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PARKS FOR THE PEOPLE.

PROCEEDINGS OF A PUBLIC MEETING
HELD AT FANEUIL HALL,

JUNE 7, 1876.

BOSTON:
FRANKLIN PRESS: RAND, AVERY, & CO.
1876.




CONTENTS.

ORGANIZATION OF MEETING                    5

SPEECH OF MR. JOSEPH S. ROPES              7

  "    "  MR. GEORGE B. CHASE             10

  "    "  MR. RICHARD H. DANA, JUN.       11

  "    "  DR. OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES       20

  "    "  REV. ROLLIN H. NEALE, D.D.      26

  "    "  REV. J. P. BODFISH              27

  "    "  COL. CHARLES W. WILDER          31

  "    "  MR. JOSEPH F. PAUL              33

  "    "  HON. P. A. COLLINS              36

LETTER OF DR. EDWARD H. CLARKE            38

COMMITTEE OF ONE HUNDRED                  45




FANEUIL HALL MEETING IN FAVOR OF PUBLIC PARKS.


Pursuant to a call published in all the daily papers, and signed by a
large number of prominent citizens and tax-payers of Boston, a public
meeting was convened in Faneuil Hall on the evening of Wednesday, the
7th of June, 1876, to take action on the recommendations contained in
the Report of the Park Commissioners. The hall was crowded by an
intelligent and enthusiastic audience; and the proceedings as reported
_verbatim_ in the columns of the "Boston Morning Journal," were as
follows:--

The meeting was called to order at eight o'clock by Mr. JOHN W. CANDLER,
who said,--

GENTLEMEN,--As Chairman of the Committee of Arrangements, I have been
requested to call this meeting to order. It is usually the case, that,
when a mass meeting of citizens is to be held, a great deal of labor has
to be performed in preparing for and organizing the meeting. But I am
glad to say, that, on this occasion, the important advantage of having a
public almost entirely in our favor was enjoyed by the Committee. We
found a strong and intelligent and deep-seated sentiment almost
unanimous throughout the community, in favor of having the City
Government take prompt and favorable action upon the report of the Park
Commissioners. [Applause.] We found the community earnest and
enthusiastic in the desire that a system of parks should be projected
for the city of Boston, to insure the health, and to make certain and
positive the prosperity, of our citizens in the future. The Committee
had only to present the call or address through the press, which some
of you have read, to find hundreds ready to indorse it; and the
authorities had only to open wide the doors of Faneuil Hall to have the
people throng here, as they have to-night, to manifest the sentiment
which they feel so generally.

Gentlemen, we have with us to-night men of science, philanthropists, the
representatives of the learned professions. We have the capitalist; we
have the merchant; we have the mechanic; and we have the daily laborer,
who toils from the rising to the setting sun,--we have them all here, to
give out a voice to-night, expressing the opinions of the people, which
can neither be misrepresented nor misunderstood. [Applause.]

It is not my duty, gentlemen, to make a speech. You have here this
evening to address you, the representatives of every class, the best
that can be afforded in any city, the leading men of the city of Boston
in the different professions. It is only necessary, in the discharge of
my duty, that I should read to you the names of the gentlemen whom you
will be asked to elect as the officers of this meeting. They are as
follows:--


                              PRESIDENT.

                       THE HON. JOSEPH S. ROPES.

                           VICE-PRESIDENTS.

     CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, WILLIAM AMORY, RICHARD FROTHINGHAM, PETER C.
     BROOKS, MARTIN BRIMMER, GEORGE C. RICHARDSON, BENJAMIN F. THOMAS,
     EDWARD S. RAND, HENRY P. KIDDER, THOMAS J. GARGAN, EBEN D. JORDAN,
     C. A. RICHARDS, JOHN C. CROWLEY, WILLIAM B. BAC