OBITUARY NOTICES. V 



system, and, in Mr. Fraley's words, to "the development of those 

 impersonal interests that make the prosperity of a great city." 



Upon the formation, in 1868, of the National Board of Trade 

 as a federation of all the commercial organizations of the country, 

 Mr. Frale> was chosen as its President, and for thirty-three years 

 he was successively re-elected to that high office by the unanimous 

 action of delegates coming from every part of the country, and 

 bound to him by no tie other than a just appreciation of his char- 

 acter, ability, and impartiality. 



In all of the many bodies, corporate or voluntary, public, busi- * 

 ness, or social, over which Mr. Fraley presided, or in whose delib- 

 erations he actively participated, for so many years and to the end, 

 he was a forceful leader, for he always had clear and decided views 

 upon all questions which came to be considered, he had the courage 

 and the ability to give to those views adequate expression, and he 

 had the tact and equability of temper which enabled him not only 

 to persuade but also to convince. 



He was an exceptionally well-qualified presiding officer. He had 

 a thorough knowledge of parliamentary law and practice and an 

 unusual readiness in the application of his knowledge. He was 

 instinctively fair-minded, and, therefore, he was always impartial. 

 He had an unrivaled facility of felicitous expression, and, to those 

 who could appreciate him, it was an intellectual pleasure to listen 

 to the graceful speeches which he was, from time to time, accus- 

 tomed to address to the Societies and Boards over which he pre- 

 sided. 



He had a strong sense of public, as well as of private, duty, and 

 he had no sympathy with that spirit of destructive criticism which 

 contents itself with deploring the existence of evils which it does 

 not try to mend. 



He held public office, and he achieved results in State and muni- 

 cipal politics, without sacrifice of independence or loss of self- 

 respect. In 1839 he was a member of the National Convention of 

 the Whig Party, which nominated William Henry Harrison for 

 election as President of the United States. From 1834 to 1837 he 

 sat in the Common Council of the old City of Philadelphia. 

 From 1837 to 1840 he served with credit in the Senate at Harris- 

 burg. In 1834 he successfully accomplished, against the opposition 

 of the most respectable conservatism of the leading citizens of that 

 day, the introduction of street and house lighting by gas, and his 



