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<br />ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SELECTMEN.
<br />Your Selectmen, upon assuming to discharge the duties
<br />of the office to which they had been elected, were, they
<br />trust, fully aware of the responsibility which rested upon
<br />them, for the two fold reason: that they were to assist in
<br />endeavoring to carry out the laudable and praiseworthy ex•
<br />ertions of the town in reducing the general expenditures ; and
<br />as the reverberations from the echoes of those ringing words
<br />64 Economy," 4-9 Retrenchment," and 44 Reform" that were
<br />heard -by our predecessors, one year ago, are as potent now
<br />as then, and probably ever will be, until the town, by its
<br />votes,'reduose every appropriation to its lowest possible de-
<br />mand. The sehools must be maintained. the roads kept in
<br />a safe oondition, and the poor supported, but many other of
<br />the usual expenditures might, perhaps, upon refleotion and
<br />investigation, be reduced or discontinued. If the effort is
<br />trade by any town officer to reduce the price of the meohanio
<br />or laborer; how quickly the cry is heard, Deprivation from it
<br />Just equivalent," also, whenever the necessary commodities
<br />for the town's supply are purchased, even at a reduction of
<br />cost, elsewhere, again how soon the exclamation is at once
<br />raieed, ii Why not bestow your patronage in town, and
<br />aid your tax payers." The market value of what is needed
<br />will and must be the guide towards a reduction of many of
<br />the expenses, and an abstinence from what is not absolutely
<br />required will also aid in that direction. Not much reduction
<br />in the general expenses of the town need be expected, until
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<br />the town by its votes regulates its appropriations to the
<br />lowest amount possible, to meet its real and absolute wants
<br />and requirements.
<br />upon entering upon the discharge of our duties, we could
<br />not bring to our aid any recent experience in the management
<br />of town sMAm, and in the absence of any profibred assistance
<br />were forced to acquaint and familiarise ourselves with the
<br />condition of the town affairs, by that slow and not always
<br />sure process of gathering information from such sources as
<br />circumstances might disclose.
<br />Thazenerally conceded and acknowledged faot, that after
<br />the town, by its votes, elects a number of individuals for the
<br />office termed selectmen, that after those persons have taken
<br />the oath of office, prescribed by law, they then become the
<br />servants of the town, through whom it is expected the re-
<br />quirements and obligations of the town are to be executed
<br />and performed, and whenever in the estimation or judgment
<br />of the town those servants become remiss, neglectful, or no-
<br />mindful, or do not seemingly consult the interest of the
<br />town, then it is not only your privilege, but we think your
<br />duty, not to stand at the corners of the streets, or sit beside
<br />your firesides, and denounce those servants, but to come
<br />before them, either at the town meetings or elsewhere, and
<br />freely and.f nkly make known what were your expeotations
<br />or desires, state your grievances, and call upon those ser-
<br />vants to render a feithful account of their stewardship. .
<br />We are gratified with the privilege that is accorded us in
<br />the presentation of this annual report, to give somewhat in
<br />detail an account of the expenditures of the money appropri-
<br />ated, as well as the general affairs of the town,.
<br />We• trust we shall be pardoned in departing from the usual
<br />custom, by giving a more detailed or explicit account of some
<br />of the subjects which affect the interest and welfare of the
<br />town.
<br />one of our first acts was an agreement or resolve that no
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