hen about the only thing we could boast was that we
spent a _less_ sum per capita than any city in the Union for the care of
hospital patients. I remember hearing that fine citizen, Frederick
Dohrmann, once say, "Every supervisor who has gone out of public service
leaving our old County Hospital standing is guilty of a municipal
crime." It was a disgrace of which we were ashamed. The fire had spared
the building, but the new supervisors did not. We now have one of the
best hospitals in the country, admirably conducted.

Our City Prison is equally reversed. It was our shame; it is our pride.
The old Almshouse was a discreditable asylum for the politician who
chanced to superintend it. Today our "Relief Home" is a model for the
country. In 1906 the city was destroyed because unprotected against
fire. Today we are as safe as a city can be. In the meantime the reduced
cost of insurance pays insured citizens a high rate of interest on the
cost of our high-pressure auxiliary fire system. Our streets were once
noted for their poor construction and their filthy condition. Recently
an informed visitor has pronounced them the best to be found. We had no
creditable boulevards or drives. Quietly and without bond expenditure we
have constructed magnificent examples. Our school buildings were shabby
and poor. Many now are imposing and beautiful.

This list could be extended; but turn for a moment to matters of
manners. Where are the awful corner-groceries that helped the saloons to
ruin men and boys, and where are the busy nickel-in-the-slot machines
and shameless smokers in the street-cars? Where are the sellers of
lottery tickets, where the horse-races and the open gambling?

It was my fortune to be re-elected for eight years. Sometimes I am
impressed by how little I seem to have individually accomplished in this
long period of time. One effect of experience is to modify one's
expectations. It is not nearly so easy to accomplish things as one who
has not tried is apt to imagine. Reforming is not an easy process.
Inertia is something really to be overcome, and one is often surprised
to find how obstinate majorities can be. Initiative is a rare faculty
and an average legislator must be content to follow. One can render good
service sometimes by what he prevents. Again, he may finally fail in
some good purpose through no fault of his own, and yet win something
even in losing. Early in my term I was convinced that one thing that
ough