Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 154, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 June 1916 — PUBLIC PARKS A NECESSITY [ARTICLE]

PUBLIC PARKS A NECESSITY

Few Cities Today Fail to Recognize the Importance of Providing Proper Breathing Spaces. A pajk commissioner of Louisville makes the following statement regarding the purpose and value of parks: "The use of public parks is to promote the wellbeing and happiness of the people, to alleviate the. hard conditions of crowded humanity, to encourage outdo<Sr recreations and intimacy with nature, to fill the lungs of tired workers from city'factories and shops with pure and wholesome air, whenever they will or can afford to spend a day in shady groves, under spreading trees or on the jeweled meadows. They are havens of sweetness and rest for moth-* ers and wives and sweethearts; above all, they are for the children, for the people, high and low, rich and poor, without distinction, with equal rights and privileges for every class. A city that does not acknowledge the necessity for public parks as a means for promoting the welfare and happiness of its people, and recognize the substantial advantages that follow the making of a city attractive and comfortable as a place of residence, is not progressing, but is already on the wane.”