USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Metropolitan Boston; a modern history; Volume II > Part 45
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For two years Thomas Norton Hart, a Republican, had opposed Mayor O'Brien and in 1888, on his third attempt, he was successful in de- feating Mr. O'Brien by 32,712 to 30,836 votes. His election was largely as a protest against the partisanship shown by Mayor O'Brien in the city government. Mayor Hart endeavored to bring about the consolidation of various departments under one public works department but was not successful in his efforts. He did, however, succeed in somewhat reduc- ing the number of departments, which was over fifty when he took office. He served for two terms and was succeeded by Nathan Matthews, Jr., a Democrat, the youngest man to be elected mayor, for he was but thirty- six years old when he took office. He defeated Moody Merrill, the Re- publican candidate, and Samuel B. Shapleigh.
Mayor Matthews' administration was characterized by his intelligent grasp of municipal problems, his outspokenness in condemning what he deemed improper and his endeavors to conduct the affairs of the city as nearly as possible on a business basis. He succeeded in changing the municipal machinery somewhat by the consolidation of several depart- ments, including the sewers and sanitary police, with the street depart- ment under a single department. He advocated a longer term of office for the mayor and heads of departments, believing that the latter should hold office during good behavior. Partly through his efforts the city council of 1892 passed a city ordinance forbidding city employees to serve on political committees or acting as delegates to political con-
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ventions. He was also strongly opposed to the bicameral system in municipal government. He endeavored to bring about the abolition of the State board of police, believing that the city was capable of control- ling its own police department.
Several fiscal reforms were introduced during the four years of his administration and he also took an active part in promoting the con- struction of the first subway, the first not only in Boston but in the country. Legislative authority for the construction of the subway was obtained in 1894, largely through the influence of the mayor. Though elected as a Democrat and always a party man, his partisanship was sub- ordinated to what he believed to be the public interest, much to the dis- gust of many of the party leaders who had been his ardent supporters.
Mayor Matthews was not a candidate for reelection in 1894. There was a four-cornered contest in which Edwin U. Curtis was elected, receiving 34,982 votes against 32,425 for the Democratic candidate, Fran- cis Peabody, Jr. There were two other candidates in the field, Phineas P. Field, who polled 868 votes, and Abijah Hall, who had 305. The sterling executive qualifications which were subsequently displayed as police commissioner were shown by Mayor Curtis during his single year in office as mayor. He recommended that the park police be placed under the board of police so that the whole police force of the city should be directed from one head. This consolidation was brought about dur- ing his term. Perhaps the greatest reform during his administration was that which created a board of four election commissioners, selected from each of the two great political parties. Previous to this the election machinery was controlled by the mayor, the board of aldermen, the city clerk, the registrars of voters and the department of public buildings.
Mayor Curtis was a constant opponent of three-headed commissions and advocated that the board of fire commissioners, the commissioners of public institutions and the water board be abolished. He was suc- cessful as far as the fire department was concerned and in the course of time his recommendations bore fruit in other directions. Although Mayor Curtis was a candidate for a second term, he was defeated by Josiah Quincy, Jr., by more than 4,000 votes.
Mayor Quincy was the first to be elected under the Legislative act of 1895 which made the term of the mayor two years. He was the third of his family bearing the same name to be elected mayor, the only instance in which the same family has given more than one mayor to the city. Mayor Quincy's administration, which lasted two terms or four years, will perhaps be best remembered by the system of playgrounds, gymnasia and public baths which was established or extended under him. He be- lieved that it was the business of the city of Boston to spend money freely for objects that would give to the poorer citizens the conveniences and
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comforts enjoyed by those who were better off. Such a policy was expensive. Although the receipts of the city were greatly increased, it was necessary to resort to considerable borrowing. In 1897 the expendi- tures amounted to more than twenty-seven million dollars. Large sums were spent for street improvement and for sewers, and during the last year of his administration, there was again a large expenditure for streets and schools. Discontent with these excessive expenditures was prob- ably the principal reason why he was not a candidate for reelection for a third term.
Former Mayor Thomas N. Hart, Republican, was elected in 1899, defeating Patrick A. Collins, the Democratic candidate, by a margin of - about 2,000 votes. Two other candidates, James F. Stevens and John Weaver Sherman polled less than 2,000 votes between them. During Mayor Hart's second administration the arrangement with the Com- monwealth was effected whereby the control of Boston's water supply was vested in the Metropolitan Water Board. The school house depart- ment was also established as a separate department with three commis- sioners appointed by the mayor with powers to select sites and erect and furnish school buildings. The appropriations, however, still remained in charge of the school committee. It was during the last year of his administration that the legislative act providing for the Charles River basin and the appointment of a committee to report on the construction of a dam across the river between Boston and Cambridge was accepted.
Patrick Andrew Collins, who had been Mayor Hart's opponent in 1899, was again a candidate in 1901, defeating the Republican mayor by a margin of 20,000 votes. The election was preceded by a bitter primary fight in which Mr. Collins was opposed by John R. Murphy. Mayor Collins came to the executive office with a wide experience in public life which included four years in the State Legislature, six years in Con- gress and four years as consul general in London. Party feeling ran high during his administration but on the whole it was successful both politically and financially. He was an expansionist of the most pro- nounced type but persistently objected to needless and questionable drafts upon the city's borrowing capacity whether drawn by the Gen- eral Court or originating in the City Council. He bitterly resented the interference of the Legislature in the affairs of the city of Boston, but his efforts to check the constantly growing paternalism of the Legis- lature were without avail. The controversy between Mayor Collins and John R. Murphy raged with renewed acrimony during the last year of the mayor's administration, and was still at its height when, in Sep- tember, 1905, the mayor died, the first in many years to die in office. Until January 1, 1906, Daniel A. Whelton, chairman of the board of aldermen, served as acting mayor.
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The election in the fall of that year was one of the most bitterly con- tested in many years. There were six candidates in the field: John F. Fitzgerald, who received 44,171 votes; Louis A. Frothingham, who polled 36,028; Judge Henry S. Dewey, who had contested the Repub- lican nomination with Mr. Frothingham, who received 11,608 votes; George G. Hall, James A. Watson, and Michael D. Fitzgerald. Judge Dewey ran as an independent candidate, popularly credited as in the interests of Mr. Fitzgerald. Like his predecessor, Mayor Fitzgerald was not a novice in public life. He had been a member of the Boston Common Council, a State Senator and a Congressman. Considerable criticism was made of his financial policies and the methods followed by him, which led him to recommend the appointment of the finance com- mission to investigate the financial condition under the authority of the city government.
The report of this commission attracted considerable attention, as it made a special reference to certain improper municipal contracts and to the alarming indebtedness of the city. Although a candidate for re- election, Mayor Fitzgerald was defeated by his Republican opponent, George A. Hibbard, by barely 2,000 votes. In this campaign the Inde- pendence League first raised its head in municipal politics. Its candi- date, John A. Coulthurst, a member of the City Council, polled 15,811 votes. Mayor Hibbard, who was a Republican in politics and a former postmaster of Boston, decreased the amount of the city loans and also the department expenditures. Largely as the result of the investigation by a finance commission created by the Legislature, an amended Boston city charter, providing for a city council of nine and a mayoralty term of four years, was accepted in the last year of Mayor Hibbard's adminis- tration. Former Mayor John F. Fitzgerald was a candidate for a second time and, after one of the most strenuous contests in many years, with James J. Storrow running as an independent, was elected by about 1,400 plurality. He had the advantage of the new city charter, a great improvement on the cumbersome instrument under which the city had previously operated. The department of public works was created in his first year, combining the street, water and engineering departments, in charge of a single commissioner. This also was the first year that the permanent finance commission established by the charter began to function, although its official existence dated from the year previous. During his administration the city planning board, a new board in municipal economy, was established by ordinance.
In the election of 1914 there was a spirited contest between James Michael Curley, former councillor, alderman and Congressman, and Thomas J. Kenny, a member of the City Council during the Fitzgerald administration. Mr. Curley was successful by a majority of about 5,700.
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In his inaugural address, Mayor Curley urged the need of developing the industries of Boston and particularly the utilization of the magnifi- cent port. He also advocated periodical conferences on city planning in which representatives of all the leading interests in the community should participate with the planning board. He declared himself in favor of the substitution of "the pay as you go" policy for the extensive borrowing and the gradual consolidation of the city debt. The estab- lishment of the segregated budget was one of the accomplishments of his administration. He was the author or the instigator of a number of measures introduced into the Legislature affecting the city, few of which were adopted. He was a persistent advocate of home rule for Boston but, like most of his predecessors, who held the same views, he was unable to accomplish anything toward diminishing the Legislative super- vision over city affairs. As the new charter forbade the mayor to be elected for two consecutive terms, Mayor Curley was not a candidate for reelection and a Democrat, Andrew James Peters, went into office with a plurality of 9,075, the largest given a mayor since 1903. He was pledged to a nonpartisan administration and, as far as he was able, brought about a complete political freedom for city employees. Because of decreasing revenue and increasing cost, due in a considerable extent to the World War, Mayor Peters requested the Legislature to raise the tax limit for city purposes from $6.52 to $9.52, a request that was granted by the Legislature of 1919. In 1920 the tax rate reached $24.70, the highest in the history of the city up to that time. As in many other cities, the larger budget of the school committee was responsible for a considerable part of this increase. Nevertheless, during Mayor Peters' administration, the net debt was reduced by $4,657,166. Extensive street improvements, including the construction of Stuart Street, were carried out or begun during his administration, and the high pressure fire serv- ice was enlarged and improved by the construction of two new pumping stations. The charitable institutions and the penal institutions, depart- ments heretofore administered by unpaid boards of trustees, were merged in a single department in charge of a paid commissioner.
Like several of the mayors who had preceded him, Mayor Peters en- deavored to bring about the consolidation of Greater Boston under one municipal government, but the measure introduced by him was, as all previous measures had been, defeated by a decided majority in the Legislature.
During the administration of Mayor Peters occurred one of the most momentous and far reaching events in the history of Boston, the strike of the Boston police force. The real issue involved was whether the force as a body should be permitted to affiliate with the American Fed- eration of Labor.
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Mayor Peters approved a compromise suggestion made by a com- mittee of citizens appointed by him, of which James J. Storrow was chairman, but police commissioner Edwin U. Curtis positively refused to consider it. On September 9, 1919, I,II7, out of a force of 1,544, walked out, leaving the city protected from riot and lawlessness only by a meagre force of volunteer special police and members of the regular force who had remained loyal. Then the National Guard was placed in control by the order of the Governor and quiet was restored. The work of reorganizing a new police force was begun immediately and practic- ally completed before Mayor Peters went out of office.
The campaign in the fall of 1921 was one of the most bitterly con- tested in several years with four candidates in the field, former Mayor James M. Curley, John R. Murphy, former fire commissioner and for many years a leading factor in municipal politics, Charles S. O'Connor and Charles S. Baxter. Mr. Curley carried sixteen of the twenty-six city wards and was elected by a plurality of 2,470. The second admin- istration of Mayor Curley was marked by a period of intense endeavor to promote the expansion of Boston's industry and commerce. For the first time in the history of the city, a definite stand was undertaken by the municipality for the development of the commercial prosperity of the community. A Bureau of Commerce and Industry was organized and a Municipal Employment Bureau established. The latter demon- strated its usefulness by placing some 30,000 within the short period of two months.
Mayor Curley was a candidate for Governor at the end of the second year of his administration but continued to hold the office of mayor until the expiration of his term in the fall of 1925. The retirement of Mayor Curley, who under the charter could not be a candidate to succeed him- self, precipitated one of the most virulent campaigns in many years. Though no party designations were attached to the candidates, the line of demarcation was sharply drawn. Ostensibly the candidate selected by Mayor Curley to succeed him was Theodore Glynn, who had served as fire commissioner in the Curley administration. District Attorney Thomas C. O'Brien, John A. Keliher, sheriff of Suffolk County, and Wil- liam T. A. Fitzgerald, register of deeds in Suffolk County, conducted vigorous campaigns in their own behalf. Daniel J. Coakley, for many years a leading and, in the opinion of many, a sinister force in Boston politics, was also in the field. The better element of the Democratic party, with many Republicans, stood behind Joseph H. O'Neil, former congressman and a banker of high character and proved ability. The candidate of the Republicans, although, of course, not so labelled, was Malcolm A. Nichols, long a Boston newspaper man and later Federal tax commissioner. With the Democratic vote hopelessly divided, Mayor.
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Nichols came in at the head of the field, although receiving a minority of the total vote cast. He began his administration in January, 1927.
Political Influences-In the early days of Boston as a city, the Whig party predominated, though not as preponderantly as the Democratic party of today. The increase in foreign population, the gradual but decisive change in its religious character, the withdrawal from active participation in municipal affairs of the type that was prominent in the youth of the city and the extent to which those whose business interests are in Boston have acquired a residence in the suburbs, have combined to place the political aspect of Boston in strong contrast to that of the typical New England city of the past.
Boston has taken its municipal politics seriously but has never been able to exercise that dominance over the politics of the State which is characteristic of many cities occupying a similar position in relation to the State as a whole.
Boston has not been exempt from influences which have made munic- ipal government in America the worst in the civilized world but in spite of frequent mismanagement, much waste of public money and the direc- tion of municipal activities for the achievement of personal aggrandize- ment or private ambitions, the character of Boston's politics will com- pare favorably with that of any great city in the country. This is, at best, but a poor compliment. When muck raking was a popular sport, a writer of national prominence was unable to find evidence of close alli- ance between politicians and vice which has often been alleged. Of the thirty-seven mayors who have held office, none has gone out with a stain on his reputation and none has been called upon to answer to the courts for his acts in office.
Racial and religious affiliations have played no small part in the polit- ical history of Boston in the past half century. Boston has for several years been dominated politically by the Irish Catholic vote and it is no credit to either of the parties nor to the individual candidates for office from City Council to mayor that they have endeavored to capitalize this to the fullest extent. It is a far cry from the days of the Broad Street riots to the campaign of 1926 when, in order to capture the vote of the numerically dominant faction, it was considered imperative by the friends of good government to select a Catholic of Irish descent as their standard bearer. As a general rule, though a rule not without excep- tions, none but a member of the Catholic Church of Irish blood has been able in recent years to secure election to the office of mayor save through division among the voters of the dominant race. Though there have been leaders who have not themselves sought office but have been virtu- ally in control of parties or divisions of parties, no organization has ever
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succeeded in securing an ascendancy in Boston comparable to that of Tammany Hall in New York. All of those associations which have been formed, perhaps with the intention of controlling municipal poli- tics, have been compelled to limit their activities to a distinct field. Clubs and associations have succeeded in establishing themselves in authority in certain wards or districts, but few have been able to make their influence felt beyond them.
Perhaps the most conspicuous of those is the Hendricks Club. An- other is the Tammany Club. The Russell Club, an organization within the fire department, played its part for a time but intervention by the authorities discouraged the continuation of its activities. The ward committees have in Boston acquired a greater influence than in many cities where a political organization comprehending the whole city has been a factor in the local political field.
Both fire and police departments have exercised considerable influ- ence in the political life of the city. The fire department was for many years the more potent force. In the early days of the city it was by far the larger body. Its members were volunteers giving their services to the community without remuneration. Every fire station was a political headquarters. The vote of the fire department with those it could con- trol was not to be disdained by candidates for office. Organization of the department on a permanent basis with compensation for members, while it changed conditions materially, did not deprive it of the influence which it wielded and which up to the present time has been utilized whenever possible by candidates who neglect no opportunity to pro- pitiate a powerful element. Appointment as head of the department has been the reward for political work. This was true when control of the department was in the hands of three commissioners and it is still true now that it is under a single head who is appointed by the mayor with- out necessity of confirmation by the city council. That those selected have, at any rate in recent years, generally been men of ability and not infrequently of outstanding proficiency is somewhat remarkable.
The political influence of the police department has been less con- spicuous and more frequently checked. At the present time it is almost negligible but as long as this department remained under the control of the municipality, it was a recognized factor in politics. It was the tool of this or the other party. It frequently was, at least in part, allied with the more vicious elements of the community. The history of the con- nection between the police and the so-called liquor interests cannot be written, but that such influence was a controlling element during several years is a matter of common knowledge.
Many attempts were made by mayors, who perceived that the au- thority of the police force should not be diverted to political channels, to
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bring about a change in conditions but not until the Legislature, in the face of determined opposition on the part of Boston representatives, placed the control of the department in the hands of a commission ap- pointed by the Governor, did the conditions improve. Even this arrange- ment was not wholly satisfactory, for the board of commissioners was bi-partisan and the political element inevitably entered into its acts. The separation of the licensing authority from the police commission was also a long step in the direction of reform. Since the reorganization of the force, after the police strike, no political machine has been able to utilize it. Attempts at securing a foothold have been made and doubt- less in time will be successful.
Riots-On four occasions in the history of Boston as a city have dis- turbances of a political or semi-political character occurred in which either the police or fire department or both bore a prominent part. Each of these occasions has been followed by a reform or attempt at reform in one or the other department.
The first of these occasions was in 1834 when the Ursuline convent on Mount Benedict in Charlestown, now a part of Somerville, was destroyed by a mob. The demonstration was anti-Catholic in character and fears of a conflict in Boston between the Irish population and the rioters were entertained. The police were deemed wholly inadequate, for in fact there was no police force at the time but only a small body of constables, and arrangements were made to call out the militia if the necessity arose.
This was followed a few years later by the Broad Street riot which, with its predecessor, was really responsible for the organization of a regular police force. The Broad Street riot, which took place on Sun- day, June II, 1837, was a demonstration against the growing Irish pop- ulation. It started when an engine company returning from a fire came in collision with an Irish funeral procession on Broad Street. No lives were lost but a considerable amount of property was destroyed. The inability of the constables to cope with the situation convinced Mayor Eliot of the necessity for a reorganization of the fire department and what passed for a police department. He succeeded with the fire depart- ment but failed to secure the cooperation of the council in building up a police department, and it was not until the following year that authority was procured from the Legislature for the creation of a force of police officers with all the powers of constables except the power to serve civil process.
The anti-slavery riots were political in their character but were sig- nificant in municipal politics only as they showed the reluctance of
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members of the old Whig and the Democratic parties to identify them- selves with the radical abolitionists.
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