108 FIRST COUNTY PARK SYSTEM 



more advantageously conducted in the same line as that fol- 

 lowed b}^ other city and county boards, and for that reason 

 our meetings hereafter should be open/^ 



The article continued : ^'The speaker's sentiment was 

 echoed by other commissioners, and Mr. Munn says he is 

 satisfied that in the near future all the business of the board 

 will be transacted publicly." 



In the first report of the "board of commissioners" for 

 1896, issued early in the year 1897, the following paragraph 

 (pages 3 and 4) appears : "The sessions of the commission 

 have always from the beginning been held twice each week 

 and have hitherto been executive in character. The com- 

 missioners feel that, as custodians of a public fund, it was 

 necessary for them to adopt such a course as long as the pur- 

 chase of land formed the chief topic of discussion." 



When I afterward presented the resolution to carry this 

 sentiment for open meetings of the board into practical 

 effect, it was objected to by two of the commissioners, 

 Messrs. Murphy and Shepard, as was the case whenever the 

 subject of passing on the resolution was brought up. This 

 resolution was left with other commiission papers in the 

 drawer of the board-room table at the place I occupied when 

 my term expired, the April following. Why there was ob- 

 jection or why this resolution, or one of similar purport, has 

 never been favorably acted upon, I have never known. 

 Perhaps some future historian of the parks may ascertain, 

 and elucidate this question. 



LABORERS^ WAGES FIXED. 



Another incident that attracted much attention at the 

 time, and may here be of interest, w^as the action of the com- 

 mission in June, 1896, in making it a condition in the con- 

 tracts for work on the park that "laborers be paid $1.25 

 and foremen $2.50 per day respectively, and for cart, horse 

 and driver $2.50 and for double team and driver $4.25 each 

 per day," and in notices to contractors that "the rates to be 

 paid for services be fixed and approved by the commission." 



There was, at that time — the summer of 1896 — a very 



