Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1872-02-02
LOCAL NEWS.

IN the Gazette, one OF the most agreeable at:
t";rs that ever before occurred in this city.
The hall is one of the most beautiful in the
.%ptrv. 1t is sixty feet in length and forty Il il
Lrdth. with a handsomely arched and orna-
n,nted ceiling twenty-five feet high, and as
m, of the speakers said, had been constructed
With special reference to work and not talk
,be laws of optics, and not acoustics, having
been observed.
N two o'clock, the members Of the Ex-
change and about two hundred invited guests,
MANY of whom were from Washington, George
town and the surrounding country, being pre-
sent, George Washington, esq, the President,
asceuded the stand, raped with his gavel,
and George Y. Worthington, esq, taking a
u,sition beside him said:
Mr.. President of the Commercial Exchange:
1t becomes my pleasing duty, as the repre-
sentative of the Exchange Building Company,
10 put You in possession OF these rooms Tor the
NE of your association. aud | trust, sir, that
the object which my company has aimed to at
tam has been accomplished by furnishing the
members of your association with accommoda-
tlnn> suitable to their business and which may
meet with their approval.
While We have the satisfaction Of atfordlng
your association rooms SO we'll adapted to its
business and into which we may all take prldein
Introducing our friends, it is gratifying to
II, 10 have been Instrumental in removing from
one of the most conspicuous places in our city
a building that Was a disgrace to the commu-
ulty, and which Impressed strangers with the
belief that the and trade OF our city
was SO dead Us to cause the Government to with
draw tie revenue officers and abandon the Gus
tom house to be used as u receptacle OF old iron,
bones aud rags, and that we have erected IN It's
pace this handsome editice which evluces that
here is life and hope in the old land yet
The Association over which you SO ably pre-.
side, was formed some four years SINCE, under
the naue of the Corn and Produce Exchange,
and it was then thought by some that there
was not business enough to justify such a step !;
nevertheless it was taken, and one year after,
when about to retire from the elevated position
with which | had been honored, as the
first President of the Association, II became
NV duty to present To the members u statement
Of the operations Of the association tor the pre-
caedlug year aud to congratulate them 90 the
increased trade and upon their future bright
nrosuccts. also directed their attention to
the sources trom which their increasing business
emaualed-trom all iudomltable people who had
been exiled from their homes Tor over tour
Years, and to which they had returned but a
few year, since to ind devastated and swept OF
houses, fences, labor, stock, proveudeI and
utcnslis-in fact uought but u barren waste :
and that Notwithstanding their gloomy aud for
bidding prospects, how this people Went man-
fully to work aud by energy aud hard labor soon
made the waste places green with crops that
We're sent to our city to be exchanged for the
necessaries Of lite, and fertilizers for their long
neglected lands.
And, sir, | also encouraged our members with
these words Of one who was more than.a prophet
Men do not gather grapes Ut thorus, nor
fgs Of thistles'' and ''by their fruits we shall
Know them - and [ told them that the fruits
V, had then received OF The hard labor aud eu-
e.gy of these dauntless sous of Virginia, were
buI au earnest of what We might hope for IN
the future. That | held out NO deluslve pre-
i;ctions, has been evinced by over four millions
OF bushels OF grain, the large quantities vi Hour
ana pork, and other agricultural products re-
celved by our merchants, and the large quantl-
lies of merchandise, with over a hundred ttious-
and TINS of fertilizers, sold by them since that
period.
And, sir, the thousands of tons OF butter,
ponItry, fruit, etc., received here coutrms my
predictions OF the untlriug perseverance, aud de-
termination Of Eirginia's fair daughters to
cneertully make the best OF their altered CIR
cuulstances. God bless them, and may they
be happier in their calico and hcmespun gowns
attending to their dalrles, poultry yards, aud
other domestic duties, than many OF their sex
in more favored sections, luxurlatlng 10 their
silks and tue linens.
With the custom and friendship Of such a
people, we may hope tor a continued increase
of our agricultural business, to conduct which,
with what We can by energy obtain from other
sections, will so crowd this room, ere many
Years. is to require an extension vi Its present
!lmits.
am aware, sir, that we yet have croaKers
ia our community, some OF whom have SAID
that the erection OF this building was a
wastefuI expenditure of mouey, aud predict be-
fore many years that this hall will be abandon
cd to owls aud bats.
Let me remind these ''drones' of their
gloomy tjrebodings, aud discouraglug prognostl-
cations. When We We're about 10 organize our
Association, some four years Since, we were
then told that Alexandria was so dead and be-
yond rcsuscitarion ii Was useless to attempt to
inspire life into her, and they would have had
us to staud about idle all the day long listening
to the Conductors announcing -Atecand'1a Sta
fioa as their trains passed through our htcless
streets. ;.
Then, sir, let me contrast our situation as lt
was then with what it is now, and show these
prophets what has been done by the energy
aud perseverance of men who we're not willing
to join them in performing the last rites and
ceremonies over a city these crpakcrs pronounc-
ed detuuct.
Then the financial condition Of the city was
such as to cause the belief that the heavy debt
Was a burden that could not be borue, and 50
general was this belief that the bonds OF the
corporation sold at 81 to 80 cents on the dollar
when any one was found bold enough to Duy
them at all.
Now our people cheerfully pay the neces-
sary tax to enable the corporation to MAINTAIN a
more perfect municipal government than ever
before, and also u sum sufficient to meet pune
tuallv the full amount of interest on the bonds,
the effect OF which has been ~ raise their
value to near par. $3.50.
Then there was none so bold as to risk his
money iu improvements of any kind, and but lew
deemed it worth while to patch up and keep
in order property that was doomed by some TO
become va~lueless al an early day.
Now we see in some OF our streets whole