78 



FIEST COrXTY PARK SYSTE^I 



certain general j^rinciples which witli reasonahle certainty 

 foreshadow ultimate results^ much as, under the applica- 

 tion of the axiomatic rules of science, like causes produce 

 like results. Anticipating that park making on a large 

 scale might involve these principles, the first Park Commis- 

 sion had, as indicated in the preceding chapters, continn- 

 onsly dealt with the park system as an entity, hoping 

 thereby to avoid the pitfalls of sectional differences, and, by 

 treating the proposition as a whole, thus to be in a position 

 to better determine the probable limits of cost for ^'sl system 

 of parks in its entirety." 



QUESTIOX OF POLICY. 



After the second commission had completed its organiza- 

 tion, the question then before the board, briefly stated, was 

 whether the pledge made by the first park commission in re- 

 spect to the policy of establishing the park system should be 

 carried out, or a new policy on other lines be inaugurated. 

 The consideration and discussion of the subject went on for 

 months. At almost every meeting it received attention. 

 Although free from personalities or acrimonious reflections, 

 the arguments for and against the proposition stated were 

 earnest and persistent. 



Mr. Murplw was emphatic in his advocacy of a new 

 policy in saying "I am here to lay out the parks and to 

 expend the money appropriated for that purpose as in my 

 own judgment I think best, without regard to what the 

 former commission may have said or done." When in 

 ansv/er, in espousing the cause of continuing the plan and 

 policy of the first commission that had received such cordial 

 public indorsement, I referred to the conviction forced upon 

 me, "to consider the pledge of that board as a binding obli- 

 gation upon its successors, for it was upon that pledge the 

 court, the Legislature, and the electorate of the count}^ had 

 acted in passing the charter and in granting the large ap- 

 propriation then available," we were reminded that the first 

 commission was no longer in existence, and that it had no 

 right to bind the present board in any way whatever. 



