The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1860-08-20

1 Ill.
lie SAID the Council had taken the McDonoph fund
borrowed it, but the interest on it will all have to
De PAID by increasing the taxation of the city, The
advocates OF Reform denounced these acts of ex-
| uaVagance-they do not want the rate of taxation
increased over per cent. upon the actual yalua
| ton. Ihey intend to apply the knife and cut down
TAXATION so that it shall not exceed one per cent
| lie denounced the plan now in vogue of increas-
| ing the expenditures of the city government and
| endeavoring to keep down taxation. He then re-
1erred to the mode of making the nominations for
the offices of Mayor and City Council, and said
tnere may De some difference of opinion in regard
| TO the plan proposed by the committee in the ad
| dress just read. He thought that if one good man
| was selected from each ward, who would 90 ont
among the citizens, inquire into their opinion about
different men, learn their views upon this suh;act
and discuss the matter fairly and frankly no doubt
| they Will furnish good maG upon whom all de-
string change in our city's affairs could rally.
Inc plan OF calling ward meetings and selecting
delegates to choose candidate was not to be de,
| pended upon. We would find, perhaps a man
| forced upon US, who was not the one for the ex-
lgency The condition of the city was SUCH that its
finances and all its interests could not be placed in
interior hands. We want man who will not ner
NIT this excessive taxation to prev longer upon the
community. The committee, said Mr.. Gill; there
fore thought it best to submit the plan for making
the nominations embodied in the address to the
| consideration of the meeting
When MIR. Gill had concluded DR.. Hntze arose
and inquired by what authority this Convention
| had been called together. The Reform Convention
which he was member, had adjourned sine die,
which proceeding he had opposed-he merely rose
| to inquire in what way il was now convened He
had heard the proposition contained in the address,
| as TO the mode recommended to be pursued in se-
| lecting candidates He would have preferred that
delegates should have been'seected from the wards
| who should form Convention which Convention
| should make the nomna tions. The plan proposed
| by the committee may be the proper one but he
| thought the selection by Convention the best.
Mr.. Gill said, that he had stated before the or
| ganization of the meeting, that the Reform Con-
vention had adjourned sine die, and that they had
| not assembled there as members of the Reform
Convention or the Reform Committee, but as cit-
zens of Baltimore. [Applause.] We came here to
consult together as to the best course it was ne
cessary to pursue in the present state of affairs
we think 1t best to make our nominations rrespec-
tive OF any of the old forms. l have right said
Mr.. Gill, to nominate my friend there CDR Hintze)
for an office, and it | can nominate him individu-
| ally, cannot an assemblage, such as now see be-
| fore me, make such nomination We nominate in
| such manner as will carry our objects as men
who have the interests of the city at heart
The plan OF holding ward meetings should be re-
| linquished. The speaker had heard of a ward
meeting, called by Reformers recently, when some
| one got up and proposed that it should be turned
into a Bell and Everett club Mr.. Gill said he did
not fear any forcible disturbance in holding ward
meetings, because the police which had been estab
| lIshed here through the action of the Reform
| party, would prevent anything of the kind from
| occurring; but if we have these meetings. persons
may De present VINO may wish To turn the move
ment into ridicule or in some other manner defeat
| our purpose. We trample under foot all party
| Applause I'VE say that the city of Baltimore
shall not be used to build up this party or that
party-and we will not permit such parties to put
| up our taxes in the way in which such things
| have recently been DONE
| Mr.. Hodges.-After the manner of the Japanese
| swinde in New York.
| Mr.. Gill continued further to contend that the
plan of making nominations as suggested by the
| committee was the best.
DR.. Hintze, referring to the call of the meeting,
said that he did not consider it general call of the
| Reformers, else he would not have alluded to the
| subject. He satisfied with the remarks made
by the gentleman who had just spoken he coin
cided in the references made as to the manner of
making appropriations for the CITY; it was govern
| ed by pack OF plunderers, called City Councmen
| who have been in the habit of passing ordinances
| by contract.
| The President here desired the Doctor to con6ne
himself to the discussion of the question before the
| meeting-the adoption of the resolutions and ad-
| dress.
The Doctor said that, as considerable scope had
| been given to the gentleman who had spoken be-
fore he thought he might be indulged in few re-
marks. lie was well acquainted with the financial
affairs OF the city, having been himself for a long
time in public life. He said for the past three or
four years the city has been borrowing money to
| creasing. He believed that measures of retrench-
ment and reform were absolutely necessary He
was willing to make trial of the suggestions made
| by the committee.
Mr.. Wallis asked leave to say a few words be-
| fore the question was taken. He said that as a
member of the late Reform Convention, he had
been active in urging its dissolution, believing that
Its functions were exhausted. He should, there
fore, be very unwilling to be regarded as hold.
| ing up the present assemblage in the light of
body clothed with any of the representative au-
thority which the late Convention had possessed
He had not signed the call for the present meeting
but had attended merely individual; under
standing the call as summoning the members of the
Reform bodies of the last year. in their individual
capacity merely, and for the purpose of consulta-
tion citizens, and not in any representative char
acter whatever. This view he had supposed to be
expressed, with perfect expcitness, in the very
opening of the excellent address, in which as a
member of the committee he had had the pleasure
to concur. Mr. w. then read the following por-
tions of the address.
"Some of their number members of the late Cen
trail Reform Committee, and others of the late City Reform
Convention all are acu ated by the desire to
out, in the administration of the City Government the
measures of reform which were commenced wear ago
and some of which have since been happily consum-
mated. But the meeting does not profess repre-
sentative body in any of the word and while its
members private citizens claim the right to present
their views to their fellow citizens they ask for them
selves only respectful consideration and the meas
ures which they propose, such weight they may be
entitled to by their intrinsic merits"
Mr.. W. thought that in the face of so explicit a
disavowa, no fair minded man, however he might
differ with them in opinion, could charge them
with any usurpation OF representative authority.
For his own part, he said that he believed the
community were far anxious to have good
nominations made to them than disposed to scruti-
nize the source from which those nominations
might come. Any three respectable people in the
clty-nay, even three who were not respectable
might be the medium of presenting to the citizens
an able and honest man for the Mayoralty and he
(Mr. W. was satisfied that if the public believed
the individual named to be man of integrity and
capacity, and willing to serve, they would take
him on the faith of his fitness, without any re-
| gard to the pretensions of the individuals who
named him. On the other hand, all the nomina-
tions of all the independent conventions that might
assemble, could not, he believed force the pub
lie the selection OF a man whom they regarded as
unfit.
Looking upon this meeting therefore as one of con-
sultation and recommendation only, and believing
that good nomination was the important thing,
| and the mode OF securing it merely secondary, he
(Mr. W. had concurred in the report of the COM
mittee, in the confidence that twenty respectable
citizens, carefully selected, without reference to
party, and from all sections of the town, would be
more likely to secure the object in view than any
convention, called according to the usual party
| forms. Nay, more, he said, as the present move
ment was to be organized expressly upon the basis
ct excluding party from municipal affairs, he
thought nothing would be more proper in itself
than that they should put their feet from the first
| upon the ordinary party machinery. The gentle
man who had preceded him CDR. Hntze) was, he
feared, SO much accustomed to the party-traces as
to attach more Importance to their use on that ac
count, that his excellent judgment would probably
otherwise ascribe to them.
He (Mr. W. was convinced that the public de-
sired sensible action and proper nominations only,
and had no wish that recommendations, wise and
proper in themselves, should be fortified by the
ostensble authority of primary meetings, which
every sensible man knows to be farce, for the
most part, capable of being made to represent any
thing, and constantly representing no genuine or
| reputable public sentiment whatever. Give us
good men as candidates, and their character will
carry all the authority that is required in this
emergency.
Mr.. Wallis said that he forbore discussing the
other matters which had been referred to. But
while he attached all due Importance to the inan-
cial considerations which the chairman of the
committee Mr.. Gil) had pressed with so much
force, he desired to be understood seeking NUM-
cipa reforms on other grounds as well. He re-
Omy-a question of official fidelity, not less than
well as in measures; to not only n limit put
the taxes, but an honest application of whatever
might come from taxation. Doubtless his friend,
Mr.. Gill; was right in discussing the large amounts
which had been borrowed-he (Mr. Wy thought
it quite as important to look after what may have
been stolen.
Mr.. James Hodges arose and referred to the
manner in which the meeting had been called. The
gentlemen who had signed the call for this meeting
did not design it to be exclusive body; thew not
only intended to invite the members of the Reform
Convention and committee of twenty-one but all
such other friends of reform as desired change in
the city government, and wanted its affairs con-
Quoted outside of partisan influence. As to the
gentlemen who had published call for another
Reform meeting-the gentlemen about the wharves