COXIEST FOE PAEO'AYS COXTIXUED 213 



ard and Peck^ and Counsel Munn of the park department. 

 George Lethbridge, president of the council, presided. 



The statement was conciliator}* and explanatory, and be- 

 gan: "If there are an}' differences between the boards in 

 conference here to-night, I am snre they are due to a mis- 

 understanding and not to cross purposes. Both are public 

 bodies seeking public good, and the action we desire the 

 council to take is, we think, decidedly for the welfare of 

 the citj, as much as for the welfare of the county. Indeed, 

 our request seems so little for you to grant that we are sur- 

 prised that the necessity for it should arise.' 



Assurances were then given that the commission "'does 

 not desire you to lessen one particle the municipal control 

 you now exercise'' or "'to abridge in the slightest the rights 

 of the property holders. We merely wish to be substituted 

 for the Board of Chosen Freeholders, because the Park 

 Commission is the only county board that has authority to 

 beautify these thoroughfares and raise them above the level 

 of ordinary streets. We ask you simply the privilege of 

 adorning the streets of your city at county expense, and 

 therefore I say it is surprising that any reluctance on your 

 part should exist." 



Then the commission's previous official statement, as to 

 the non-intention to widen the avenues or attempt to assess 

 benefits, was reiterated. Answer was also made to the claims 

 of the traction company's representatives that the transfer 

 would give the commission the right to at once permit trol- 

 leys on the avenues, in these words : "It has been asserted 

 that we could turn over the parkways to the trolley. On 

 the contrary, the consent of the council and of the property 

 owners would be necessary as now, and our action is 

 final only in matters relating entirely to decorative 

 development." 



An informal exchange of views followed. Commissioner 

 Shepard said that "small parks were more in the nature of 

 play-grounds than they were of parks, and that, as such, 

 they came under the control of the municipalities and could 

 -not be incki4eii in a general scheme of the entire county,"' 



