USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Brookline > History of the town of Brookline, Massachusetts > Part 30
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Another argument in favor of the limited, or representative town meeting was the increased sense of responsibility which, it was believed, would attend the representatives. This was based, said Arthur Lord, reviewing the situation in 1918 as president of the Massachusetts Bar Association, 'on the con- sideration that when the subject of the meeting was not gen- erally exciting, there were likely to be not more than 30 or 40 inhabitants [at a Boston town meeting], who appeared be- cause of personal interests or from a sense of official duty. This small group would act for the town as a whole, often with little discrimination in the acceptance of committee reports and the transaction of ordinary business. If the subject was an exciting one, Faneuil Hall would be jammed; only those who obtained places near the moderator could even hear the discussion, and the meeting was easily controlled by a few interested individuals.' Brookline, to a degree, presented a parallel.
'The more one studies the conditions of the present and the needs of the immediate future,' Mr. Lord continued, 'the stronger becomes the conviction that in these populous towns the permanence and security of town government can alone be maintained by the adoption of that form of deliberative government which I have here called the "representative" town meeting.'
A WINTER SCENE IN THE GAY NINETIES Beacon Street near Amory estate, looking west toward Coolidge Corner
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LEGAL VIEWS
Such reasoning proved persuasive, and a bill was prepared for introduction in the General Court to provide the so-called representative meeting in Massachusetts towns. When the state senate asked the opinion of the justices of the Supreme Judicial Court on the constitutionality of such a law, the answer was phrased in part in these words:
The questions and the accompanying bill relate to the power of the General Court under the Constitution to enact a general statute abolishing the town meeting form of gov- ernment and substituting for it a qualified kind of municipal meeting wherein the power to vote shall be exercised alone by certain representative voters consisting of a percentage of the total number, chosen by their fellows from precincts into which the town is to be divided, such statute to take effect automatically in any town when accepted by the affirmative votes of a majority of the voters at a duly warned town meeting ....
Each qualified inhabitant of the town has an indisputable right to vote upon every question presented, as well as to discuss it, or there is no town meeting. This is universally understood as the vital feature of the town system of govern- ment as practised in this Commonwealth continuously from a time long before the Declaration of Independence until the present. This form of local government was the fibre of our institutions when the Constitution was adopted. It is implied whenever the word 'town' is used in that instrument.
The fundamental and real distinction between the town and the city organization is that in the former all the qual- ified inhabitants meet together to deliberate and vote as individuals, each in his own right, while in the latter all municipal functions are performed by deputies. The one is direct; the other is representative.
The court went on to say that the proposed bill was not limited to towns of 12,000 inhabitants or more, as provided by the Second Amendment to the State Constitution, but might by its terms be applied to the smallest communities. Further, a representative government of this kind could not be estab- lished by a general law, but only by a special act passed at the request of the town concerned. The court, therefore, ad-
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vised that the legislature had not the power to pass such a general law, and that if enacted it would not be constitutional.
It was obvious, then, that Brookline's needs could be met only by a statute specifically directed to them, and the legis- lature accordingly passed an act 'to provide for precinct vot- ing, Limited Town Meetings, town meeting members, a referendum, and an annual moderator in the town of Brook- line,' and at the general election of November 2, 1915, the new proposal was accepted by a very large majority.
THE LIMITED TOWN MEETING
There were to be not less than twelve precincts (although the number eventually settled upon was nine), from each of which registered voters were to choose twenty-seven town meeting members, nominations to be made by petitions signed by not less than thirty voters from the precincts in which the candidates resided. In addition, certain town officers were designated as 'town meeting members at large,' and these, with the elected members, were to form the town meeting.
This group, says Sly,I was to exercise all powers invested in the municipal corporation. Half of the membership was necessary for a quorum, all meetings were to be held with open doors, and subject to such conditions as the members might prescribe, any registered voter might speak but not vote. The meeting could not bind the town in anything affecting its existence or the form of its government without action by the voters of the town at large.
Affirmative votes on special appropriations exceeding $25,000 did not go into effect until five days from the dissolu- tion of the meeting at which the vote was taken. If within that period a petition signed by twenty registered voters from each precinct were filed with the selectmen, asking that the ques- tion be submitted to the voters of the town, then within four- teen days the selectmen or the moderator must submit the question within the several precincts, and a majority of those voting must favor the action if it were to be sustained.
This was, apparently, the only acceptable solution of a
I Town Government in Massachusetts, 1620-1930, by John Fairfield Sly; Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1930.
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problem that could not be 'tabled' indefinitely. In the con- sensus of opinion, it has been a satisfactory solution. Election as a town meeting member confers a measure of honor and imposes a measure of responsibility. Members are account- able to the town, and generally eager to justify the trust. There are enough of them so that control is not easy, while thorough and thoughtful discussion is possible.
At the annual meeting of the Massachusetts Bar Association in 1918, when Alfred D. Chandler took part in the discussion of this subject, he asserted that
In Brookline with its 36,000 people we find the largest town in New England and the largest municipal business the world has known under town meeting organization, yet well done, at less expense than under a city charter, and with politics excluded ....
A city charter was just what Brookline did not want. It wished to avoid the introduction, into its municipal affairs, of State and National politics which the Legislature now recognizes and encourages in city charters, and which tend to enfeeble municipal public spirit and to promote the elec- tion of incompetent and unfaithful officers.
It is hardly possible to say whether the success of the Brook- line town government is to be attributed primarily to its form or to the exceptional character of the citizenry identified with it. True, it is a form of government particularly open to ob- servation and therefore particularly free from temptation to individuals of the sort who are accustomed to get rid of tempta- tion by yielding to it. No thief wants to operate in the glare of a spotlight and Brookline's municipal affairs are continually exposed to the searching scrutiny of citizens whose personal interest in public matters is above the ordinary. For the alter- native view, it may be said that there is grave doubt that any other American community of nearly fifty thousand could, by the legislative alchemy of a statute providing such a form of government as Brookline has, achieve anything approaching an equivalent result. Probably the method is particularly suited to the people and probably also no other group as large could use that method to the same advantage.
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PUBLIC SERVICES
The foundation work for all the modern public conveniences had been laid by the opening of the century. Thereafter it was a question of maintenance and keeping up to date.
The electric trolley came to supplant the horse car, and presently its long-distance possibilities were exploited in in- terurban lines which enjoyed a brief period of prosperity until they in turn gave way to private motor vehicles and omnibus lines. In 1903 the Boston and Worcester Street Railway began the operation of its cars from the Brookline-Newton line on Boylston Street to Wellesley and Natick. The service was eventually extended to South Framingham, Westboro, and Worcester, and under an operating agreement the cars were run in to Park Square in Boston. But this was not for long, and 1930 saw the trolley line along the Old Worcester Turnpike viewed as a thing of no further use, while the need for a direct and expeditious motor highway between Boston and Worcester had resulted in plans for the conversion of the old road into one of the most modern in the East.
The fire department, activities of which were so closely re- lated to the original interest in a water service, was operating on a highly professional scale in 1904. Forty-two officers and men were employed on a full-time basis, with forty-three others paid to be on call. There were a dozen pieces of efficient fire-fighting apparatus with splendid horses to draw them, housed in seven buildings in various parts of the town - all at an annual cost of about $70,000. Four years later the fire commissioner decided that automobiles were probably not just a passing fancy, and in 1909 one was put in operation for the chief and a motorized 'combination' was purchased. The experiment proved so satisfactory that the horses were soon com- pletely replaced.
Although it seems that the efficiency of all of Brookline's municipal departments is in some measure noteworthy, per- haps the quality of protection afforded by the fire department is easiest to visualize. In a town with an enormous assessed valuation, fire losses were kept to a round $57,000, in 1910, $22,000 in 1920, and $225,000 in 1930. However, this last figure represents the almost fully insured loss on endangered
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buildings which with their contents were valued at $6,269,000, and curiously enough, according to the fire commissioner's report, were insured for almost $40,000 more than their value.
The problems of the police department have become in- creasingly complex since the opening of the century. The character of Brookline's population has of course materially changed and the character of law violation with which the police department had to deal. In 1910 there were only a half- dozen violent crimes in addition to some fifty cases of assault and battery; and apart from nearly three hundred arrests for drunk- enness, the police were able to give attention to such matters as fraudulently hiring a horse, gaming on the Lord's Day, keeping a barking dog, refusing to stop a horse when requested by an officer, stubbornness, and unlawfully keeping a library book.
Twenty years later the arrests were nearly three times as many, more than a third of them for violation of motor vehicle laws. A policeman was killed when he questioned two suspi- cious characters, two stores were held up and there was a bomb- ing supposed to have been the consequence of a gang feud. The task of policing the town had become infinitely more com- plex and presumably also far more dangerous, but the efficiency of the department continued unimpaired; the unacceptable scheme of earlier years for linking Brookline with Boston by a police telegraph system was adopted in another form in 1929, with the installation of a telegraph-typewriter system linking twenty-two police departments.
Another public protective service which greatly enlarged its scope and usefulness was the board of health. This organization became of increasing importance with its highly departmen- talized ramifications. Originally concerned in the main with the prevention of unsatisfactory conditions resulting from the indifference of occasional householders, the health department by 1910 was maintaining a laboratory for the examination of disease cultures, a municipal hospital, a system of milk and food inspection, vaccination and disinfection services; it was taking regular precautions against flies and mosquitoes, supervising the removal of ashes, rubbish and garbage, and giving atten- tion to the health of school children and the improvement of housing conditions. To these services has been added a pro-
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gram of child welfare work, provision for the examination of children not yet of school age, and a dental clinic has been set up to care for the teeth of school children.
SOCIAL WORK
Correlated in part with the program of the health department has been the work of the Brookline Friendly Society. This organization had its inception in a free reading room established in the summer of 1878 at the corner of Brookline Avenue and Washington Street by members of the Women's Christian Temperance Union. The idea at first was to provide recrea- tional quarters, but this was somewhat expanded with the organization of the Brookline Friendly Society in 1886, and the construction of the Union Building the following year with quarters for a variety of social services.
This work has been much elaborated in the present century, notably in the direction of medical care for the needy. A medical department was opened in 1905 and this was promptly followed by arrangements for the services of visiting nurses. A general secretary was first employed in 1912 and a com- prehensive plan of social service was then laid out touching all sides of family life - health, recreation, education, and finances.
Recreational activities were gradually relinquished, but the society's work has been expanded in the direction of baby and pre-natal clinics in connection with a community health center which, in addition to district nursing, provides all necessary nursing care during maternity.
Activities of this organization were centralized in 1926 in the Health Center Building which was transferred to the Friendly Society by the directors of the Day Nursery. At present there are six registered nurses in addition to the director, and five doctors in charge of the clinics. So closely has the work of this voluntary organization met the acknowledged needs of the town that the town has shown a disposition to lend financial aid at least to the extent of paying the salary of the baby welfare nurse. The Brookline Friendly Society has developed a kind of service which apparently, if it is to be effective, must always be carried on as a private rather than an official undertaking, but
HARVEY HUMPHREY BAKER 1869-1915
FREDERICK PICKERING CABOT 1868-1932
The first and second judges of the Boston Juvenile Court
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it has made so striking a demonstration in its field that the public necessity of its work has been indelibly impressed upon the community.
The services of two Brookline men for the welfare of delin- quent children deserve mention here. Harvey H. Baker, a young Brookline lawyer, was appointed Judge of the Boston Juvenile Court on its establishment in 1906. He had been for a number of years Associate Justice of the local Municipal Court and had worked with problem children in connection with the Boston Children's Aid Association. As Judge of the Juvenile Court he was a pioneer in a new field and set a standard for the conduct of the Court which has been recognized as a great advance in that field. He very early called attention to the need of a clinic to study the more baffling cases, which he felt would lead to more intelligent action. This, however, was not to be accomplished during his life. He died in 1915 in the house on Newton Street where he was born.
Frederick P. Cabot was appointed to succeed Judge Baker in 1916. He was born in Brookline in 1868 and lived there until 1905. A friend and admirer of Judge Baker, he almost im- mediately took on himself with the help of other friends the establishment of a clinic for the study of juvenile delinquents, which, as a memorial to his predecessor, was named 'The Judge Baker Foundation.' The Juvenile Court under Judge Cabot added to its prestige, while the Judge Baker Foundation under his presidency has become an institution whose worth is known internationally. He had many other public interests, among them the Boston Symphony Orchestra where he suc- ceeded Henry L. Higginson as President of the Board of Trus- tees. His death in December, 1932, was a great loss.
EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS
With 1905 came the completion of a substantial memorial to a revered early minister of the town, the Pierce Grammar School, built at a cost of $80,000 on the site of the old school of that name. This was the second considerable building neces- sary within the century to accommodate the rapidly growing number of children of school age in the town. In 1903 the Heath School at the corner of Boylston Street and Reservoir Lane had
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been completed at a cost of $175,000. By 1914, when a large addition to the Devotion Schools was built, the town's appro- priation for the current costs of education amounted to over $277,000, and in 1930 the total was three times as great. New structures were needed almost annually.
Through these years there has been followed out a'program of school administration which has consistently taken account of every promising new prospect in the way of education. In addition to the physical training of boys and girls, and their instruction in practical crafts, there has been special attention to the very serious practical problems of vocational guidance and economic education. School authorities have made an effort to assist students to plan intelligently for themselves, to project their individual careers more effectively and to handle money with foresight. In addition, it has been found helpful to undertake psychiatric studies of certain pupils with a view to a better understanding of the causes of some types of behavior. This is, in a sense, a specialized phase of school health super- vision.
In endeavoring to make practical application of the most modern scientific studies, Brookline school authorities have only adhered consistently to the course laid down by their predeces- sors many years ago. The schools of the community have al- ways been in the first rank among public schools and the en- deavor to make possible for pupils the most advantageous de- velopment of their talents has always been the aim of the school authorities. There has been a noteworthy readiness to experi- ment with educational innovations and to discard them as they prove unsatisfactory or to embrace them with enthusiasm if they are found valuable.
In this direction the services of the Brookline Education Society have been extremely helpful. This organization was formed in 1895 with the idea of bringing parents and teachers closer together, enlarging the opportunities afforded by the public schools and studying matters related to education. Thus, when the wisdom of physical training in schools was in doubt, a committee of the society investigated the matter and reported upon the relative merits of military drill, gymnastics, competi- tive athletics and similar subjects. After the town school de-
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partment adopted a program of physical training the committee was no longer maintained, because its purpose had been served.
Other committees dealt with child study, the history of the town, local applications of various sciences, art, music, and school libraries. There was a committee on gymnasiums and playgrounds, and another which promoted a very successful school garden project.
The activities of this body were largely investigative. The members of the Brookline Education Society were driven by an eager desire to be abreast of all important developments in the field of education. They were naturally ahead of official plodders in the same field, as enthusiastic amateurs who were able to point the way and to effect practical progress in the town's school system far more rapidly than would have been the case in the ordinary course of events.
THE PUBLIC LIBRARY
The public library was increasingly used with the passage of years. In particular it became valuable as an adjunct to the schools. Library facilities proved inadequate for the rapidly growing community and the old building was removed while in use, in the summer of 1909. The splendid new structure was ready for occupancy in 1910, being dedicated on November 17. At the close of that year the book collection amounted to over 73,000 volumes; a decade later it exceeded 103,000 volumes, and at the end of 1930 there were more than 135,000 volumes. The library then maintained three branches, two sub-branches, and a great many agencies mostly in connection with the public schools.
This expansion reflects not only a normal healthy growth of the institution but a very much increased use of its facilities by the public. In fact the new library public does not seem always to have shown the respect for property that seems to have characterized earlier days and some visitors have evidenced so great a love of books as to appropriate them without the for- mality of mentioning the fact. This has resulted in the imposi- tion of some restrictions upon borrowers, but altogether the institution may be said to have met its new opportunities with
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continually enlarging resources and to have made its services an invaluable part of the town's equipment for education. Much of the success of the library in this direction is attribut- able to the directive talents of Miss Louisa M. Hooper, who succeeded Charles Knowles Bolton as librarian when he went to take charge of the Boston Athenæum.
MILITARY AFFAIRS
The long mooted question of a monument to Brookline's Civil War Soldiers came finally to a head only a little while before World War memorials were being discussed. Urged at intervals during the years that had passed since minority and majority factions had so effectually discounted each other's efforts, the monument became a reality, at a cost of $40,000, in 1915. This took the form of a statue of a mounted trumpeter, designed by Edward Clark Potter. It was dedicated on Octo- ber 9, with the customary exercises by school children and a speech by the Governor.
When America's participation in the World War became in- evitable, Brookline hastened to bear more than her share of the military burden. Either by voluntary enlistment or through operation of the Selective Service Act, 1841 young men of Brookline saw service in the United States military forces. This number represented about five per cent of the town's total estimated population of 37,000.1
The home community acquitted itself with distinction in Red Cross and Liberty Loan drives, while its young manhood battled overseas. Citizens were encouraged to cultivate gardens, and the lawns of great estates were put under the plow. Then, after the war came programs for the care of ex-service men, largely under the sponsorship of Dr. George K. Sabine, known as 'the Legion's daddy.'
THE MODERN PICTURE
Brookline today in the character of its citizenry and the man- ner of its government, bears certain striking resemblances to the Brookline of three centuries ago. Even in those fields in which
I The town's Honor Roll of those whose lives were sacrificed in the World War is printed in the Proceedings of the Brookline Historical Society for 1919.
DR. GEORGE K. SABINE 1847-1927 Long an able practitioner. Known as the Legion's 'Daddy' because of his interest in the veterans
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the sharpest differences might be remarked, there may still be said to be a resemblance to that earlier Brookline, for the difference is mainly a reflection of the spirit of progress and the spirit of progress has always animated the community.
One ancient custom that has survived the passage of years is the perambulation of the boundary lines, still duly performed by representatives of the town in 1930. In these days of precise surveying this is probably not a necessary precaution but merely one of the cherished relics of a time when it was the only assur- ance that boundaries would be mutually understood and scrup- ulously maintained.
The protective services which began with a single constable, mainly concerned with the collection of taxes, have been en- larged into a variety of departments. A police department, efficiently organized by a capable head, has been maintained and improved to the point where it is probably as effective as any such organization can be in the face of modern conditions. The companies of men who ran with the fire engine and met for chowder suppers have given place to a fire department with a notable record for competent performance. Services that were not dreamed of in the days of Muddy River have become neces- sary with the vanishing of the last stage of the frontier, for a program for safeguarding public health became inevitable with the growth of the town.
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