QrESTIOXS OF POLICY 



79 



There were certain parks, it was claimed, that should be 

 selected first. When these were provided for, and the boun- 

 daries, etc., established, others conld be taken np. Wee- 

 quahic was one of these, although that lake, with a railroad 

 on one side and mosquito marsh on the other, had been 

 rejected by every one of the landscape architects employed 

 by the former park board, and the commission had also 

 passed it by as too costly to improve, and having too many 

 other disadvantages to even give it consideration as a prob- 

 able location for a future park. 



Again, what appeared to be the defects and dangers of a 

 change of policy were pointed out. If we were to start in by 

 selecting piece by piece and park by park, without regard 

 to other locations and requirements throughout the county, 

 who could estimate where the board would finally come out 

 on the plans, or what the ultimate cost would be? Would 

 the cost not be more than double the amount the first com- 

 missioners had assured the people the expense of the entire 

 system would not exceed ? If the proposed policy should be 

 adopted would we not be in the position of the man begin- 

 ning to build a residence within a definitely estimated price 

 for the house complete, and then starting the foundation 

 without regard to the cost of the superstructure, only to find 

 when foundations and frame were up that the money pro- 

 vided had disappeared with the building but half com- 

 pleted? If the Xewark parks were first determined upon 

 without any reference to the mountain parks or the park- 

 ways, or vice versa, would not the board be in similar situa- 

 tion long before any part of the proposed system was 

 completed ? 



SITUATIOX UXCHAXGED. 



At the close of each meeting the situation remained sub- 

 stantially as at the beginning. Arguments were unavailing. 

 The logic of events and experiences of the past were met by 

 . a statement of condition and of intention to go ahead on 

 new — and to the park enterprise — untried lines. Whether 

 right or wrong in my contentions, the more I thought of 



