Our Responsibility for the Recreation of Caddies By FLOYD A. ROWE, Director of Physical Welfare, Board of Education, Cleveland, Ohio In Cleveland during the summer months there are over 6,000 boys as caddies. What is the responsibility of the recreation executive toward the caddie? We speak of industrial recreation. Industrial executives have no compunction about spending money on recreation for their employees and increasingly recreation departments are providing facilities and programs for this group. Here, however, we find a group of boys of the age when recreation. is particularly effective, who are in a strict sense in industry, but to whose recreation no one is paying any particular attention. In this industry boys from the ages of fourteen to eighteen are gathered together. They must by virtue of the routine procedure of their jobs report early in the morning to hold their place in line. Most of them do not receive assignments until lunch time or after. With few exceptions these boys are left to their own devices for recreation. They were observed from time to time at various clubs and the consensus of opinion was that most of their recreation consisted of crapshooting and other forms of pastimes which were, to say the least, not positive in their reaction. upon the boy. Two years ago the Acacia Country Club of Cleveland started a program of recreation for their caddies. The first step consisted of employing, upon the recommendation of the Board of Education, a man who knew how to handle boys of this age. This man is a physical director and a good one. He went out to the club and spent the first season in finding out what should and could be done. Beginning with the second year a caddie house was made available with space for boxing, wrestling and handwork of various sorts, and where all of the boys could be housed in case of bad weather. In addition, ample outdoor facilities were furnished and the boys developed for themselves a miniature nine hole golf course. They had room to play indoor baseball, volley ball, horseshoe and similar sports. Tables were placed in shady spots where they could play checkers and other quiet games. In the second year the boys of Acacia Club were organized into what is known as "Caddie City." They elected their own council members, mayor, city manager, chief of police and head of the Sanitary Squad. These officers function as do the officers of a municipality. The sanitary officers see to it that the buildings and grounds are properly policed. It is their business to make sure that boys eating their lunches take proper care of the refuse. In addition, the boys themselves conduct a store, selling ice cream, pie and soft drinks, the proceeds being used for the benefit of the boys. The organization within the Caddie City, while not particularly intricate, is made to function. The boys are taught to know and to appreciate fully what the rights of others are and to respect these rights. Boys who cannot learn these simple lessons are, in the vernacular of the boys, "sent up the road." The program of events for the boys consists of competitive games arranged according to the boys' abilities to play one other. Championships are played out in golf on the caddies' own course and there are tournaments in handball, checkers, horseshoes, and similar events. Team game champions are arrived at in volley ball and indoor baseball. In addition, the Board of Education, through its Department of Recreation, furnishes leadership in music to the extent of sending an expert harmonica player to the club one hour each week. Some excellent harmonica players have been developed and of the 165 boys on the roster sheet, fully half have purchased harmonicas and have learned to play them. A harmonica champion has been selected, who has played for the club members, as has the caddie quartet, in the dining room of the club. This quartet has also played for the luncheon clubs of the city and individual boys have competed in the city-wide contest developed on the playgrounds. Handwork supervisors from the Board of Education go to the club, taking with them materials and giving the boys an opportunity to select projects in handwork. The results have been surprising. Boys who could secure a rather early assignment, knowing that they would not have another opportunity to caddie that day, have often remained in the clubhouse working on their handwork projects. Even on rainy days during the latter part of the season, when there could be no possible opportunity for caddying, boys have traveled several miles through the rain and worked all day on handcraft activities. The atmosphere about the boys' clubhouse is that of a wholesome, well regulated "busyness," a complete contrast to the loud, boisterous talk around several other caddie houses visited during the season. Members of the golf club are almost unanimous in their statement that the caddying of the boys has actually improved and that they are better caddies for having their spare time beneficially occupied. The boys have learned a good deal in regard to the value of time and the desirability of active recreation as opposed to loafing and crap-shooting. From my personal observation I can say that no parent can object to his boy being a member of the group. It is a wholesome place for a boy to work and there is a straightforward, manly exchange of ideas without the use of unnecessary adjectives that might well be emulated by many a group of adults. A second golf club in Cleveland which has started a similar project reports a gain in efficiency of caddying and in morale of caddies. A committee has been appointed from these two clubs whose duty it will be to work with the other clubs represented in the district in an attempt to secure their cooperation in a project of a similar kind. It is hoped that next year a supervisor may be employed by the golf clubs themselves to assist in the organization of these projects. At the same time the Board of Education will be asked to increase its budget for recreation to allow of proper leadership in music, handcraft and like activities for these groups of boys who, if not for economic necessity, would be on the playgrounds and for whose recreation the expenditure of tax money is a just and logical procedure. We in Cleveland have never heard of any other community carrying on a similar program for its caddies. If there are cities where organized work of this kind is being done, we should like to know of it because we can learn much from the experience of other places. We should, too, be glad to hear from other places who are concerned with this problem, if not from the point of view of having done something, from that of wanting further facts in order that they may take action. The Anderson Memorial Community Center By JOHN C. HENDERSON Supervisor of Playground and Community Center Activities, Los Angeles, California Through the generosity of Mr. and Mrs. N. O. Anderson, pioneer residents of San Pedro, the harbor district of Los Angeles, a splendid community center building has been turned over to the Los Angeles Department of Playground and Recreation for operation. The building is a memorial to Newell Orland Anderson and Horace Harlan Anderson, sons of Mr. and Mrs. Anderson, who died of influenza in 1918 while members of the Students' Army Training Corps at the University of Southern California. Because of the interest of their sons in Boy Scout work and recreation, Mr. and Mrs. Anderson decided to erect a community center building as the most appropriate memorial. The center was completed in October, 1923, and for three years was operated personally by the Andersons until their failing health caused them to turn it over to the Playground and Recreation Department. The plant consists of a main building fifty by seventy feet, of concrete construction with tile roof, containing three stories and basement, a swimming pool annex 40′ x 144' and a two-story dressing room wing 30' x 35'. The top floor of the main building is occupied by a gymnasium with balcony, under which are dressing rooms. LOS ANGELES, CAL.-ANDERSON MEMORIAL COMMUNITY CENTER On the second floor are a kitchen, women's dressing rooms and game space. This space is arranged about the well of the large central staircase, which leads to the attractive lobby on the first floor. Here are additional game facilities, a music room and offices for the swimming pool and community center directors. In the basement are a large Boy Scout room and swimming pool machinery. The swimming pool is thirty by one hundred and twenty-five feet, and has a complete filter and chlorinator system. The center is located on a plot of ground 125' x 210' and the vacant space adjoining the building has been developed by the Playground and Recreation Department as a small children's playground and as a tennis court. The building and grounds represented an investment by Mr. and Mrs. Anderson of approximately $120,000 and about $10,000 has been spent by the Los Angeles Playground and Recreation Department in remodeling to provide additional facilities for the steadily increasing attendance the center has enjoyed under municipal control. Acquiring a Ball Field in Hawaii The boys of Waiahino, a small village on the southwest of Hawaii, needed a ball ground. There was no place for the team to practice except in the road, for all the open spaces nearby were sloping or rocky. On one side of the village were long stretches of cane fields, and on the Following this with the aid of cutting implements, improvised or borrowed, the boys completed the clearing or leveling in a space large enough for infield practice. As the four-acre tract still belonged to the plantation the next step involved the interesting of the government officials of the district. This was so successful that the result was an exchange of abandoned homestead land for the ball ground and this has ever since been maintained as a public park BY FRANK L. Bertschler, Superintendent, Department of Parks and Playgrounds In the summer of 1923, the Superintendent of Parks and Playgrounds of Beaumont, Texas, submitted a report stating the urgent need of the city's park system. Stressed in this report was the lack of park and playground facilities for the negro population, and it was recommended that a suitable site be acquired at the earliest possible opportunity and option money for its control be set aside. No material progress along this line was made for several years other than the creation of sentiment favorable to the idea. A small playground belonging to a negro church, and adjoining it, was equipped with slides, lockers, swings, teeters and sand court by the Park Department. Following a series of game demonstrations by John Martin of the P. R. A. A. at the white schools and institutions of the city, a very successful training course was given for the leaders of the negro church sponsoring the playground. When the bonds for park improvements were voted in 1926, it was hoped that land could be provided for a negro park site. This was found to be impossible, however, and when the next issue was proposed in 1927 it included as a major item the purchase of such a park and the provision of a swimming pool and similar facilities. The bonds carried 4 to 1 and the sites for the park for negroes were considered. The selection of a site proved the only complication of the program. The negroes of the city lived in five or six communities separated and surrounded by white residents, who objected to the various sites under consideration. Finally, in the southwestern section of the city in the heart of negro population, was found a site of almost three acres. After much negotiation the site, originally surrounded by private property, was purchased through an arrangement providing for the opening of two streets giving access to the park from every direction with a street frontage on its north and south sides. The site, 2.75 acres, rectangular in shape and almost level, cost the city $5,458.19. Plans for the development of the property were prepared by the park superintendent. A swimming pool expert was employed to prepare the swimming pool plans. The pool, elevated above ground, with pool 45′ x 90′ varying in depth from 3 feet to 9 feet, is built of reinforced concrete, the outer, or dressing room walls, being of cement brick. The dressing rooms are located along the long sides of the pool. Bathers and spectators enter at the front doors on the north. Spectators go directly up the front stairs to the concourse floor, where seats are provided. Bathers receive baskets which they use for checking clothes and retire to the dressing rooms. Each dressing room is 8 feet x 90 feet and is equipped with seats, showers, toilets and lavatories. The baskets of clothes are returned to the front counter and a check is issued which must be worn during the swim. Bathers approach the pool from rear stairs and are required to use the showers, using soap, before leaving the dressing rooms. The park is equipped with playgrounds for boys and girls, a small athletic field which is also used as a large assembly area for band concerts and similar activities, a flag staff, flower beds and convenient walks. Public toilets open from the rear of the pool structure. Between these facilities, at opposite corners, an open terrace covered by the concourse floor of the pool and with a cement floor, proves a convenient shelter from rain, and provides a shady place for handcraft, storytelling and similar activities. The pool structure is equipped with four tool and supply closets under the stairs, one being used for park maintenance equipment, one for pool supplies, while the others are available for recreation and athletic supplies. The park is fenced with wire and equipped with ornamental wooden gates painted green to harmonize with the play apparatus and benches. Old ditches and building foundations have been graded and considerable filling has been done. A SECOND AIRPLANE TOURNAMENT good lawn was made and a portion of the planting done before the opening. On September 1, 1927, the pool and park were opened to the negroes with a man of several years' experience in charge. He had as assistants a woman school teacher who served as matron, and a mechanic acting as night operator who emptied and refilled the pool and served as a watchman after cleaning dressing rooms and putting the structure in order for the morning. A program with negro speakers, a church chorus and a negro band was arranged for the city officials and their wives. After the program a dinner of "Bar-bbird" barbecued chicken), ice cream and cake was served. Swimming meets, playground ball, football, basketball and similar activities have been sponsored by the department and enthusiastically entered into and witnessed by large groups. The pool alone accommodated more than 500 bathers per day for its first month of operation. The swimming season is from May 15 to September, varying with weather condition from the first until the end of the month. The two assistants are used only during this season, but in caring for the property and promoting athletics and similar activities the man in charge is employed throughout the year. A team of negro school teachers have scheduled basketball games at the court provided. A number of football games have been held in the park. Baseball, both regulation and playground, have been very popular and school teams use the field for practice and scheduled games. The playgrounds and athletic field are in constant use except on those rare days of freezing weather when the children refuse to venture forth. The plan has been completed except for planting, and that is now being done. The entire cost. of the project, including the site and pool was $18,414.34. The planting was done by the department through its budget, the trees and shrubs having been grown in the Park Department nurseries. The popularity of the park with the negroes justifies its construction and carries out most emphatically the predictions of its promoters. Excellent order has existed and in view of the fact that little or no educational work along this particular line has been done, the respect for public property has been remarkable. The department feels that in this unit one of the greatest links of the system has been completed. 19 Second National Minia ture Airplane The second national playground miniature aircraft tournament, under the auspices of the Playground and Recreation Association of America, will be held in Atlantic City October 5 and 6 in connection with the Fifteenth National Recreation Congress. The purpose of the contest, which has been officially endorsed by the National Aeronautic Association, is to provide an enjoyable handcraft activity and to educate boys and girls in the principles of constructing and flying airplanes. Henry Ford is the only new member of the national committee which sponsored last year's contest and will again serve this year. Orville Wright and Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh are the co-chairmen. Preliminary to the finals, local contests will be held throughout the country. In last year's tournament 20,000 boys and girls took part in these preliminaries. According to the rules of the tournament, local competitions are to be conducted under a committee which shall include the president or vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce, the director of playgrounds or recreation superintendent, newspaper editors, the president or vice-president of the local aeronautic society, flying field or airport, and other persons. Any person under twenty-one is eligible to compete. All planes must be built and operated by the contestants. The rules provide for ten junior and senior indoor and outdoor events for model and power driven planes. In most events rubber motors are specified. Launching by hand, rising off the ground, and rising off the water are some of the tests to which the tiny aircraft will be subjected. Contestants who make the five best records in the country in each of the ten events will be eligible to compete in the finals at Atlantic City. Awards of medals and cups will be donated to the national winners by the magazine, Popular Aviation. Colonel Lindbergh has issued the following statement on the tournament: "The Playground and Recreation Association is greatly assisting in the advancement of aeronau |