Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1913-05-31
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portunity to understand the Oakland Park proposition, and therefore could not vote intelligently, or else did not take the trouble to understand so that they could vote intelligently.
 Proving this, a member of one of the committees stated to a Graphic representative that the offer of So acres from the Oakland people car ried with it the condition that the city spend $500 within two years. This is an error, and if one of those present, so misunderstood it, prob ably there were others.
 The Oakland people will absolutely give to the people of Pine Bluff so acres of land with no strings tied to it.
 They further offer to donate $2,500 for improvements if the city will agree to spend $7 ,500-this offer being an additional offer, affecting in no particular their free gift of 80 acres Wishing to be acquainted with the facts, the Graphic secured a copy of the letter that was read at the meet ing, which we reproduce:
 Pine Bluff, Ark, May 27, 1913.
 Park Committee of the City of
 Pine Bluff:
 Greeting: The Oakland Real
 Estate Company makes you the
 following proposal for the City of
 Pine Bluff.
 1t will donate to the city eighty
 acres of land out of it's holdings, including the present lake, (known
 as Smart's PondD, to be used eX-
 clusively for a park.
 The company will also contrib
 ute twenty y-five hundred ($2,5O0),
 dollars i'll cash for the improve
 mcnts and beautifying said park,
 provided the city will expend
 seyentyfive hundred ($7,50W dol
 lars ill additional on said park
 within two years, and not less
 than five thousand ($5.00O) dollars
 to be spent within the first year.
 Each interest to pay it's pro rata.
 Details to be approved by the
 company's attorneys.
 Respectfully submitted,
 Oakland Real Estate Company,
 T. PEARCE, Secy. l. MT. Haverty stated at the meeting that for lack of time, their proposi tion was given in outline only, but that if it was of sufficient interest they would go into full details with the committees with their attorneys. The comment was made the next day by parties present, that it was hardly just to those making so liberal an offer not to do them the cour- tesy, of allowing them an opportunity to give their proposition in detail, as they offered to do.
 There was no necessity for a pre- arranged program park meeting, and there, were numbers of people there who came away laughing at the way the Eden Park proposition was "steam rollered' through. If there was "a full and unrestricted discussion at the joint meeting, then why did some parties who favored Eden Park as a location, afterwards criticise and ri dicule the methods which were used in handling the propositions? Now, the Graphic, has never to it's knowledge objected to any public i'm provement that came up for cOnsid- eration ill Pine Bluff if it was practi- cal, and we are not trying to block the park movement. But we do believe in "toting fair, " and we do believe that Pine Bluff ought to have the benefit of the best proposition from a practical business standpoint.
 The propositions to the city are closed and the offer of the parties who made the most liberal proposition should be made
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