A CHAXGE iX THE CUEfiENT 59 



ent conimission will be reappointed to prosecute the work 

 so well begun/' 



The Xewark Call of March 34, said editorially: ''The 

 plan proposed is the best that can be devised under the cir- 

 cumstances. It is a novelty in some respects, as park re- 

 serves, under county control, have not been attempted. The 

 necessities of the popular conditions which prevail in Essex, 

 however, make the plan most desirable. The sites for the 

 parks will, in some cases at least, be in townships which 

 would not dream of such a reservation at their o^tl expense, 

 and the county plan, in any case, will prevent conflict of 

 interest and secure systematic arrangement for care and 

 maintenance as well as location. The scheme is, in short, 

 not only feasible and practical, but is probably the only one 

 that could be carried through.^' 



PARK board's course COMMENDED. 



The Orange Chronicle, one of the most earnest exponents 

 of the park system cause, in an editorial February 16, 

 stated that ^'A number of improvement societies and public 

 boards throughout the county have passed highly compli- 

 mentary resolutions relative to the work of the Board of 

 Park Commissioners, as shown by the report recently 

 published.'' 



Even the Essex papers printed in foreign languages did 

 not neglect the subject. In La Montagna of March 31, 1895, 

 appeared a plea "For Public Parks," in which, after refer- 

 ring to "the very important question the voters of Essex 

 County will be called upon to decide April 9," and 

 saying "Xo Italian need be told of the advan- 

 tages and pleasure derived from public gardens," 

 and "that the park scheme is always the poor man's 

 benefactor," it adds : "America is far behind the 

 Old World in the matter of park development, and this 

 county has only twenty-five acres devoted to such uses — a 

 less number than any other community of like population 

 in the world." An interesting and evidently well-meant 

 statement, but quite too flattering as to the European parks 



