House and Garden 
and be provided for in the new law. Next to the 
matter of method in providing for the selection of 
the next commission, and of determining how the 
necessary funds for the undertaking should be 
obtained, this was considered ol paramount im¬ 
portance. At first the amount suggested in our 
deliberations was ^1,000,000. This was soon in¬ 
creased by half a million. Later ^2,000,000 it was 
deemed should be the limit. 
It may be a matter of interest for the reader to 
know that, so far as could be learned from the in¬ 
vestigations made in 1894—5, the Essex County 
Park enterprise was, and, so far as I have since been 
able to learn still is, the initial county public park 
undertaking of this country. In the legal prepara¬ 
tion of the charter there were, for this reason, so 
many novel and intricate questions involved that 
on January 28, on request of the counsel, John R. 
Emery, it was decided to employ Joseph Coult as 
associate counsel, “in the construction and provision 
of the bill to be presented to the Legislature.” 
Lejt to the People. The commissioners promptly 
decided that they would “trust the people on the 
issue.” An amendment was at once prepared pro¬ 
viding for a vote throughout the county at the 
next election, which was to occur April 9, (1895), 
with the ballots “Eor tbe park act” and “Against 
the park act.” This draft of the amendment was 
immediately sent to Senator Ketcham, at Trenton. 
It was, without objection, added to tbe bill, and on 
Eebruary 26, the measure was passed in the Senate 
by a vote of 14 to o. On the following day it was 
passed in the Assembly by a vote of 50 to o—not a 
single vote having been recorded in either house 
against it. 
The bill carried with it a direct appropriation, 
should it be approved by tbe people of the county, 
of $2,500,000 of public funds. This large sum was 
to be expended as a board of five men to be appoint¬ 
ed by the court should determine. The conditions 
for raising the money were arbitrary, indeed per¬ 
emptory. The disposition of the funds was un¬ 
restricted and wholly discretionary with the board 
when appointed. The matter of appointment, too, 
was left entirely within the discretion of the Supreme 
Court official in naming the commission. 
In view of all these conditions, that such a bill 
should pass without objection or a negative vote, 
called forth much comment. It has been stated 
by those conversant with such matters that the 
passage of that bill in view of the then existing 
circumstances—the amount of appropriation of 
public moneys, etc.—was one of the most remark¬ 
able and unique pieces of State legislation which 
up to that time had occurred. 
In Governor Werts’s message of January 8, 1895, 
appeared a complimentary reference to the park 
movement in Essex County, and to the work of the 
commission thus far. He had also transmitted 
to the Eegislature the commission’s report after it 
had been sent to Judge Depue. 
On the afternoon of April 19, 1895—the first 
commission met for the last time. The finan¬ 
cial statement was then submitted and approved. 
The total expenditures, including architects’ fees, 
$2,372.13; counsel fees, $450; printing and station¬ 
ery, $172.55; rent, secretary’s salary, telephone, 
etc., and all incidentals were $4,474.25, which 
amount had been received from the freeholders 
and the account closed. The board, by resolution, 
then authorized “all maps, plans, reports and other 
property turned over to the commissioners appointed 
April 18,” and then adjourned sine die. 
The record was made. The die was cast. The 
book was closed. Yet, as the people had voted 
for the parks and the way was at last open to secure 
them, the scene had shifted, and a larger book, 
with vastly greater possibilities, was opened. 
A Change in the Current. As the rivulet be¬ 
comes a stream, and the stream broadens into 
the river, the current moves on until the course 
is changed, or completely reversed. So the move¬ 
ment for the Essex County parks, from a small 
beginning, rapidly widened and deepened on its 
course, and although not directly obstructed, the 
current became entirely changed by tbe appoint¬ 
ment of the second commission on April 18, 1895. 
This commission then had everything a public 
board could possibly have in its favor: an ex¬ 
tremely liberal charter, conferring ample authority, 
approved by almost unanimous action of the Legis¬ 
lature and by a large majority vote of the people 
of the county as well; a generous appropriation; 
and more, the good will and confidence of its con¬ 
stituency and the cordial support of public opinion 
throughout the State. 
While the plans of the first commission were, 
during the early part of the year, maturing, the 
favorable comments and commendatory articles 
in the local papers were reflected in the press of 
other cities. The New York Tribune, Times, 
World, and Evening Post all had a good word for 
the Essex parks, during the month of January 
of that year, and before the new commission was 
appointed, had given a resume of the movement 
and of the friendly support extended it. 
Scene of Action Shifted. The correspondence* 
gives a clear and correct reflex of the situation 
at that time. Immediately after the county vote 
was found to have given a large majority for 
the park bill, almost the entire field of activity 
for the parks and the pressure from political and 
special interests was at once transferred, and the 
scene of local action shifted to, the inner room of 
the court, or wherever the judge having the appoint¬ 
ments to make could be found. 
92 
* See Mr. Kelsey's book, pp. 59-'62. 
