New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-12-26
THE ESTIMATE FOR PARK EXPENSES

Before the Board of Estimate and Appor-
tionmcnt closes its work it should well consider
its responsibilities as to the Budget of the Park
Department. The voice Of the city press has
unanimously pronounced this Department the
grotcsque caricaturc of n municipal machine.
clustering now and cringing next week, it is
unadviscd, inefficient and instructed always
and no man whose opinion is worth quoting has
vet declared that he considers it worthy of con-
fdcncc. Mayor Edison has vcntured to say that
it is not 50 bad rs it has been, and no doubt this
judgement was based upon the fact that he had
selected half of it. But looking back over Il
wear of maladminstration the people can dis
cover no ground for encouragement or hope
from the Mayors appOintccs. II they did not
dilute the intelligence and executive vigor Of
the Board, it was because these qualities were
thin before they entered. No act OF the
year can be pointed To as showing pen
etration or purpose to be commended. And
now it remains for the Board Of AppOrtiOnmcnt
to say whether they are in accord With the
people or with the Park Department. The
Board of Apportionment will be held account
able for the expenditures of the Department
for the coming year, and if the demand for ex-
IIdNdEdUJ BIdulS VI Hloi'g lOl Nu'HAIpihplt
purposes is yielded to- the responsibility will
surely prove an oppressive one
Here, for example, is that $4,000 for propa-
gating-hOuscs This money will easily cover
$4,000 square feet with glass, and an establish
ment Of such proportions would furnish if well
managed, $4,000 plants week through all the
growing season. Aside from the fact that these
plants could be bought more cheaply from COM
mercal growers than they will be raised under
park management, there is the danger that
the Park lawns which have escaped the mania
for formal bedding will break out next SUM
mer with blOtches Of coleus and geranium. 1t
has come TO our knowledge that this scheme of
decoration " is contemplated The artists
now in charge of the Park do not understand
that while formal beds of flowers and foliage
may have place in connection with architect
ural lines and rigid boundaries, they are as
truely artificial as any structure Of masonry or
carpentry and can only mar natural landscape.
There is no danger of having too many flowers
of the right kind in the right place On the
brink of brooks, by the wayside, in shrubbcry
borders, the flowers which choose their homes in
such places are always attractive. How beauti-
full our perennial wild flowers are when natur-
ally disposed can be seen by any one next
spring who will visit the " unimprovcd ground
which General Viele selected for his wild beasts
to root and wallow in. But enough of these
modest natives of wood and field the flowers,
that is, and not the beasts can be had without
an acre and half of greenhouse.
Again, consider the tens Of thousands asked
for Riverside Park. AS designed by Mr..
Olmstead this was n most digniied work, and if
properly completed it will be one of the city's
most cherished possessions. Last year Mr.
Vaux made some careful studies for developing
it in the line of its original conception. All this
has been brushed aside, however, for no one can
believe that the dirt hauling and heaping at the
northern end of the drive has been sanctioned
by man of Mr.. Vaux's taste. Whose plan is
the alleged engineer followng7 Is there any
plant What has been done with the money,
$4,000 or so, spent on the work this year
Here is board which has forfeited public con-
fdence, and yet without making any statement
to justify past expenditures they come to
demand more money without any explanation
of what they propose to do with it. The only
certainty is that if left to their own devising the
work will not be creditable and the strong prob
ability is that it will be DETACHMENT and ruin.
A big appropriation for Riverside Drive will
insure long payroll with the employment of
many unskilled laborers and thoroughly trained
voters. But New-Year's paesent of this sort