Excerpt from Opening Argument of Fred H. Williams, Testimony, and Closing Argument of Hon. George M. Stearns: Before the Legislative Committee on Towns, 1887, in Favor of the Incorporation of the Town of Beverly Farms
I will briefly state, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, that the appearance of these petitioners from Beverly Farms in these halls of legislation, asking for the rights of local self-government, is but the result of an agita tion of more than forty years’ duration, the murmurings of which have been heard from time to time, and which finally burst forth into active life and flaming energy in the summer of 1885. The story of our shipwreck on the shoals of the Legislature of 1886 must be familiar to you all. Briefly told, it is this: After an almost unani mous report from the Committee on Towns, we went before the House of Representatives; and there, after demagogical appeals to prejudice, the most wilful mis representations of facts, and a resort to parliamentary tactics of such a nature as to bring a blush even to the cheek of a victor at the mention of the words fairness and justice, we went down.
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