The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-11-21
A1cneus MOurus.

Prior to the hour Of noon on Wednesday,
there were four surviving ex-Mayors OF
baltimore, q town noted among other
things for the longevity Of Its Inhabitants.
The four former Mayors were ROBERT
I. BANKS, WILLIAM PINoKNEY WHITE,
ROBERT G. DAVIDSON, and FERDINAND @.
LATRoBE. Since noon on Wednesday there
has been a fifth. ALcRus HOOPER and, as
is che custom in Maryland, he delivered a
valedictory address, setting forth the diff
culties under which the citizens OF Balti-
more have been laboring, and under which
they must continue henceforth to labor
without his official aid.
The sombre words of the Hon. ALcEUs
HOOPER must sink deep into the hearts OF
all municipal reformers, and make him, for
Maryland, at least, q unifylng force among
those who grieve continually that all isnot
we'll in the republic and in the minor divis-
ions thereof.
No easy task was 1t, said ALcEus, to
live up to his conception. Not that there
was not at all times on his part a desire so
to do; but the hindrances thrown across his
path, "the untoward influences which have
ever been present, the tremendous pressure
from professed friends as we'll as from
avowed enemies, from timid ones who dis
like the confusion Of conflict" have been
for two years burdens to this distinguished
but not reelected non-partisan.
Everything was against the Hon. AL
cEus HOOPER. Everything threatens his
successor. The municipal debt is large,
and one.quarter Of the revenues is required
to pay the interest upon it. The borrowing
capacity Of the town is not 30 large as it
should be. Many public improvements
have been stalled, but other minor i'm
provements on the usual Mugwump plan
have been developed. One of the Mayors
ideas, "mlnority representation upon pay
less boards" was bitterly opposed at the
beginning Of his term. What failures there
have been In office in Baltimore ALoEUs
in his valedictory describes as due not to
the deficiency Of public servants, but "to
an irresponsible guiding hand, unauthor-
lied and self-constituted."
There Is some Indebtedness about the
description Of the dangers discerned by
ALoEUs. but the situation is most clearly q
serious one. else he would not speak of it with
such vague apprehension. His plan in office
was to "divorce" municipal from national
PoAieiSo, ohu Al VIC pIoCSoS ~ Nouiu sceul
that he himself was divorced by the voters
from both, his last function being to turn
over the business Of his office to his Re-
publican successor, Mayor MASTER.
TIL closing exercises Of ALCEUs's two
years of non-partisanship were rather con-
ventional. The City Treasurer of Baltimore
paid him $685. 90 for his services from Nov.
1 to Nov. II, three days being deducted,
though for what reason. the Baltimore Sun,
which describes the occurrence, does not
state. AS he was about to depart, shaking
as it were the dust Of Baltimore from his
CATERS, the Hon. ALCEUs HOOPER was sub
pnnaed as q witness in the case Of one G..
WELLINGTON BRYANT, a n employee of the
Street Cleaning Department; and the receipt
of the subpoena obliged the departing Mayor
to postpone his trip West.
This was an ignoble end Of two years of
non-partisanship, but in the evening there
was a banquet at the Baltimore Music Hall,
attended by ALCEUs and 600 others.