EXPERIENCES— EECOMMENDATIONS 295 



sioners and the chosen representatives of the people has 

 given that city a ^'model'' Park Board, and a park system, 

 for its size, perhaps second to none. Both in Minneapolis 

 and Hartford the comparatively large Commissions were 

 evidently created with the view that in numbers there is 

 safety, and with the belief that the combined judgment of 

 many is preferable in such important matters to the de- 

 cision of the few. 



In most of the instances above cited, as in most American 

 and foreign cities, the office and position of park commis- 

 sioner is an honorary one, the members serving during their 

 term of office without compensation. The notable excep- 

 tions are the single-headed commissions, where, as a rule, 

 a salary is paid in conformity with the scale of salaries in 

 the other city departments. In New York the three Com- 

 missioners are paid $5,000 per year each. 



INQUIRIES AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 



In response to the direct inquiry as to my conviction 

 or recommendation as to changes in the law affecting Essex 

 County park matters: I favor an elective commission. I 

 believe, as I did when the amendments to the park charter 

 were under consideration in 1895 (as described in Chapter 

 III), that "the people can be trusted on the issue." The 

 recent popular uprising, here as elsewhere, all over the 

 country for better municipal and legislative condi- 

 tions, again vindicates the sound principle upon which our 

 elective system is founded, and creates a new condition 

 favorable to enlarged opportunities for the selection of 

 such officials directly by the electorate, without the inter- 

 vention or assistance of the courts. Under an elective sys- 

 tem, the taxpayers, who foot the bills for public parks, have 

 the opportunity of directly expressing their confidence in 

 the men who are to spend their money. In the appointive 

 system, as now in force in Essex County, no such oppor- 

 tunity exists, and to establish official responsibility to the 

 peopk is a roundabout course, and an uncertain determina- 

 tion M Gonciuoion to reach. If the eeurt appointive plan 



