1 



further, that the character of those places upon which lie 1 

 hases his valuation is entirely and radically different. 



Let us take Mr. LeCount. He is another expert. I 

 say that his estimates are not entitled to any weight what- 

 soever, that they should have no weight before your 

 Honors, because they are based entirely on prospective 

 conditions — on something which may take place a 

 half-century hence, or a century hence, and on a condition 

 of affairs which is non-existent to-day, and which your 

 Honors have no right to consider. He expressly divides 

 all these areas and tracts into cpiarter-acre plots and acre 

 plots, and on that future development, its division into 

 village plots and lots, he bases his present valuation. 



In regard to Mr. Findlay, I was amused somewhat by 

 his frank confession that he could not attempt to give the 

 market value of this property. He said it had no market 

 value as far as he knew, and he could not give it ; so, of 

 course, his testimony is entitled to no weight. 



What was the condition of this area when the Park act 

 was passed in 1884 — of the portion of the 3,166 acres in 

 the town of Pelham, viz. : 1,700 acres which is included 

 within the area of the Park ? Except the little settlement 

 or hamlet at Bartow, there had not been six houses built 

 within twenty years. There was only one store, and 

 not a church, or a manufactory, or a school-house in the 

 whole district. The farming lands were lying fallow, the 

 meadows were waste and barren, as Mr. Hunter himself 

 testifies in regard to one of his farms. I remember well 

 the occasion of my first official pilgrimage through 

 the Pelham Bay Park ; how I was impressed with the 

 barren and waste appearance of the whole tract ; 

 how I was impressed with the grass-grown drives 

 and the creaking piazzas, and the general aspect 

 of ruin. It was upon this moribund and stagnant 

 district that the passage of the ."New Park Act came like 

 manna. It was indeed a Godsend, for these men had been 

 for years and years trying in vain to dispose of their prop- 



