Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1876-03-15

| of M rch, eighteen hundred ami seventy six,
187G, two dollars and fifty conts(e2 5O)p.r tnous
and feet, with discount OF per CT: on T wnen p",a
within the time advertised by the Treasurer.
| When any bill shall rcm.in unpaid alter the
time shall elapse by law, it shall be the duty oil
| the Superintendent to collect the same according
| to law and the said superintendent Shall return
no bills uneollected to the Committee on Light
| except under oath that he can find Nc goods be-
longing to delinquents with which to satisfy SAID
ne it further enacted, That sll acts and parts
Of acts in conflict with the above paragraphs are
hereby repealed
In SUPPORT of his bill he said, that gross
frauds had been perpetrated under the present
system, and he thought that all uou ys should
| pass through the hands OF the Auditor aud
Treasurer.
DIR. johnson moved that the bill lie ovor. 1t
was a very important Que, and should DO well
considered No Clerk of the Gas Works was
necessary anyhow
Mr. DvWham said some person to keep he
accounts was necessary, cali him whaty u Lay
His bill, however, would dispense with either
the Clerk or Superintend He thought It
necessary that some reduction should be made
in the price OF gas.
The bill Was laid over.
The report of the Fire Wardeps Was received
from the Common Council, add the CLERK was
proceeding to read it, when
MIR. Mckenzie moved that 1t be received
without reading.
DR.. johnson wanted the report read. These
! Wsrdens continued, in defiance ol law, to cx-
pend several thousand dollars each year with
out giving any security whatever. This Was
very important report, matter oil SIX or seven
THOUSAND dollars to the city and should not be
surred over.
At the suggestion of Mr. Mckenzie, the re-
port was laid over until the next meeting.
Dr.. johnson offered resolution referring
the question Of the eligibility Of tie Mayor for
election TO third term to COMMITTEES, cOn-
sisting of MuSsrs. Beach aoi NeaIe. ln sup.
port Of his resolution he said
Mr.. President AS some people are agtating the
question of the meaning of the language of section
a. of the City Charter it probably well to take a
look at the section in order to ascertain what 1t
docs say, aud what it really intended TO mean
in reference to the election of Mayor The section
says ssThe mayor of the city of Alexandria shall
be annually elected by the qualified voters at the
times and places and in the manner that members
of the city council elected ; provided that the
present ncumbent of said Office shall hold his oice
for the time for which he elected under the ex-
istiug laws He shall hold his office for year,
and until successor is chosen and qualified in his
stead, at the expiration of which period he may
be reelected for two TENS SUCCESSFULLY, and no
longer until he shall have been out OF Office Tor one
wear" 1t will be observed that this quotation from
from section 81 contains provision "Pruyldcd
that the present incumbent of said office shall hold
his office for the time for which he elected
der the existing laws. The question readily arises,
why this provision made, and was the provision
only intended to relate TO the then ''present ncum
bent" or was it designed to apply to perpetual
succession of spresent incumbenLs - 1t was not
certainly the intention ofhe committee who framed,
or the City Council that passed the section under
examination, that the mayor should be eligible to a
third term of office, but was changed, as 1t now
reads in passing through the Legislature at the in
stance, and to accommodate the then 'spresent in
cumtent." II thus changed in a hurried man
ner, and the hurry of the amendment by the legs-
ature, gave this section the senbance Of ambigul-
ty ssThe present Incumbent referred TO III the
section, told, informed, our delegates then IN
the legislatures that if the section relative to dctin
ing the term of the Office of mayor, We're passed as
1t was sent from the City Council ii would preclude
him from being a candidate for the mayoralty in
the then ensuing spring, and in accordance with
the professionals wishes, the section was amended To
provide chance Of reelection OF the then "prc-
sent incumbent" Indeed tn" protestant declared,
that if the section passed by the City Council were
not amended xcepting the then said ';prcsent in
cumbent" that it would rule hem out altogether, and
the exception was made for the benefit of the then
mayor, and not for his successors in office. This
as good example Of the harm and ncouve-
nience which now and then occur from the unwise,
if not corrupt criminal practrice, which lcgisIa-
tors sometimes fall into, of shaping laws TO benefit
partisans who may be temporary occupants of
office. This provision, and the Interpretation which
have given it, was the understanding of hose who
were familiar with the subject at the time Of the
passage of the present charter by the legislature
The people have always regarded the office of may
or as entirely of honor, and they expect the
man whom they elect to the position TO be one who
will SO regard it, and not endcavor, by an uneasy
desire 10 get the place, retain it after he has
once attained it, to show a disposition to make a
trade or avocation of it. The great mass of the
people are neither ofce-seekers office holders
and they very pr ,perly think that when they have
honored citizen by an election to the position (
Mayor and have colnplimented him by reelection,
that his ambition, as al least as the mayorality
is concern d, thoud have received sufficient
qualification and that he ought TO modestly steo
aside, and allow, without continually offering his
services some one else TO do for awhile, the honors
of mayor. Tn re is very jus ly growing aversion
in the minds of the people against the disposition
of office holders make trades or avocatons of the
places honor and trust TO which hey have b. Il
elected, and they think that all offices should be
open TO an equal and impartial competition without
having their chances of making good nd fair Sc
lect1ons for rotation in office, encountered by the
pretcnse, that because man has been once elected
to an official position, that such Office has come
to him what the necessity OF trade or proes ion Is
to Others. Therefore the people believe in the
economy of rotation in office, and they like occa-
sionally to have the pleasure of saying to their
officers, they modestly depart from the tasclna.
thug realms of official authority, ''Well done thou
good and faithful servants" and not to have such
officers draw out tn ir long and reluctant time a-
ter they have had their day, until weared by their
inordnate thirst and chicanery Tor places of trust
and emolumen', thy have to tell them, by an un-
mistakable majority, to step down and out, to give
place to those whom they think will possess more
modesty and less scfshness. Few office seekers and
oGireholde are wLhoutimmcnse humility in their
unceasing desire be the servants of the people,
and some will show themselvs so extremely hum
Bile as t. 20 to the absolute expense OF buying votes
to gain covertcd place; while very few have dis
cernment enough 10 kaow when the ople are
tired OF them. The uneasy longing for office, and
the irresistible anxiety to make lmnod st efforts TO
retain ttical POSITION after il has once been attain
ed, have spoiled the polt cal prospect of many all
ambitious genius, whose Otherwise good qualities,
might have made him useful, as we'll as ornamen-
tai to the boLy polite.
NJ. Mck..z.c suggested that the committee