Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1871-07-18

to conciliate. =
The convention then dissolved, and Council
reassemblcd, and the following communication
from DR.. Powell was read and referred To the
Committee on the Poor:
ALEXANDRIA, Va. July II, 1871.
~ the Honorable City C6uncH
AS one Of the ''Physcians of the Poor, L
would respectfully request to be informed who
are the poor, and to what extent are they en-
titled to gratuitous attendance. If your hon
orablc body will refer these questions to COM
mittec, and instruct that committee to INFORM
the physicians Of the poor what their duties
are, and to whom they are due, the attending
physicians will be saved much unnecessary Ia
Dor and an impoverished corporation much un-
necessary expense. , ~
Upon referring to the books of the City Dis
pensary, T find that during the thirty days en-
ding July Is, there were filled nlnety-seVen
(97] prescriptions, of this number eight were
written by DR.. Gibson, three were written BY
DIR. Adam and cighty-six were written ny Dr.
Powell Now cannot believe that eighty per
cent of the sick poor is to be found IN the lss
ward how then is this fact to be accounted
for ? simply by stating that nine out OF every
ten persons who apply tor gratultous attendance
and medicines are persons whom the law never
for all instant intended to include IN that vague,
indefinite term, the poor, and yet II the
physician should decide that such applicants
are not included in the poor the usual result
is Il complaint to the Mayor that the Corpora
ton Doctors don't attend to der blzness.
There is no profession in life upon which
such heavy demands for gratutlous; services arc
made, nor is there a profession whlch, so Will
ingly accedes to such demands; but there IS q
point at which human patience and endurance
fails, and | would respectfully suggest that that
and medicines arc daily aud hourly demanded
by people who own the comfortable houses in
which they live, by people whose daily labor
produces from six to nine hundred dollars per
annum, and by that very large class Of ladies'
and gentlemen whom we so frequently sec dres-
sed in gorgeous array, vending their way by
scores to the railroad dcpots, Tor an excursion
of pleasure, in L train of cars for which they
pay one thousand dollars cash, in advance.
IF your honorable body can suggest some
plan for remedying the evil complained or, 1t
will not only confer Il great favor upon the ply
sicians of the poor but upon our whole popu-
lation, which is so heavily taxed, and in this
instance, unnecessarily taxed.
Very respectfully,
ROBERT C. POWELL, MD.
Mr. Hopkins rose to personal explanation
He had been reported in the Gazette as saying
that the Board of Police was an illegal body.
He meant not to alludc to the Board rs now con-
sttutcd. but merely to the Board that had
been elected the day before Judge Keith had
decided that the Board of Police was Il legal
body
Mr. Wheat introduced resolution to adj
iOurn until next October.
Mr. Clagett did not want TO ad iourn with
the market house matter unfinished.
Mr. Shinn said that it was perhaps his duty
as a member of the commission Of the sinking
fund to explain the status Of the market build
ing question The commission had met and IN
vted plans;plans had been proposed by Messrs
Lambdin and Cluss Under direction OF the
City Council the Cluss plan had been adopted.
Under the further direction Of the City Coun-
Gil the commissioners had advertised to sell Ger
tain stock. When that stock was sold the
commissioners would 90 on and build the market
on the Cluss plan, unless the Councils III the
meanwhile rescinded its former action.
Mr. Clagctt said that the matter seemed
to be pretty plain, but the resolutions, OF one
board and counter resolutions OF the other per-
picked matters.
Mr.. Shinn said he had consulted the city At
missioners to 20 on with the work and he had
decided that they had full power.
The resolution was agreed TO-.
A resolution from the Board OF Aldermen
iustructinr the commissioners of sinking fund
to suspend all action in the,mattcr Of building
the new market, except that Of selling the
bonds was received from the Aldermen.
MIR. Shinn (NIr. Wheat prcsidng) felt COM
PEELED to leave the chair to comment on this
action. Ifcvcr he saw factio,ls opposition 1t
was the action OF these gentlemen in the Board
of Aldermen, who, unable to carry ont their
narrow ideas, were now in favor OF keeping the
public out of a market because they cannot get
their views adopted. Mr.. Shinn reviewed the
action of the Board Of Aldermen on the subject
ut length. This resolution of the Aldermen
was that the architect should put into shape
the views of certain gentlemen, and work under
their guidance. Nobody elses plans, nobody
else $ ideas were to be considered. They were
to be supreme, with an architect under their
direction Carrying out whatever change they
might sec fit to make.
Ina former debate in the Aldermen. Mr..
French had said that ''the committee had I'M
dertakcn to take charge Of 4 matter that re-
ourcs superior financial ability and architectural
talent" as if the Adermcn's committee were
gentlemen Of especial architectural skill MIR.
Worthngton had said the duties Of the COM
mittcc were such as would require gentlemen
of varied ability and the strictest integrity
meaning, if it means anything, that the Com
mittcc on Public Property were not men of the
strictest integrity The resolution now sent i'll
from the Aldermen was not worth the paper
upon which it was written The gentleman
who introduced that resolution had never read
the act creating the commissioners, or If he had
read it did not understand it. This act re-
quired that the commissioners of the sinking
fund should Immediately, upon selling the
stock inves! the proceeds in a market house,
whose rents we're to be held in pledge for the
benefit of the owners of the stock that had been
sold. And yet this resolution proposed to allow
the stock to be sold, and the fund to remain in
the hands of the commissioners unlnvcsted.
What security would the holders Of the stock
have then ? \ simple resolution could never
repeal law, and he therefore moved that 1t be
laid on the table, which was done.
At ll:10 the Council adjourned until the
second Tuesday in October next