The First County Park System in America—III 
Although free from personalities or acrimonious re¬ 
flections, the arguments for and against the prop¬ 
osition stated were earnest and persistent. 
Mr. D. Willis Ja? 7 jes. Among my acquaintances 
there was one for whose judgment I entertained 
the highest regard—Mr. D. Willis James. I had 
known of his philanthropic deeds, his kindly nature, 
his public spirit and withal exceptional judgment 
on large financial operations, and on matters per¬ 
taining to the carrying out of large undertakings. 
I met Mr. James at his summer place at Madison. 
Without mentioning the names of the commission 
or giving any intimation as to which side of the 
question any of them stood on, or the slightest 
inkling of my own views on the subject, T presented 
the matter to him precisely as it was then before 
the park board; stated the claims at issue, which 
had been put forward by each of the commissioners; 
explained to him the amount of the appropriation 
and that it was intended and was appropriated 
for a park system for the whole county, and set 
forth the plan that had up to that time been followed 
by those having the enterprise in charge. His 
reply was earnest, emphatic and directly to the 
point. It made a lasting impression upon my 
mind. ^ 
A Piecemeal Policy. “Do not make the mis¬ 
take,” he said, “of attempting to carry out any 
piecemeal policy in such an undertaking as that. 
It will cost you more than twice what you anticipate 
before you get through, and if you start that way 
you will never be through. 
“In my judgment,” he added, “there is but 
one way to proceed in an undertaking of that 
magnitude, and that is to have the whole scheme 
laid out in advance before any commitments are 
made. In this way you can see the end from 
the beginning and at least approximately know 
at the start where you are coming out.” 
Early in July, I brought before the board the 
matter of encouraging gifts of park land, etc., from 
private owners, and the following statement was 
approved and appeared in most of the Essex County 
papers about that time: 
“The Essex County Park Commission, 
“Newark, N. J., July 25, 1895. 
“In order that Essex County may possess as 
elaborate a park system as possible, the Park Com¬ 
mission has thought it wise to invite the people to 
assist in increasing the area and attractions. This 
is the only commission in the United States where 
the park movement embraces an entire county, 
and the splendid possibilities which follow from 
such an almost unlimited choice of magnificent 
natural features make most desirable the hearty 
co-operation of the press and people in every por¬ 
tion of the county. 
“The experience of other localities shows that 
park development has been materially assisted by 
liberal gifts of land and money, and in almost every 
community that park systems are a monument not 
only to the wise public policy hut to private bene¬ 
faction as well.” 
But further argument was useless. The work 
of the commission in establishing the lines and ac¬ 
quiring the land for the different parks was going 
on apace. The relative bearings that one park 
should have to another, or that any of those deter¬ 
mined upon should have to the park system as a 
95 
