CHAPTER VI. 
THE FIRST $1,000,000. 
WitH the great mass of people, to whom the matter of 
income vs. expenses is a present and ever-recurring problem, 
there are, perhaps, few characters in fiction more interest- 
ing or that have attracted wider attention than Wilkins 
Micawber. His object lesson in correct finance, showing 
the happiness that may follow from an income of “twenty 
pounds a year” and expenses of “nineteen pounds nineteen 
shillings and sixpence,” when compared with the misery 
resulting from a like income and the expenditure of 
“twenty pounds one,” illustrates in a few words a principle 
of very general application. 
Thus, in the park enterprise, each of the commissioners, 
favoring the policy of being pecuniarily forehanded in pub- 
lic matters as in private affairs, was of one mind as to the 
desirability of providing ample funds before incurring lia- 
bility for land purchases or other financial obligations. 
After the organization of the department was completed 
and the first requisition for $5,000 on the Board of Free- 
holders in May, 1895, had been made, the commission then 
took up the subject of a bond issue for a large amount. 
This was arranged through a joint meeting with the 
Finance Committee of the freeholders on June 17. At this 
conference it was agreed that, as the proceeds of the bonds 
were under the law to be turned over to the park board, the 
commission should take the initial and active steps in the 
negotiations for the bond issue. 
TO CONSULT WITH BANKERS. 
The meeting was entirely harmonious, and I was ap- 
pointed a committee, with the counsel, to consult with some 
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