USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Newburyport > City Officers and the Annual Reports to the City Council of Newburyport 1895 > Part 2
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In my opinion this city has been treated in the most arbitrary and unjust manner, not only in the present instance, but several times before. Back in 1884, when the company was located in Essex hall building with good comfortable quarters, the rent
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from the state was stopped without any warning and the place condemned. At that time the city had a lease of the building which did not expire for about a year and a half, and it was left on our hands while we were obliged to provide new quar- ters on Prince place, both companies being quar- tered there. But a very short time elapsed before one of the companies was removed to Amesbury, and we were then left with one company and with rent of two armories to pay, at a cost of $700 per year, the state allowing one-half of the amount.
That building, as you remember, was burned last May, and at that time temporary quarters were secured in Washington hall, where the com- pany still remains, and for which the city is paying a rental of some four or five hundred dollars a year, the state not allowing anything, as I received from the adjutant general about three weeks ago a let- ter bearing no date, which stated that rent would be allowed until May 15 ; whether it meant May, 1894, or next May, I was left to guess, but have since learned that the rent was stopped at the time of the fire last May.
You will readily see by this brief history that the city has had poor encouragement in trying to provide quarters for the military. However, I would recommend that the committee on public
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property take the matter under advisement as ear- ly as possible, that we may consider as to what is best to be done in the matter.
SCHOOLS.
The public schools of our city have the deserved reputation of being first-class in every respect. We are well provided with school buildings except at the upper end of the city, where it is only a question of time when a new building will have to be erect- ed for the accommodation of the scholars, those now in use being crowded to their utmost extent. Whether it is best to build the present year or not, I am unable to say until I look into the matter more carefully than I have as yet done. It has been intimated to me that certain parties were to advo- cate the abandoning of several school buildings in that part of the city, and erecting an elaborate structure of eight rooms on the principle of the Kel- ley school building.
While I believe in providing suitable buildings for our schools, there is no necessity for any such extravagance as that in this city, as we are not in Boston, and if any such "wildcat" scheme is pro- posed I shall do all in my power to prevent its adoption, and my efforts in that direction, I believe, will receive the support of the city council and the
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citizens generally. The building of an addition to the Forrester street school-house would answer ev- ery purpose for a number of years, and it could be donc at a reasonable expense.
SEWERS.
The city is now provided with sewers up as far as Broad street, there being none above that street. Contrary to the rules adopted in other cities, no assessment has been made here upon those using the sewers, the whole expense having gone into the general tax. In my opinion it would have been better for the city to have made it easier for those who wished to connect with the sewers, and then charged a nominal rental for their use ; as it now stands those who wish to connect their houses with the sewers are obliged to conform to so many iron- clad rules, thereby making the expense so large, that many of our citizens, no matter how much they may desire to do so, cannot afford to enter them. It should be made as easy as possible. If there was less theorizing done, and more practical common sense used regarding such matters, it would be better for all concerned.
I do not know what the doctors are in the hab- it of drinking that they manage to see so many
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bugs all around them. They have of late years found all manner of insects in our food ; in books used in the schools and public libraries ; in bank notes and upon everything we are obliged to handle, until by their fairy tales they have so frightened timid people that they imagine a whole menagerie is being devoured every time they eat, and hardly dare touch anything around them for fear of con- tracting some terrible disease. But it is refreshing in this connection to note that the health authori- ties of New York, after making a thorough investi- gation in that city, state in their report that they found in the Jewish quarter, not only the most densely populated but also the most filthy in every respect and with the very poorest sanitary arrange- ments of all, yet the death rate in that quarter was far below that of any other, and came to the con- clusion that there was more danger from what passed into the mouth in the shape of food and drink than from sewer gas and other outsideinfluences. I do not believe that there is a single physician who honestly thinks there would be the slightest danger in regard to contracting disease from the sewers if all the patent traps and other expensive arrange- ments should be thrown away.
In regard to flushing the sewers, there is no ne- cessity of using water from the hydrants for that
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purpose, as it would only be necessary to connect the roofs of a few public buildings with them, when they would flush themselves without any trouble or expense.
PUBLIC LIBRARY AND LIGHTING.
Both of these departments are for the purpose of dispensing light, therefore I have taken them to- gether ; the one furnishes light in which the mind can travel, the other light for our feet to travel in. The public library is in excellent condition and is one of the best in the state. All necessary informa- tion regarding it will be found in the report of the directors and librarian.
In regard to the lighting of our streets, the city is fairly well lighted, the light being furnished by 138 arc lamps, giving good satisfaction when they are kept lighted, which I have been informed is not always the case with some of the lamps. The plac- ing of new lights should never be done by the com- mittee without a special order from the city coun- cil.
FIRE DEPARTMENT.
The fire department of Newburyport is equal to that of any city of its size in the state, whether it be a volunteer or a paid department, and those who have been casting reflections upon the firemen
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of our city should be ashamed of themselves if there is any such thing as shame in them.
The fire at the car and shoe factories was handled admirably all the way through, and if there had been plenty of water at the start it would have been confined to the car factory. I was pres- ent at the fire all the time and I know the firemen did their duty and did it nobly, and they are enti- tled to great credit for their work. I heard a gen- tleman from Boston, who was present, make the remark that if the fire had been in that city it would not have been stopped where it was.
This department is in excellent condition, lack- ing nothing at the present time but water, and water is a very essential element at a fire. Give the firemen plenty of water and they will take care of the fires.
WATER QUESTION.
As this subject was pretty thoroughly consid- ered in the special address of December 28, I have very little to add at the present time and will sim- ply call your attention to a few features of the bill under which we are to vote. First, we shall be obliged to pay the water company only for appli- ances used in supplying the city with water. That does not include the arrangement built by them for the purpose of filtering river water, which they
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have declared has never been used and which the state board of health would not approve of their using. The second feature is this language used in the bill :
"Who shall determine the fair value of said property for the purposes of its use by said city."
This to my mind is a clause of the bill which is strongly in our favor, for if the present water sup- ply is not sufficient for the city's use, if the stand- pipe is not suitable, or any part of the piping sys- tem, I believe the commissioners are bound by that clause to so determine the value, as they are also by the following clause :
"Such value shall be estimated without en- hancement on account of future earning capacity or good will, or on account of the franchise of said company."
Enhancement, as applied in this case, means in- crease in price or value. Good will, in this connec- tion, is a term commonly used in the sale of a busi- ness, and means the income of the business and the probability of its continuance, so that the clause referred to may properly be read thus :
Such value shall be estimated without increase in price or value on account of future earning ca- pacity or present earning capacity, which is the good will.
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Take again the clause where the fair value of the property shall be estimated for the purposes of its use by the city. If we should purchase the prop- erty the city could not legally use it for the purpose of making money, by the charging of exorbitant rates for water, as the company have been doing, for the city would be obliged by law to furnish the water as near the actual cost as possible.
If we should vote to purchase, the management of the property will not be vested in the city gov- ernment, as the act provides for the appointment, by the mayor, of five commissioners, who are to be approved by the city council, and I assure you if it should become my duty to appoint the members of the commission, it will be composed of five of the very best citizens of Newburyport. Men of integri- ty and of good business qualifications, in whom the people will have the utmost confidence, and these men will have the sole charge of reconstructing the works and running them afterwards.
And now I cannot help repeating what I have already said in my special message upon this ques- tion, that in my opinion it will be a grave mistake if we do not vote at the coming election to purchase the water works, and thus free ourselves from the grasp of this corporation which has been of great injury to our city from its first conception up to
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the present time, and will continue to be as long as we allow it to have the power.
In this connection I will read the letter of Dis- trict Attorney William H. Moody. Although the letter was a personal one to myself, I have his per- mission to use it for this purpose. Mr. Moody, as you all know, is an able lawyer and he has had a large experience upon this water question, having been employed by the city for the past two years, and also by the city of Haverhill upon a similar case, and he is at the present time a member of the board of water commissioners of that city.
The Hon. Orrin J. Gurney, Newburyport, Mass.
DEAR SIR :- I received Saturday, the copies of the opinions of Judge Lowell and Mr. Russell, and have read them carefully.
You will recall that last spring I stated orally to you my opinion. First, that the act of 1894 imposing the further con- dition upon the city was constitutional ; and second, that under the act of 1894 the liability of the city would be to pay no more than the value of the plant, as a plant, without any addition on account of franchise, good will, or earning capacity of the com- pany. Of course there is nothing in the opinions received from Judge Lowell and Mr. Russell which would tend to change that view.
.
The proper construction of the act of 1893 is a matter of not very much importance now. You will recall that a section of the act of 1894 was drawn by the city's counsel for the express purpose of meeting the possible construction of the act of 1893, which Mr. Russell thinks is the true construction.
I still think, as I told you in our last conversation, that the act of 1894 is so favorable in its provisions to the city that it would be very unwise for the citizens of Newburyport to fail to
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purchase under it. You know I have always believed that as a practical question it was desirable for the city to acquire the plant of the company, poor as it is, rather than start entirely from the beginning, provided that it could be acquired on such terms as are given by the act of 1894. In considering the act of 1894 it must not be forgotten that the act as it finally passed was radi- cally different from the bill submitted by the water company and discussed before the committee. In the act finally passed, the provisions of the original bill which made it of doubtful constitu- tionality, were eliminated.
I take it this letter is simply a personal one to yourself, and therefore I have made it somewhat informal.
I cannot close this letter without again repeating how much I think it is for the interest of the city to buy under the present act.
Yours very truly,
W. H. MOODY.
Haverhill, Mass., Oct. 22, 1894.
POOR DEPARTMENT.
This department is most excellently managed by the present efficient board of overseers, who have sole charge of everything pertaining to the care of the city's poor, in which they are ably assisted by Mr, Bayley, the clerk of the board.
Our almshouse is one of the very best to be found in this part of the country. It was built in 1887, with all the modern improvements, being copied largely from the one in Haverhill. Mayor Harwood and other officials of the city of Lynn, after having inspected several of the best alms- houses in the state, concluded that ours was the
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best, and that city is to build one precisely like it, with the exception of its being a trifle larger and having a few slight improvements. Our almshouse is in charge of Mr. Nelson and his estimable wife, who cannot be excelled as keeper and matron of such an institution. The average number of inmates the past year was 43, and they have the best of care, being provided with warm and comfortable quar- ters, and good wholesome food prepared by Mr. Richardson, who has cooked for the establishment for a number of years, and no better cook can be found. When anyone visits his kitchen he always takes pride in exhibiting his bread and pies, and whenever the committee make their annual visits always insists upon each member eating a piece of pie, and anyone who has once eaten a piece will be ready to try it again. Any of our citizens who have never visited this place would find it well worth their time to do so, and Mr. and Mrs. Nelson will be only too happy to show them around.
The cost of maintaining our poor department the past year was $23,203. 65; $6,511.04 of which was paid to the state for the care of the insane, there being 40 of that class, most of whom arecon- fined in the state asylum at Danvers. The income from other cities and towns and from individuals, where the board is paid for some of the inmates,
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was $4,236.51, leaving the net cost to the city $18,967.14. The cost of maintaining each inmate at the almshouse was $2.12 per week.
HIGHWAYS.
The streets and sidewalks of our city have for several years past, received an unusual amount of attention, requiring the expenditure of a large sum of money, and as a result they are in better condi- tion at the present time than they have ever been before. (I presume it will be understood that I am not referring to the snow and ice with which they are now covered, but to the solid substance under it.)
The appropriation for this department in 1894 was $17,000 ; the expenditures $33,367.29, making an overdraft of $16,367.29.
Our public fault-finder has informed you that the city has nothing to show for this large expen- diture, which is false, as the following figures will convince you :
4015 yards brick sidewalk laid. $1,806 75
Repairs on sidewalk. SI5 95
6512 yards concrete sidewalk laid. 1,628 00
10,760 feet new edgestone set. 3,200 00
2300 feet old edgestone reset
230 00
Cash paid for sand and labor on icy sidewalks 665 50
Cash paid for crushed stone. 3,406 35 5000 yards gutters paved.
1,250 00
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Cash paid for the unemployed and needy. 5,000 00 Cost of keeping city teams. 5,500 55
Total $23,502 00
The balance being expended for ordinary labor and the employment of outside teams to work upon the roads. The following streets were macadamized during the year : Summit place, Orange street, Market street from Washington to High, Fair street from Middle to Prospect, State street from High to Greenleaf, and a portion of High street. On Fair, Orange and High streets the crushed stone was put on without digging up the surface, and in my opinion wherever the street is low enough for the purpose it makes just as good a road.
The steam roller was not used while the work was being done for the reason that the water com- pany refused to allow the superintendent of high- ways the use of the water from the hydrants, and there being no rain at the time to wet down the roads, there was nothing for the roller to do.
I would again urge upon the city council the ne- cessity of keeping these roads sprinkled during the summer season, for if they are allowed to become dry they will soon wear out. I would also advo- cate having as many of the streets sprinkled as pos- sible for the comfort and convenience of the public. In regard to work upon the highways the coming
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season it seems to me advisable that we should move a little slower than in the past, for as much as these improvements are to be desired we must bear in mind that it cannot all be done in one year, or even in five or ten years. We must go according to our means, and there are several other matters that will have to be attended to this year.
LIQUOR LICENSES.
Under the present law, which was passed in 1894, the board of aldermen have nothing to do with the granting of liquor licenses or enforcing the law in regard to such licensed places, that power being now vested in the board of license commis- sioners, thus relieving the aldermen of a very disa- greeable duty, for it was not an easy task to be obliged to choose thirteen from about double that number, who should have the privilege of selling liquor.
The present law is in many respects a good one, much better than it would have been had it passed in the form first presented to the legislature which gave the governor power to appoint the commis- sioners, for then the law would have been used for the grossest political corruption. The governor would have had no means of knowing the character of the men to be appointed on the commission only
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as given him by the political wire-pullers of his par- ty, and they would have recommended only such men as could be used for the purpose of controlling the liquor vote in the interests of the party in power, but as the law now stands no mayor of a city would ever think of appointing upon the com- mission any but the very best men who could bein- duced to accept the position. Those whom I have appointed did not ask for the place. It was offered to them, and I have the fullest confidence in the men to believe they will do what is right.
One man came to me and asked for the position, giving as a reason for wanting it that he thought it would help him with the liquor sellers in his trade. Perhaps it is unnecessary for me to say that he was one of the prime movers in the attempt made the last two years to get a new mayor. He doesn't think I am a fit man for the office, and I am happy to state that none of the class who want to prac- tice corruption do.
The duty of enforcing the law in regard to un- licensed places still remains with the mayor and the board of aldermen, and if the limit clause could be stricken out of the present license law, which is in all other respects an excellent one, it would be much easier to enforce it.
I have a great deal of sympathy for a man who
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violates such an unjust law, which says one person shall have the privilege of selling an article, and says another person, who is equally as good a citizen, shall not have that privilege. In my opinion it is contrary to the constitution, and I do not believe any honest, fair-minded man would ever vote for such a one-sided law. Even the honest prohibition- ists condemn it in the strongest terms. I have been before the legislative committee the last two years to urge its repeal, and mean to go again the pres- ent year. With that one feature left out, the pres- ent local option law practised in this state is, in my opinion, the best way to control the sale of liquor, and no good citizen would ever want to see in Massachusetts such a farce as that now carried on under the name of prohibition in the states of Maine and New Hampshire. The correspondent of the Bos- ton Herald, who has spent a month down in Maine for the purpose of looking into the merits of prohi- bition in that state, has described the situation truthfully, as I can testify from personal knowledge, having been there and seen it myself just as he has stated it. There is not a city or town in either one of those states, both having a prohibition law, but that even a stranger can buy all the liquor he wants. It was only last summer that the author- ities of Manchester, N. H., declared that the 400
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liquor saloons in that city should not be allowed to keep open later than ten o'clock at night.
All these things go to prove that no law can be enforced without public opinion back of it, and I maintain that the prohibitory law regarding the use of liquor never has and never can be enforced either here or anywhere else. Men are much like hogs, they will not be driven. Wherever any city or town has abstained from the use of liquor it has not been on account of the prohibitory law, but be- cause the people themselves did not want the liquor. Such a place may possibly exist but I have never been able to find it, although I have traveled from Canada to Florida and last summer visited the Provinces. While I found many places living under a prohibitory law it was in every instance placing a premium upon hypocrisy. But it will be said the present license law is not enforced. That is true, and there are many difficulties in the way of enforc- ing any law regulating the sale of liquor. There is no question but what there are places in this city where liquor is being sold without a license, but it is not an easy matter to procure sufficient evidence to convict the parties. I know there are persons who claim to have such evidence, but I have always found them unwilling to come into court and pre- sent it.
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An instance of this kind occurred during my first term as mayor, where a man who a short time before crossed the bridge leading into the city, and like many other new-comers thought it his duty, or at least privilege, to find fault with what was being done here. This man was a preacher at that time, and as I was standing in front of the police station one day he came up in an overbearing manner and wanted to know why I did not order a certain place raided, saying it was a low place, that liquor was being sold there without a license, that the police were not doing their duty ; in fact everything in general was going to the bad. I waited patiently until he got out of breath and then asked him if he knew it to be true about this place. He said he did and had the evidence to prove it. I then informed him that he was just the man I had been looking for, that we had suspected the place and had been watching it, but had not been able to secure suffi- cient evidence to warrant making a raid, but if he would come in court the next morning I would see that the officers did their duty and we could break up the place. This he refused to do, saying that it was no place for him in court. I then told him that it was not his place to come to me finding fault about the officers not doing their duty when he was not willing to do his.
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If Dr. Parkhurst had been built of any such weak material as this man there never would have been a Lexow committee to unearth the corruption existing in New York City. Now I do not wish to be understood as believing it the duty of clergymen or other citizens to go about procuring evidence against such places, for I do not, but when they do possess it, and they can often obtain it where an officer could not, I do consider it their duty, if they want the law enforced, to render all necessary as- sistance.
POLICE DEPARTMENT.
Since my earliest recollection there has always been more or less fault-finding with the policeforce, in all other cities as well as our own. Those who are so prone to indulge in this pastime may proper- ly be divided into four classes.
First, the criminal class who never relish any interference with their law-breaking proclivities, and who naturally have no great love for the po- lice.
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