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Show I PLAYGROUNDS. j The great number of apartment houses and i flats that have been built in Salt- Lake City dur- ; ing the past year or two indicates that the city ,s j following in the way of other and older cities o. the east in the matter of modem conveniences W ; the grown-ups. At the same time, there is no ade- ; quate provision for the children. Of course, ehil- j dren are unfashionable in these latter days, and especially in apartment houses, but there are nev- , ertheless, thousand of children, and provision should be made for these that they may grow ur ! strong and healthy awl that they may become n-.r- . j mal men and women. Inl in Salt Lake has in- ! creased in value wonderfully durin- the time that ! our flats and apartment houses have been build- ( ing. and the effort of the owners of the land U : to make it income producing. That i.s a commend- j able thing to do; idle land is an expense to the individual which ordinarily he cannot afford t. carry. So there is no front yard, and no back yard that may be utilized by the children as a place of play and enjoyment. The children of the city need 25 cents and street car tickets to take them out of the city, out into the sunshine and to the grass plots where they can romp and run and jump and cut up capers like children ought to do. It will probably be a great many years before Salt Lake will have the same problems confronting it as has New York, but if New York had her ex perience and Salt Lake's opportunity today, there j i can be small doubt that the metropolis would set I - j aside well selected sites for municipal playground?. 9 1 1 Now the opportunity for New York is past. As a j ! substitute, the people of that city of considering I closing certain streets to all traffic after certain j hours and turning the streets over io the chil- L Z". dren for their exclusive use and benefit. A dirty, f hard street certainly is a very poor substitute for i. I playground, but it is the best the great city of j New York has to offer, and the matter is under consideration. New York wishes it had playgrounds, right down in the city. Like most of the older cities. New York grew up and learned by experience of the mistakes she had made. It is not necessary for the newer western cities to have the same experience. We of the west may profit by the experience ex-perience of others. -We should give serious con- sideration to the needs of the coming generation. It is high time the foresighted people of the city should take the matter of municipal playgrounds up and make provision. We need skyscrapers and apartment houses to accommodate men and women, ' but we need romping places for the children, too. ' And if we act wisely in this generation, those that come after will rise up and call us blessed. j , |