USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Needham > Needham's bicentennial celebration; a record of the exercises and a memorial of the celebration at Needham, Massachusetts, on the two hundredth anniversary of it's incorporation. Pub. by the Celebration committee; > Part 9
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A large barge with four horses was furnished by the Committee for their transportation in the great Parade. The barge was profusely decorated by the veterans with our national colors in red, white and blue bunting, which with the occupants of the barge added greatly to the many interesting features of the procession, largely because of this anniversary coming in the fiftieth anniversary year of that Civil War.
One of the most pleasing incidents on the last day of Needham's celebration of its Bicentennial anniver- sary was the large gathering of Veterans of the Civil War, from the surrounding towns, at the invitation of our local Grand Army Post. These ex-soldiers were loyal representatives of six different towns, and moreover, they served in regiments, batteries, etc., representing various states, from Maine to Illinois.
The Post thoughtfully provided a substantial grandstand, upon which the old soldiers and the ladies accompanying them comfortably sat and viewed the parade, as it passed before them. They enjoyed the many humorous things which occurred and observed with interest the changes in the mechanical arts as shown by the picturesque display of models, of the industries now carried on in the town, compared with the days of fifty and sixty years ago.
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Natick and Hyde Park, both large manufacturing towns, were well represented, the former by upwards of forty veterans. Newton, a city of great individual wealth, Dover and Medfield noted for their broad farms, and Dedham, our County seat, and mother of Needham, were here by representation, to witness and express their surprise and delight at the scenes about the town.
After the parade at 12 o'clock, a luncheon was provided for our visitors in Kingsbury hall, by the Post and the Women's Relief Corps, at which over a hundred were seated. Invocation was said by the Rev. Chas. E. Sawtelle, then the ladies of the Relief Corps charged upon us with great pitchers of coffee ready, sugared and creamed. The clatter of knives, forks, dishes and spoons could not drown the praise, jokes, stories and laughs that served as sweet sauce to the food so rapidly disappearing.
When hunger and thirst were assuaged, Com- mander Edwin A. Taylor introduced Vice Commander Hosley, whose eloquent address was greatly applauded. Our board of selectmen, Messrs. Henry T. Childs, William A. Probert and Austin Potter honored the occasion by their presence and actively assisted in entertaining our guests from out of town. The chair- man of the board, Mr. Childs, spoke feelingly of the respect and consideration held by the townspeople in the past and present for the veterans of the Civil War.
The Rev. Edward Marsh followed with appropriate allusions to the day and the services of those present in helping fifty years ago to bring about these present conditions. Representatives from the different towns were called upon, and it can be truthfully said that they acquitted themselves satisfactorily as evidenced by the smiles and applause they received.
A delegation from each of the Dorchester and
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THE VETERANS
Newton "Tents" of the Daughters of Veterans were our honored guests through an invitation extended to them, in our behalf, by our local Sons of Veterans. Not to be outdone by our male guests, Miss Katherine Flood of the Dorchester Tent delighted the audience by her happy remarks pertinent to the occasion and presence, which were enthusiastically cheered.
This function lasted until the middle of the after- noon and there was still time afforded those present to listen for an hour to the delightful music by our Military Band under the superb leadership of E. C. Cary.
THOMAS H. DUNHAM,
Chairman Post Committee of Arrangements.
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THE FIRE DEPARTMENT
FIRE DEPARTMENT PARADE
Upon invitation from the Committee and by order of Chief H. Howard Upham, the Fire Department was assembled at the Central Fire Station, Chestnut Street, on Tuesday, Sept. 19th, 1911 for the purpose of engag- ing in the Trades and Civic Parade of the Bicenten- nial Celebration of the Town of Needham.
The Chief had previously forwarded invitations to parade with the department, to the chiefs of the neighboring towns and cities including the mother- town of Dedham and the offspring Wellesley. The parade was formed as follows:
BOARD OF ENGINEERS AND SUPERINTENDENT OF FIRE ALARM
Chief, H. Howard Upham Assistant Chief, Allston R. Bowers
District Engineers, Timothy A. Sullivan, Needham Up- per Falls, William F. Brown, Charles River Superintendent Fire Alarm, Willard P. Cookson
VISITING CHIEFS
Chief H. J. Harrigan, of Dedham W. W. Diehl, of Wellesley
A. H. Fiske, of Framingham William Daniels, of Natick
E. L. Metcalf, of Franklin
E. M. Crockett, of Medford John Wetherbee, of Hyde Park
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HAND ENGINE, NIAGARA 1
Built in 1846. Purchased from the Town of Hingham, Mass., in 1884. Out of commission in 1890 upon introduc- tion of Water Service
COMBINATION CO. 1-CENTRAL STATION
Captain Rodney S. Adams
George Holt Charles Woodbury Frank Gaughan Fred Cookson
Percy Moulton Frank Lane
COMBINATION Co. 2-NEEDHAM HEIGHTS
Captain John W. Crisp Lieutenant T. R. Quinlan
Frank Scotton George Kennedy
Harry Walker James Pidgeon Samuel Smith
William Smith Wallace Rae
HOOK & LADDER TRUCK CO. 1-CENTRAL STATION
Captain Dana L. Southworth Lieutenant John T. Farrand
Howard Flewellyn Wendell H. Hasenfus William H. Slaney William Brown Daniel Sullivan William H. Slaney, Jr. William Clews Herbert Slaney
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FIRE DEPARTMENT PARADE
HOSE CO. 1-CHARLES RIVER
Captain Lindsay Minnis Lieutenant Harry Forsythe Daniel Mathewson Joseph Wagstaff John D. Cook Adolph Burrman Charles Day Howard Shaw
HOSE CO. 3-NEEDHAM UPPER FALLS
Captain James F. Daley, Corey Stata John Rae Harry Shepperson Edward Daley
HOSE CO. 4-NEEDHAMDALE
Captain Henry D. Blackman
VISITING COMPANIES
Combination Hook and Ladder Co. 1, Wellesley, ten men Hose Co. 1, Dedham, ten men
Hook and Ladder Co. 1, Natick, ten men
Upon dismissal of the parade the department and guests assembled at the Central Station, where a ban- quet was served.
At 2:45 P.M. a general alarm was sounded by the chief from Box 28, located at the Central Station, calling the entire department to Needham Square.
By order of the chief, ladders were placed upon the Town Hall and the Bourne Building, where lines of hose were placed by Combination Co. 1 and Com-
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bination Co. 2. Upon their arrival, lines of hose were placed upon the same buildings by Hose Co. 3 and Hose Co. 4.
Upon completion of the exhibition the depart- ment was dismissed and sent to quarters.
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THE BANQUET
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HON. LOUIS A. FROTHINGHAM
HIS EXCELLENCY EUGENE H. FOSS
THE BANQUET
TUESDAY AFTERNOON, SEPTEMBER 19, 1911
At about 4:30 P. M. everything was in readiness for the banquet and the company assembled. At the head table upon the stage was seated His Excellency, Governor Foss; Hon. Louis A. Frothingham, Lieuten- ant-Governor; Hon. James M. Merrill, County Com- missioner; Representative Horatio G. Hathaway, Jr. of Dedham; Congressman John W. Weeks; Senator Charles W. Pearson of Brookline; J. Stearns Cushing, Councillor; Secretary of State A. P. Langtry; Mayor Charles E. Hatfield of Newton; Rev. George Whitaker, Rev. Robert L. Webb, B. B. Johnson, Esq., and Wil- liam G. Moseley, the chairman of the occasion.
The invocation and prayer by Rev. Robert L. Webb was as follows: "Our Father, wilt Thou look upon us with Thy favor today as we gather around these tables taking part in this celebration which has meant so much in this town. We thank Thee for Thy blessing on the fathers who founded this community. We thank Thee for the favors shown to this town all through the years that have guided it in its life. We thank Thee for present prosperity and for the abundant outlook upon the future. We pray Thee, our Father, that as Thou hast led us in the past so wilt Thou lead and bless us in the years to come. Bless, we pray Thee,
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those in official positions throughout this community; give them wisdom and understanding, give them power to execute. We pray Thee that the spirit of true patriot- ism may abide in the hearts of all these our citizens. And, our Father, may not only this community but may all communities in this old Bay State, the state that has been so much in the history of our land, be blessed of Thee, and may the candle of liberty burn brightly that generations to come may be blessed even as we have been blessed. So accept our thanks for this provision for our physical needs, and help us to see that every good and every perfect gift cometh down from above. Amen."
Music was furnished by the Puritan Orchestra during the banquet.
THE CHAIRMAN. "The Governor has come to us today after a long journey from another part of the state and desires to say a few words to us at this time as he desires to depart very shortly; so I have the honor to present to you His Excellency the Governor."
REMARKS OF GOVERNOR FOSS
"Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen: I am glad to be here with you today just to bring a word of greet- ing. I have come over from Uxbridge this afternoon where I have been attending one of the numerous county fairs. You know that Uxbridge is one of those delightful little towns of about 5,000 inhabitants over in the Blackstone valley good to see, one of those in- dustrial centers studded with mills and several large industries, and they have had a wonderful county fair, it being a section of the state where oxen are still in
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THE BANQUET-GOVERNOR FOSS
evidence, although the automobile is coming in fast as you know.
Now, you have had a wonderful celebration here today I am told, and I have also been attending some celebrations elsewhere. There was the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary in Wareham the other day which I had the pleasure of attending. Also I went up and attended the hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the town of Rutland in Vermont.
But this is the two hundredth anniversary here in Needham, and I want to commend the civic spirit of this community, this lovely and beautiful town of yours, and your citizens in coming out and making such a dis- play and in flourishing so many flags and decorations; and then I understand the parade has done you much credit.
And the thought which is in my mind today is this, that this community is so near the great metropolis of Boston, so closely connected by ties of business inter- est in every way,-my thought is that of cooperation. Most of you business men who live here in this town are doing business in Boston, your business is located there, and when we are thinking and talking about greater Boston, and of the greater unity because of what the tendency of the times is today, we shall have this greater Boston when we shall bring together these communities located around this great industrial and commercial center. Then we shall have made a great city of Boston; not a city of 700,000 people as it is today, but a city of a million and a half taking in an area of ten or fifteen miles around the State House; and then Boston will not rank as the twentieth city in the world, but as about the tenth city in the world.
We are entitled to that rank, we are fast becoming a commercial center, and I could tell you about the Legis- lature on Beacon Hill and the appropriation of $9,000-
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000 for the improvement of our harbor. You are all interested in the proposition,-all of us living near the harbor where our interests are so strong. It is a move- ment which means so much to this state, especially to this section of the country.
I am not going to detain you long, as you have a great array of talent on the platform, and when the dinner is over you will want to hear from them. The Lieutenant-Governor is here and can tell you what has been going on on Beacon Hill this last year, what we have been doing and what the result is to be.
I want simply to say in closing that I thank you very much indeed for the warm greeting given me today, and how much pleasure it is for me to be with you and say these few words and to extend to you the greetings of the Commonwealth. I thank you very much " [applause].
After the remarks of the Governor, and when His Excellency had departed, the banqueting was resumed, after which the following addresses were made.
THE CHAIRMAN. "As we are nearing the close of this very successful celebration I am sure it will give me great pleasure to congratulate you and the town upon the completion of the program provided for this occasion. We have had a very pleasant time; it has been very successful, and now as the final thing we have met here to enjoy this banquet, and we have with us as guests a number of men identified with the Commonwealth and with our county and the neighbor- ing towns. They have come here as the guests of the town of Needham, and I know you are glad to have them here as your guests.
The Governor, before he left, said a very pleasant word for his Lieutenant-Governor, and said you would have the pleasure of hearing from him, and that he
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THE BANQUET-LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR FROTHINGHAM
would tell you about the things at the State House and other items of interest. We shall be glad to hear from the Hon. Louis A. Frothingham, Lieutenant-Governor of Massachusetts." [great applause and cheers, with a cry of "What is the matter with Frothingham, he's all right. Who is all right ?- Frothingham"].
REMARKS OF LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR FROTHINGHAM
"Mr. Toastmaster, ladies and gentlemen. I feel very much at home in Needham, especially after your most kind and very warm reception; I feel at home here, not only because I have been here before and spoken from this platform, but because I live on Needham soil [laughter].
Now, that may seem very peculiar to you, ladies and gentlemen, but if I am correctly informed it is absolutely true, because many years ago when they built in that part of Boston below Charles Street and the Common, which is now known as the Back Bay, they took the soil from Needham [renewed laughter]. But just because we took some of your soil I don't know that we can entirely agree with the Governor that you want Boston to annex all your soil [a voice, "No" and applause]-and I sometimes do agree with the Governor [more laughter]. I certainly know it would be a good thing for Boston to have you with us, because yours is one of the best town governments and a model for any other to follow [applause].
Any town or city that can erect as good a looking building as this with such a beautiful hall, and after- wards can turn back money into the treasury certainly deserves commendation and deserves to be followed by other communities.
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You also supplied us with trees, I am told, and those trees were taken from here into Boston by oxen, so that we had oxen in those days as now at our agri- cultural shows [laughter].
Now, I should not undertake, as much as I would like to do anything the Governor asks me to do, to tell you, as he suggested, all that went on upon Beacon Hill the past winter, for we had the longest session the Legislature ever has had in Massachusetts, and if I undertook to tell you a quarter part of what they did --- or left undone-and that latter part would be easy-for they didn't leave much undone apparently-it would take not only this afternoon but a great part of to- morrow.
Two of those trees which were taken in from here to Boston were rejected, as I understand it, and were brought back again and planted near the border-line between here and Wellesley, and they may now be seen there growing in a flourishing condition.
The poet, I think it was Holmes, wasn't it, said that 'Little of all we value here waits on the morn of its hundredth year without both looking and feeling queer,' and after double one hundred years we would expect Needham to feel very old and very queer. It is a long time, ladies and gentlemen, for this country, and Needham has prospered and she has been progres- sive without following all the necessarily so-called progressive doctrines we hear about nowadays, but she has progressed in the true lines. Its citizens went forth at the time of our Revolutionary War, and the proportion of loss at Lexington and Concord from this town of Needham was greater than from any other town in Massachusetts except that of Lexington. They went forth again at the time of the Civil War, and they gave their quota of blood and showed that Needham was still patriotic.
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THE BANQUET-LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR FROTHINGHAM
You have played your part, ladies and gentlemen, with Massachusetts in all the great events of this country.
To many people the history of the United States seems less attractive than that of some foreign countries because we haven't the ruined castles and titles of a feudal nobility that are to be found across the water, but those are shallow people; the history of America from its very newness lends attractions. Where else can you find a country settled as this was, not for con- quest, not for gain of that kind, but to gain freedom, a free church, a free government, a free speech, stretch- ing out its colonies and finally throwing off the yoke of the mother country and becoming free, welding to- gether into a great and strong government to be cast assunder for a time by the Civil War, but coming together afterwards stronger than ever, and becoming the greatest republic on the fact of the globe? [applause]
Where else can you find such characters as Wash- ington and Lincoln; in what other country in the world can you find so many careers where the barefoot boy has risen by the strength of his own personality to the highest position in business, professional, and political life?
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a great country, we have great traditions, and no state in this Union has lived up to those traditions better than Massachu- setts [applause]. We have done our duty in time of war; let us see to it that we do our duty likewise in the time of peace" [great applause].
THE CHAIRMAN. "I have had occasion to say once or twice during the celebration that Massachusetts is proud of its men. I believe that Massachusetts is proud of its representatives in Congress. We have able men from Massachusetts participating in the delib-
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erations at Washington; we have, however, one man who has been deemed worthy of high official recognition in that body, a man who, whenever he addresses the body, receives the very best of attention; a man whose suggestions are listened to with great care, and when followed are found very profitable; and so tonight it gives me great pleasure to present as our next speaker Congressman Weeks, our congressman from this dis- trict" [the audience rises and gives three cheers and a tiger for Congressman Weeks].
REMARKS OF CONGRESSMAN WEEKS
"Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, consider- ing the fact that I am not a candidate for office, I think those cheers were unusually hearty [laughter].
You have been wise in having this celebration; it is always wise for people to get together and compare notes, and taking an account of stock to see what they have been doing during the last half century at least. You not only get together yourselves, but you bring back to your community those who have left it for one reason and another, and especially those who were natives of the town; and sometimes they bring back to you something valuable, and occasionally one leaves his native town that which is valuable, and I hope that will be the case here. In any case you have been wise in having this celebration, although it takes work and effort to make it successful, even when there are many willing hands.
I will say to you confidentially that I came here to talk about a matter I have had on my mind, but I see that this is not the place to do it; therefore I am going to change my text and discuss briefly something the Governor gave us as an indication of his view of a
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HON. JOHN W. WEEKS
HON. ALBERT P. LANGTRY
THE BANQUET-CONGRESSMAN WEEKS
public question. I am not doing it because I do not agree with the Governor, because I do frequently agree with him on matters not political, and of course I would not think of injecting anything political here. In this particular I disagree with him, and want to call your attention briefly-and without giving it any considera- tion for this occasion-why I disagree with him in his suggestion that this community should become a part of Boston.
Things big are not always virtuous simply because they are large. If they were I should be one of the most virtuous men, which I am not; but things are good be- cause they have value without regard to their size, and that brings up this whole question of government, of the form of government, of the government we have had in New England for the last two hundred and fifty or three hundred years, and the government we have had to work out of our conditions as they would come to us from day to day.
Mr. Bryce, the British ambassador, whom I esteem as a friend of mine, has said in his commentary upon our government, that the one failure the American people have made was in their municipal government, but he would have said in the same breath that the one great success which they have made has been made in their individual town government, or the government we have heard about and known ever since we have been on this earth. The old New England town govern- ment is the best government evolved by man, because it is the individual government where every individual knows all the details, takes an interest and becomes a part of it.
But when a community grows to any extent the pure democracy which exists in the small towns must necessarily be substituted with something akin to it but not exactly like it. Therefore we see in the larger
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towns some form of Republican government which is made to fit the necessities as they arise. Later on we come to city government, which in my judgment, in comparatively small communities, is the poorest gov- ernment any community can have; the people in a large city are the poorest governed people in this coun- try. Local government is the most important of all our public duties. We sometimes get excited about national and state affairs and county affairs, but when you stop and think we raise more for local purposes, and there are more details in connection with local affairs than all others put together, you will understand why it should receive our first attention.
I happened to notice the other day that the city of Boston when it was of the size of the city of Newton where I live had a net debt of $100,000, and that the expenditures of the city of Boston at that time per capita were only about one-half of what they are in Newton today. I do not say that to reflect on Newton, which is one of the best communities in the Common- wealth, and where I believe every dollar expended has given a dollar's worth of value to the inhabitants of that city, but I say it because conditions have changed, the world has been moving, we do not live the simple life our fore-fathers lived a hundred years ago, and when those who antedate us by many years were in charge of the conduct of affairs. They did not have the multi- tudinous matters of detail which we have to deal with; therefore the expenditures were smaller, the amount of money raised was very much less than now, but today we have, and I believe we must have, all the modern inprovements and conveniences which go to make up our modern life. Therefore it becomes of the greatest importance that we should have in charge of affairs men on whom we can depend and on whose busi- ness judgment we can place the greatest reliance.
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When we extend a town's government into city government, however, we are losing some part of our touch with them; I believe the city government takes away some part of the municipal pride which is in every citizen; that if we grow, as the Governor suggests we may, to be fifty or sixty or eighty or ninety or a thousand or a million people that we get just that much farther from our direct personal contact with affairs.
In this town you have something like a thousand voters. You can get together in this hall, you can dis- cuss your affairs; you are not only a deliberative body but an elective body as well,-you elect your officers and deliberate about the way you shall expend the money for municipal expenses. Later you will have to meet other conditions. When the town was organized everybody knew everybody else; it was a self-sustaining community,-the local tailor, the blacksmith, the grocer supplied the needs of the community, but now you have large manufacturing establishments here not necessarily supplying local needs but the whole country and other parts of the world. The whole condition of life has materially changed. You were one hundred and eighty years old as a municipality when you had 3500 people; in other words, it took a hundred and eighty years to get together in this town that number of people; but you have doubled your population, and in the next ten or fifteen years you will double it again. You are going to get into the condition when you cannot come into this town hall and deliberate your affairs. Then you are going to have a representative government not by selection; the men who are coming here will tell you how to expend your money. You must have some form of representative government to supplement your pure democracy which has existed in this town.
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