Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 4.djvu/188

 170 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

It would, therefore, appear in the interest o£ good citizenship and of economy in morals, and even — what seems of greater importance to many — of economy in money, that one of the most necessary steps to be taken in our commonwealths is to establish such playgrounds and outdoor gymnasiums, with proper provision for their use in winter, where the pleasant sur- roundings would prove a powerful competitor for the saloon — another phase of their usefulness for children of a larger growth.

When we realize, in acts as well as in words, that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure ; when we see that con- struction from the foundation up is more profitable than destruc- tion and the almost hopeless effort to build strong and well on rotten foundations ; when we care as much for character-produ- cing investments as for those bringing large and immediate money returns, and often entailing larger expenditure in time and effort and means ; when we are content to trust in the promise of the future, measured by a normal growth and not by the magic maturity bearing in its heart the seed of its sure decay — then we will know that to provide proper playgrounds for chil- dren of a larger as well as smaller growth is to insure such men and citizens as go to make a republic of men fitted to govern themselves and to lead the world in the onward march against all that cramps man's development and prevents his becoming free in the fullest sense of the word.

The child is father to the man, and the street is no place of rest or refuge for one or the other in his leisure moments. May the wise see to it that resorts for upbuilding recreation insure such occupation of leisure hours as shall be indeed a recreation for body and spirit, and give us a generation strong and joyous and fortified to resist and repel with a happy laugh every dete- riorating temptation and tendency.

Sadie American.

Chicago, August, 1898.