The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1908-09-25
was against their principles to buy

was against their principles to buy
one. 49,
OF wit, there was enough and to
spare. Sometimes a coarse kind,
sometimes biting and keen. Two or
three Of the aldermen were pleasant
to listen to, for they always prepared
themselves for their efforts and were
very clear and terse in their state
ments. One of them in particular
was very happy in his way of stating
proposition. He never wasted q
word, and when he was through the
council understood the situation ex-
actly. Others floundered painfully
about, knowing what they wanted, but
word-bound as to vocabulary and slow
in thinking on their feet. Some Of
them were thorough parliamentarians,
and would remorselessly tangle up an
opponent to gain an advantage. The
helpless look of new alderman when
his motion, or order, or request was
side-tracked by means of parliament
airy rules, when he was just going to
make or had just finished an impas-
stoned speech about it, was something
instructive; and unique.
There was always the ordeal of
learning the ropes" for every incom-
ing alderman who had not served be-
fore in the council. This meant finding
out about the regular order Of bust
ness, learning how to draw and pre-
sent orders and ordinances, and in
councils method of carrying on it's
business. 1t usually took an alderman
about a year to get himself familiar
with these things, so that his first
tWO-year term meant actually one
year which would be of any public
value.
On any night when there was to be
a hot contest over any particular or
dinance the galleries void be crowd
ed, and police stationed there to pre-
vent disorder. The respective cham
pions of the different sides would be
aloft, and they would cheer wildly at
the speeches made for their various
sides. Sometimes it was necessary to
clear the galleries on account If the
uproar but usually ferociOus ham
mering Of the mayors gavel, and a
threat to clear, was enough to nold
the galleries in tolerable check. There
were old-timers who always came to
the council gallery, just as people at
tend the theaters, for the excitement,
and to hear the speeches. These old
timers were usually on the alert for
reformer, especially if he had the gift
OF biting sarcasm, and fluent and So
norous oratory. When this was tho
case the clans would gather and cheer
their champion on.
Under the mayors raised platform
the reading clerk and the city clerk
and his assistants sat, and below them
the newspaper men were ranged in a
half moon at the writing desks. The
pages came and went with messages
and papers. and the sergeant-atarms,
who had nothing at all in the world to
do but chew tobacco and draw a
hundred dollars month" salary,
lounged easily around the outskirts.
To the right, and raised from the
council floor, was a set of reserved
seats placed there for visitors, par
ticularly ladies'. There was usually
something on hand that Interested
them, the piece de resistance in my
time being cigarette ordinance,
which came and went and was mauled
over and sent to committees and gen.
orally hopscotched and battledored
and shuttle cooked from one year to
another. But its lady champions were
always on hand, alert and determined,
and apparently undiscouraged and in
discOurageable
There was such thing as alder
manic "courtesy,' both in the way the,
aldermen addressed one another. and
in extending privileges to each other
during the sessions Of the council.
They never thought of disgracing the
council chamber as the senate and
the house Of representatives has &C.
casiOnally disgraced itself Personal
encounters We're unknown. and never
avcn heard the word liar" exchanged,
as | have in the courtrooms and else