The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1895-11-21
PARTY'S ! ENTHUSIASM.
Continued from Page 1.

that loyalty may rule, that honesty and
capacity may have place and that the
country, State and city may all enjoy
good government"
COLONEL DANIEL R. BALLoU.
Colonel Ballou, ex-prssident of the
Board OF Aldermen, was then introduced
by the president. He said:
"Mr. President, friends And fellow-citi-
zens-I am exceedingly proud Of the city
OF Providence, adorable in her regal
beauty, throned as she 10 on these pic
turesque hills at the head Of the beautiful
Narragansett bay. Her happy homes
and her prosperous streets are q bepedic-
ton to every man within her borders. i
am exceedingly patriotic, not only in
national matters, but also with regard to
my city, and resent the unwarranted
attacks upon her fair fame. They make
an analogy between this city and New
York and l resent that, for New York 10
not an American city and Providence In.
"A distinguished gentleman from Bos-
ton came here the other evening and de-
livered an interesting address on the
Reform OF Municipal Government, '
and he made this statement: III all the
people agree In wanting all good things
why can't the parties agree and lay aside
national issues?' That would be good
II 1t was practicable. But think II 1t
could be carried out. Ii implies that
SltHcI INC DtODlo buOulu III COIuo "
gether in one vast meeting and try to do
their municipal business or that the par
ties ehoud come together and agree. Can
you conceive OF the Democrats coming to
the Republicans and agreeing as to who
shall be Mayor. Such a thing IL impossi-
BILE, and why? This government was es,
tablished over a hundred years ago aud
it's policy was then esta blished on and
derived from the opinion OF the people
as expressed by the voice OF the dominant
party. 1t was this opinion that gave to
ii its character. These sprinciples-the
rule of the majority and the voice OF the
majority through the party organs have
become the unwritten law of the land.
The opinion OF the people must be the
basis on which the policy OF every ad-
ministration shall rest.
"When a city ONE to select it's officials
IL must choose them from the dominant
party; IL not the party would lose its CO.
besiveness and become dis~integrated and
there would be no harmony when the
time SHOULD come for the State and ma
tional election.
"This idea was presented by a gentle
man at a Second Ward meeting last night
when he said: No one is going to prom
Use you that these changes can be made
RIG hit away, for new laws must be secured
from the State legislature; and that is so,
for going to adopt a new system OF select
ing officers you must 60 to the Legisia-
ture and ask II tn subvert the laws.
"Our city government compares favor
ably with any I'm this country and l chsl-
lenge anyone to show a better City Coun-
ell than Providence had during the last
30 years. 1 tell you that IL the men who
make these challenges woul carefully ex-
anime the records they would find that
their representations are grossly false.
We have several classes OF people in this
city. There are the pioneers who go
ahead In the work OF progression and de-
velopment OF the city's resources. There
Is another class, numerically large, the
members Of which put their hands over
their pockets as soon as any pu bile i'm
provement Is mentioned and cry out ex-
t%ravagance; they are throwing stones
and looking backward TO what they
call the good old times. With them are
the ~disgruntied ones-men who want to
hold office n can't. They are hard to
dea. with. but still worse are those who
are disappointed because they have
failed in their endeavors to get the City
Council TO adopt some measure for their
own selfish interests. They are the worst
and the most malicious, and the City
Council il in constant contact with them.
sit is well to analyze the conditions
which exist today and find out whether
these traducers are honest or not. You
Will find that their motives are personal
ambition, spite and envy. They became
reformers too suddenly. Ifthey had come
out some time ago and not so near TO
election time 1 should have more conf
dence in their sincerity. They have made
many severe charges OF extravaganza in
the Council. i know something bon
this.
providence didn't begin very early to
make public Improvements all other
New England cities were ahead of her.
Twenty-Five years ago the public water
works plant was established then came
L fha q a u An n "a a fnatfar Of cnnraa and annra
OF you will recall the opposition to these
improvements. Providence people are
conservative and as a result OF their de-
lay in adopting modern institutions a
large expense has been crowded into a
comparatively short time and has been
more strongly felt. 1t has been stated
that the city debt has rapidly increased
during the last two years and most extrav-
agant statements have been made about
the city's finances by the so-called re-
formers. The gross debt on September
80, 1891. was S15, 1853, 134.27 The Indepen-
dents say that the present gross debt is
SIS, 600, 900, which Is absolutely false and
almost 50, 900, 600 more than the records
show. The gross debt on September 80,
1895, was S15, 757. 1874. 81. q decrease in
the last year of sos. $50.
"The net debt on September 80, 1894, was
s12, 400, 430. IS, and just N year later it
was s12, 924, 503. 2S, an increase OF S524, or
So.
"They say that the sinking fund has
decreased by $702. 116, and fail to explain
that on July 1. 1895, a sewer loan amount
ing to II, 247, 1914. u was paid out of this
sinking fund.
"1hen a part of this Indebtedness is So
$50, 691 which represents the cost OF the
water works which should not, by any
means, be considered as a part of the
debt, Tor the receipts from the water
works not only pay all the expenditures,
including the interest on the bonds, but
they give a balance Of SOS, 900 a year for
the sinking fund. SO taking out the
debt of the water works the city debt is
reduced 10 80, 93S, S12, and an analysis of
this balance shows 50, 125, 600 for sewers,
81, $50, 900 for the highway and the rest
for parks and schools, and general i'm
p~rovements. Every cent OF the city debt
stands forssome substantial improvement
for the benefit of the city.
"They charge extravaganza in the pur-
chase of the Roger Williams Park lands
and that land cost 4 Ia cents a foot.
They say also that the cove lands were
thrown away. The records show that II