Can we afford the expense? Rather, let us ask, Can Boston afford to be less comfortable to live in, less attractive, less healthy, than sister cities? We can afford police, paved streets, light, sewers, scavengers, a fire department, a board of health, and a score of other agencies, not because they give salaries and employment to certain men, but because the public health and safety require it; we can afford schools, maintained at enormous cost, though it may be conceded that we could live without education; we can afford pure water in abundance, be the expense never so great, because we need it; and, if we need pure air, we can afford to pay for it, to seize the means of having it, and keeping it forever. And suffer me, with due modesty, to say, that we in this meeting--representing as we do the commerce, industries, and professions of this goodly town--have a right to demand that what we ask shall be given us, and that Boston shall take and hold for the use of its people this needed reservation, while yet there is time. I trust our city fathers will need no further admonition than this meeting gives; but, if they should, we are enlisted for the war. As Cromwell, grimly looking down on the fair fields and shining streams of the land he came to conquer, said, "This is a land worth fighting for," so let us, as we survey the magnificent area of shore and hill and glade which fortune now permits us to dedicate to public use, exclaim, "This, indeed, is worth our effort;" and let us strive for it till the battle is won. THE PRESIDENT. I have been requested to state that the well-known physician, Dr. EDWARD H. CLARKE, who is too ill to be present here to-night, has written a long and interesting letter on the subject of this meeting, which will be published in the morning papers; and I desire that every citizen present will make a point of reading that letter. LETTER OF DR. EDWARD H. CLARKE. HAMILTON A. HILL, ESQ., SECRETARY, &C. _Dear Sir_,--I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 2d inst., requesting me, in the name of the committee who have called a public meeting on the park question, to address to them a letter which shall contain my views upon "the necessity existing at the present time for action on this subject, and upon the Report of the Park Commissioners." If my views are of any value to the community on this question, or if I could exert any influence, however little, in bringing about a result so necessary to the comfort, prosperity, and health of all the citizens of Boston, as the establishment of a public park within the limits of the city, I should esteem it not less a privilege than a duty to present those views, and exert that influence.