184 FIRST COUNTY PARK SYSTEM 



ways is proved in many cities, notably in Chicago, Detroit 

 and Buffalo, where some of the finest streets are in the 

 care of the park boards, and where there is no interruption 

 at all of the necessities of daily life." 



At the Township Committee meeting of December 14, 

 1896, I was present, and in response to an inquiry, stated 

 the position of the commission as then agreed upon regard- 

 ing the parkways. Counsel Munn also elucidated some of the 

 points as to the intended treatment of the avenues, should 

 the transfer be effected, "the status of the avenues to re- 

 main practicall}^ unchanged, but with parkway embellish- 

 ments, footpaths, bicycle ways and bridle-paths added." 



But, as the town was awakened, the franchise-acquiring 

 forces were also active, and the trolley ordinance made 

 steady progress. At the regular January meeting of the 

 Township Committee in 1897, with David Young and 

 Counsel Dill representing the traction company, various 

 amendments to the ordinance were agreed to. As the popu- 

 lar tide for the parkways was rapidly rising, Mr. Dill 

 stated to the committee that "the company was willing to 

 agree that the avenue should be considered first as a park- 

 way, and secondly as a trolley route, and, in the event of 

 the avenue^s being widened the traction company to be 

 considered as a tenant, to pay one-third the cost, and one- 

 third the cost of any other necessary improvements." 



THE POWER OF PUBLIC OPINION. 



The leverage which, in this country and under our form 

 of government, will invariably call to an accounting and 

 reverse the action of any legislative body — the power of 

 public opinion — was now being actively focalized. At the 

 very time the traction company's counsel and the members 

 of the Township Committee were "fixing up" the trolley 

 ordinance so as to make it satisfactory to all parties, a call 

 was being sent out for a massmeeting in Commonwealth 

 Hall for the evening of February 7. That call was signed 

 by more than one hundred and twenty of the most repre- 

 sentative citizens of East Orange, regardless of party or 



