took the lead, had as president Mr. Henry G. Foreman, and as superintendent, Mr. J. Frank Foster, who still serve in these capacities. To their vision and practical foresight are due the recreation center scheme, in the working out of which the Olmsted Brothers and Mr. Daniel H. Burnham contributed the landscape and architectural effects. From the sociological point of view, however, especial significance attaches to the fact that Mr. Foreman held not only the presidency of the South Park Commission, but also the presidency of the Board of Cook County Commissioners. Under his authority in the latter capacity were the county hospital, jail, poor infirmary and hospital for the insane. His observation of the human wreckage which floats into these corrective and curative institutions led him to consider what could be accomplished through the parks to catch the tide at its source. The planning out of the recreation centers shows plainly the mark of this thought and of intimate observation of the needs of dwellers where city and industrial conditions bear down the hardest.

For some of the social and recreative lines the work of the social settlements undoubtedly afforded in some degree a prototype. If the social settlements contributed anything to the development of this more democratic provision of neighborhood centers, they may in that degree glory in the success of losing part of their life to find it again in the socialized park. The social settlement spirit could scarcely be expressed more finely than by the service which a group of cultivated people might render if they should naturally take up their residence near one of these recreation centers and join with their neighbors in making it count most effectively for better community life. However democratic may be the spirit of a settlement, the fact remains that its facilities are provided by one part of the community for another.

The recreation center belongs to all the people. This was emphasized by President Foreman upon the dedicatory occasions, when he repeatedly declared that every one pays taxes, even if by the humble way of rent and grocery bills. An address by President B. A. Eckhart, of the West Park Commission, at the dedication of its Park No. 1, also indicates the fine spirit with which these recreation centers were conceived. He said, "In these playgrounds and in their work lie the beginnings of social redemption of the people in large cities. They furnish the spectacle of a 'city saving

itself,' of the people of a great city finding nature and God by finding their neighbors and themselves."

In the space of this article it is possible to discuss only fragmentarily the significance of the service rendered by the recreation centers. Their provision of play opportunity for children requires no words of argument; this need throughout the country is now well recognized. The essential fact in Chicago's system is that it affords a continuity of facilities beyond those which appeal only to children. The individual's recreative need is at no age left in the lurch. It is significant that in our juvenile courts a large proportion of the delinquents received are between the ages of 14 and 16, the very period when the small playground begins to lose its grip and appeal. How efficiently the recreation centers are dealing with this problem of delinquency is shown by the results of an investigation financed by the Russell Sage Foundation and conducted by the Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy. In neighborhoods where recreation centers were established the cases of delinquency in the Chicago Juvenile Court decreased on the average 28 per cent.

The harshness with which modern city and industrial conditions repress youth, and the consequences of this, have been discussed with rare understanding and insight by Miss Jane Addams in her recent book, The Spirit of Youth and the City Streets. The recreation centers may not go far in the solution of this broad problem, but they at least afford some provision for tiding over the critical period just after childhood. This is the age when boys and girls begin to have money of their own to spend on amusements. A glance at our smaller as well as larger cities will show the extent to which all sorts of cheap shows, dance halls and amusement places are being provided by those whose sole interest is commercial. That the facilities of the recreation centers serve in some degree as substitutes may be gathered from what has already been told in this article. One part of their service needs a little more explanation-the social halls.

If the street and alley and tiny backyard are inadequate for the play of the children, the small tenements with their clutter and washtubs and cooking odors are quite as inadequate for the social gatherings of young people and adults. The halls at low rental in the

"See "Charities and The Commons" (now "The Survey") for October 3, 1908.

crowded parts of a large city are almost invariably in connection with saloons. It is of the greatest significance, therefore, that the Chicago recreation centers provide halls for the free use of the people. If Mary Sullivan, or the South End Pleasure Club, or any neighborhood group or organization wishes to give an entertainment or dance, a beautiful hall is available with no charge for rent, heat, light, janitor service or the use of the piano. In some of them a most pleasing touch is added by the continuous provision of palms and other plants. So popular are these halls that application for an evening's use must be made well in advance. In them are held dances, stereopticon lectures, entertainments, concerts, banquets, wedding receptions, neighborhood improvement meetings, rehearsals of local dramatic and musical clubs, and many other gatherings except political and sectarian religious meetings. A beautiful loan collection of paintings from the Art Institute was exhibited for a week in each hall. And a recent development is a series of Sunday evening concerts arranged by the Women's Trade Union League. The music is of a high class and is often preceded by brief explanatory talks.

The effect of the recreation centers in the assimiliation of immigrants is no small part of their value to Chicago. They show a kindlier aspect of government than that which has often been most apparent to the immigrant. Through play and social recreation acquaintance among the people of various nationalities may be most easily encouraged. One basketball team was composed of an Italian, a Russian Jew, a Frenchman, a Swede and an Irishman. To develop team play in such a group is symbolical of a neighborly and co-operative spirit which the recreation centers may do much to promote.

About the same time that the recreation center movement started Chicago began to feel the need of an outer parkway. The movement crystallized in 1903 when the Cook County Commissioners adopted a resolution establishing an Outer Belt Park Commission, composed of representatives of all the park commissions and of the city and county authorities. Still more definite shape was given the scheme in 1904, when the Metropolitan Park Report, prepared by Mr. Dwight H. Perkins, of the Special Park Commission, suggested certain areas totaling 37,000 acres. The regions include land on both sides of the north branch of the Chicago River, the Desplaines river valley, the Skokee marches north of the city, a large tract of

hilly wooded ground southwest of the city, and some land around the edges of Lake Calumet. Altogether, the proposed areas form a continuous belt around the city.

The plan was advanced with all the assurance gained from the precedent of Boston's great outer parkway achievement, and the conservative estimate of traction engineers that by 1950 Chicago's population would be in the neighborhood of 10,000,000.

In November, 1905, a referendum vote was held on the outer park proposition. Although the result was 86,768 affirmative votes to 59,028 negative, it was found that under the law the proposition must receive a majority of all votes cast at the election. It therefore, failed by a few thousand votes. Another law has been passed under which a majority of the votes on the question itself will be sufficient. As the result of conferences recently held it is expected that the outer parkway scheme will again be submitted to the voters at the election in November, 1910.

An indication of the recreative use of these beautiful regions near Chicago is afforded by the success of a series of Saturday afternoon walks, organized in 1908, by a group of out-of-doors enthusiasts. The "hikers' club," as it is colloquially called, includes 1,500 people-many of whom are engaged in downtown office. work-who have gone upon one or more walks. In the spring and fall the "hikers" number about 140 on an average walk; in winter as many as fifty. The organization consists of a self-appointed committee. Commutation tickets are used to keep the expense low, and the crowd starts off on an early afternoon suburban train, walks from four to eight miles, usually in regions proposed for the outer parkway, and returns on a late afternoon train. A charge slightly in excess of the transportation is made to pay for the circulars announcing the details of each series of walks.

The outer parkway is, of course, one of the features of the elaborate city plan for Chicago, prepared by Mr. Daniel H. Burnham, under the auspices of the Commercial Club, and now being considered by an official commision appointed by the mayor. The Burnham plan, however, suggests for outer parkway purposes more than double the area proposed in the original scheme. The plan also gives prominent place to another park development which should be mentioned among the achievements of recent years-the enlargement and improvement of Grant Park on the lake front adjoining the business