USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Fifty years of Boston; a memorial volume issued in commemoration of the tercentenary of 1930; 1880-1930, Pt. 2 > Part 17
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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
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REPRESENTATIVE BOSTONIANS - PHILANTHROPISTS
GEORGE FRANCIS PARKMAN MRS. JOHN L. GARDNER EDWIN GINN
PETER BENT BRIGHAM HENRY L. HIGGINSON GEORGE ROBERT WHITE
540
FIFTY YEARS OF BOSTON
The first trials in a domestic relations session in Boston were held in 1912. The sessions are held daily at ten a. m. The judges act in rotation. The Domestic Relations Session has been in existence for eighteen years. Com- mendable as have been its results, the demand is now for a full-fledged Domestic Relations Court.
Interlinked with these factors of home life are the great problems of illegiti- macy and adoption to be coped with in future years. Although the law provides many safeguards in the case of adoption, there are still loopholes whereby unwise adoptions are permitted, and, whereas parents can be made responsible for the care and support of illegitimate children, nevertheless illegitimacy, an age-old difficulty, is still a canker in our social fabric.
Probation .- The growth of probation since 1878, when the first probation officer in the United States was appointed in Boston, has been marked. The statistics of the last twenty years, or since 1909, prove this. The comparative disposition of cases for the year ending September 30, 1909, was as follows:
CASES BEGUN, 43,451
Per Cent.
Probation
2,346
5.4
Released
16,678
38.4
Sentenced
14,690
33.8
Twenty years later, for the year ending September 30, 1929, the com- parative dispositions are as follows:
TOTAL DISPOSITIONS, 60,164
Per Cent.
Probation
12,883
21.3
Fined
27,110
44.7
Filed
17,059
28.1
Sentenced
3,562
5.9
While the first table is incomplete, the trend in opposite directions for probations and sentences is evident at a glance.
Policewomen .- In 1921, six policewomen were added to the Police Depart- ment of the city, whose duty it is to save women and children from some of the annoyances that exist in places of amusement and on the street, and to protect the stranger at railroad and steamboat terminals.
City Hospital .- Great as is the care which Boston gives to her poor and to those who are offenders against the law, her care of the sick and her pro- tective health measures for the benefit of her citizens are probably unsurpassed. The City Hospital is a noted institution and the Board of Health one of the most efficient of public departments.
The City Hospital was established to give aid to sick and injured citizens who are unable to pay for medical attention. Paying patients are received but its main purpose is relief for the needy. In addition to the main hospital, the trustees have charge of the South Department for infectious diseases, the Haymarket Square Relief Station, the East Boston Relief Station, the Con- valescent Home and (since 1927) of the Sanatorium Division, originally the Consumptives' Hospital Department. At the present time the hospital is a small city in itself. The department of Social Service is an extremely important development in making the treatment of the hospital effective.
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SOCIAL WELFARE
The Thorndike Memorial Laboratory, a research unit within the general hospital, built in 1923, is the first building of its kind to be constructed by a municipal hospital. This research department marks an important advance, because, whereas fifty years ago it was believed that the civic virtue of a city was to be judged by the carc given its unfortunate poor and the sick and dying, today the measure of civic responsibility is gauged by the means used to prevent poverty and sickness.
Board of Health .- To the credit of Boston it can be said that in no other city have the brilliant scientific discoveries of the past two generations in the field of public health been more promptly adopted and more thoroughly applied. Boston from its earliest settlement has been able to count among its citizens pioneers in medicine and sanitation. The first Board of Health of Boston was established in 1799 and functioned under the town government. It was abolished in 1822 when the town became a city and the control of public health was placed under the City Council. In 1873 a Board of Health was estab- lished in charge of three commissioners. In 1915 the City Council cnacted an ordinance which reorganized the board and made a single commissioner responsible for its effectiveness, assisted by deputy commissioners in charge of cach division. The major divisions then established were: Medical, Child Hygiene, Food Inspection, Laboratory, Sanitary Inspection, Quarantine, Vital Statistics, Records and Accounts. In 1915, shortly after the Board was reor- ganized, the Federal Government took over the Quarantine Division. It is interesting to note that the Quarantine Station in Boston Harbor was in opera- tion long before the United States Public Health Service came into being.
Child Hygiene Division .- Moreover, Boston was the first city - in this country or abroad - to institute a system of daily medical inspection of chil- dren in the public schools. This was done in 1890. This important work has since been transferred to the School Committee.
One of the divisions of the Board of Health which is of great importance to social work is the Child Hygiene Division, which is in charge of a Deputy Com- missioner, under whom serve certain nurses and the clerical staff necessary to make the work effective. This division handles all matters relative to infant and child welfare and does special research work in the endeavor to reduce deaths in infancy or from maternity causes. Special attention is given to the feeding and care of infants and to the importance of pre-natal care for mothers.
Health Units .- No development has been more important than the development of the system of Health Units which was made possible by the George Robert White Fund. To understand fully the health units certain agencies which function in the field of health must be considered. The years from 1895 to 1930 saw a great development of unofficial health agencies all over the country, a movement in which Boston took an important place. In 1902 the first station for the sale of pure, clean milk was opened at the Eliza- beth Peabody House in the West End. Other stations were soon opened in other settlements in the city. In order to co-ordinate the work on a city basis, the Women's Educational and Industrial Union undertook the formation of a "Milk and Baby Hygiene Association" in 1909. This association systema- tized weekly consultations for mothers and the weekly examination of infants.
542
FIFTY YEARS OF BOSTON
In 1918 the Dietetic Bureau was organized to help the various agencies working in the community to solve the food problems of families with which they came in contact.
Further, in 1903, the Boston Tuberculosis Association had been brought into being to combat tuberculosis, while as far back as 1886 the Instructive District Nursing Association had begun its work.
Now in 1921 and 1922 the Dietetic Bureau and the Baby Hygiene Asso- ciation were taken over by the Instructive District Nursing Association, when its name was changed to the Community Health Association. But in 1924 the Child Hygiene Division of the Community Health Association was accepted by the Board of Health. This meant a special corps of neighborhood nurses, and, since some years before the Board of Health had appointed nurses to instruct and care for the tubercular in their own homes, there were not only two groups of neighborhood nurses active in the same areas but nurses repre- senting the various private agencies as well. Moreover, the local nurses were in need of local headquarters. Therefore it became evident that two things were necessary - first, a system of decentralized local centers for the Board of Health agents, and, secondly, some plan by which all health interests working in the same neighborhood could be related. To meet these requirements, in 1916, in a Ward Room on Blossom street, the first Health Unit was opened. This Health Unit provided a central office building for health workers in the West End and facilities for examination and consultation. So successful did it prove, that some years later it was decided to use the income of the George Robert White Fund to give similar advantages to other sections of the city. The North End Health Unit was the first to be erected from the proceeds of the fund. Then followed the Health Unit in East Boston, the one in South Boston, and in 1930 the modern building in the West End, which was opened to replace the building that had been used since 1916.
The Health Units are not only important in relation to the cure and prevention of disease but they mark a great advance in the relation of the Health Department to various causative factors. They offer concrete recogni- tion of the fact that public health cannot be divorced from other phases of municipal welfare.
In closing this statement in regard to the Department of Public Health, it is essential to point out that the department has had much to do with general environmental conditions. In 1884 it was responsible for the installation of a modern sewerage system. Up to 1890 it had charge of the collection of garbage and ashes, but in 1890 this function was transferred to the Department of Public Works. In 1905 the Department of Health can be credited with a share in the completion of the Wachusett Reservoir, while in 1919 a joint study made by the Department of Health and the Metropolitan District Commission showed so great a need for additional waterworks that construction of such works was begun shortly after and is now about to be completed.
SOCIALIZED FUNCTIONS OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Health of School Children .- In 1880 the physical welfare of pupils was not considered a prime responsibility of the School Committee. In 1930, however, physicians and nurses supervise the health of the pupils. Those
543
SOCIAL WELFARE
who are anaemic or have glandular difficulties or are undersized are placed in open-air classes. A mid-morning glass of milk, paid for by the children, is served in many of the elementary schools, while in junior high schools and high schools a noon lunch - at cost - is provided by the School Lunch Depart- ment of the Women's Educational and Industrial Union, acting under the rulings of the School Committee. Tuberculous children are cared for at the Mattapan Hospital for Consumptive Children, where they are taught by teachers who are assigned by the School Committee.
The School Visitor .- Moreover, besides the physician and nurse, one finds in certain of the schools a new agent, the School Visitor. The School Visitors are contributed to the school system by the Home and School Visitors' Association, a private organization. The function of the School Visitor is that of discovering what it is in the contacts of children outside of the school that may cause retardation, conduct problems or the many worries that often affect children, and then to try to win parents and children to work together to overcome the difficulty. The attendance officers assume the responsibility of tracing truants and other school offenders.
The Home and School Association. - More and more in modern systems of education, every effort is made to bring the home and the school into closer co-operation. . The School Visitor is one evidence of this. The Home and School Association is another. This Association began in 1908. Its object is to bring about a more general understanding of school policies and close harmony between instructors and parents in furthering the educational process. The Association is recognized as a part of the school system and has an organizer who is paid from school funds.
Special Classes .- Formerly, private social agencies gave all the training that was available to children who suffered from handicaps. Now, as Doctor Burke and Mr. Fish explain in their article, the School Committee by means of special classes offers every opportunity to those with poor sight; to the deaf; to those with speech difficulties, and to the feeble-minded. Also there are the disciplinary classes.
From the foregoing account of the welfare activities of the city under public auspices, it is evident that Boston can claim to be one of the most progressive cities in the development of her public philanthropic enterprises, which are far greater than is generally known. More than one tenth of the city and county disbursements go each year to aid the sick, to house delinquents, for charitable relief, and for the care of children - and about one quarter for the public schools.
PUBLIC AND SEMIPUBLIC FUNDS
Since early colonial days Boston has been particularly happy in that her citizens of wealth have been quick to meet her needs. In the course of years, great endowment funds for charitable and civic purposes have accumulated through the generosity of professional men, merchant princes and financiers. Also, many a person of less wealth has given, with the result that the Directory of Charities lists many sums left for the benefit of public schools, for scholarship grants, emergency loan funds, funds for widows and orphans, as well as for the
544
FIFTY YEARS OF BOSTON
various groups of the handicapped. In round numbers the trust funds held by the City of Boston itself arc approximately nineteen and one half millions.
Only such funds as have been established since 1880 will be mentioned in this statement and only the largest of them or those that have met necd in original ways.
Franklin Foundation .- In 1870 that most versatile and unusual of Americans, Benjamin Franklin, left £1,000 sterling to his native town. At the end of one hundred years - that is, in 1891 - three quarters of the accumu - lated fund was to be expended for the public benefit and the reinaining fourth left to accumulate for another one hundred years, or until 1991. Owing to suits in the courts, the fund, then amounting to $438,742, did not become available until 1907, when the greater part of it was used for the ercction of the Franklin Union, situated at the corner of Berkelcy and Appleton streets. This institution is devoted to instruction in the trades. It cost, with equipment, $402,718 of the $438,742. Obviously there was not moncy enough left to pay for the expense of maintenance and instruction, but in 1905, in anticipation of the building, Andrew Carnegie paid to the City Treasurer $408,396 in bonds, which provided a maintenance fund.
Further, Benjamin Franklin left to this city of his birth £100 sterling,- now $1,000,- the interest of which is used for silver medals given as honorary awards to graduates of the four principal high schools who have attained high rank in scholarship and conduct.
The Franklin Foundation is incorporated under chapter 569 of the Acts of 1908. A board of twelve managers has control of the fund. The Mayor of Boston is ex officio one of the managers.
Parkman Fund .- One of the two largest bequests ever given to the City was left by George F. Parkman on his death in 1908. The interest of the fund. which now amounts to $5,209,370, is used for the upkeep and improvement of the older parks. The Common and the Public Garden have been beautified and protected as a result and the fund has met the expense of establishing the Franklin Park Zoological Garden and the Marine Park Aquarium, which together cost $532,698.
George Robert White Fund -George Robert White died January 27, 1922. According to the terms of his will, his executors turned over to the city real estate with an inventory value of $5,023,000 and cash to the amount of $214,442.48. The net income of this legacy to the city is to be used for creating works of public utility and beauty for the use and enjoyment of the inhabitants of Boston.
The control and management of the George Robert White Fund is in the hands of a board of five trustees, consisting of the Mayor, as chairman, the President of the City Council, the City Auditor, the President of the Chamber of Commerce and the President of the Bar Association of the City of Boston. To date, the income from the fund has been used to build and equip the Health Units, in the North End, South Boston, East Boston and the West End.
George Robert White, born at Lynnfield July 19, 1847, was a member of the Potter Drug and Chemical Company. During his life he gave a fine build- ing on Longwood avenue to the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, besides
545
SOCIAL WELFARE
constantly subscribing to the needs of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. On his death not only did he leave the George Robert White Fund to the City of Boston but also $100,000 to the Museum of Fine Arts and $200,000 to the Massachusetts General Hospital - $100,000 of which was left to provide a ward in memory of his mother and $100,000 to be used for a department for the treatment of diseases of the skin. The Children's Hospital also received $100,000 to be used for a ward in memory of his mother.
Randidge Fund .- One of the interesting funds of the city is the fund left by George L. Randidge in 1895. The interest on this fund of $50,000 is used for the purpose of providing free summer excursions for poor children.
Fenway Court .- By the terms of her will, Mrs. John L. Gardner left to the City of Boston her Venetian Palace in the Fenway, provided everything in the palace remains as she left it - if not, the building with its treasures will be transferred to the care of Harvard College. This gift is a fitting memorial to Mrs. Gardner's brilliancy, originality and fine sense of artistic values. Its value as a source of inspiration will accumulate with the years.
Boston Symphony Orchestra .- As to semipublic gifts: One turns to consider the life interest of Henry Lee Higginson, who in 1881 established the Boston Symphony Orchestra, universally recognized as one of the finest orches- tras of the world. During his lifetime he contributed nearly a million dollars to the maintenance and support of the orchestra. Boston is not only indebted to Major Higginson for the Symphony Orchestra but also for Symphony Hall, for which he succeeded in getting subscriptions. As a memorial to those who fought with him in the Civil War, he gave Soldiers' Field, on the Brighton side of the Charles river, to Harvard University. Henry Lee Higginson, patriot, financier, first citizen of his time, died in November of 1919.
Boston Opera House .- Eben D. Jordan (1857-1916) made his fortune in the great department store of Jordan, Marsh and Company. Just as Mr. Higginson had wished to have a fine orchestra as a fixed institution in Boston, so Mr. Jordan desired to found an opera company. He did not see his dream come permanently true, but we owe to him the Boston Opera House on Hunt- ington avenue. Also, Mr. Jordan gave Jordan Hall to the New England Conservatory of Music.
Museum of Fine Arts .- The Museum of Fine Arts, although managed by a private group of trustees, is open free to the public. During the last three generations it has received many donations. Particular mention should be made of the gift of Mrs. Robert D. Evans, which made possible the Evans Wing, and of the recent magnificent bequest of Mrs. F. T. Bradbury, a sister of George R. White. The Museum stands high in comparison with the great museums of the world, both in the quality of its collections and in the scholar- ship of the staff. The funds of the Museum in 1929 amounted to $6,659,072.76, of which $2,460,996.67 represented unrestricted funds. The income from the unrestricted funds amounts to approximately $123,049.83, so that it is neces- sary to raise money annually for the running expenses. In 1929, $95,000 was raised by subscription.
Bostonians have always been generous to education. Wellesley College for women, founded by Henry F. Durant, and the Perkins Institution for the
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FIFTY YEARS OF BOSTON
Blind, founded by Thomas H. Perkins, are only two of the institutions created or endowed by Boston men before the period considered in this book.
Simmons College .- Simmons College, which is described in some detail in the article on Education, was made possible by John Simmons, a one-time merehant of Boston, who died in 1870 and left a sum of money and real estate, the income from which was to accumulate until it reached $500,000. It was the first eollege for women in the country that allied a strong cultural experience to technical proficiency.
Wentworth Institute .- Wentworth Institute, also described in the article on Education, was made possible by Arioch Wentworth (1813-1903) who gave the sum of $5,000,000 for the purpose of furnishing training in the mechanical arts.
Massachusetts General Hospital .- The hospitals of Boston are second to none in the country. The Massachusetts General Hospital continues to receive generous gifts year by year. Phillips House and the Baker Memorial, dedicated in 1930, are major additions to the institution.
Peter Bent Brigham Hospital .- Two great hospitals stand as monu- ments to the Brighams, uncle, nephew and niece, who came from Vermont to find fortunes here. The uncle and nephew were well-known restaurateurs in their day. Peter Bent Brigham was born in 1807 and died in 1877, leaving $2,200,000 in real estate and $750,000 in personal property. By his will his estate was to accumulate until it should reach a sum large enough to found a hospital. Finally, on November 12, 1914, the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital was opened on Francis street. The hospital cost $1,250,000 and the fund for its maintenance stood at $5,000,000.
Robert Breck Brigham Hospital .- In 1882, Robert Brigham built Brigham's Hotel on Washington street. His sister, Elizabeth Fay, became manager of the hotel and it was she who persuaded her brother to follow his uncle's example by leaving his fortune to found a hospital. Therefore, in 1914, the Robert Breck Brigham Hospital for Incurables was opened. The hospital is situated on Parker Hill. On an inscription are the words "Erected by Robert B. and Elizabeth F. Brigham."
Forsyth Dental Infirmary .- The Forsyth Dental Infirmary for Children was founded by John Hamilton and Thomas Alexander Forsyth. in memory of their brothers, James Bennett and George Henry Forsyth. The building was dedicated on November 12, 1914, and the clinics were in full operation the first of January, 1915. This infirmary takes only children who cannot afford to pay. No fully paying patients are accepted. The children are charged a nickel only. Great attention is paid at the infirmary to instruction in nutrition.
The building is a beautiful one of white marble in elassic design. A train- ing school is maintained in affiliation with Tufts College Dental School to prepare women as teachers of dental hygiene; to educate them to do dental public health work; to teach oral hygiene in publie schools or institutions; to practise the prophylactic cleaning of teeth or to aet as dental nurses. The duration of the course, which opens up another oeeupation for women, is eight months.
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SOCIAL WELFARE
Faulkner Hospital .- The Faulkner Hospital in Jamaica Plain was given by Dr. George Faulkner and his wife as a memorial to their daughter, Mary. It was incorporated in 1900.
Other Philanthropies .- Several pages might be filled with similar examples of Boston benevolence. The list is so long that one can only select and any selection must fall short through the omission of worthy benefactions. Mention should certainly be made of the Business Men's Library, created as a branch of the Boston Public Library by Louis E. Kirstein; of the Thorndike Memorial Laboratory, already noticed, which was established by George L. Thorndike; of the recent bequest of $1,000,000 for a surgical research laboratory by Charles H. Tyler; of Edwin Ginn's Peace Foundation; of Josiah H. Benton's large estate willed part contingently and part ultimately to the Public Library; of Lotta Crabtree's fortune bequeathed for the relief of sick soldiers and needy actors and for other humane purposes; of James M. Prendergast's bequest establishing a Preventoriuin at Mattapan for children of tubercular tendency; of Larz Anderson's beautiful bridge presented to Boston and Cambridge; of Fred H. Seavey's gift added to the endowment of Morgan Memorial; of M. Douglas Flattery's fund for medical research; of the princely sum recently left to the Massachusetts General Hospital by Mrs. Bradbury, previously noted as a benefactor of the Art Museum; of Mrs. James J. Storrow's gift of $1,000,000 made in 1928 for the improvement of Charles River Basin; of the substantial funds bequeathed by George T. Angell, Henry C. Merwin and Annie H. Brown, in the interest of kindness to animals and the preservation of bird life; of important public or charitable donations by B. F. Keith, George P. Gardner, Ellen Mason, and others whose names, if space permitted, should be added to this roll of honor. The Boston spirit is, at least, not poor in the sense of social responsibility; and the occupations and what is called the social standing of the donors have been as various as the objects of their generosity. A shipbuilder, a slieriff, an actress, a publisher, a theatrical manager, a doctor, lawyers, bankers, merchants - and many women - jostle each other in this characteristically democratic list of great lovers of their kind. And even these individual endowments are less significant than those that depend on collective giving. Therein Boston is seen at its best.
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