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��THE GRANITE MONTHLY.
��rageous demand, prevented all serious talk of a compromise. Dover won the suit, — for the city of Boston !
2. The departure of the shoe busi- ness had seriously hurt trade in Dover. The mayor entered upon the work of recalling it by inducing the citizens to offer special facilities. This work is already successful, and the tide is turned.
3. But the one which he will doubt- less pride himself upon, is the estab- lishment of a free jjublic library. A private library had existed. The mayor brought forward the subject in his in- augural address. He framed and pre- sented a plan by which the city could obtain the books of the old library ; secured the passage of an ordinance by the city council, and when the ne- cessary legislation was had from the state, found the people ready to make liberal appropriations. The library is established and has been largely in- creased. Dr. Lothrop is chairman of the board of trustees, not ex-officio, but by spontaneous election. His ad- ministration will always be remembered as the one in which Dover had its pub- lic library, and his name will be forever linked with this great public benefit.
When his term of office was to ex- pire, however, the question of re-elec- tion came up. Some local disturbances as to the location of a public building had irritated some persons. Rarely has a mayor, it is believed, in Dover re- ceived as much majority on his second candidacy as on his first. But the re- sult was a gratifying endorsement. He had the rare endorsement of being re- elected by an increased majority.
The following extract from Foster's Democrat, just previous to his elec- tion, expresses the sentiment of those who have best known him during his business career of nearly forty years in Dover :
" This being the case, a good, prac- tical, energetic and successful business man ;s necessary, a man of public spirit and enterprise, a man who knows the principles of true economy and how to practice them without being
��penurious, a man of honor and integ- rity, who can safely be entrusted with the control of all city improvements and enterprises without being contin- ually suspected of having a "job" to feather his own nest, a man who can be trusted in private affairs and is known to be good for his word of honor every time, not a perfect man, for there are none such, they have not yet been created, but a good, fair and square representative of the intelligence and business of our honorable business people is wanted.
" Now look all around and see if a better one, all things considered, can be found than the President of our Dover Board of Trade, James E. Loth- rop, to the manor born. On a political issue, being Democratic ourselves, we might feel it a political duty to vote against him, but on a simple citizen's issue, which we hold to be the only one that should ever enter into a muni- cipal election, there is no man we would more gladly and eagerly vote for than Dr. Lothrop. We know him in a business way like a book, and a squarer and more honorable man does not live. He would make a good mayor."
The day following the second elec- tion, the same ]3aper said : —
" Now a word in regard to Mr, Loth- rop. We are not sorry he is re-elected, not at all. He does not agree with us in politics, but he is one of the best men we know of for all o' that, and Dover never had a better mayor, in our judgment. If any Democrat wants to vote for a Republican, we commend his good sense when he selects Dr. Lothrop as that Republican. He is as good as any of them, and ten times better than a great many of either Re- publicans or Democrats. He has been a good officer the past year and will, we predict, be a better one the year to ceme."
The Republican, on the day follow- ing the election, said as follows : —
"Apart, for the i)resent, from all par- tisan consideration, the re-election of Mayor Lothrop, Tuesday, by a decisive and increased majority, is an event
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