63 



FIEST COUXTY PAEK SYSTEM 



frustrated. I am confident that the park bill Tvill be in- 

 dorsed by the people to-day, and I am also confident that it 

 will require an enormous pressure to induce Judge Depue 

 to appoint an}^ commissioners in place of the five he first 

 named, in Tvhose ability, integrity and judgment the public, 

 a5 well as myself, have full confidence. 



^^Yours verv truly, 



'^ViLLiAM A. Uee.'' 



SCEXE OF ACTION SHIFTED. 



This correspondence is given thus fully, as it gives a clear 

 and correct reflex of the situation at that time. Immedi- 

 ately after the county vote was found to have given a large 

 majorit}^ for the park bill, almost the entire field of activity 

 for the parks and the pressure from political and special 

 interests was at once transferred, and the scene of focal 

 action shifted to, the inner room of the court, or wherever 

 the judge having the appointments to make could be foimd. 



In most instances, where large and diversified interests 

 are at stake and conflicting claims become a factor for adju- 

 dication, whether before a court, a legislative body or an 

 executive official, things are not always what they seem, and 

 the kaleidoscopic conditions of conclusion may be frequently 

 shifted almost from day to day as the see-saw of contending 

 influences and varying elements enter into the final disposi- 

 tion of the subject in hand. 



The question then before the court was no exception to 

 this rule. True, the judge, in announcing the new commis- 

 sion the morning of April 18, 1895, gave as Cjuoted below 

 some of the reasons that appealed to him for making the 

 change against what was evidently the trend of public de- 

 sire, and the conclusion left upon Mr. Ure's mind prior to 

 the appointment that no change would be made. That pre- 

 sentment of the judge, however, gave no intimation of, nor 

 made the slightest reference to, some of the most important 

 and potential influences brought to bear upon him to make 

 the changes as he did. Those influences were known to a 

 few at the time, but so far as I know have not yet been 



