GOOD CITIZENSHIP HELPLESS 237 



"At the meeting of the Park Commission held to-day the 

 following resolution was passed : 



^Resolved, That the secretary be instructed to inform the 

 East Orange committee that the Park Commission has 

 never taken any action looking to a withdrawal from its 

 original position of desiring Park and Central avenues as 

 parkways/ 



In commenting upon this statement, The Chronicle of 

 April 12, 1902, said: ^Tf the Park Commission, after all 

 these official utterances, does not mean what it says, it can- 

 not expect to retain either public confidence or support/-' 



AX ACCO^kll^IODATIXG COUNCIL. 



Notwithstanding these assurances, progress with the rail- 

 road ordinance for Central avenue in East Orange was be- 

 ing constantly made. The City Council had, very accommo- 

 datingly to the traction company, held the application over 

 for weeks in order to enable the company to obtain, if possi- 

 ble, the requisite property owners' consents. At the meet- 

 ing of February 24, 1902, Councilman Thomas W. Jackson 

 announced that "the trolley company had been too busy'' to 

 procure these consents. And that "'Mr. Young had prom- 

 ised him that they would either file the additional consents 

 at the next meeting, or withdraw the application." 



The matter came up for action at the meeting of March 

 29. The council chamber was crowded. The atmosphere was 

 surcharged with corporation influence. It was manifest that 

 any discussion on the merits of the parkT\"ay or trolley prop- 

 osition would be a waste of time. H. G. Atwater, who then 

 appeared as counsel for some of the interested property own- 

 ers, brought out the fact that the company did not have the 

 necessary consents, hence, he said, the council was powerless 

 to act. Councilman Jackson expressed his thanks "for the 

 advice," and said that he was "tired of the business ;" that 

 it was not the duty of the council to act as a court ; and sug- 

 gested that "those opposed to the franchise should take the 

 matter into the courts." 



The Park Commission was not represented in any way at 



