THE WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, D.C. 

February 16, 1907
 
MY DEAR SIR: 

It is with regret that I must refuse your kind 
invitation to be present and speak at your annual 
banquet. 

I have noted with pleasure the good work which 
your association has done in promoting playgrounds 
for the National Capital. I am especially pleased 
with the prospect of Congress granting this year 
an appropriation for the purchase of playground 
sites. I trust that the bill of Representative Boutell 
will also go through so that you may be able to se 
cure sites in the various quarters of the city now 
while open spaces still exist and before the price 
upon them becomes prohibitive. The plan of play 
ground development for the District has been so 
carefully drawn that I hope it may be carried out 
substantially as outlined. I regard this as one of 
the most important steps toward making Washing 
ton the model city which we all feel that the capital 
of this Nation should be. 

I have been pleased to see also that there is a 
new interest in play and playgrounds all over the 
country, and that many cities that have not pre 
viously taken up the movement in a systematic way 
have made a beginning this year. The annual meet 
ing of the Playground Association of America in 
Chicago, in June, with its attractive play festival 
and comprehensive study of play problems, is sure 
to increase this interest. I trust that all of our 
larger municipalities will send representatives to 
this exhibition to gain inspiration from this meeting 
and to see the magnificent system that Chicago has 
erected in their South Park section, one of the most 
notable civic achievements of any American city. 

The new appreciation of the value of play in the 
development of children is shown in many ways. 
The physical trainers in all of their recent meetings 
have put a new emphasis on the importance of play 
and are giving a larger place to it in their work. 
The Public School Athletic League of New York 
has organized athletics along sane and helpful lines 
for thousands of school-children, and a number of 
other cities seem to be about to take up this move 
ment. There is a general feeling in our schools and 
colleges also for larger athletic fields and the par 
ticipation of a larger proportion of the students in 
athletic events. In Germany a large number of 
games have been put into the school course as 
a part of the school system, thus extending the 
method of the kindergarten through the elementary 
school. 

In England football and cricket have been 
a part of the school course at Eton, Rugby, and 
most of the other public and preparatory schools 
for many years. In the private schools of this 
country similar to these English schools, such as 
Lawrenceville, Groton, St. Paul s, and many others, 
play is also provided for in the curriculum. I hope 
that soon all of our public schools will provide, in 
connection with the school buildings and during 
school hours, the place and time for the recreation 
as well as study of the children. Play is at present 
almost the only method of physical development for 
city children, and we must provide facilities for it 
if we would have the children strong and law-abid 
ing. We have raised the age at which the child 
may go to work and increased the number of school 
years. These changes involve increased expense 
for parents with decreased return from the child. 
If we do not allow the children to work we must 
provide some other place than the streets for their 
leisure time. 

If we are to require the parents to 
rear the children at increased expense for the 
service of the state, practically without return, the 
state should make the care of children as easy and 
pleasant as possible. If we would have our citizens 
contented and law-abiding, we must not sow the 
seed of discontent in childhood by denying children 
their birthright of play. 

City streets are unsatisfactory playgrounds for 
children because of the danger, because most good 
games are against the law, because they are too hot 
in summer, and because in crowded sections of the 
city they are apt to be schools of crime. Neither 
do small back yards nor ornamental grass plots 
meet the needs of any but the very small children. 
Older children who would play vigorous games 
must have places especially set aside for them ; and, 
since play is a fundamental need, playgrounds 
should be provided for every child as much as 
schools. This means that they must be distributed 
over the cities in such a way as to be within 
walking distance of every boy and girl, as most children 
can not afford to pay carfare. In view of these 
facts cities should secure available spaces at once 
so that they may not need to demolish blocks of 
buildings in order to make playgrounds, as New 
York has had to do at a cost of nearly $1,000,000 
an acre. 

Neither must any city believe that simply to fur 
nish open spaces will secure the best results. There 
must be supervision of these playgrounds, otherwise 
the older and stronger children occupy them to the 
exclusion of the younger and weaker ones; they 
are so noisy that people living in the neighborhood 
are annoyed ; they are apt to get into the possession 
of gangs and become the rendezvous of the most 
undesirable elements of the population; the exer 
cise and play is less systematic and vigorous when 
without supervision; and moreover, in all cities 
where the experiment has been tried, it has been 
found that such playgrounds are not well attended. 
Sincerely yours, 

THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 

MR. CUNO. H. RUDOLPH, President, 

Washington Playground Association.