470 
PARK AND CEMETERY 
TKe First County^ ParR System.* 
W’e know of no work so entirely explanatory of the 
inception, methods and progress in the development 
of a large park system as the book entitled “The First 
County Park System,” written by Mr. Fred’k.W. Kel- 
sey, and devoted to the Essex County, N, J., 'system 
of parks. It is, therefore, intensely interesting and in- 
structive, and moreover authoritative from the fact 
that Mr. Kelsey was intimately connected with the in- 
ception of the system as an active official, is a resi- 
dent of the county and is a warm advocate of ample 
park facilities for the people. 
It is a book not only instructive as to the methods 
of procedure to be pursued in the work of establishing 
a large park system, but it also embodies a number of 
practical lessons to the people as to how they should 
insist upon the conduct of their park affairs for which 
they provide the funds. The Essex County Park Sys- 
tem was inaugurated under auspices which promised 
ideal results, but in view of the money to handle and 
the spoils in prospect, certain aspects of the “graft” 
question crept in, destroyed the ideal, created scandal 
and lost public confidence ; and while the county has 
secured some splendid parks, whether they will ever be 
completed and connected as originally designed is a 
question. 
In order the better to understand the various steps 
in the progress of the undertaking from the business 
and political aspects, a brief running account gathered 
from the pages of the book will be given, because the 
reader in this way will be enabled more readily to grasp 
the situations as they occur, and form a more reason- 
able judgment. 
No similar undertaking of the magnitude of the Es- 
sex County, N. J., park system was, perhaps, ever in- 
augurated under more auspicious circumstances. When 
the project was made public, it was received with unan- 
imously favorable comment from all sources, and from 
this, on December 6, 1903, there came about a meet- 
♦From the new book on the Essex County Parks, entitled “The First 
County Park System.” Copyrighted 1905 by Fred’k W. Kelsey. Pub- 
lished by The J. S. Ogiivie Publishing Co.. 57 Rose St., New York. In 
cloth. Half-tone illustrations. .$1.00 postpaid. 
ing of the Board of Trade of the Oranges, at which 
a resolution, presented by Mr. Kelsey, was adopted, 
urging “that legislation may obtain at an early date ‘ 
that will enable the growing communities' in this por- 
tion of the State to provide a suitable system of parks 
and parkways,” and authorizing copies to be sent to 
the Governor and representatives of the district. Meet- ; 
ings of interested bodies followed, a committee was ] 
appointed to formulate a “suitable plan,” and a definite ! 
and complete scheme was agreed upon. The press j 
cordially supported the movement, which intended a ; 
comprehensive plan of parks and parkways for the en- | 
tire county. i 
Investigations and studies were made of parks, park i 
legislation and methods of procedure elsewhere, and | 
on April i6, 1894, a sub-committee, Messrs. Kelsey! 
and Keasby, presented a communication to the chair- , 
man of the Committee on Parks of the Newark Board | 
of Trade, containing a plan unanimously passed upon; 
hy all committees interested, as' being the most feasible ! 
for establishing a system of parks and parkways : [ 
“Eirst — That action be taken by a special commis-| 
sion authorized by legislative enactment applicable to ^ 
Essex County. i 
“Second — That such commission be composed of ' 
five members appointed by the resident judge of the^ 
Supreme Court, and that an appropriation be provided' 1 
by a direct charge upon the county for requisite ex-i, 
penses, surveys, plans, etc., the commissioners to serve j ■ 
without compensation. i 
“Third — That the commission be strictly non-parti- j * 
san, its members selected for fitness, with the sole ob-; . 
ject of devising the very best scheme for a system of|| 
parks that is practicable for the entire district.” tS 
The plan met with immediate popular approval, and! 
without delay the bill was prepared in strict accord i; 
with the plan above outlined, with the exception that[| 
the time for which the commission was to be ap-j 
pointed was limited. The bill was introduced into thej 
legislature by Senator Ketcham on April 26, wasjj 
promptly taken up, and on May 8 it had passed bothM 
