Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 15.djvu/545

MUNICIPAL REVIEW, 1908-1909 53i I am more interested in what you are doing and in what it stands for than in anything else in the world. You are buttressing the foundation of democracy; you are making it more assured that our children will enjoy even more richly that which we have cherished in our lives.

A political leader declared: "The schoolhouses are the real places for political meetings. I do not mean that they should be open to any one political party, but to all. Why should I be compelled to go into a barroom to address a political meeting where the bartender uses me to advertise his beer?" The use of the schoolhouse for political meetings is no new thing. The time was when the little red schoolhouse was the only place of meeting for the whole community for every conceivable purpose; and it is an encouraging development in the municipal situation of today that our schoolhouses are being utilized as means of service not only to the children, but to the whole population.

There is an increasing tendency toward more intelligent interest in civic and general public matters on the part of women, and specially organizations of women. They are bringing into municipal life a fresh point of view and a real enthusiasm for higher standards which must ultimately produce results of far-reaching character. They realize ofttimes far more vividly than men, the fact that "To be a good citizen without seeking to remove bad social conditions is impossible." As Miss Zona Gale, of Wisconsin, a well-known writer, pointed out in a recent address: "This puts the responsibility where it belongs," and she added that "Nowadays there is no part of civic and social life in which women may not help." She could have added with equal truth, "and help effectively."

City planning has had a great impetus during the past year. No review of existing American municipal conditions would be complete without at least a reference to the development of public sentiment in behalf of a more intelligent planning of the city along physical lines. As has been pointed out on more than one occasion, the city in which its citizens can take but little pride is one in which there are few improvements.

That city in which the citizens have no interest in their identification with it, is one that lacks public spirit, that is filled with critics and dicta-