PRELIMINARY WORK COMPLETED 45 
rest. Should the Governor be charged with that office? 
This would mean, or might mean, possible interference in 
what was strictly a county affair; it would open up the field 
of possibilities for the exercise of political or party “influ- 
ence ;” and it would be open to the still further objection of 
a board for the county being named by the authority of an 
official outside the county, chosen by and representing the 
State at large. 
Would the freeholders be likely to agree upon the right 
sort of a commission? Here were more serious objections 
still, with all the possibilities of unrestricted controversy 
and acute jealousy. Should one judge, or a plurality of 
judges, make the selection? The single court appointment 
was finally agreed upon, following the precedent in creat- 
ing the first commission. It was this plan which was finally 
included in the charter and is still operative. Whether the 
adoption and inauguration of that plan was wise, it may be 
the rightful province of the public to determine. I shall 
refer to this subject in a later chapter. Here I will only 
add in passing that, before the commission of 1905 had been 
long in existence, circumstances developed which made it 
manifest that it would have been better had the plan been 
modified and restricted. 
FINANCING PARK EXPENDITURES. 
The matter as to financing the park project was at once 
an interesting and troublesome proposition to determine. 
The precedents and experiences of very many park under- 
takings, both in this country and in Europe, were carefully 
looked into. Almost every scheme of providing for the cost 
of park lands and the improvements was considered. They 
included direct assessments on contiguous property in full 
or in part; partial assessment on adjacent lands; and for the 
entire cost being provided in the general tax levy upon the 
whole district or municipality. Each appeared to have ad- 
vantages against other more or less potent disadvantages. 
Direct assessments were found to have been cum- 
bersome, costly and unsatisfactory, and in many 
