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kindly courtesies which they have extended to me, and I trust that it will be a long day before we shall be separated from each other in private life. [Applause.]

Alderman BARRY said:

Mr. Clerk, I presume the probability is, without looking up the records, that it is very rarely that a man of my age can be able to say in a Board of twelve members, the Board of Aldermen of the great municipality of the City of Boston, that at one term he served with almost a majority of the present Board in the lower branch of the government, the Common Council. If I am not wrong, Mr. Clerk, there are tonight sitting at this Board, including the presiding officer, six members with whom it has been my privilege to serve in the lower branch. Mr. Clerk, I may say that between those six gentlemen and myself nothing but the kindest of feeling has always existed, and I hope that that same feeling will always continue to exist hereafter.

To those members of the present Board - with whom I have not previously so served, I desire also to say that I certainly hope the good feeling between us will always continue. I myself, Mr. Clerk, may at times have been impulsive. I am so at times, in argument and debate, and in the heat of such I may have said some things that at But I detimes may not have been acceptable.

sire now to say, as there can be no better time to say it, that I leave this chamber to-night with no feeling against any member of the Board of 1894, its Chairman or any other member.

Mr. Clerk, I would not be true to the father and mother I came from if I held any animosity in the slightest degree. While, as I have said before, the debate may have been warm and I may have been warm, being of a warm-blooded nature, and perhaps at times having said some

things that may not have pleased some members of the Board, I desire now to say to one and all, that I have no feeling against a single

member.

I myself have served under eleven presiding officers, and I may at times have felt that I perhaps did not receive at receive at the hands the hands of the presiding officer certain considerations that, in my opinion, were due to me. But I say frankly and openly that I have no feeling against any one, and when I leave this chamber to-night, and as the electric lights go out, it will be with the best feeling on my part for every member of the Board. I wish to say to the presiding officer, "God speed!" May he be happy and prosperous here and hereafter. [Applause.]

The resolutions were adopted unanimously by a rising

vote.

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Chairman SANFORD said:

Fellow members of the Board of Aldermen of 1894: Very pleasant, indeed, are pleasant, indeed, are the words of the resolutions which you have just passed; but, if possible, more pleasant to me are the words you have seen fit to utter as you have seconded these resolutions. What can I I say to you? You do not know how much I thank you. You do do not know how difficult it is, how nearly impossible it is, for me to properly answer the pleasant resolutions you have just passed. I feel it, I appreciate it, but I do not properly respond. I am cognizant of that, perhaps more so than any of you, friends of mine. I remember distinctly, early in January last, when you were kind enough to elect me to this position, and under the escort of a committee I passed around that portion of the chamber, through the centre, up this way, and I met in this chair Alderman Lee, who was the presiding officer at that at that time. As I ap

proached the desk from this direction, he stood here with the gavel in his hand, and among other words he said, "If you have occasion to wield this, use it in the exercise of the best interests of the city, for good government and reform." I have tried to do whatever seemed to be for your best interests and the city's best interests at the time when it was before me for action.

I came into this chair with little knowledge of the vast responsibility that here exists, with no experience in parliamentary law. I came here ignorant of many and most of the things that go far towards making a presiding officer; and one of the first things that I distinctly remember, and for which I have occasion to thank you, was the great forbearance and patience which you extended to me while I was trying to master the difficulties of my position. I little know whether I would have succeeded well or not had it not been for your great kindness to me at that time. Possibly you do not now realize it; but knowing what I have gone through, and recognizing and fully seeing what you did then, I know how important it was to me.

Now, if I have been successful as your Chairman, I have been so, not only because I have had to be so, but mainly with the grand assistI beance which you have all rendered me. lieve I have exercised the duties of the office without fear or favor. fear or favor. I believe I believe that I have made in many senses, perhaps, a dignified and impartial Chairman. I say this because if your words mean anything, they are certainly evidence that those qualities in me exist.

But I do not believe this is a time for me It has been said to speak in a personal way. that this is the time when the review of the year should be made. I am not disposed to do that. The record has been made. That record is written and is open to view. In that record we

have all played our part; it can be seen, it can

be known.

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We have had a busy year; we have had a fortunate year. I may say, looking at it from a legislative point of view, we have had a successful year. I think we have attended, as a Board, to more business than has any Board of Aldermen for many years; and in doing so we have not been hasty, but we have been careful, safe, and prudent. It will at once occur to you that one of the most extensive investigations that has been held in City Hall we have had the pleasure of closing to-day, the investigation of the Public Institutions Department.

In considering the questions arising we have had to deal with the practice and theory of everything that pertains to the management, support, and government of penal and pauper institutions. This is a serious matter, a large matter, an exhaustive matter; and I claim, gentlemen, that you have attended to it squarely, fairly, and successfully, and that the report of your committee, which we have we have adopted to-day, will inure in great benefit to both our criminal population and our poor people.

At the closing of the year one is apt to meet with many thoughts bordering upon sadness; and so, sometimes, I think the same thing occurs at the closing of a political year. But the only thought of sadness that comes over me at this present moment arises from the fact that some of our members are obliged to leave us. What can we say to them? It seems to me we can say this: We know you well. You have been with us during the year or more. Your association with us has done us good; and while your places may be filled, you cannot be forgotten.

To those of you who return, it seems as though we should bear this in mind to come back, if possible, with a renewed activity, with a strengthened zeal, with a stronger disposition to labor earnestly and faithfully upon those vast questions, requiring legislative experience and action, that enter into a large municipality like ours.

It is not right that I should, nor do I desire at this time to in any sense overlook those connected with this Board in official positions. And first I want to speak of our worthy Clerk and Assistant Clerk. No one knows but those two gentlemen how much I have bothered them, how much I have annoyed them, how repeatedly I have pressed them with questions that were often foolish and trivial. But throughout the year, from the very first until to-day, the same smile, the same courteous treatment, the same generous, whole-hearted talk have I received from both those individuals; and, of course, I can do nothing more than, in my feeble way, to wish them the greatest prosperity. The Clerk of Committees and his assistants have been of great service to us all, and to me personally, and I thank them heartily. To the City Messenger and his assistants I also extend a heartfelt greeting. To the stenographer, the representatives of the press, and all connected with this chamber in official positions- I thank you all.

I think thing now remains but to close the The duties of the proceedings of this Board. Board are finished, and the official sound of the gavel is the one thing that remains to close our existence. [Applause.]

Alderman FOLSOM offered the following:

Ordered, That the closing proceedings of the Board, together with the address of the Chairman, be printed as a city document, and that the Superintendent of Printing be instructed to have copies thereof bound for the use of the members of this Board; the expense thus incurred to be paid from paid from the contingent fund, Board of Aldermen.

Passed under a suspension of the rules.

Adjourned, sine die, on motion of Alderman WITT, at 8.30 o'clock P.M.

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