Page images
PDF
EPUB
[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Alderman LEE presented the following:

Whereas, Alpheus Sanford has, during the past year, presided over the deliberations of the Board of Aldermen with marked ability and with absolute fairness and justice to all his associates, we gladly, on this our final meeting, desire to express to him our appreciation of his earnest efforts to promote the friendships and pleasant relations that have existed between us, and wish for him a future replete with success and happiness.

The resolutions were read a second time, and the question came on their passage.

Alderman LEE said:

Mr. CLERK: After offering the resolutions which have just been read, I deem it a duty and pleasure to add a few remarks regarding our Chairman. When I say that he has always presided

over our meetings with dignity, fairness, and firmness, I merely state a naked fact which I am unable to clothe with the eloquence which is its proper attribute.

During our not infrequent debates during the past year Alderman Sanford has shown himself the most lenient of chairmen in interpreting the rules; and many times when it was within his power to limit the debate, he, in a spirit of fairness and with a desire to please, allowed us to continue our remarks, although at times foreign to the subject under discussion. I have had the pleasure of serving under several presiding officers, but I have yet to meet a more courteous and generous chairman than Alderman Sanford. His task during the year has been by no means a light one. In his position a position a man should have at his command tact and ability, and he has shown that he possesses an unlimited supply of both.

I,

I think my associates will agree with me, without exception, regarding the manner in which he has presided over our deliberations, and his forbearance at times when it was his privilege to interfere and restrict our discussions. He has given our rules a most broad and liberal interpretation, and I consider it the duty of every member of the Board to thank him for it. personally, cannot find words to express my gratitude for his kindly treatment of me during the past year, and I shall always consider that I have been fortunate to have served under such an able and dignified chairman as Alpheus Sanford. It affords me great pleasure to know that I shall be associated with him again next year.

I do not know whether he will be chairman again or not, but I do say, without hesitancy or flattery, that it will be an impossibility to select a better man for the position. Of course, that is a matter I have nothing at all, to do with-it will be settled by his own party associates; but it may not be out of place for me

to say, however, that the ability he has displayed as chairman during 1894 is argument enough in itself to cause his colleagues to again place him in the chair for 1895. I wish him a happy new year, health, and happiness, and every blessing that Divine Providence can give.

It may not be amiss for me to refer to my time-honored friend, Alderman Fottler. My many years' association with him has been a source of delight to me, and I trust also to him. It has been unruffled, and even our clashing interests for the chairmanship in 1893 failed to disturb the harmony of our mutual respect for each other. I am sorry that I shall miss his familiar form and face during 1895 from the aldermanic chamber, but do not doubt that "Jake" will be with once again when Heaven and the Republican convention see fit to ordain it.

[ocr errors]

I shall also miss Alderman Hall, the handsomest man in the Board. Of his ability I will not speak, as it is too well known to require attention from me, but I shall miss his cheerful smile and kindly words during the coming year. One consolation is left me, however, and that is the knowledge that a friendship has been formed between us which will last as long as life endures.

As I look upon the rubicund countenance of Charles W. Hallstram, I realize that he, also, retires from the upper branch of the City Council. We shall miss his sound advice and business capacity sorely, and we shall also lose the censor of the Board. My best wishes go with him, and I trust and hope that he will again adorn the precincts of City Hall.

My other associates will serve the city during the coming year, and it is needless for me to make any reference to the good-fellowship and kindly feelings which have always existed between us. We have been a happy family during 1894, and I think we shall be during the coming year.

Messrs. Galvin, Hillard, Priest, Brawley, and the City Messenger and his assistants have my thanks

for the many favors they have done for me during the past year. Their duties have been ably performed, and we are fortunate to have such an able corps of officials connected with the Board of Aldermen.

The representatives of the press, and Mr. McGrath in particular, will please accept my hearty thanks. They have always, and Mr. McGrath especially, treated me with the kindliest consideration, and I am grateful to them for it. Mr. Harnden, the official reporter, also has my thanks and best wishes. He has performed his difficult duties in a most satisfactory manner, and although getting a little gray, still fills his position in a manner which is a sermon to all stenographers.

With best wishes to all my associates in the Board of Aldermen of 1894, and my heartfelt gratitude for their courtesy to me, I will close by wishing all my colleagues a happy and prosperous New Year. [Applause.]

Alderman FOTTLER said:

ure.

Mr. Clerk, I heartily second the resolutions offered by the genial Alderman opposite, and I will say that to do so affords me great pleasI have been associated with our genial Chairman for many years. I have known him in political life, I have known him in a business way, and I have known him in a social capacity. But knowing as I do that modesty is a grace which enters largely into his make-up, I shall endeavor to refrain from the use of superfluous or unnecessary words.

I will, however, say this, that during the year he has held the office of Chairman of this Board he has been firm, he has been impartial, he has been dignified, he has been fair in all his rulings. I desire to thank him especially for his remembrance of me when the committees were meted the committees were meted out, and I will say on this occasion, as Chairman of the Committee on Streets and Sewers,

which I regard as one of the greatest committees connected with this Board, that that committee has had a very prosperous year. It has transacted an innuense amount of business, and with a view to showing the public something in connection with the work of that committee, I asked the clerk of the committee, Mr. Murphy, if he would give me a summary of the work that has passed through the committee's hands. This is what he says:

MR. JACOB FOTTLER, Chairman of the Committee on Streets and Sewers:

DEAR SIR: Replying to your inquiry relative to the work of the Committee on Streets and Sewers during the past year, I have to say that forty-four meetings were held. The several petitions referred by the Board of Aldermen to this committee related to street improvements, sidewalk and street construction, bridge improvements, land and sewer damages, proposed location of stables, together with a large number of miscellaneous matters; the same being referred to our committee as a committee of the whole Board of Aldermen. The total number of subjects disposed of and reported upon was 1,235, and aside from the usual number of petitions for street and sewer improvements of various kinds, the docket of the committee is practically clear. In closing this brief summary, I desire to extend my personal thanks for your uniform kindness during the past three years.

Yours respectfully,

And allow me in this Mr. Murphy, the efficient tee, for the kindness and always extended to me, as members of our committee.

P. J. A. MURPHY, Secretary of the Committee.

connection to thank clerk of our commitcourtesy that he has well as to the other

Gentlemen, after a service of three years as a member of the Board of Aldermen, I, with two other members of this Board, shall retire from the precincts of City Hall; and I desire to say that during the whole three years of my connection with the Board of Aldermen everything has been perfectly harmonious. I shall leave City Hall with many regrets.

« PreviousContinue »