Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 February 1916 — MAKING THE CHILDREN HELP [ARTICLE]

MAKING THE CHILDREN HELP

Small Citizens Being Interested in Developing and Beautifying City in Which They Live. Among the many cities that are taking thought for the future in their planning, one seems more forward looking than the rest. That city is Newark, N. J. Not only are plans being drawn for the development of the city, but school children are being taught about the plans, are being acquainted with the general trend of thought in city planning, and are being shown pictures of the objects of beauty, bridges, monuments, arches, water fronts, and boulevards, of the notable cities of the world. Such has been the success of the work in Newark, judging by the interest aroused among the school children, that the committee on public information of the American Institute of Architects has decided to try to make cities all over the country take up a movement to appeal to children in schools. No city plan is safe from being neglected and forgotten if the coming generation is not trained in a sense of beauty and fitness that will recognize the needfulness of proper development. One of the causes of the neglect of cities at this time and of the ugly and hideous things that have been permitted to be built in them is the lack of early education in a sense of the beautiful. There is a direct economic benefit to be derived from making a city beautiful. Any city that has developed along the rijht lines will exemplify this statement. Generally the physical appearance of a city is a sure index to the character and Ideals of its citizens. The whole city planning movement speaks well for a spread in common sense, in the ability to think; and in a sense of enduring values, among the citizens of American cities. has as much need to teach its school children the essential things about a “city beautiful” as any other city has. Time and time again the city planning of Washington has been threatened’ with, being warped and violated by persons who decline to look into the future,