The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-06-16
The Botanic Garden.

Inc history OF the Botanic Garden down
to to-day, when the plans prepared for 1t
by the trustees have been submitted to the
Park Board, Ia well worthy tho attention
Of students of public affairs. Out of purely
public-spirited impulse, a number of gen.
tlemen conceived the idea Of subscribing
money to establish such a garden. 1t was
to be differed and managed by themselves,
the city giving some portion Of It's park
land for the purpose. TIL scheme was
similar to that under which various half
public, half private institutions, like the
Metropolitan Museum Of Art, have been
administered Public property was to
be put under the control of a private
corporation as the executive, subject to
the final authority Of the municipal
department under whose jurisdiction
it belonged, the Park Department. One
would have supposed that. under these
circumstances we should see in the manage.
ment Of this enterprise a model for the con-
duct Of public business, enlightened. I'M
~prejudiced, and conscious Of its every respon-
sibility. Yet such has not been the result.
The sum subscribed by the members Of the
Botanical Society was generous, $25O,OOO;
but the value of the city's property in
trusted to it by the city was incomparably
greater. Including the public land and
money available to-day and expected here
after, 1t might DO reckoned by millions.
II the influence of the two partners had
been measured by their stock in the con-
Germ, that Of the Botanical Society would
have been small indeed, and the intensity
with which 1t would have guarded the
public interest would have been great.
The site for the garden was chosen with
out reference to the public's ownership.
No representative of the parks as a posses
sion of the community was ever asked orper-
mitted to report as to where, after consid-
ering what was to be gained and what was
to be sacrificed, a botanical garden could
best be placed. Bronx Park struck the
fancy Of the gentlemen in the society, and
the Park Board submitted to their ardent
but headstrong wishes, without a thought
of their obligations to act only after
careful study of the project by competent
students. So the site was chosen.
The next step was the preparation by
the society of plans to be submitted,
under the law, to the Park Board for
approval. These plans were prepared by a
board consisting of two %botanists, a repre-
sentative Of a firm for making greenhouses,
ar architect, a "civil and landscape engi-
neer," and a Landscape gardener" There
need be no hesitation in saying that the
landscape engineer, Mr.. BRINLEY, n the
landscape gardener selected. Mr.. HENsHAw,
have no credentials whatever which could
justify any effort to impose their plans
upon the city against adverse criticism. 1t
Is evident that the part of the architect,
Mr.. X. w. GIBSON, has been to submit to
desires expressed to him rather than to up
hold the standards of his profession.
The plans were then forwarded to the
Park Board, and there, happily for example
and precedent, q committee was appointed
to examine them and report. The commit
tee consisted Of Prof. CHARLES S. SARGENT,
the most learned arb%oriculturist in the
country, and the curator of the Bo-
tanical Garden of Cambridge; Mr.. WILL
LIAM ELIOT, a first lieutenant of FREDERICK
LAW OLMsTED, the maker of parks whom
the public of almost every section of this
country will hold always in grateful re-
membrance, coupled with gratitude to the
numerous officials who employed him; and
Mr.. THOMAS HASTINGS, an architect of the
first rank, fortified by previous professional
association with the New York park sys-
tenn. The report of this committee, of
which, upon the death of Mr.. ELIOT, Mr..
OLMsTED's son became a member, was pub
lished in yestcrday'o sun, advising that
the plans offered be not accepted, and
indicating the direction in which they
should be modified.
Again, we should have expected of such
a society a sincere and strenuous DISPOSE
ton to join the Park Board in insuring
the best possible result, without prejudice
for their W wishes, and to consider with
respect the opinion of the three experts
who had acted for the city. They might
well have felt that, in overriding the views
of Messrs. SARGENT, OLMsTED, and HAST.
INGs,t they would be overriding an authority
equal to or greater than any other in the
country, and that they would be breaking
down the rule always particularly important
to the Park Board, namely, that parks must
not be designed or altered without the ap-
proval of the departments experts. The in.
fraction of that rule is the key to all In.
vasion and vandalism to which the parks
are subjected.
Surprising as 1t may be, however, the Park
Board meeting on Monday showed that there
Is within the Botanical Society a readiness
to do just this thing. There came before the
board a letter from the Mayor urging the
Commissioners to "adopt the plans MS
recommended" The Mayor, we know, is
aman of action, and likes to "do things; :
but we cannot believe that he could be
reused from his other multifarious duties
to this attempt to infuenc the action of a
city department on a subject of which he
necessarily knows nothing. without the
earnest solicitation of some one without.
Somebody has been to see him and pre-.
vailed upon him to use the influence OF
the Mayor to drive the society's plans
through, and to brush aside the criticism
of the Sargent committee. We saw that
done lately on a great scale when Congress,
through political pressure, repudiated the
advice of the Sargent committee on the
national forests. We are none this