tics by enlisting thousands of boys in American cities in the National Playground Miniature Aircraft Contest. "As flying activities increase, a basic education in elementary aviation is becoming a necessity for everyone. "Any organization through which such education is distributed is worthy of the fullest support." Commander Richard E. Byrd; Porter Adams, president of the National Aeronautical Association; F. Trubee Davison, Assistant Secretary for Aeronautics, War Department; Harry F. Guggenheim, president of the Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics; Clifford B. Harmon, president of the International League of Aviators; Joseph Lee, president of the Playground and Recreation Association of America; William P. MacCracken, Jr., Assistant Secretary for Aeronautics, Department of Commerce; Colonel Theodore Roosevelt; and Edward P. Warner, Assistant Secretary for Aeronautics, Navy Department, together with the persons mentioned above, make up the personnel of the committee in general charge of the tournament. Full particulars and directions concerning the tournament may be obtained from the Playground and Recreation Association of America at 315 Fourth Avenue, New York City. Model Airplane Clubs in Milwaukee In October the Extension Department of the Milwaukee Board of School Directors began its organization of model airplane clubs. The enrollment had grown from 60 to 384 in February and clubs are now in existence at ten of the social centers, some of the centers having two clubs. During the week of March 19th preliminaries were held at the social centers for the countywide indoor model plane flying tournament sponsored by the air service committee of the Milwaukee Association of Commerce. The events of this tournament were as follows: 1. Duration a. Stick tractor, hand launched 2. Weight Carrying a. Commercial only, rise off ground The Katherine F. Barker Memorial Secretary By VICTOR MANNING In recent years there has been a very active and wide participation on the part of women and girls in athletics and sports. This development has been so rapid that a number of leaders feel that there are certain undesirable trends in girls' athletics which should be corrected. Everyone agrees that adequate opportunities for participation in athletics and sports by girls should be furnished and yet every caution should be taken to see that the health and safety of women and girls are insured. Certain dangers involved are the tendency to commercialize and exploit women's participation in athletics, the tendency to disregard health safeguards in their physical activities and to carry on physical activities without the supervision of well-trained women leaders; there is lack of knowledge of the relationship of women's athletics to women's health, physical limitations and physiological functions. There is special need to see that girls and women do not simply carry on programs that men are carrying on. Many girls' basket ball teams. are still playing men's rules. Some schools have recently been having girls' football teams. Programs should be worked out to meet the special needs of girls. There is too great danger involved in the star system for women. Wide participation should be encouraged. A very careful analysis should be made of the whole question of state and national contests. There is considerable question as to the facilities and environment under which athletic competitions are now carried on. There is danger involved in long distance traveling of girls' teams. Many recreation executives want to provide adequately for the women and girls in their cities but feel the very great need for well-trained experts in women's athletics and sports to be made available to study the whole question, travel from city to city, secure information on the best programs, standards, leadership, facilities and environments and make it available to cities desiring to develop programs for women and girls. For many years the Playground and Recreation Association of America has wanted through the provision of a special staff worker to meet this request for help from recreation executives. Through the generosity of Mrs. Howard H. Spaulding, Jr., of Chicago, a member of the Board of Directors of the Playground and Recreation Association of America, the Association is now ready to announce that a field worker on Women's and Girls' Athletics will join the staff this year. Miss Ethel Bowers of Brenau College, Gainesville, Georgia, is to begin work in this field September 1st. Mrs. Spaulding has made this gift to the Association in memory of her mother, Mrs. Katherine F. Barker, and Miss Bowers will be known as the Katherine F. Barker Memorial Secretary. Mrs. Katherine F. Barker was, previous to her death on May 29th, 1910, a civic leader in Michigan City, Indiana. She was a founder of the Orpheus Club, through which the best in music was brought to Michigan City each year. She was also one of the founders of the Civic Improvement Club and the Woman's Study Club. For several years practically all the private family relief work in the city was carried on by her. During 1910 just previous to her death, she was active in organizing the Charity Organization Society, but she did not live to see its founding. However, her daughter, Mrs. Howard H. Spaulding, Jr., although then only a very young girl, carried out her mother's wishes and for seven years provided half of the budget of the newly organized Charity Organization Society. In making it possible for the PRAA to add to its staff a field worker on Women's and Girls' Athletics, Mrs. Spaulding wished to make her gift a memorial to her mother because of her deep interest in all that pertained to the welfare of women and girls. Mrs. Spaulding will be closely in touch with the work to be done by the Katherine F. Barker Memorial Secretary. Cooperating with the American Legion The cooperation of the American Legion has always meant a great deal to the Playground and Recreation Association of America. The 1927 report of the National Americanism Commission at the Paris Convention of the American Legion contained a number of references to this cooperation: PHYSICAL EDUCATION The Americanism Commission has cooperated throughout the year with the Playground and Recreation Association of America in the promotion of physical education. In several departments where bills have been pending before the legislature to provide adequate physical education laws, the Legion has given its full support to the passage of the necessary bills. In cooperation with the Playground and Recreation Association of America, The American Legion called to the attention of the commanders of all posts in cities whose population was fifty thousand or more, the idea of having realtors allot portions of all new city subdivisions for park, community playground and recreation purposes. This movement is being promulgated by the Playground and Recreation Association, because the acquisition of land and establishment of adequate playground systems is often hampered for lack of space in growing cities. CONCLUSION Throughout the year the Americanism Commission has enjoyed the finest possible cooperation from the American Legion News Service in the preparation of the publicity methods incorporated in the various bulletins on Americanism activities, and in preparing citations to posts for their Community Service efforts. Especial thanks are also due the Playground and Recreation Association of America for its fine cooperation and help in promulgating programs having to do with playgrounds and physical education. It is interesting to see the many things which the American Legion posts throughout the country have been doing on their own initiative to help the local community recreation programs. One of the regular tasks has been helping in the cele bration of patriotic holidays. The National Americanism Commission have distributed programs prepared for Armistice Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day. In the list of community projects undertaken by the local American Legion posts appear the following: Sponsoring Boy Scout Troops Supplying Summer Camps for Boys Playground Promotion Equipping Gymnasium for School Providing Playground Exclusively for Colored Children Sponsoring Old Time Dances Providing Community Christmas Tree Providing Community Tennis Courts Sponsoring Community Basketball Team Establishing Community Museum Promoting the Erection of Community Memorial Buildings Erecting Community Flag Pole and Providing Flag Sponsoring High School Band Sponsoring Wrestling Matches Promoting Summer Sports Carnival Drum and Bugle Corps for Community Entertainments Community Baseball Team PUBLIC WORK IN LOS ANGELES Sponsoring Junior Baseball Forming Town Planning Committee Erection of Municipal Stadium Providing Community Club Rooms Baseball Tournaments Few people realize the extent of the community recreation activities of the American Legion and how much America owes to this kind of American Legion activity. Public Work in Los Angeles, California BY GEORGE HJELTE, Superintendent, Department of Playground and Recreation In Los Angeles it has been found as in many other cities that the initiative and propaganda for large public improvements should come from the citizens themselves through their organized groups most effectively to formulate plans for such improvements and accomplish the improvement program. Over ten years ago, the problem of improving the harbor facilities of Los Angeles became acute. A citizen's committee was formed at the instigation of the Chamber of Commerce for the purpose of formulating a plan and organizing propaganda favorable to the adoption of the plan by the city. Membership on this committee was conditioned upon a contribution of $1,000 by each member to the committee fund. The committee was called the Greater Harbor Committee of Los Angeles. The funds raised by the committee composed of 200, namely $200,000, was used largely for scientific study of the harbor problem and later for propaganda. About the same time, a necessity arose for a complete planning of major traffic highways. A Major-Traffic Committee was formed consisting of about 200 members, each of whom contributed $1,000 to the committee fund. This committee called itself the Major-Traffic Commission. It made a comprehensive expert study of the traffic situation, formulated a traffic plan, had the plan 23 officially adopted by the City Council and organized a program of propaganda which succeeded in financing the plan. This plan of procedure with reference to harbors and highways has now been applied to the problem of parks, playgrounds and beaches. A committee has been formed of 200 members, each of whom will make a contribution of $500 to the committee fund. The sum raised, namely, $100,000, will be used for a comprehensive study of a regional plan. It is expected that if this plan is formulated, it will be presented for adoption and an attempt will be made to have it carried out under a long time financing program. The secretary of the new committee is Hugh Pomeroy, formerly Secretary of the Regional Planning Commission of the County of Los Angeles. In the work of these special committees care is taken to work closely with the various public commissions and agencies which have administrative functions of the various facilities and which have a great deal of data at hand bearing upon the problems. Recreation School in Cincinnati.-Word has just been received from Will R. Reeves of Cincinnati that through the cooperation of Miss Helen Smith, Professor of Physical Education at the University of Cincinnati, Miss Helen Coops, her assistant, and Dean Pechstein of the College of Education, plans have been worked out so that next year the College of Education of the University of Cincinnati will conduct a recreation course in cooperation with the Public Recreation Commission of the City of Cincinnati, giving two credits, and the following year the University, through the College of Education, in cooperation with the Public Recreation Commission, will establish a two-year recreation school with the proper number of credits and possibly some kind of degree in recreation. Mr. Reeves states that students in the Playground Institute at Cincinnati will receive one point credit on completion of the course from the University of Cincinnati. This recognition of the importance of recreation and the necessity of having adequate training for it will please all recreation workers throughout the country. By JAMES EDWARD ROGERS During the past decade no subject in the school curriculum has received more attention and support than physical education. The draft statistics of 1917 and 1918 demonstrated a deficiency in the school system and made it apparent that one of the main jobs of the public schools was to make our children and youth not only mentally fit but also physically fit. The facts and statistics which follow forcefully demonstrate the appreciation by the general educator of the obligation of the school system to train our boys and girls in health and neuromuscular skills so that they may be prepared not only to make a living, but to live a life. We have come to appreciate the fact that we must learn to live as well as live to learn. To conduct a well developed and rounded program in health and physical education including play, recreation and sports, adequate space and facilities must be provided. One of the outstanding facts in the program of the past ten years is the growth in the size and number of playgrounds, athletic fields, gymnasiums, swimming pools and other indoor and outdoor facilities. Practically no junior or senior high school with an enrollment of 400 students or more is being erected without both a gymnasium and an athletic field. In some states and cities it is almost a rule that no junior or senior high school be built without a gymnasium or athletic field. Gymnasiums are also being provided as an essential feature of the elementary school in many cities. It is remarkable to see the splendid indoor facilities being built for the health and physical education work in the senior high schools not only in the big cities, but also in the small communities. These facilities are an indispensable integral part of a high school curriculum. Practically no senior high school of any size is being built without ample gymnasium facilities. Most of the junior and senior high schools of the country are being provided with up-to-date, well-lighted, well-ventilated swimming pools, shower and locker rooms constructed of the best material. It is worth while noting that the gymnasiums are not being built in cellar or basement, but above the ground, usually in separate buildings. The dressing rooms, lockers, shower baths and swimming pools are also above ground and open to the sunlight and fresh air. The provision for outdoor facilities has had just as remarkable and progressive a growth. A bulletin entitled School Sites issued by the National Conference of City Planning in 1926 contains the following statements: Five acres or more for elementary schools and ten acres or more for high schools, whether junior or senior, have been acquired by several cities in each of the following states: California, Georgia, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin. Sixty cities either definitely report a policy of securing for elementary schools five acres or more and for high schools ten acres or more, or the acreage secured indicates such a policy. The statistical data contained in this bulletin indicates that many cities have equalled or exceeded the standards laid down by Strayer and Engelhardt. These standards are: A one room rural school should have a minimum of 2 acres A two room rural school should have a minimum of 3 acres A three room rural school should have a minimum of 4 acres A consolidated school not less than 10 acres A senior high school 12 acres or more. The recommendation of 150 sq. ft. play area per child made by the National Education Association committee is taken for granted in many communities. In fact numerous towns and cities have schools with play areas of over 300 square feet per child. After adequate and well equipped indoor and outdoor facilities have been provided the next question is the provision of ample time to conduct a well-rounded and balanced program. Here also |