188 FIRST COUNTY PARK SYSTEM 



tude of tlie Park Commission on the points raised in the 

 Stanley letter. 



"It has been, as yon know, my conviction from the first, 

 as stated at the meetings and as indicated in my letters 

 to yon and to m.y coUeagnes, that we should meet these 

 im.portant public questions promptly, fully and explicitly; 

 and it is still my firm conviction that this is our only 

 course if we are to avoid unjust suspicion and prejudice, 

 and retain the confidence of the public — so vital to the 

 present and future welfare of a great public undertaldng/^ 



On January 26 I wrote Commissioner Shepard: "It 

 seems to me that every day^s delay in our defining clearly 

 to the public the relations between the Park Commission 

 and the local boards is resulting in serious detriment to 

 the commission/' And on February 10, "I am impressed 

 that the action of the Township Committee last evening 

 throws upon us an additional burden of responsibility as 

 to our position toward that committee and the public on 

 the matters we have recently been considering. 



"If our action in asking for the transfer of the avenues 

 for parkways was right, should we not openly so state to our 

 Township Committee friends our position on all the ques- 

 tions involved, as a matter of mutual interest affecting the 

 same constituency ? It seems to me this cours is now incum- 

 bent ; indeed, can we take any other 



Again, March 6, 1897, I wrote Mr. Shepard: "I feel 

 very anxious about the affairs of the commission, both as 

 to our financial situation compared with the commitments 

 and needs of the department; and also as to the persistent 

 effort that is being made to use the commission by acqui- 

 escence in carrying out the schemes of the traction specu- 

 lators and their allied politicians to the injury of the park 

 system. The articles in the Newark papers of to-day, while 

 no doubt inspired by the same influences that have all 

 along been creating distrust and injury to the commission, 

 yet assume a degree of assurance which makes it appear as 

 though the commission were favorable to the sacrifice of 

 one of the park^vays at the behest of the trolley interests." 



