Fort Madison High School - Madisonian Yearbook (Fort Madison, IA)

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THE H H OOI IM wrtlr crvrc rmproverrrent but Rro de Jmerro has been called the first Arrrerrcan crty beautrful She has the adv urttge of 1 wonderful srtu 1 tron and clrrnate but her attractrveness does not he rn these alone The streets are lrned wrth trees even rn the busrness part of the crty and the very lamp posts are works of art The srdewalks and streets are kept perfectly clean not onlv are they swept but even scrubbed It rs hard to belreve that only ten years ago thrs crtv was a sleepy fever strrcken town wrth rll paved streets The lessons rn sanrtatron taught at Panama have been so thoroughly learned and applred that the puprl has outstrrpped the teacher and Rro de Janerro can bear close rnspec trorr wrthout losrng any oi her charm so thoroughly rs she burlt Now the crtres of the Unrted States are wakrng up to the fact that they rre behrnd the trnres All over the country socretres for the rm provenrent of crtres are berng formed md the crvrc prrde of the people tw lkened A notable example of thrs movement rs Kansas Cuty About 1890 tlrrs crty had approxrmately one hundred twenty frve thousand people and was wrthout a foot of ground used for a park Then George Kess ler the landscape gardener drew plans for rmprovrng the crty As soon rt rorned forces llrrs opposrtron party was composed marnly of those who had rnlrerrted tracts of land whrch had become valuable through the crty s growth or those who had bought land when rt was cheap On the other srde were the small property owners or those ownrng none 'I he last two classes were rrr tue nrajorrty but therr success came only after 1 long struggle Frnally the crty was grven power to burld parks ind drrveways On the west srde opposrte the Urrron Depot was a dreat yellow clay bank Now thrs lr ts been transformed by terr lces mto a beautrful puk llre wrld north bluff wrtlr rts great forest trees wls changed onlv by the constr uctron of drrvcways Throughout the crty more con verrtron 11 parks 'md playgrounds were made and rn the rnajorrty of Q tses burldrngs were removed and streets and alleys oblrterated to make room lor tlrerrr lwenty years tfter the campargn was begun Kansas Lrty had over two thousand acres of parks and twenty srx mrles of boulevards lhe cost was srx rnd one half mrllron dollars but the peo ple feel that rt has been 1 profitable rnvestment About erghteerr years tgo George W Cable the novelrst started a. rrroverrrerrt for better gardens rn Northampton Massachusetts and prrzes were offered for the best results People of all classes and ages I G S C H , 'l' E S 21 as there began to be talk of carrying these out, the people who opposed g. ' l gs' . V 1 L lb 1

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C :Wm lK0Qr'QyJrrl3rlr' x!-A .axz l.-I!-lhl ...I xJ.a.a..ax.1...l .J -...I HHIHN Hucms VAIFDICIORIAN ERY few of out c1t1es have been properly brought up Bri g! Most of them just Qrowcd llke Iopsy but we must remember that Topsy w as not noted fol hex be auty For a long tune the hlghest llIll71llOI1 of the cltlcs was to be bug and thenr rapxd growth w as dasastrous to beauty Then when thus l.Illh1tlOI1 was lethzed there came a sw1ft react1on and people beg an to study how to make the cntxes better and more attractxve Elabor ately decorated bL1llCllIlg9 here and there statues or fountaans IH lmproper places or broad boulevards leadmg nowhere but CXl9tlI1g merely for the sake of thenr appearance do not make a town or c1ty beautlful But when all the dxfferent parts are m harmony and each xs a perfect part of the perfect whole thas xs the 1deal Of course lt 19 practxcally lmpossable to change our present day c1t1es to meet every requuement of the 1deal But 1f a plan for the fu ture growth should be adopted and all later changes made accordxng to thxs It would greatly sunphfy m attexs Some of our Amerlcan cltles have adopted plans hke tlus 1n the1r early hxstory One of the most successful 19 Savannah Georg1a where the pr1nc1p al streets run parallel to the raver Every other street IS sa wlde one wxth parkmg and tt the xntersectlon of the altern ate cross streets there are small parks Some of the Furopean COLIHUAICS have gone futher mn the m atter of beautlfymg then c1t1es than have the AI1lCI'lClU9 In Pans m any of the streets have broad strxps on each snde or xn the center planted wlth grass flowers and trees The elevated raxlways of Pans have a sohd roadbed supported by ltrge columns set ftr .ap art lhese columns are often concealed by trees or shrubhery In Berhn much the same xdea xs followed wxth the result that 1n both these places the elevated :all way IS the very opposlte to what It IS 1n Amerlca We are not tccustomed to thtnk of South Amerxca nn connectnon f JU 4-I, 4 , . .. - --, . , , , , 2 , , fl 2 . ,. , 5 0 ar av f . . fr .vw yr! .v a ' Q A 1 ,f 5 Q 1. X ,- A ' , y. ' 2 2 . .,. ,, . .. X , ..., - A . - F-.' 2 2 if ' ' -z . fx, -4 r, X 1: X . . . . . . li ' 1 f pf F 2 . 2 2 gf' 2 .2 2 2 .22 2 3 1 2 Z Z 'I ' , 1 A ' 2 2 2 2 L2 2 , J 4 1. 1. 4 . 2 2 2 2 2 , - -2 , 2 2 . 2 2 ,2 2 .1 , . . Y -ai 1 . 1 I I 1 ' 4 2 Z Z ' , 2 2 -5. 2 2 . 2 .2 . 2 ' 2 , , 2 , 2 ' . 2 , 2 ' ' , 1 f 1 , 2 2 e Z ' 2 ' ' 2 2 2 2 2. 2 , 2 J 2 . , 2 2, 2, ,. 2 2 2 If 1 ' Z 2 .1 2 . , 2 . . 2 ' . 2 . '. - 2 2 2. 1 I . 2

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E HICH SLHOOL TIM began to take an interest all over the little town hundreds joined the competition Now Northampton has wonderful gardens that brighten the whole city and put something of beauty into the lives of the poor The vacant lots are often the despair of the c1v1c worker They are generally used as dumping places or are over grown with weeds One solution of this proplem has been worked out in Philadelphia under the leadership of Samuel S Fels who is president of the Vacant Lots Cultivation Association The owners of the lots loan them for as long a time as they do not wish to build upon them The Association furnishes the seeds plants and rough plowing Each gardener is charged a fee of one dollar the first year two dollars the second and so on to pay for the supphes furnished him Last year between Hve and six hundred of these miniature farms were cultivated within the limits of the city md as many families were supplled with food which they themselves had earned It is said that in one year over thirty thousand dollars worth of vegetables were raised on these lots by unskilled labor work mg at odd hours But the vegetables are not the only gain A feelmg of neighborliness is developed between the gardeners and healthful ex ercise IS provided for grown ups and children In some cases the ex perience gained in these gardens has opened the way to work on a larger scale Bill boards are another nuisance which stand in the way of civic be muty All through the cities wherever there is sp ice these ugly signs may be seen often next to some beautiful building or plrk hven in track sometimes extending continuously for a quarter of a mile or more These cannot help but give to most people a bad impression of the re gion which allows itself to be so disfigured In many places movements have been started to do away with these nuisances Groups of women have pledged themselves not to buy anything ldvertised on bull bo lrds This somewhat limits the buying but is said to be very effective The Woman s Club in Evanston Illinois has co opelated with the city ofhcxals and has done several things of some importance Back tllies have been cleaned up milk and air tests in v1rious places made and the inspectlon of bakery and grocery basements has been setuied In Cuthbert Georgia the women in one year have planted two hundred trees in a public park medical inspection uid sanitary drinking faucets have been secured for the public schools and mtexest unused in 1 sewerage system which is now being built 'I he magannes of to day are doing 1 gre at dc tl to liclp the move 22 T I-I 1 S S E S Q . . . , . ' 1 7 V . ' . I 1 7 ' Y I . . . . , , - z . Y 5 V . . . 2 l - . the rural districts, they are in evidence, especially along the railroad , . ' z ' ' z ,. , . V I . . v i U I . s 1 v - ' . Q . i . K . 2 r . . . ' ' .' , - 2 ' z ' 1 'z ' -