turned to their accounts (and they are all mercantile men), I was
amazed to see at what small cost it could all be done. And, gentlemen, I
want to detain you a moment longer on statistics, and show that it has
increased the value of property in every city that has had a park, by
bringing houses all about the parks, and by detaining as inhabitants of
the city, to be taxed in the city, those men who skulk in small towns to
throw the burden of the expense of their own city on those who stay
behind. [Applause.] All we want to do to-night is to say to the city
government that we are in earnest about this matter, and that we want
the work done now. [Applause.]

I tell you, gentlemen, it is very doubtful, if this fails, whether you
will have another Board of Commissioners to compare with the present. I
tell you it is doubtful, whether there will be a state of things in
Boston which will be any thing like as favorable as the state of things
we are in now. But I can tell you one thing that is certain; and that
is, if you postpone it, you cannot have the parks that they propose. The
growth of population will be crowding over it; speculators will buy it;
the ponds will become injured; and the expense will be so great, that
you will shudder at the thought of it. And, more than that, the parks
that you ask for in another ten years will be four or five miles from
the centre of population now, and I confess that one great argument with
me for instant action is, that I want the parks to be as accessible as
possible to all those persons especially who do not own their private
carriages, and cannot give a day to it. [Applause.]

And last of all, Mr. President and gentlemen, it should be done for
economical reasons, as has been stated very well by the address and in
the resolutions, because there never was a time, and I hope there never
will be a time again, when the land was so cheap as it is now; and, when
we take this land for parks, we take it at its present price. There has
not been a time for many years, and I hope there never will be a time
again, when the price of labor is as low as it is now [applause]; and
that labor we would employ at once, and the laborers are begging for
employment. Why, there is not one of you who has not often and often,
within the last two years, perhaps it is not extravagant to say, felt
his heart bleed when he has been stopped in the way by evidently honest
men, who would say, "We can't find any thing to