USA > Massachusetts > Commonwealth history of Massachusetts, colony, province and state, volume 5 > Part 9
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
Thomas Norton Hart, Republican (born 1829, died 1927), served a term of two years from 1900 to 1902. He succeeded in bringing about the creation, outside the School Committee, of a Schoolhouse Commission appointed by the mayor. The creation of this department was a long step forward in elimi- nating a serious political condition in the School Committee; but nearly thirty years later (1929) it was superseded by a new system.
MAYORS COLLINS, FITZGERALD AND HIBBARD (1903-1909)
Patrick Andrew Collins, Democrat (born 1844, died 1905) was the second mayor of Boston born in Ireland. He had served on the State Legislature, in Congress, and as Consul General at London. He died in the course of his second term.
Collins had the confidence and respect of the citizens of Boston, irrespective of party, and honestly endeavored to check the rapidly growing tendency to extravagance in city government. He likewise protested against the ever-growing tendency of State interference in Boston's purely municipal affairs.
78
BOSTON-THE MUNICIPALITY
John Francis Fitzgerald, Democrat (born in Boston, 1863) served during 1906-1907. Contending that the street depart- ment had become too complicated a task for one head, Fitz- gerald secured the passage of an ordinance splitting the de- partment into six different departments, which necessitated five additional department heads. The ordinance was re- pealed two years later. Many new bathhouses were con- structed during this administration. Mayor Fitzgerald secured the creation of the first Finance Commission, later superseded.
George Albee Hibbard, Republican (born in Boston, 1864; died 1910), effected considerable economy in expenditures; and during his two years' incumbency reduced the number of employees in the departments under the control of the mayor by almost one thousand. The voters of Boston in November, 1909, adopted a new City Charter which, in place of the Charter of 1885, changed the mayor's term to four years, and made drastic changes in the form of the legislative branch of the city government.
The first mayor under the new charter was John F. Fitz- gerald, who had served in the previous year. During his sec- ond administration (1910-1913) the Public Works Depart- ment was created by ordinance, absorbing the former Street, Water and Engineering Departments. The Department of Ferries and Bridges was also brought within the department at a later date.
For the first time since 1874, the bounds of the city were enlarged. Hyde Park was annexed to the city of Boston, January 1, 1912, by previous vote of the electorate of the two communities. At the very close of Fitzgerald's adminis- tration, the City Planning Board, consisting of five unpaid members, was created by ordinance.
MAYORS CURLEY AND PETERS (1914-1922)
James Michael Curley, Democrat (born in Boston, 1874) served his first term of four years from 1914 through 1917, and when running for reelection in the fall of the latter year was defeated by Andrew J. Peters. The latter was not a candidate for reelection at the end of his term, and Mayor
79
MAYORS CURLEY AND NICHOLS
Curley was elected to succeed him. The construction of Avery Street was the outstanding achievement of Curley's first term.
Andrew James Peters, Democrat (born in Boston, 1872). The election of Peters for the four-year term from 1918 to 1922, was a protest against the results of the personal and political influences which had too long been dominant at City Hall, and which tended to build up a personal and politi- cal machine. The mayoralty of Boston offers great opportuni- ties for service, and carries with it responsibilities too great for thought of personal or political advancement. Both the letter and the spirit of the Charter of 1909 contemplated the choice of a municipal administrator rather than a political leader to preside over the work of this great city. Peters actively aided in the passage by the legislature of a charter amendment, which made the mayor of Boston ineligible for a second term immediately after the expiration of the four-year period for which he was elected. Taking office when our country was in the midst of war, the administration was con- fronted with many difficult problems as to ways and means. The finances of the city were in a most critical condition, with insistent demands for street and other public improvements. The preceding mayor had granted wholesale increases to city employees, and authorized the expenditure of practically every dollar of unappropriated cash in the city treasury. Work was immediately started to put the streets in order. During this administration, 313 miles of roadway were constructed or re- surfaced. The most important single undertaking was the construction of Stuart Street, from Washington Street to Huntington Avenue. This development has added much revenue to the city by increase in taxable property.
MAYORS CURLEY AND NICHOLS (1922-1929)
James Michael Curley, Democrat (second term). The widening of Cambridge Street from Scollay Square to Charles Street was the notable accomplishment of Mr. Curley's sec- ond term; this widened thoroughfare has given some relief to the congestion of traffic moving to Cambridge.
Malcolm Edwin Nichols, Republican (born in Boston
80
BOSTON-THE MUNICIPALITY
1876). Long a student of government, Nichols gave a sound and progressive administration. Notable among the changes in the laws governing Boston obtained by him was the elimina- tion of the 155-foot building-limit height, making possible a greater utilization of building space in downtown Boston. The widening of Exchange Street during this administration and the creation of a Traffic Commission aided in the steps toward a solution of traffic congestion. The Boston Port Authority, a body authorized by an act of the Legislature at the instance of Mayor Nichols, should be of great service in protecting and developing Boston's port facilities.
THE GOOD GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION (1902-1930)
At the turn of the century Boston was flooded with re- form organizations. Many of the leading citizens and com- mercial organizations felt that Boston faced a serious crisis in its methods of municipal expenditures.
As Boston increased in population, wealth and importance, the details of administration and the opportunities of corrupt government grew in still greater proportion. Hence the forma- tion in 1902 of the Good Government Association of Boston. Its purpose, to quote from its own statement, was "to in- crease public interest in municipal affairs, to offer constructive suggestion to promote efficiency in government, and to secure the election of honest and capable men to municipal offices." It quickly became evident that the purposes of the Association and that of the Public Information League were identical, and the latter coalesced with the new organization.
The Good Government Association is a non-partisan, in- dependent political committee, in consonance with the spirit of the provisions of the Charter of 1909. Shortly before each election it mails to each voter a report upon the records of all candidates for mayor and City Council. Some mistakes have been made in these characterizations ; but the honesty and sin- cerity of purpose of those directing its activities have been beyond question. They have always labored for the best in- terests of the city as they saw them and have strengthened the forces for better government.
Besides the helpful information given the voters when an
81
THE FINANCE COMMISSION
election is imminent, the association deserves great credit for promoting the forerunner of the present Finance Commis- sion, when conditions were probably at their worst in the municipal conditions of Boston. Later on, during the first term of Curley, this association again was instrumental in bringing about a pronounced reform-the segregated budget.
Since the adoption of the present Charter of 1909, 33 of the 52 elected candidates for the City Council were previously en- dorsed by the association.
THE FINANCE COMMISSION (1907 -1930)
During the year 1906, the financial condition of the city and the methods employed in the administration of the city's business called for reform. Protests to the chief executive of the city brought no results. Hence the Good Government As- sociation appealed to the Legislature to institute a complete investigation of city finances, to be used on a basis for ad- ministrative reform.
Threatened with the creation of a State investigating com- mittee, the mayor requested the City Council to grant author- ity to him to appoint such a commission. The authority was given by the Council, and the first Finance Commission came into existence early in 1907.
This original Finance Commission consisted of seven men, and was appointed from the leading commercial and labor or- ganizations of the time. It continued in existence until the end of 1908. The Charter of 1909, under which the City of Boston operates (with some minor exceptions) today, was the result of the investigations of this commission. It pro- vided for a permanent Finance Commission, as a recognized department of the city government, responsible not to the mayor but to the appointing power-the Governor-with the advice and consent of the Council of the Commonwealth. Under the city charter the Commission is charged with the duty to investigate all matters relating to the raising and spending of money, and the methods of financial administra- tion of the City of Boston and the County of Suffolk. The theory underlying the creation of this Commission was un- doubtedly sound, but its influence has been generally negative.
82
BOSTON-THE MUNICIPALITY
Had the Finance Commission not been in existence, some of the Mayors of Boston might have been even more careless in the expenditure of funds under their control.
THE MAYOR UNDER THE CHARTER OF 1909
When entrusted with the task of framing a new city charter, the Finance Commission of 1907 sought to correct these evils by several expedients. The legislative and the executive branches of the government were to be completely divorced. Appointments by the Mayor were no longer to be subject to confirmation by the legislative branch. Instead they were to be certified by the Civil Service Commission. For any inter- ference in executive matters by the Council, a heavy penalty was provided.
The new charter provided that all appropriations should be met from sources other than loans, must originate with the Mayor; and the council could no longer increase any item or add new ones. The Mayor was given an absolute veto power over all acts of the council, extending to a veto of any item in a bill requiring expenditure of money and to any part of an item. These provisions were the most important steps ever taken toward the realization of a businesslike form of government.
The mayor, in the final analysis, thus became a real chief executive, entirely responsible to the people for the wise ex- penditure of funds. His veto power cut all of the strings which had formerly tied his hands in his attempts to restrict foolish and unwise expenditures; while the provision giving the Mayor sole authority to originate the great bulk of ap- propriation measures, relieved him of much harassment by the city council in its playing of petty politics.
Chief among the new charter provisions was the abolition of the bicameral organization of the city council and the sub- stitution in its place of a council of nine members, elected at large, each for a term of three years, three to be elected each year, while the term of the Mayor was increased to four years, with a provision allowing a recall by popular vote at the end of two years.
83
CHARTER REVISION
CHARTER REVISION OF 1924
Another important change provided by the new charter was the abolition of party designations in municipal elections. For some years prior to the adoption of the new charter, the Republican party had been growing weaker in numbers; and it had become obvious that only a Democrat had any chance of being elected to a major office. Under the charter still in force, Boston's municipal elections are nonpartisan, at least in name; and the electorate seems satisfied.
The elimination of the party designation in Boston has re- sulted in attracting as candidates men who would probably never have considered seeking the office of Mayor under the old system.
With the reorganization of the legislative branch of the city government into a City Council of nine members, log- rolling and similar practices were stopped. The better class of men who were attracted to positions in the Council, insisted on a pay-as-you-go policy, and brought about the introduction of the segregated budget system, to be described later.
In 1923 dissatisfaction again arose over the conduct of city affairs, and a Charter Revision Commission was appointed. This process, however, received a severe setback, because in 1924 a change was made in the form of the Council. The Commission reported a plan for the division of the city into five boroughs or districts, each of which was to send three rep- resentatives to the council. The Legislature put the matter to the vote of the people; but the form of the referendum fin- ally submitted in 1924 limited the choice of the voters to the new borough plan or to the old system of election by wards, which had proven itself a complete failure in Boston after a trial of many years. The politicians had done their work skillfully. No opportunity was given the voters to retain the system of electing the council at large. The plan for the elec- tion of the council by wards prevailed, although only twenty- five per cent of the ballots cast in the election were marked for that plan, and more than fifty per cent indicated no choice whatsoever.
The result was inevitable. At the next council election, the first under the reversion to election by wards, 114 candidates
84
BOSTON-THE MUNICIPALITY
fought for election to the 22 berths! The calibre of the coun- cil was immediately lowered and has so continued to the pres- ent time.
THE SEGREGATED BUDGET (1915)
Reference has been made to the segregated budget. In 1915, largely through the efforts of the better informed mem- bers of the City Council, led by James J. Storrow, an ordi- nance was passed which required the submission of depart- mental appropriations to the City Council, in a form which provided for the final appropriation of certain sums for speci- fied purposes. Authorization for transfer from the purpose for which they had been appropriated to another required the sanction of the City Council, which necessarily brought the matter to public attention.
The adoption of the segregated budget proved to be a long stride forward in the economical management of the city's expenditures ; for it made it possible for the Mayor to keep a more strict surveillance on the final disposition of funds, while it also curbed to a great extent the disposition of de- partment heads to spend all of their appropriation, which pre- viously had been made largely in one lump sum for each department. Publicity always acted as a wholesome restraint on waste and extravagance.
ADMINISTRATION OF THE BOSTON SCHOOLS (1890-1930)
Boston is the educational centre of the country, and in many phases of education, Boston now shows the way. In addition to several colleges located within the city limits, of which mention will be made later, neighboring cities contain Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Radcliffe in Cambridge, Wellesley College in Wellesley, Tufts and Jackson Colleges in Medford, and Boston College in Newton.
The Boston public schools are under the control of an elected School Committee of five members. The appropria- tion power of the School Committee has been a veritable thorn in the side of many Mayors. While the city Charter provides that the Mayor's veto of any appropriation of the School
85
WATER SUPPLY
Committee can be overridden only by a vote of four of the five members, experience has shown that the committee is jealous of its power and usually finds the four-fifths, with the result that in more than one instance, when the School Com- mittee has been swayed to vote for some innovation, other equally necessary municipal projects were necessarily post- poned to provide the funds for the school projects, demanded by the School Committee.
Boston is second to none in its recognition of the modern advance in ideas on education and in liberal provision for edu- cational needs. As far back as 1893 the Mechanic Arts High School was opened and other specialized schools have come rapidly along, including the Boston Trade School, High School of Commerce, Trade School for Girls, Boston Clerical School and Teacher's College. The growth of Boston's school sys- tem since 1890 is evidenced by the fact that in 1890 the yearly expenditure for school purposes was about $3,000,000, which constitutes about one-sixth of all municipal expendi- tures ; in 1928 they amounted to approximately $20,000,000 and constituted almost one third of municipal expenditures.
WATER SUPPLY (1893 -1930)
Looking backward, the efforts of the authorities of Boston to secure an adequate supply of pure water for its citizens seems almost to have been a mad race with the spectre of water famine. New supplies were continually being added; but almost immediately the spectre reappeared.
This problem was never intelligently approached until Mayor Matthews made it his particular concern. No rivers, lakes, or natural sources of water supply, adequate to the needs of a large population, existed in the eastern part of New England. It has been necessary, therefore, to create the supply by means of storage or impounding basins. In addition to Lake Cochituate, the original source of the supply procured by the city in 1846, five large basins had been built, previous to 1890, along the upper reaches of the Sudbury River. The work had been enormously expensive, the net cost of the Cochituate waterworks having been nineteen million dollars up to 1890; and another storage basin was in process of con-
86
BOSTON-THE MUNICIPALITY
struction. Even then it was obvious that before many years it would be necessary to go farther away for additional water supply.
Mayor Matthews petitioned the legislature of 1893 to ap- point a State commission to investigate the subject. Eventu- ally the legislature passed an act (1895) authorizing the appointment by the Governor of three commissioners to con- struct, maintain and operate a system of metropolitan water- works. The district to be served by the new water system included the cities of Boston, Chelsea, Everett, Malden, New- ton and Somerville; and the towns of Belmont, Hyde Park, Melrose, Revere, Watertown and Winthrop. Other cities and towns have voluntarily come into the service of the district. In 1900 the final settlement for the transfer of the Boston waterworks to the Metropolitan Board was made, the city of Boston receiving for its work a little short of fourteen mil- lion dollars.
Under legislative authority the Metropolitan Water Board took the waters of the Nashua River above Clinton and built the great Boylston Reservoir, covering an area of more than twelve square miles, which involved in its construction the removal of six mills, four churches, eight schoolhouses, four hundred and ninety two dwelling houses and two cemeteries. This reservoir was not completed until 1907.
A further step is very desirable. The water supply of the great district now served should be controlled by the district which it serves. If ever a Greater Boston, an actual amalga- mation of the various cities and towns into one central gov- ernment, is brought about, that greater city will be in a position to insist upon the local control of such an indis- pensable public necessary.
SEWERAGE (1890-1930)
Hand in hand with the water supply of any community goes the sewerage system. For obvious topographical reasons Boston was a difficult and expensive city to drain. It has not the benefit enjoyed by New York, Philadelphia, London and other cities of strong flowing river or tidal currents; its surface consisting in great part of rock, and also in great
87
BOSTON BENEVOLENT FUNDS
part of filled land rising a few feet only above tidewater. The soil can be made fit for occupation by a dense popula- tion only through the most elaborate and expensive arrange- ments for the disposal of sewage and surface drainage.
By 1890 the city was served by an effective system of sew- ers, including direct and intercepting sewers. Thus the menace to health, which for many years had existed because of the drainage of sewers into the Back Bay Fens and into the harbor itself in the immediate vicinity of the wharves, was entirely eliminated.
One of the most difficult problems with which the city had to deal was that of surface water, which could not, because of the topography of the city, be carried off by existing drains in time of heavy rains. Hence it became necessary to install an entirely separate system for carrying off surface water. The improvement in the Charles River Basin was one of the most pressing reasons for resorting to this separate system.
Boston is connected with both the north and south metro- politan systems, controlled by the Metropolitan Sewerage Commission. It is fair to say that the city has now complete and successful arrangements for the disposal of surface drainage and sewage; but that result has been attained only at an enormous cost.
BOSTON BENEVOLENT FUNDS (1790-1930)
During the period covered by this chapter, the City of Bos- ton has been the recipient of three notable public bequests.
The first, the Franklin Fund, is the proceeds of a bequest of one thousand pounds left to the "Inhabitants of the Town of Boston in Massachusetts" by Benjamin Franklin, who died in 1790. He calculated that in one hundred years the thou- sand pounds, if put at interest, would grow to one hundred and thirty one thousand pounds, "of which" he says, "I would have the managers then lay out at their discretion one hundred thousand pounds in Public Works, which may be judged of most general utility to the Inhabitants." In 1894 the city received $329,300.48, being 100/131 of the fund. In 1904 the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth appointed a board of managers of the fund.
88
BOSTON-THE MUNICIPALITY
Several years later the Franklin Union was organized as an independent industrial school and technical institute for adults, affording persons working at a trade an opportunity to increase their knowledge and improve their condition. It has been aided by a bequest of $100,000 from the estate of the late James J. Storrow in 1927.
By the will of the late George F. Parkman, real estate prop- erties worth between five and six million dollars were left to the city, the income therefrom to be expended for the main- tenance and improvement of the Common and other parks.
While the Parkman Memorial bandstand on the Common appears to be the only memorial associated with the name of the giver of so much of recreation and pleasure to the citizens of Boston, the Franklin Park Zoological Garden, costing almost $600,000 up to 1929, and the Marine Park Aquarium, costing $150,000, were both made possible by the Parkman Fund.
The late George Robert White, who died in Boston in Jan- uary, 1922, left a sum of five million dollars to the city of Boston, to be held as a permanent charitable fund, the net in- come only to be used to create works of public utility for the use and enjoyment of the inhabitants of the city of Boston. Under the direction of the Board of Managers, a number of health units have already been erected in the more congested districts of the city.
CITY PLANNING (1870-1930)
The city of Boston has never been able to free itself from a network of streets of great irregularity in width, angles, grades and connections. These irregularities are very un- favorable to the expeditious movement of traffic, although large sums have been spent in street widenings, and in the construction of completely new radial highways.
As far back as 1870, the need of some sort of definite plan of street laying out was felt; but the Board of Street Commis- sioners appointed to care for that need had no actual power to lay down street lines before the actual taking over of such streets for highway purposes. A more systematic method of street plotting was imperative; and in 1891, after an agitation
89
BRIDGES AND TUNNELS
lasting for more than twenty years, the Board of Survey came into being through an act of the legislature, and com- pleted its work in 1897.
In 1914, the City Planning Board was created by ordinance. It is composed of five members, who serve without compensa- tion; and it is its duty to carefully study the resources, pos- sibility and needs of Boston, and. to make plans for the development of the municipality.
One of the greatest achievements of the Board was the adoption of a zoning law by the city in 1924. The purpose of this law is to find legal means of avoiding undue concentra- tion of population; to provide adequate light and air; to lessen congestion in streets ; to secure safety from fire, panic and other dangers; to facilitate the adequate provision of transportation, water, sewerage and other public require- ments; and to promote the health, safety, convenience and welfare of the inhabitants of the city of Boston. Changes in the zoning law may be made with the consent of the Board of Zoning Adjustment.
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.