USA > Massachusetts > Commonwealth history of Massachusetts, colony, province and state, volume 5 > Part 2
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75
579
NINETH INFANTRY SERVICE (1898)
579
SIXTH INFANTRY SERVICE (1898)
580
EIGHTH INFANTRY SERVICE (1898)
580
FIRST REGIMENT OF HEAVY ARTILLERY
(1898)
581
FIFTH INFANTRY (1898-1899)
581
SERVICE OF OTHER ORGANIZATIONS (1898)
582
RETURN OF BATTLE FLAGS (1899)
583
READJUSTMENT (1899-1906)
583
FIELD MANEUVRES (1905-1913)
583
FIRING PRACTICE (1905-1915)
584
JOINT MANEUVRES (1912-1915)
585
MOUNTED TRAINING (1903-1914)
586
RATIONING TROOPS (1899-1914)
586
:
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PERIOD (1889-1930) 573
ORGANIZATION OF 1889
578
DISEASES OF CHILDREN (1888-1930)
xvi TABLE OF CONTENTS
INSTRUCTION SCHOOLS (1910-1914) 587
FIRE AND STRIKE DUTY (1908-1912) 587
RELATIONS WITH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT (1903-1914) 588
FEDERAL RESTRICTIONS (1908-1915)
588
EFFECTS OF FEDERAL SUPERVISION (1903-1914) 589
THE NATIONAL DEFENSE ACT OF 1916 590
MASSACHUSETTS ON THE MEXICAN FRONTIER (1916)
591
TENURE OF OFFICE CONTROVERSY (1914) .
592
THE MASSACHUSETTS STATE GUARD (1917-1919) ·
592
STATE GUARD IN THE POLICE STRIKE (1919) 593
POST-BELLUM ORGANIZATION (1919-1930) 594
PERPETUATION OF ORGANIGATIONS (1920-1930) 595
THE SERVICE IN 1930 596
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
597
CHAPTER XX
MASSACHUSETTS IN THE WORLD WAR (1914-1919)
By John H. Sherburne . .
598
ATTITUDE OF MASSACHUSETTS (1914-1915) 598
INTEREST IN THE ALLIES (1915-1916) 599
SEVERANCE OF RELATIONS WITH GERMANY (January-April,
1917) 600
DECLARATION OF WAR (1917)
601
PRELIMINARY ARMING AND EQUIPPING OF STATE TROOPS (1916- 1917) . . 602
RECRUITING AND GUARD DUTY (February-June, 1917) .
603
GOVERNOR MCCALL OFFERS STATE TROOPS (April, 18, 1917) THE STATE GUARD (1917-1919) . . .
604
ACTIVITIES OF COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY (1917)
605
THE COMMONWEALTH DEFENSE ACT (1917) .
606 607
RAISING THE AMERICAN ARMY (1917-1918) 608
OFFICERS' TRAINING SCHOOLS (1917-1919) 609
ENACTMENT OF THE DRAFT (1917-1918) 609
THE DRAFT SYSTEM (1917-1918) 610
FEDERAL ORGANIZATION IN NEW ENGLAND (1917-1919) 611
THE PEOPLE AWAKENED (1917) 612
WOMEN'S WAR WORK (1917-1918) 613
MOBILIZATION OF THE NATIONAL GUARD (July-August, 1917) 613 614
TACTICAL REORGANIZATION (August, 1917) 615
MILITARY UNITS (1917-1918) 616
THE DIVISION IN FRANCE (1917) 616
ON THE FIELD OF BATTLE (February-November, 1918) 617
SEVENTY-SIXTH DIVISION (1918) 618
OTHER MASSACHUSETTS ORGANIZATIONS (1918) 619
SPECIAL SERVICES (1917-1918) 620
MEDICAL SERVICE (1917-1917) 621
THE CITIZEN SOLDIER IN THE WAR 621
THE SERVICE RECORD OF MASSACHUSETTS 622
STATE RELATIONS WITH THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT DURING THE WAR (1917-1919) 623
NATIONAL PATRIOTISM AND SERVICE 624
FOOD ADMINISTRATION (1917-1919)
624
.
605
PREPARATIONS IN MASSACHUSETTS (February-March, 1917) 601
FEDERAL PREPARATION FOR WAR (April-July 1917)
THE YANKEE DIVISION (1917-1919)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
xvii
SETTLEMENT OF LABOR DISPUTES (1917-1918) 626
HALIFAX DISASTER (1917) 626
INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC (1918) 627
FUEL ADMINISTRATION (1917-1918)
627
THE RETURN OF THE TROOPS (1918) 629
LOSSES AND GAINS
629
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
630
CHAPTER XXI
THE FOURTH CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION (1914- 1919)
By Augustus P. Loring 632
POLITICAL AWAKENING (1900-1915) 632
CONVENTION AUTHORIZED (1913-1915) 633
ELECTION OF MEMBERS (1917)
634
COMPOSITION OF THE CONVENTION (1917)
634
ORGANIZATION OF THE CONVENTION (1917)
635
MATERIALS AND PROPOSALS (1917)
636
THE ANTI-AID ISSUE (1917)
637
ANTI-AID PROPOSITIONS (1917)
637
ANTI-AID AMENDMENT VOTED (1917)
638
RATIFICATION OF THE ANTI-AID AMENDMENT (1917) 639
ABSENT VOTING AMENDMENT (1917) 639
PUBLIC TRADING AMENDMENT (June, November, 1917) 639
PROPOSALS FOR THE INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM (June-July,
1917)
THE PROPONENTS OF THE I. & R. (1917)' ·
641
OPPONENTS OF THE I. & R. (1917) .
642
REPLICATION OF ARGUMENTS FOR THE I. & R. (1917)
643
RELATION OF THE I. & R. TO THE CONSTITUTIONAL AMEND- MENTS .
643
LORING AMENDMENT TO THE I. & R.
644
FINAL FORM OF THE I. & R. . 645
IMPORTANT PROPOSALS REJECTED IN 1917
646
SECOND SESSION OF THE CONVENTION (1918)
646
NATURAL RESOURCES AMENDMENT (1918)
647
PUBLIC INTEREST IN REAL ESTATE (1918)
648
ZONING AMENDMENT (1918) 649
COMPULSORY VOTING AMENDMENT (1918) 649
MISCELLANEOUS PROPOSALS ADOPTED (1918)
650
BIENNIAL ELECTIONS AMENDMENT (1918)
651
REGULATION OF THE GENERAL COURT (1918)
6.52
PROPOSALS ON LABOR AND LABOR DISPUTES (1918) 652
PROPOSALS ON HOURS OF LABOR AND MINIMUM WAGE (1918) TAXATION (1918)
653
654
PROPOSALS ON ADMINISTRATIVE LEGISLATION (1918) 655
THE CONVENTION WAS REPRESENTATIVE (1917-1918)
655
PREELECTION AGITATION (1917-1918)
655
RATIFICATION OF THE I. & R. (Nov., 1917)
656
REARRANGEMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION (1918-1919) 657
ARTICLE 156 (1919) 658
THE REARRANGEMENT ADOPTED BY THE CONVENTION (Nov., 1919) ·
· . REARRANGEMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION SET ASIDE . 658
(1920) 659
REARRANGEMENT HELD NOT TO BE THE CONSTITUTION
660
· 641
THE I. & R. AMENDMENT SUBMITTED (Oct. 1917) 644
638
STATUS OF UNIVERSITIES (1917)
xviii TABLE OF CONTENTS
LAST EFFORT AT REARRANGEMENT
661
MEN OF THE CONVENTION
662
JUSTICE MORTON
663
EDWIN U. CURTIS .
663
MARTIN M. LOMASNEY
664
JOHN W. CUMMINGS
664
JOSEPH WALKER
665
CHARLES F. CHOATE
666
GEORGE B. CHURCHILL
666
HERBERT PARKER 666
667
JOSIAH QUINCY
667
ALBERT E. PILLSBURY 668
ROBERT LUCE ·
668
CONTRIBUTING MEMBERS OF THE
CONVENTION 668
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
669
CHAPTER XXII
THE COMMONWEALTH AT ITS TERCENTENARY,
By Albert Bushnell Hart .
671
HISTORICAL POINT OF VIEW 671
MASSACHUSETTS AS A PART OF THE WORLD 672
EXTERNAL RELATIONS OF MASSACHUSETTS
673
MASSACHUSETTS IN THE MIDST OF NEW ENGLAND
674
THE MASSACHUSETTS PEOPLE
675
IMMIGRATION
675
MASSACHUSETTS WOMEN
676
PERSONALITY IN MASSACHUSETTS 677
MASSACHUSETTS PERSONALITIES 678
MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNMENT
678
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
679
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
680
MASSACHUSETTS RELIGION
680
LITERATURE AND EDUCATION
681
THE PROFESSIONS
682
ARITISTIC MASSACHUSETTS
684
POLITICAL HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS
684
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF MASSACHUSETTS
685
MASSACHUSETTS IN WAR
686
SUCCESSION OF HISTORICAL TOPICS
686
BIBLIOGRAPHY
687
INDEX
688
APPENDIX A: LIST OF HIGHEST STATE AND EXECUTIVE AND JUDICIAL OFFICERS (1890-1930) 689
APPENDIX B: LIST OF FEDERAL OFFICERS FROM MASSACHUSETTS 1890-1930) . 690
INDEX 693
FREDERICK LINCOLN ANDERSON
664
SHERMAN L. WHIPPLE
665
CHARLES L. UNDERHILL
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Map of Massachusetts Showing Distribution of Population and Educational, Scientific and State Institutions Front and Back Covers Frontispiece
Charles William Eliot
Facing page 2
Channing H. Cox
44
Patrick A. Collins
76
Map Showing Accretions of Territory
"
100
James M. Morton
100
Langdell Hall Portico
106
Moorfield Storey
66
146
J. Murray Forbes
186
Amy Lowell
206
Mrs. Julia Ward Howe
206
Mrs. John L. Gardner
220
Courtyard at Fenway Court
220
Main Court of Massachusetts Institute of Technology
258
Reading Room in Baker Library
258
Boston Public Library
270
Library at Boston College
270
Justin Winsor
290
Sever Hall, Harvard University
300 324
Louis Agassiz
344
John W. Weeks
356
Proposed Federal Building
356
Clarence W. Barron
386
Hood Rubber Company Plant
402
Locomotive of 1890 Type
402
Original Keith Plant .
430
No. 11 Factory of George E. Keith Company, Boston
434
Temple Israel
458
Morgan Memorial
462
Trinity Church
462
The Boston Herald-Traveler Building
490
Edward Everett Hale
528
66
530
John Boyle O'Reilly
546
Massachusetts General Hospital
¥
550
Henry J. Bigelow, M. D.
550
Facsimile of Militia Record of 1804
"
594
The New National Guard, 1930
76
Nathan Matthews
96
Richard Olney
120
View of Western Reserve College (1826)
158
Samuel W. McCall
John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Building
366
Freight Train on the Hoosac Tunnel Line, 1930
430
Composite Picture of the Walk Over Shoe Factories
458
The First Church of Christ, Scientist
482
His Eminence William Cardinal O'Connell
Boston College
536
The First Public Demonstration of Surgical Anaesthesia
572
xix
House of Representatives
XX LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
General Clarence R. Edwards
Facing Page 614 66
Brigadier General Charles H. Cole
614
Brigadier General John H. Sherburne
614
Brigadier General E. Leroy Sweetser
614
Parade of the 26th Division in 1919
628
Committee on Rules and Procedure
636
660
664
First Page of the Rearranged Constitution Martin M. Lomasney Calvin Coolidge
678
CHAPTER I
THE GENERAL COURT OF MASSACHUSETTS (1890-1930)
BY FRANK E. BRIDGMAN Clerk of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
THE GENERAL COURT TODAY
The closing years of the nineteenth century and the open- ing years of the twentieth found the General Court of Massachusetts organized in the form prescribed by constitu- tional amendments approved in 1857. These amendments provided for a house of representatives of 240 members, re- placing a body which had sometimes reached 700. This pro- vision' for a body uniform in size from year to year was one of the first of modern steps toward legislative efficiency.
The senate continued with forty members. Nine men, elected "from among the people at large," formed "a council for advising the governor in the executive part of the government."
SENATE AND HOUSE CHAMBERS
The construction of the State House Annex, the corner stone of which was laid in 1889, enabled both Senate and House to abandon their old chambers in the Bulfinch State House, first occupied in 1798, for larger and more comfort- able quarters. This change took the House, in 1895, into the Annex, at some distance from the Senate; thus the ad- vantages of having the two branches on opposite sides of a corridor were lost. In 1897 the Senate convened in a tem- porary chamber provided by laying a floor in the upper (third floor) portion of Memorial Hall (Hall of Flags). In Janu- ary, 1898, the Senate was established permanently in the former House Chamber.
An interesting incident in connection with the removal of the House to its new quarters concerns an historic representa-
1
2
GENERAL COURT OF MASSACHUSETTS
tion of respectable antiquity. March 7, 1895, it was ordered "that the Sergeant-at-Arms be and is hereby directed to cause the immediate removal of the ancient 'representation of a cod-fish' from its present position in the chamber recently va- cated by the House, and to cause it to be suspended in a suit- able place over the Speaker's chair in this chamber." A committee of fifteen members duly proceeded to the old chamber, where the emblem was lowered, wrapped in an American flag, and was borne to the new home of the House. Duly repaired and painted, on May 6 it was ordered to be hung opposite the Speaker's chair.
MODERN METHODS
Gone, also, was the election sermon, preached for the last time in connection with the organization of the General Court of 1884, thus terminating a custom inaugurated in early colonial days "to give them helpful Christian advice and di- rection at their entrance upon the important work of legisla- tion for the ensuing year."
For forty years organization and procedure have been on modern lines, nearly all the frills and traditions of early days having been eliminated. An exception to this general trend may be noted in the continuance to the present day of the custom of appointing special committees of notification on the opening and closing days of the legislative sessions, in connection with joint conventions of the two branches and on other special occasions, which committees proceed to the discharge of their duties in the order of their names on the appointment roll, under escort of the sergeant-at-arms, dressed in black topped by a rosetted "stovepipe" hat, and carrying the mace as the historic insignia of his authority.
ORGANIZATION
Although procedure in any legislative body will appear, to the new member and uninformed citizen, to be complicated and lacking in orderliness, nevertheless legislative processes are taken step by step in logical manner, and the experienced legislator learns how to speed up, with many and rapid sus- pensions of the rules.
From a photograph by George Brayton taken especially for this work.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, BOSTON
3
RESOLUTIONS AND ORDERS
Honorable Walter H. Faunce of Kingston became a mem- ber of the House in 1925, at the age of ninety-two; and looked back forty-five years to his previous term of service in the House of 1880. Notwithstanding the reconstruction of build- ings and chambers, he found the legislative family spaciously housed. Though many new rules and customs had sprung up, the old principles of parliamentary practice were in the foundations. Of course the rules had been modified in many important respects, and presiding officers did not hesitate to ignore old methods and establish new precedents when con- fronted by conditions demanding legislative short cuts and the speeding up of legislative business.
Mr. Faunce found practically the same number of legis- lative committees as in 1880; but only twelve of the joint committees of 1880 remained under their original names, while eighteen or twenty new committees had been estab- lished. Procedure had been so modified that he found him- self at sea as to the details of presenting petitions and offer- ing orders. At the opening of each sitting the Speaker no longer called for "petitions, memorials, remonstrances, and papers of a like nature, and reports of committees," while directing his gaze successively toward the members in the six divisions. Papers were no longer presented by members ris- ing in their places in response to the Speaker's call, but were required by modern rules to be filed in the office of the clerk.
RESOLUTIONS AND ORDERS
An old-time privilege was obliterated-that of offering an order from' the floor at any time before the House pro- ceeded to the consideration of the orders of the day-the clerk's office being the only port of entry. To make presenta- tion of proposal the more difficult, he found the Speaker clothed with authority to withhold any order for a period of five days, with the result that many an order was merely withheld from presentation. For an order hastily or heatedly drawn might have an entirely different aspect and flavor after the ink had been drying three or four days.
Gone also was the power of any one member to cause postponement for one legislative day of consideration of cer-
4
GENERAL COURT OF MASSACHUSETTS
tain measures presented to the House. Any motion to lay a matter on the table brought the House "whip" into instant action; for such methods of delay had been frowned on since 1904, and the House had not had a "table" for twenty years.
PAIRS AND PETITION
Neither did Faunce find himself able to arrange a pair on any question that would hold in roll-call votes. Years ago that privilege had come to be grossly abused; on some occa- sions more than fifty pairs having been announced, often without the consent or knowledge of the absentee and not infrequently placing him on record on the wrong side of a question. To remedy this abuse, a rule was adopted by the House of 1909, under which might be filed with the clerk "the request in writing of the absent member to be paired upon the measure pending." This was superseded in 1910 by the existing rule that a pair may be announced only on behalf of a member "who is absent with a committee by au- thority of the House." The senate, however, has placed no restriction on the announcing of pairs.
In 1880 Mr. Faunce was able to present petitions and other propositions for legislation as late as the first Wednesday in February. He found that this limit had been shortened by various General Courts to ten days after the first Wednesday in January. Matters "deposited with the Clerk of either branch subsequently to five o'clock in the afternoon on the second Saturday of the annual session" are referred to the Committee on Rules, and whether that committee reports in favor of or against admittance, any such measure may be ad- mitted for consideration and hearing only by a four-fifths vote in each branch.
METHODS OF ELECTING THE SPEAKER
Faunce, in 1880, found the Speaker being elected by roll- call vote instead of the old-time way of appointing a special committee "to receive, sort and count the votes." For that method was substituted in 1911 a simple and workable meth- od, as follows: "that the roll be called, and each member, in response to his name, shall give the name of the person for whom he votes." The desperate struggle to perpetuate
5
SELECTION OF CHAPLAIN
the clumsy old method reveals the intricacies of parliamentary practice. First a point of order was raised against the pro- posed new method. The Chair overruled it. An appeal from the decision of the Chair led to a roll-call vote, 125 yeas to 109 nays. An attempt to substitute a committee of eight "to receive, sort and count the votes for Speaker," was rejected by a roll-call vote of 108 yeas to 127 nays. At last the new plan was adopted for that time.
Nevertheless, the Houses of 1912 and 1913 returned to the old method. The House of 1914, in which the transitory Progressive Party held the balance of power, resorted to the method used in 1911. Thereupon the first roll call resulted in a tie, the leading candidates' for Speaker receiving 117 to 117. The second roll call was 117 to 116; the third, 118 to 114. An attempt to postpone the election for twenty-four hours was defeated by a roll-call vote of 104 yeas to 131 nays. A fourth roll call resulted in an election, by a vote of 123 to 109. Since that year the House has elected its Speakers by roll-call vote without opposition as to method.
SELECTION OF CHAPLAIN
In 1880 Faunce had voted for the Reverend Daniel W. Waldron of Roxbury for chaplain. As far back as 1641 and 1644, the magistrates and deputies had disagreed on the choice of the preacher of the election sermon, and the magis- trates yielded in both instances. Waldron, however, was re- elected annually for a continuous service of forty years (1879-1918). During that period there was no playing of politics in connection with the chaplaincy. Sharp competition for the office in former years was renewed after Waldron's death. Nor was this unusual.
In 1925 Faunce stood amazed when he heard the Speaker take it upon himself to announce the appointment of a chap- lain. The House found it wise, on organization day, 1924, to vote "that the Speaker be authorized and empowered to appoint a Chaplain of the House for the present session." Nine days later the present rule was adopted, giving the Speaker permanent power to appoint a chaplain for the session.
6
GENERAL COURT OF MASSACHUSETTS
FIRST DAY'S BUSINESS
Faunce was surprised to hear the Speaker proceed, on the first day of the session, to announce his committee appoint- ments. In earlier years it had been customary to delay this announcement for two or three days or even a week, both branches marking time meanwhile. Recently presiding of- ficers have been appointing committees on the first day of the session, and urging the importance of prompt organiza- tion of committees, and assignment of early dates for pub- lic hearings on proposed legislation.
The custom of devoting the first day to purposes of organ- ization only, and the second day solely to inaugurating the governor and listening to His Excellency's address, and then of adjourning to the following Monday, passed gradually. Miscellaneous business crept in by the presentation of peti- tions and orders. This innovation was embraced as a thor- oughly progressive method of promoting an early start of legislative business. The General Court, in the closing days of the session of 1923, made radical changes in the rules governing the introduction of business.
ADVANCE PRINTING
It was provided that members and members-elect might file with the clerks, at any time of the year, propositions for legislation, as well as orders, resolutions and other matters proposed for consideration; that the clerks, with the approval of the president or Speaker, should refer such papers to the appropriate committees; and that "Papers so deposited and referred previously to the convening of the General Court shall be printed in advance, . and shall be entered in the Journal during the first week of the session." It was provided, further, that "A bulletin of matters so referred shall be printed, under the direction of the Clerks of the two branches, as of the first day of the session."
These authorizations of advance printing and referring have greatly aided legislative committees in securing an early start on the annual grind of public hearings, and have constituted a long step toward the day when the entire legis- lative budget of business may be filed and printed in advance of the convening of the General Court.
7
PETITIONERS
READING OF PAPERS
The new rules authorized the dispensing with the reading of papers which were to be referred to committees. Con- trast this modern short cut with the old-time method of metic- ulously reading at the clerk's desk the full text of every order and resolution, the endorsement on every petition and remonstrance, and the title of every bill and resolve. In colonial and revolutionary days such reading may have been useful; but since the printing of all documents became general, the reading has proved to be a waste of time and effort.
The Senate has been more conservative in this respect; but the House for years has been taking short cuts in this matter, and now is making full use of the "dispensations" allowed by the new rules. At present the House is moving toward a further modernizing of the rules in this direction, having already, by; rule, made it unnecessary to read many of the papers sent down by the senate. In practice the House usually omits the reading of reports and bills which are to appear on the calendar.
PETITIONERS AND FILING FEES
In Massachusetts every petitioner to the General Court se- cures for his proposition a hearing before a committee and, with rare exceptions, an opportunity to have his measure de- bated in both Senate and House. The result has been sessions of considerable length in comparison with legislative sessions in other States. Critics who facetiously state that Massa- chusetts is legislating six months in every year, overlook the fact that the Massachusetts system gives generous oppor- tunity to all petitioners for legislation. Perhaps since the adoption of the Constitution of 1780, the Commonwealth has been endeavoring to atone for the atrocious treat- ment, described in earlier chapters of this work, of colonial petitioners who humbly asked for certain privileges, long since granted, which the magistrates considered inimical to their authority. Those early magistrates demonstrated their power by fining, punishing, persecut- ing · and banishing petitioners who were too presump-
8
GENERAL COURT OF MASSACHUSETTS
tuously in advance of their day. It is possible that the "fin- ing" of petitioners, in a different sense of the word, may be actualized within a few years. In 1920 it was enacted that petitions relating to mercantile corporations "shall be accom- panied by a fee of twenty-five dollars, which shall be paid into the treasury of the commonwealth." This requirement was extended, in 1926, to petitions relating to public-service corporations.
During the session of 1925 a petition was filed in the sen- ate accompanied by a bill providing that "Every petition to the general court seeking legislation shall be accompanied by a fee of one dollar for each page or fraction thereof, when printed, of the bill or resolve accompanying such petition." The Committees on Rules of the two branches, acting con- currently, reported a bill providing for a general filing fee of two dollars. This bill in the senate was rejected by 17 to 18 votes. The following year a similar bill in the House was rejected. The subject of filing fees is bound to recur.
SPEEDY LEGISLATION IN THE SPANISH WAR (1898)
The opening of the War with Spain in 1898 was the occa- sion of a dramatic illustration of unanimity in the passing of legislation, Not only were all rules suspended, but all other procedure was halted until a certain bill had taken its sev- eral readings in both branches, been enacted in both branches, and laid on the desk of the governor. On Friday, April 15, 1898, Governor Roger Wolcott sent the following special mes- sage to the General Court, which is an integral part of the history of the relation of Massachusetts to that war: "In the present grave and threatening condition of the relations of the Government of the United States with the Kingdom of Spain, growing out of the inhuman and unavailing war- fare in the island of Cuba, I deem that the time has come when it is my duty to ask that your honorable bodies place in my hands the means to enable me to meet with prompt- ness and efficiency whatever demands the exigencies of pos- sible war may require the national government to make upon the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
"Whenever in the past heroism and sacrifice in a just cause
9
QUESTIONS OF ORDER
have been demanded, Massachusetts has generously given of her blood and treasure. She will not falter now.
"I ask that $500,000, or such part thereof as may be neces- sary, may be appropriated, to be expended under the direc- tion of the Commander-in-Chief in defraying the military and naval expenses which the existing emergency may render requisite and proper."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.