation system.

Another type of camp which has been successful in California particularly, is that which offers complete accommodations, not only for organized groups of children alone but for families. There are six cities in the state of California which have successfully organized this type of camp. Sites are secured in the national forests from the national government without cost to the city, and these sites are improved. Complete accommodations include cots, use of tents and cabins and three good meals per day which are provided at very nominal cost-about $1.00 per day. There are fourteen such camps operated by six cities in the state of California. The low cost is made possible by the fact that the sites are secured free and the meals are served in cafeteria fashion. No effort is made to serve an elaborate menu, but one which is very plain and comparable to that served in an ordinary home.

There is a difference of opinion, I find in talking with recreation executives, as to which kind of a camp is the proper function of a municipal recreation system. There are those who hold that the camp which provides only accommodations for sleeping and shelter, and sanitary arrangements, is really a more proper function of the municipal department, and that more people can

be served by it with a given amount of effort and capital investment. They also point to the difficulties which are encountered in making purchases of food and supplies under the cumbersome methods of municipal purchasing.

Those who favor the type of camp which offers complete accommodations, point out that there is a need for a camp operated under such conditions that the cost of going there is not prohibitive, and which will provide mother, as well as the rest of the family, with an opportunity for recreation. When the family goes to a camp where mother prepares the food, mother does not get the change or the rest which she ought to have. So they affirm that there is a need for the camp providing complete accommodations. There are also some objections made to it on the ground that it competes with legitimate private business, but those who favor that type point out that the cost of a vacation in a municipal camp of this kind is as low as one-half to one-fifth as much as the cost of a vacation in a private resort.

Another type of camp being promoted by a number of municipalities is that which is set up primarily for the service of organized groups of boys and girls. All of the boy and girl character building organizations recognize camping as a very important adjunct to their programs. Few of them, however, in any city can afford to own and operate their own camps, and if they own a camp the camp equipment is generally in use for a comparatively limited period of the year. It appeals to one's economic sense as being desirable for the municipality to establish camps for the service of boys' and girls' character building organizations, which will be available to all of them upon permit. We have such a camp in our city, which is used the entire year.

I said there were three definite things which a municipal recreation department could do to secure the values out of these areas. First, I mentioned the establishment of camps. Second, there is the responsibility of conducting a program of education with reference to the proper use of the out of doors. A generation has grown up in our cities which has no knowledge of how to conduct itself when it gets away from the city, which has no knowledge whatever of nature.

Recently I was present when a group of campers arrived at one of our camps. A gentleman climbed off the bus and went up to the drinking fountain to which water had been piped from a wonderful mountain spring one hundred feet

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away. Being surprised at the taste of this fine, clear, mountain water, he remarked, "That is splendid water; it must be distilled water." He had no way of understanding why the water coming direct from the spring was such splendid water. People in our cities today, many of them, have no knowledge whatsoever of how to get along in the country, and I think it is a function of our municipalities, of our municipal recreation departments, to impart that knowledge.

At our camps we should have courses of instruction. We should provide opportunities for learning more about natural environments. We should give courses in nature study. We should provide instruction in swimming and in boating, and such handcraft as is adaptable to the areas in which we are located.

There is a third thing which I think we could do in order to promote greater use and secure the values inherent in these areas, and that is to adopt a systematic program looking towards the wider use and more beneficial use of these areas. I think recreation departments in the past have been too much concerned with the problem of just administering definite places of recreation, but more and more we are thinking of giving service in connection with recreation and making the largest possible use out of all the recreation resources of the community without reference to whether they be owned by the city or by the government. We should include the promotion of out door life and the use not only of public areas but of private property as part of our program of extension service. We are organizing service bureaus in connection with rendering assistance in our cities in drama, in sports and other activities, and we should extend that service to include recreation in the great out-of-doors away from the city. The Playground and Recreation Association of America has already set a worthy and conspicuous example by publishing a vacation guide for summer resorts in the Middle West and in New England.

In carrying out these suggestions, we shall find the executives in charge of the various areas most cordial and willing to cooperate. The National Forest Service officials are desirous of having greater recreation use made of their areas and are only too glad to cooperate with those in the cities who have direct contact with the people. Our state and county parks have been established primarily for recreation purposes and the officials in charge of them are willing to cooperate in that

kind of program. Those in charge of these areas finding themselves without the means of reaching people who live within the cities, desire to establish contacts with those who are directly in touch with city people.

We should link up our public recreation systems with the national parks and national forest service, and with the state parks and county parks, in order that the great call of the open country may be broadcast to the millions who live in our cities, and in order that the experience which can come only through first hand contact with nature can be had by city dwellers.

Community Singing in England

The history of Community Singing in England is told in the Foreword of the "Daily Express" Community Song Book, a collection of approximately 250 songs and rounds with music, edited by John Goss. The book is published by the "Daily Express" National Community Singing Movement.

"On the night of November 20th, 1926, ten thousand people assembled in the Albert Hall to launch the "Daily Express" Community Singing Movement.

"There were a few minutes of shyness. strangeness and timidity. Then suddenly, the spirit of song took complete command of the enormous audience. The chorus of John Peel swelled and volleyed around the great hall, and in that moment was born the astounding social movement that has since swept over the country like a prairie fire.

"The story of the delight and the inspiration of Community Singing flashed from suburb to suburb, from town to town. Wireless had already brought the cheeriness and the friendliness of it all to millions of listeners who caught the infection and sang as they sat at their receiving sets.

"From north, south, east and west there poured in requests that other centres should be given the opportunity of enjoying at first-hand the wonderful thing which London had so successfully inaugurated.

"It was not a question of capturing communities, they capitulated joyously and eagerly. Within a month the people of the Midlands were

singing as they had never sung before. Wales, with her traditional genius for song, both found and gave inspiration in full measure. Northern cities and southern towns joined in the movement with irresistible enthusiasm.

"Then came another and more dramatic development. The packed grounds of famous football clubs were turned into gigantic open-air concert centres. Twenty, thirty, forty, fiftythousand men and women provided unforgettable spectacles as they stood in wintry sunshine or biting wind to sing sea chanties, old, well-known choruses, and-most memorable of all-God Save the King.

"Villages and hamlets began to organize their own Community Singing. Churches, clubs, institutes, workshops, schools-practically every place where men and women gather-joined in.

"Three months saw Great Britain turned into a land of song, and the whole country in the grip of a new force the social consequences of which, even now, are incalculable."