PLAN FOR ESSEX COUNTY PARKS 1 
into the Legislature a bill drawn on the lines of the plan as 
presented. 
After the meeting I wrote out, as requested, this plan. It 
was in the form of a letter addressed to the chairman of 
Committee on Parks of the Newark Board of Trade, and 
was dated April 16, 1894. 
As this communication and plan soon became the founda- 
tion upon which the superstructure of the movement for a 
county park system and the favorable legislation that soon 
followed rested, the letter is here given in full. It is as 
follows: 
4 
“Agreeable to the understanding at our meeting Satur- 
day evening, fourteenth instant, I note below the principal 
features of the plan unanimously approved by all the mem- 
bers of both committees then present, as being the most 
feasible for establishing a system of parks and parkways: 
“First—That action be taken by a special commission, 
authorized by legislative enactment applicable to Essex 
County. 
“Second—That such commission be composed of five 
members appointed by the resident judge of the Supreme 
Court, and that an appropriation be provided by a direct 
charge upon the county for requisite expenses, surveys, 
plans, etc., the commissioners to serve without compesation. 
“Third—That the commission be strictly non-partisan, 
its members selected for fitness, with the sole object of 
devising the very best scheme for a system of parks that is 
practicable for the entire district. 
“The more we consider this plan the more simple, direct 
and effective it appears. It provides for immediate action. 
It admits of comprehensive treatment for the whole section 
from the Passaic River to the Second Mountain, without 
complications or delay incident to so many local governing 
bodies attempting to solve the problem. The method of 
appointment, free from political or speculative interference, 
should at once enlist the confidence and support of the com- 
munity favorable to the enterprise. 
