USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Quincy > Inaugural address of the mayor, with the annual report of the officers of the city of Quincy for the year 1893 > Part 6
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At the corner of Canal and Washington streets the brook is covered by building supported by posts in the brook. The posts, as at Miller bridge, cause large deposits of rubbish to collect and it is very' difficult to remove, as it has to be carried in small quantities some distance to get from under buildings.
The culvert under Furnace avenue needs to be enlarged as it is two feet narrower than the brook. To this small culvert can be attributed the overflows of past years.
The culvert under Water street near Quincy avenue, is too small and is easily obstructed, and makes it impossible to properly drain the district drained by the Phipp street brook. This culvert is so small that in order to clear it of any obstruc- tion the road-bed has to be dug up and the covering stone removed.
The retaining wall on Willard street has partly fallen into the brook and needs to be rebuilt.
Hoping that the suggestions contained in this report may be favorably received and thanking the Board for the kindness shown me during the past year.
I remain,
JAMES H. CUNNINGHAM, Inspector.
INSPECTION OF MILK.
To His Honor, the Mayor of the City of Quincy :
I have the honor to submit the following report of the Department of Inspection of Milk, for the year of 1893.
The principal duties of the Inspector, as defined by the statutes under which he acts, are the issuing of licenses, the registration of stores where milk is sold, collection and inspec- tion of samples, and the enforcement of the laws in the courts.
LICENSES.
The statutes governing the sale of milk requires that every person who conveys, in carriage or otherwise, the same for the purpose of selling within the city limits, shall be licensed annually by the Inspector of Milk, and shall pay fifty cents to the use of the city. Every person before selling milk, or offering the same for sale in a store, booth, stand or market place, shall register in the books of the Inspector and shall pay fifty cents. Licenses are issued only in the names of the owners, and may not be sold, assigned or transferred. Each license records the name, residence, place of business, number of carriages or other vehicles used, the name and residence of every driver or other persons engaged in carrying or selling, and the number of the license.
The licensee is required to cause his name, the number of his license and his place of business, to be legibly placed on each outer side of all carriages or vehicles used by him in the sale or conveyance of milk, and to report to the Inspector any change of driver or other person employed. For failure to comply with
154
these requirements, or for selling or exposing for sale, from car- riage or other vehicle, without first being licensed, a fine not less than thirty, nor more than one hundred dollars may be imposed. Repetition of the same offence calls for still higher penalties. Failure to register for the sale of milk from a store is punished by fine not exceeding twenty dollars.
INSPECTION.
.
The Inspector or his authorized collectors are empowered to enter all places where milk is stored or kept for sale, and all carriages used for the conveyance of milk, and may take samples of the same for analysis ; and he shall cause the same so taken to be analyzed or otherwise satisfactory treated, the results of which examination shall be recorded and preserved as evidence. The owner or custodian has the right to demand and receive a sealed portion of the sample for his own use in case of complaint.
QUANTITY OF MILK SOLD.
The estimated number of quarts of milk for average daily consumption in the City of Quincy is six thousand (6,000), of which three thousand five hundred (3,500), are raised in Quincy.
Number of licenses issued to dealers conveying milk by carriage or otherwise, for pur- pose of sale : 33
Number of registrations of storekeepers en- gaged in the sale of milk 26
Number of all others 11
Total number of licenses and registrations 70
Number of samples of milk and cream inspect- ed during the year 331
There have been no complaints made during the year and no prosecutions.
Respectfully submitted,
CHARLES W. GAREY, M. D.,
Inspector of Milk.
INSPECTION OF ANIMALS AND PROVISIONS.
To His Honor, William A. Hodges, Mayor of Quincy :
Instruction to inspectors by the State Board of Commis- sioners :
TUBERCULOSIS.
1 .- All herds within your district that are engaged in the production of milk that is to be marketed or sold, including milk or cream, sold to creameries, or in which there are animals that are being fattened for beef, shall be thoroughly examined by you as often as once in each three months.
2 .- If they are found to be entirely free from disease, the same is to be certified by you upon a blank which will be furnished from this office, which blauk shall be given to the owner of the herd, to be used by him for his own advantage. You will also send the required certificate to this office, and keep your own memorandum of the date and result of the inspection.
3 .- If, on the contrary, tuberculosis is found to exist in the herd, each animal showing it shall be isolated on the farm, or in some other convenient place to be selected by you, and quaran- tined there, under the authority of the local Board of Health, who shall at once notify the Commissioners. The milk from such isolated animal shall not be sold, and in such instances the certificate of health shall not be given for the herd; or, if it has been previously given it shall be withdrawn.
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4 .- Quarantined animals must not be killed except by the permission of the Board of Health imposing such quarantine, and in your presence, as the inspector, or in the presence of an inspector appointed by them, who will at once certify the death to this office.
5 .- Whenever you have reason to believe that new and uninspected animals have recently been introduced among a herd, or when from any reason, and any time, you have cause to suppose that disease exists in a heard, an inspection shall be made at once, and the directions already given shall be followed.
Inspectors are now required to inspect all animals no matter what they are kept for as often as once in three months.
INSPECTION OF MEAT.
1 .- Report to the Commissioners the locations of all slaughter houses within your district give the name of the butcher, the class of animals killed, the days of slaughter and where the general market is sought.
2 .- As to the periodical inspection of these slaughter houses, and the destruction of any meat that may be considered unfit for human consumption, direction and action is to be taken from your local Board of Health.
3 .- When, however, tuberculosis is found to exist in a car- cass, great endeavor is to be used to find the herd from whence the animal came, if the beef is of local production or otherwise, the town or State from whence it was procured, and a report as to the facts made to the Commission.
It is thought hogs have turberculosis and the inspectors have been instructed to inspect all carcasses of hogs in their district and as many others as they can and keep an account of the same.
GENERAL SUGGESTIONS.
1 .- If for any reason you desire to know the name and the address of the inspector for any town within this Common- wealth from which animals may have been removed to your dis- trict you can obtain the same by reference to this office.
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2 .- If during any of your inspections you find any case of what is called variously, actimonycasis, big jaw, wen, jaw ail, bone ail, or sitfast, in cattle, kindly report its location.
3 .- Notify this Board of your action promptly.
4 .- Notify this office of the number of blank certificates that you will possibly require.
PUBLIC STATUTES.
SECTION 1. The mayor and aldermen of cities and the selectmen of towns shall annually appoint one or more persons to be inspectors of provisions and of animals intended for slaughter, such inspectors shall be sworn faithfully to discharge the duties of the office, and shall receive such compensation as the city council or selectmen shall determine.
SEC. 2. Said inspector may inspect all animals intended for slaughter, and all meats, fish, vegetables, produce, fruits and provisions of all kinds, found in said cities and town, or exposed for sale or kept with intent to sell therein; and may for this purpose enter into all buildings or enclosures where said animals, meats, fish, vegetables, produce, fruits or provisions are kept, stored or exposed for slaughter or sale.
When such animals, meat, fish, vegetables, products, fruit or . provisions are found on such inspections to be tainted, diseased, corrupted, decayed, or unwholesome from any cause, said inspec- tor shall seize the same, and cause them or it to be destroyed or disposed of otherwise than for food; but if, at the time of the seizure, the owner of the property seized notifies in writing the inspector seizing the same of his desire to appeal to the Board of Health, said inspector shall cause said animals, meat, fish, vegetables, produce, fruit or provisions to be inspected by said Board of Health, or by a committee thereof, consisting of not less than two members ; and if said board or committee find the same to be tainted, diseased, corrupted or unwholesome, they shall order the same to be destroyed or disposed of otherwise than for food, if said board or committee do not so find, they shall order said animals, meat, fish, vegetables, produce, fruit, or provisions to be forthwith returned to the owner thereof. All
158
monies received by said inspectors or Board of Health for property disposed of as aforesaid, shall after deducting all expenses incurred by reason of such seizure, to be paid to the owner of such property.
SEC. 3. Said inspectors may inspect all veal found in said cities or towns, or offered or exposed for sale, or kept with intent to sell therein, and if said veal is, in the judgment of the in- spector, that of a calf killed under four weeks old, he shall seize the same and cause it to be destroyed or disposed of as provided in the preceding section, subject, however, to the provision therein contained concerning appellant the disposal of moneys.
I find in Quincy 683 cows, besides oxen, bulls and young cattle. I have found them with few exceptions, which were immediately taken care of, in a healthy condition, and think it safe to use the meat or milk from them; but almost every week animals come to this city from other places and are liable to bring disease I would advise buyers to purchase only healthy animals and be especially careful about cattle with a cough for such animals may have tuberculosis.
Meats and Provisions .- I find the provision stores with few ' exceptions well kept, but there are meat and fish carts that may have a good load one week and a bad one the next, I have been . obliged to seize and destroy, and thus far there has been no appeal from my decision.
Respectfully submitted, JAMES M. CUTTING,
Inspector of Animals and Provisions.
POLICE DEPARTMENT.
To His Honor, the Mayor of the City of Quincy :
SIR :- I have the honor to respectfully submit the following report of the Police Department for the year ending December 31, 1893:
Total number arrests
420
Males .
403
Females
17
Residents
304
Non-Residents
116
COURT CASES.
Cases before the District Court . 324
Assault and battery
62
Assault on officer
2
Assault with a revolver
1
Assault threatening
1
Adultery
2
Arrested for officers from other places
5
Bastardy
2
Breaking and entering
8
Buying stolen goods
1
Cruelty to animals
2
Drunkenness
218
Disturbing the peace .
34
Embezzlement
1
Escaped from reform school
2
False pretences
2
160
Fraud
2
Insane
7
Indecent exposure
1
Keeping unlicensed dogs
2
Larceny
10
Liquor law, violation of
7
Lord's day, violation of
1
Lewdness
1
Malicious mischief
17
Non-support of family
7
Passing mutilated money
1
Selling milk below the standard
3
Selling leased property
1
Trespass
3
Tramps
4
Violation city ordinance
10
Number of arrests released from station
96
Number of lodgers
626
ARRESTS AND DRUNKENNESS.
Number of arrests, 1892 393
Number of arrests, 1893 420
Number of arrests for drunkenness, 1892 . 230
Number of arrests for drunkenness, 1893 . 218
Number committed to jail . 52 .
Committed for non-payment of fines .
29
Committed on sentence
17
Held for the grand jury and committed 6
Held for the grand jury and bailed
5
MISCELLANEOUS WORK.
- Buildings found open and secured 32 Overheated stoves in stores and owners notified, 2
Defective sidewalks reported 14
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Runaway horses caught 5
Fires extinguished without alarm
1
Fire alarms rung in 2
Obstructions removed from railroad tracks 2
Pocketbooks found and returned to owners 3
Book of railroad tickets found and returned to owner 1
Gold watch found and returned to owner
1
Disturbances suppressed
ยท
6
Lost children returned to parents
3
The City Treasurer has received in fees and fines $1,129.77.
In submitting my annual report, I desire to thank all of those that have taken an interest in the department, and especially all the members of the department, for the prompt- ness with which they have discharged their duties.
Respectfully submitted,
GEORGE O. LANGLEY, Chief of Police.
LAW DEPARTMENT.
Hon. W. A. Hodges, Mayor :
SIR: - All of the actions against the City mentioned in my report of last year as pending in the Superior Court have been settled during the past year.
The cases of Charles E. Stratton vs. City of Quincy and Charles Loring Adams vs. same were settled without trial by agreement between the parties to said actions.
The case of Thomas D. Pierce vs. City of Quincy was tried at the last February sitting of said Court and a verdict was rendered in favor of the city.
In re-Charles E. Stratton et al. vs. Board of Health, the Superior Judicial Court (in Equity) after a hearing ordered a writ of certiorari to issue and later a compromise was effected and the action settled without a trial on the question of damages.
The following actions were commenced and entered in the Superior Court for Norfolk County against the City during the past year, viz :
Thomas Mclaughlin vs. City of Quincy.
Addie J. Jackman vs. City of Quincy.
Sarah Kincaide vs. City of Quincy.
John A. McDonnell vs. City of Quincy.
Thomas Smith vs. City of Quincy.
William S. Williams vs. City of Quincy.
The first two of said cases were actions of tort for personal injuries received by said plaintiffs and after investigation and
164
before the trial it appearing, that the City would be held liable for the injuries received by the plaintiffs, on account of the de- fective condition of the streets complained of by the plaintiffs, both cases were amicably settled.
The last four cases are proceedings brought to recover damages for the land taken from the different petitioners by the City to widen Water street in 1892.
The Kincaide case was referred to Gordon Mckenzie, John H. Dinegan and William A. Hodges as referees to determine the damages sustained by the petitioner. The referees after hearing all parties and viewing the premises awarded her the sum of $1150 and interest and said award being satisfactory to all con- cerned was paid by the City. The three remaining cases are still pending in said Court.
The Commissioners appointed by the Supreme Judicial Court to determine the amount of money the City should pay to the Quincy Water Company for its property, rights and franchise on 26th of July, 1893, awarded the Company the sum of $515,640.07.
Since January 1, 1893, a number of claims against the City for damages, on account of injuries received on highways within the City, after investigation, have been settled without suits being brought thereon.
I have written opinions on all questions and matters sub- mitted in writing to me by the City Council, the committees thereof and the heads of the different departments of the City Government and have orally advised and otherwise assisted said officials in relation to such other matters connected with their departments as they desired.
JOHN W McANARNEY,
City Solicitor.
Quincy, January 1, 1894.
THOMAS CRANE PUBLIC LIBRARY.
The Trustees of the Thomas Crane Public Library submit herewith their annual report, being the 23rd of the whole series since the Library was opened.
The division of reading matter in the books borrowed dur- ing the year 1893 has not varied in any essential respect from the division in years immediately preceding, and is set forth in the following table:
PUBLIC.
SCHOOLS.
TOTAL.
PER CENT.
Fiction
24,138
195
24,333
32.9
Periodicals
19,126
417
19,543
26.4
Juvenile Fiction
14,193
1,319
15,512
21.0
History
2,913
880
3,793
5.2
General Literature
2,438
88
2,526
3.4
Arts and Sciences
2,148
211
2,359
3.1
Travels
1,811
458
2,269
3.0
Biography
1,561
257
1,818
2.4
Poetry
1,245
116
1,361
1.8
Religion
371
371
.4
Educational
322
322
.4
70,266
3,941
74,207
The number of books purchased during the past year was 290, of which 279 were credited to the foundation fund, or city appropriation, and 11 to the income from the Cotton Center Johnson fund. There have been 600 volumes rebound, and 265 volumes worn out in use have been replaced by new copies of the same books. There have been 159 pamphlets added to those al-
166
ready in the possession of the Library. The number of names on the Library register is 11,653, and of this number 649 were added during the year. The Library was opened to the public 304 days. On the 11th of March, 685 volumes were issued being . the greatest number in any one day since the Library was opened.
Under ordinary circumstances, there would be no occasion for any special report from the Trustees at this time. The Library has gone on during the past year under the same faithful and competent officials, doing its work much as heretofore, and the Trustees have no matters of policy to which they now desire to call attention, nor any changes to suggest.
It so happens, however, that, with the close of the present year, for the first time in the history of the institution, a majority of the Trustees will be changed, only two of the present board continuing in the next. Among those whose term of service thus comes to a close is the present chairman, who has likewise been chairman of the board through a consecutive period of twenty years, and one other member, Mr. Claflin, who more recently has, as treasurer, been in exclusive charge of the funds of the Library, and also mainly entrusted with the purchase of books for it. Under these circumstances, and with a view to having a definite record of the policy which has been pursued of late, in the management of the Library's affairs, it seems proper for the board to make a somewhat detailed statement for future information.
The history of the Library from its commencement to the close of the year 1888, when the provisions of the city charter superseded in several important respects those of the original act of incorporation, was set forth in the eighteenth report of the Trustees (1889). The names of the Trustees up to that time, as also those of the Librarians, and their dates of service, were given, and a record of the various locations and removals of the Library.
In their twentieth report (1891) the Trustees set forth some facts and statistics of interest relating to the growth in the cir- culation 'of books during the first twenty years of the Library's existence, and the changes which were to be observed in the division of reading matter.
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There are three distinct funds now connected with the Library, either the principal or the income of each of which is appropriated and should be applied to specific purposes.
These funds are (1) The Cotton Center Johnson fund of $2000, the income of which is to be applied under the terms of the bequest to the purchase of books. These books are kept dis- tinct from the body of the Library by means of a book-plate in- dicating the source from which they were derived. The recent policy of the Trustees has been to apply the income from this fund in common with the amount appropriated by the city for the purchase of books indiscriminately towards acquisitions. It has not at present been deemed desirable to apply the income of this fund to any special purpose or particular branch of litera- ture. It might, perhaps, at some future time be used to advan- tage as a fund set aside for the purchase of works of reference.
(2.) The Crane fund represents an amount given by the Crane family for specific purposes. The family have also from time to time indicated their intention of further contributing to this fund, and it has been thus far set aside and allowed to increase with a view of ultimately using it for the ornamentation or repair of the Memorial Hall or its approaches. What is now most needed is a pavement from the street to the building of a permanent and better character than that in use since the Memorial Hall was erected. The Trustees have intended, as soon as the means at their disposal would permit, to lay these approaches with block payments of the description in use on Boston common, between Park square and Park street Church. The cost of this improvement would be larger than the fund would now justify. Nevertheless, it is much needed.
(3.) The Catalogue fund is an accumulation from book fines and other miscellaneous sources, which the Trustees have set aside to use for printing a new catalogue when the time for so doing shall arrive. The present printed catalogue has now been in use nearly eighteen years, and is out of date. The course intended to be pursued in this important particular was set forth by the Trustees at length in their report of a year ago, (1892), being the twenty-second in the whole series. The cost of print- ing a proper catalogue for the present collection of books, would
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not be far from $2,500. The police of the Trustees has been to accumulate a fund for this purpose by appropriating to it annual- ly one-half of the dog-tax. It has been assumed that, by pursuing this course, the fund would accumulate sufficiently to permit the Trustees to enter upon the work of printing the catalogue in the beginning of the year 1895, or one year hence. The existing catalogue will then be so much out of date as to be no longer really available for library purposes.
The policy in all other respects which the Trustees have pur- sued in respect to the management and use of the Library is fully set forth in the series of their annual reports. It has been their purpose to make the collection, in so far as possible, not a Library for reference, or one adapted to the needs of general scholars or special investigators. Their purpose has
been to make it a thoroughly useful People's Library, what might perhaps best be described as a University Annex to the Common School System. To this end they have labored to keep it well supplied with a good collection of standard English works of every description, with a large selection of the best periodical literature, and with the most comprehensive, useful and latest books of reference. They have never considered it advisable to go to any large extent into specialties, professional literature, or rare and costly publications.
With this policy in mind, the Trustees a year ago set forth in their report (1892) with great detail and as matter of record, the limits within which they thought it desirable the Library should be confined. It was not deemed desirable that any at- tempt should be made to render it comprehensive through a vast accumulation of miscellaneous and incongruous literature. On the contrary, as the cost of a volume is on an average one dollar, and that of cataloguing it as nearly as may be, 25 cents, it becomes obvious that after a Library exceeds 10,000 volumes the expense of keeping it well catalogued, and only through being catalogued can it be made generally accessible, becomes so great that it is pactically out of the question. A library of 40,000 volumes, for instance, by no means now a large library or one of even usual size, would cost in cataloguing not less than $10,000. Three- fourths of this sum in such a case as that of Quincy, it has al-
169
ways seemed to the Trustees, could much more advantageously be applied to the purchase of 7500 new books, after culling all superfluous material out of the collection and cataloguing the re- mainder.
The policy of the Trustees has further been to improve and increase the collection, so far as it could judiciously be done, through gifts from private sources. They welcomed the Cotton Center Johnson bequest as the first step in a direction which they hoped others interested in the library would hereafter not be slow to follow. Could bequests or gifts of money be made to the Thomas Crane Public Library, from which the Trustees would have a book fund of $1,000 per annum, that sum would be ample in the opinion of the Board to provide for all necessary book purchases, relieving the city of that burden. So far as running expenses are concerned, including salaries, ordinary care of grounds, heating, lighting, etc., it has seemed to the Trustees proper, as matter of policy, that these should be met by a city appropriation.
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