The early 20th century was a time in America when people started to challenge the traditional values laid down by homes, schools and the church. For the first time, women, as well as men, took jobs and had an income of their own, sometimes living away from home, away from the eyes of prying parents. At the same time, the working week shortened considerably, giving workers much more free time. Between 1901 and 1921, for example, the average working week dropped from 58.4 hours to 48.4 hours, an unprecedented decline which has, incidentally, not been equalled since. There was a quickly emerging middle class which demanded recreation, and a working class with an increased income and more leisure time. Meanwhile, new immigrant groups brought in waves of alternative recreational activities, that had not been experienced before by the predominant white population. This led to a rise in what may be call commercial recreation, that is a recreation industry that generated money. Prior to this people made their own fun with pursuits such as reading, needlecraft, music and so on. The religious middle classes had preached the values of self-control, moral integrity and industriousness, and their leisure pursuits were supposed to be morally upright and useful to society. It was these people who had founded museums, libraries, art galleries and symphony orchestras in the late 1800. Now there were increasing numbers of dance halls, theatres, cinemas, social clubs and amusement parks. People frequented beaches, parks and picnic areas where there were band pavilions and outdoor games, and they went to shows, circus shows, vaudeville theatre, burlesque and travelling fairs with daredevil rides. This hedonistic lifestyle more often than not involved drinking alcohol, and gave limitless opportunities for unsupervised socialising between the sexes, and the traditional, long-established organisations, churches and so on, feared for the corruption of their youth. They had to respond and respond they did. There was primarily a call for the new recreational establishments the dance halls bowling alleys and pool parlours to require permits in order to operate, which limited, to some extent, the spread of these new, morally corruptible establishments. The traditional organisations also began to offer alternatives, alternatives to the dance halls and theatres, that would keep the populace both young and old in morally acceptable pursuits. Until that time, establishments such as schools, museums, libraries and so on had closed for long periods of the year, such throughout the summer holidays, but now they remained open all year round and began to promote organised activities, such as sport, music, games and drama, in a bid to lessen the urge for unacceptable behaviour. Schools began to run vacation clubs and an extensive range of extra-curricular activities especially in sports, pubblications, creating a school newspapers and hobbies, chess, stamp-collecting and the like. This was also the era when voluntary organisations such as the boy scout were set up to encourage healthy active and moral pursuits for children. The national association of boys was another. The camp fire girls, the girl scouts were others. Some had roots in the church, such as the St John’s Ambulance and the Boys’Brigade. For young adults, there was the YMCA, the Young Man’s Christian association, another religious group, and the YWCA for women; and there were also community service groups for adults, like the Rotary Club and Lions Club. Another important player at this time was the Playground association of America. This was a national group led by Luther Halsey Gulick, which had the backing of the US president Roosevelt. The purpose of this was to assist people of all ages to use their recreation time to good effect. Remember that in the 18^th children’s play was not encouraged. Children would get arrested for playing on the streets together. There were no established parks and playgrounds for children. The playground association of America, however, acknowledge that play was important and necessary, and a vital part of children’s learning, but that it required effective leadership. The organisation worked nationwide to develop playgrounds in towns and cities, and also put on recreational programs, as well as running courses to train adults in effective play leadership.