104 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



and year out. Without them, New York would have at this time 

 no Zoological Park! 



I regard the Executive Committee of this Society as the 

 most remarkable body of men with which I ever have come in 

 contact. The manner in which those men of great affairs regu- 

 larly, and even joyously, left ''their mirth and their employ- 

 ment," to spend from two to four hours at a time in hard-work- 

 ing business meetings, month after month, for thirteen years, 

 was, to at least one man, both an object lesson and an inspira- 

 tion. Talk about civic pride, and the duties of good citizenship, 

 — the Zoological Park is a lasting monument to that spirit as it 

 exists in the 1764 members of this Society; and in saying this, 

 we only render unto Caesar the thing that is his. 



For eleven years, — 1898 to 1909, — the composition of the 

 Executive Committee of the Society remained almost unchanged. 

 Its members were: 



Hon. Levi P. Morton, ex-officio. President of the Society. 



Professor Henry Fairfield Osborn, Vice-President, Chair- 

 man for seven years ; now President. 



Madison Grant, General Secretary. 



Charles T. Barney, Chairman for three years, Treasurer 

 four years. 



John L. Cadwalader, Counsel, 



William White Niles, Attorney. 



Percy R. Pyne, Treasurer. 



Samuel Thorne. 



Captain John S. Barnes. 



Gen. Philip Schuyler. 



The vacancy caused by the death of Gen. Schuyler has re- 

 cently been filled by the election of Mr. William Pierson Ham- 

 ilton. 



During the first thirteen years of the Society's existence, the 

 Executive Committee held 169 meetings, and only one of them 

 was without a quorum. 



The Preliminary Plan of the Zoological Park was submitted 

 to the Executive Committee, and approved by it, on November 

 27th, 1896. The Final Plan was approved by Mayor William L. 

 Strong, on November 13th, and by the Board of Parks on No- 

 vember 22nd, 1897. The Society's contract with the City was 

 accepted and ratified by the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund 

 on March 24th, 1897. 



The Society assumed control of the Zoological Park grounds 

 on July 1st, 1898, and began the first work in its improvement 



