[1] As mayor, he created a registry of those seeking work in order to connect them to potential employers,[1] supported the establishment of a free library, and said he "personally reviewed almost every application for relief [for the poor], and [had] succeeded in bestowing charity where it was needed and been able to refuse those who were undeserving of it".
[2] After his term as mayor, he remained involved in politics, securing funding from the Minister of Education for the trial implementation of home economics classes in a local school in 1897, arguing that it would help decide whether to include it in the curriculum.
[2] The Minister of Education allowed school boards to teach home economics later that year.
[2] He strongly opposed prohibition, saying he preferred a liquor license law because outright prohibition would result in outright disregard for the law, and because he saw nothing wrong with the sale of alcohol in public spaces (he was even the treasurer[1] and a principal shareholder[2] of the Grant-Lottridge Brewing Company).
[2] He was the head of his own accounting firm from 1966 to 1874, after which he sold his share to his partner Ralph Leeming Gunn.