Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1899-07-01

ed.
The Aldermen then entered the
chamber and President S:rider
announced that the business for
which the boards had met was
to witness the installation of May.
or-elect Simpson. (Mr. Simpson had
previously qualified in the Clerks office
of the Cooperation Court.)
Aldermen Clark moved that com
mittee be appointed to escort the Mayor
! into the chamber. President Marbury
appointed Alderman J. I. Sweeney
President Strider, and Mr.. Desmond
the committee, who retired, and soon
| returned with the Mayor, The latter
was introduced by Aldermen Sweeney,
after which the Mayor Spoke as follows:
Mr.. President, gentlemen of the City
Council, friends and fellow citizens
Two years have elapsed since ] last
enjoyed the honor of appearing before
| my fellow-townsmen and their repre-
sentatives to assume the duties OF an
| office, honorable, distinguished and the
highest within the gift of a community
" hose people have ever been my
friends, my acquaiDtences and my
! neighbors-a people whose mistaken
confidence in the rectitude OF my psst
conduct heralds the advent Of this ad-
| ministratioD; a people whose regard,
| whose affection, aud whose friendliness
accompany me today as l stand upon
the threshold of another official term.
Strange, yea, passing strange, would it
be il gratitude amid these environ
ments failed to dominate all other sent
iments end refused TO keep alive my
heartfelt desire to retain friends whose
kindness to me can never be forgotten.
Indeed. Mr.. President, when men have
! passed the half-century mark in the
great journey of life the loss of friend
is an irreparaDle one, unlike youth,
which loses a friend today and gains
another tomorrow, we find that, un-
aided, nature irrevocably reduces the
| number of our friends; and those that
remain, like skyline looks, are more
valuable because of their domination,
and yet, precious as friends are, if their
retention be dependent upon ignoble
concessions, upon unmanly sacrifice OF
independence Of thought or of inde-
peudence of action or upon blending
the pregnant hinges of the knee that
thrift may follow fawning," then will
no man be more thoroughly bereft Of
friends than will l. The friends of any
individual add largely 10 the sum and
substance of his happiness, for
they cling to him through
| good aud through evil report,
they magnify his virtues and minimize
| his faults; they study the whole curric.
ulum line OF human plans to create for
| him liies successes and it is almost a
paradox that men so enthusiastically
| devoted to an individual are not always
| the active friends of communities. Ac-
! tive friends of communities are those
who sacrifice and who are ever ready
to sacrifice selfish purposes and selfish
prejudices that just laws and good gov
eminent may be impartially given to
their fellow men. They are the pros
perity builders of States and communi-
lies, the unselfsh projectors OF meas.
ures and plans by which the welfare,
rot of an individual, but OF a whole
people, is promotes; they are those
whose honest, industrious lives, crown
ed with we'll merited success, become
indissolubly linked with the destinies
of right thinking and patriotic citizens.
As we turn from the contemplation Of
such men to behold those who pride
themselves npou being devoted
to the interests Of their States
and cities and yet who passively
and contentedly rest amid the strife Of
important political contests upon whose
arbi,rament depends either a good pov-
ernment under proper auspices or bad
government under vicious manage
ment, we naturally ask ourselves the
question, Why should reprehensble
neutrality attach itself to citizenship
which is in all other respects so ad
mirable and so excellent? for surely, if
Innate apathy alone prevent an active
participation in all public affairs and
especially in all public elections it
should Quickly disappear when men
interested in the good of their fellow
men realize how active and aggressive
are the adversaries of good citi-
z9ns and OF good laws, disreputable
schemers with which so many com
munities are afflicted, are untiring in
their endeavors TO advance their OVID
selfish plans even to the extent of de-
stroying the very bulwsrks of honesty
and morality, and if we refuse, indo.
lently or wilfully, to combat vigorously,
theoretically, and successfully these
characters: dangerous alike to city and
State, the responsibility is ours and
we should at least have the courage
to confess that "the fault is not in our
stars but in ourselves that we are un'
derlings." The enemies of a city's
good name are passive never for mo.
ment; they possess restless activity
which begins a new struggle for
supremacy before the echoes of an old
one Rave been still d. With ambition,
stimulated by wealth and hampered
by unlocked for political recognition,
they arrogantly assume the direction
of campaigns and the management Of
legislation by which States are dshon-
ored and municipalities ruined de
feated time after time, and crushed
again and again to the earth, Artemis-
like they gather renewed strength and
they continue to furnish to wonder
ing people the grotesQue spectacle of
laws violators prescribing laws, and
even candidates for the laws observers.
They are outnumbered by good citizens
in every we'll established community
and they should be defeated by good
citizens in every election. Mr.. Presi-