The Argument for Playgrounds
A Chicago expert visits Tacoma to argue that city-funded recreation is a better investment than police courts.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Invest your money in playgrounds rather than in police court costs, is the advice of Graham R. Taylor of Chicago to the people of Tacoma. Under the auspices of the Women's club he spoke at the First Congregational church last night. Mr. Taylor showed that the playground in Chicago had done much to lessen crime on the part of the boys. The lecture was illustrated with pictures from the reflectoscope of W. W. Seymour, who is one of the leaders in the local movement for playgrounds for the children. Mr. Taylor will speak again at the Commercial club at noon Thursday.
“Invest your money in playgrounds rather than in police court costs.”
The debate over whether to fund preventative social infrastructure or punitive justice systems remains a core tension in Tacoma’s modern budget cycles. This 1909 lecture reflects an early-20th-century progressive attempt to use urban planning to curb juvenile delinquency.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.