USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Metropolitan Boston; a modern history; Volume II > Part 46
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The draft riots of 1860 were largely political in character but, except for the effect on the fortunes of the mayor at that time, Frederick W. Lincoln, they cannot be said to have greatly influenced municipal poli- tics. The determined manner in which Mayor Lincoln handled the situ- ation established him firmly in the estimation of the law abiding citizens of the city. One result of the riots was the enlargement of the police force to 350 men.
Police Strike-The Boston police strike of 1919, although a local issue, at once assumed an aspect of national importance both politically and economically because of the far reaching principles involved. Its results have been felt in successive Legislatures and, although eight years have elapsed, its echoes may still be heard in Boston politics. It has been said, and not without some show of reason, that the Boston police strike made Calvin Coolidge President. This is not the proper place for an exhaustive history of the strike. Briefly stated, 1,117 Boston patrolmen turned in their badges at five o'clock on the afternoon of Sep- tember 9, 1919, deserted their posts and left the city unprotected. The issue at stake was the right of the police force as a body to affiliate with the American Federation of Labor. Commissioner Edwin U. Curtis, formerly mayor of the city, had promulgated a regulation forbidding such affiliation.
In August, 1919, nineteen leaders in the movement to unionize the force were placed on trial. Before the commissioner had made his de- cision, a citizens' committee, appointed by Mayor Peters, endeavored to effect a compromise-that the force be permitted to form its own union but not to affiliate with the American Federation of Labor. It was urged in this report that no discrimination be made against any who had previously affiliated. This, in effect, meant that proceedings against the nineteen members should be dropped. Commissioner Curtis declined to accept the suggestion and he received the support of Governor Cool- idge. For two days after the police deserted their posts, the city was at the mercy of rioters. For the first time since the fire of 1872 the city was placed under marshal law and order restored. For several weeks the militia remained in control. After the first of the strike, Mayor Peters became a secondary figure. Direction of affairs was virtually taken from his hands and, while all credit is due to him for his endeavors to avert the calamity, he had little or no share either in the suppression of the disorders or in the reorganization of the force which followed.
In the meantime the police strike became an issue in the State elec- tion of 1919. The sympathy of the majority of the Boston City Council
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and probably of a large percentage of Boston people was with the strik- ers. That the sentiment throughout the State was diametrically oppo- site to this was indicated by the result of the election. Richard H. Long, the Democratic candidate, came out flatly for the restoration of the strik- ing patrolmen to their positions. Calvin Coolidge was reëlected by the largest majority then ever given to a candidate for Governor. The strike has from time to time since then lifted its head in the Legislature. Efforts have been made to urge legislation permitting the patrolmen to return to their places but none have availed. The only effect has been to bar members of the force who went out on the strike from eligibility to police positions in cities under the civil service act. Several had, however, been appointed before this regulation became effective and they have been permitted to retain their positions.
Though Boston has contributed many distinguished men to the political life of the State and Nation, comparatively few have made local office a stepping stone to higher political honors. Rather they have first sought honors elsewhere and then have returned to accept the office of mayor at the hands of their fellow citizens. But two mayors of Boston have served as Governors of the Commonwealth, Alexander Hamilton Rice and William Gaston. Many who have served the State in Congress have later become mayors of the city. Mayor Henry L. Pierce resigned to represent the district in which he resided in Congress and on the expiration of his term was again elected mayor. Patrick A. Col- lins had a distinguished political career in Congress and in the consular service behind him when he assumed the direction of municipal affairs. He had also served with credit in the Massachusetts Legislature. John F. Fitzgerald and James M. Curley both were Congressmen before they were elected to the mayoralty. Among those afterward Governor who served in one or the other of the legislative branches of the city govern- ment were John Q. A. Brackett and John L. Bates. Channing H. Cox also made his political début in the Boston Common Council.
The names of those who have gone from the Boston Common Coun- cil or the aldermen to the State Legislature would fill a volume. The old common council was a school for political aspirants. Its members were chosen by the voters of limited districts. Young men with a flair for public life who could not go before a wide constituency with any convincing reason for their election could apply to their neighbors and friends with some assurance that their plea for support would meet with favorable response. Ward leaders who discovered young men appearing to possess political promise, tried them out on the common council as the playwright tries his new play on an audience far from Broadway. The council was large enough to permit these experiences with political novices without endangering the grip which the machine of the dom-
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inant party, whatever it may have been, planned always to maintain on this branch of the city government. There were always enough seasoned veterans to assure the proper advancement of their plans and to keep an eye on the youngsters.
The abolition of the common council brought about a decided eleva- tion in the tone of municipal politics and an improvement in the conduct of municipal legislative business. Both still leave much to be desired, but a comparison of conditions subsequent to the elimination of the bi- cameral system with those existing before will be convincing.
As a working body the common council was too large not to be un- wieldy. It was "close to the people" for its members were chosen from small constituencies. It offered exceptional opportunities for petty graft. Conscientious legislators could not often secure the passage of needed measures without concession to the element that was usually in control, or at least present in sufficient strength to force it to be reckoned with.
Although the charter provisions of 1885 were designed to remove from the common council the facilities for interference with executive business, they were inoperative almost from the first. The weakness was made more apparent as time went on. Though forbidden to en- croach on the charter prerogatives of the executive, the council in fact was active in its interference in the employment of labor, in the purchase of supplies and in the award of contracts for public works. The charter was explicit in drawing the line between the executive and legislative functions but no penalty was provided for violation of the charter pro- visions. The council went so far that in 1907, when a new charter was under discussion, the finance commission asserted that a large number of the ordinances were devoted to matters with which the council was expressly forbidden to interfere. Many of them were inconsistent with or in direct violation of the statutes.
The charter of 1909 effected an actual as well as a theoretical division between the legislative and executive branches of the government. With the election at large of the members of the council, which took the place of the aldermen and common council, the caliber of the men chosen showed marked improvement. The old common council often contained many members of integrity and ability but as a rule they were unable to exercise the weight they have carried in a more compact body. Though there were some conspicuous examples of incapacity in the city councils which sat between 1910 and 1927, the average of ability was much higher than in any common council since the early years of the city. The election held under the latest charter, that of 1924, gave no promise of improvement. The substitution of election by districts for election at large will, in the opinion of students of municipal government, result
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in a lower standard of representation. It is unfair to judge the working of the new charter in the short time that it has been operative, but nothing has yet indicated that it is an improvement over the one amended.
Boston has had many political "bosses" but few of them have attained an influence extending over the whole city. The absence of an organ- ization outside the political machine provided by the statutes has been largely responsible for this state of affairs. Individuals have built up a machine. Usually this has been done by candidates for office, and the instrument has been ephemeral in character, disintegrating as soon as its purpose has been served. "Warwicks" have been few in number, and their king making powers have been severely restricted. Prior to the elimination of national party designations from municipal politics, the party committees constituted the political machinery by which the course of candidates and parties was steered. Neither Republican nor Democratic committee has for many years stood high in the estimation of the public. A leading Republican of wide experience in public life has said that there was but one political committee whose standards were lower than those of the Boston Democratic city committee, and that was the Boston Republican city committee. Whether or not this characterization is strictly accurate, the men who have been most suc- cessful in obtaining their political objectives, have been those who have organized a strictly personal machine. In recent years the more con- spicuous examples have been the organizations of John F. Fitzgerald and James M. Curley. Hugh O'Brien in his day was a master of the art of organization. The personality and attainments of Patrick A. Collins enabled him to achieve the results usually obtainable only by means of a perfected political machine. He won his successes largely in spite of the machine rather than by its aid.
Most of those who have at one time or another essayed to exercise control from behind the scenes in municipal politics have vanished into the shadows, leaving not even a memory behind them. In the last quar- ter of a century, the most picturesque as well as the most influential "boss" has been Martin M. Lomasney who, from his headquarters at the Hendricks Club, still manipulates the wires that control the gyrations of his political puppets. He is not a typical "boss." He possesses the esteem of his political opponents and of those who deprecate his political methods. His rugged bluntness, his direct action, his homely common sense, and his regard for the sanctity of his promises have won the re- luctant respect of many to whom the "boss" in politics is anathema.
The one political scandal which has been brought to a head in Boston during the last fifty years belongs to the history of Suffolk County. It is perhaps inaccurate to term the incident political, though much polit-
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ical capital was made of it. A district attorney, elected by the people, was found guilty of improper conduct of his office by the judges of the Supreme Court. He was deprived of his office and subsequently dis- barred. Notwithstanding revelations at his trial, he is still believed by many to have been the victim of a conspiracy. The large vote which he received when he again sought office testified to the place he maintained in the estimation of a large number of people.
Whatever may have been the faults of the various factions and parties that have controlled Boston in the first century of its career as a city, none has lost sight of the welfare of the people as it has seen it. The transition from a town with a population homogeneous in character to a cosmopolitan city has increased the demand for public performance of that type of service once supplied only by private enterprise or private benefaction.
The real objects for which cities exist have not been neglected in the whirl of political strife and as Boston has gained in material things it has been generous in its provision for the education, the health, the com- fort and the recreation of its people.
Schools-When Boston became a city, a school system had been established which continued for some dozen years without any material change. The selectmen were replaced on the school committee by the aldermen and the mayor and the other members were, as before, elected by the voters, one from each ward. In 1835, a change was effected by the organization of a "Primary School Committee," consisting of the mayor, the president of the common council and two members from each ward. Not until 1854 was another change made, when all the schools were taken in charge by a school committee comprising seventy-four members, six elected from each ward, the mayor and the president of the common council. It soon became evident that the committee was too large to perform effective service ; it was permeated with politics and its sessions were frequently productive of debates of a character more polit- ical than those of the common council. But it was not until 1875 that the number of members was reduced to twenty-four by a special act of the Legislature. The mayor served as chairman, ex officio, until the charter of 1885 became operative, when the committee elected its own chairman. The committee as thus constituted continued until 1905 when again, by a special act of the Legislature, the number of the board was reduced to five, a most salutary measure which has resulted in a vast improvement in the conduct of school affairs. Some time prior to this, however, in 1901, the school house department was created, to take over the duties of selecting sites and erecting school buildings-the school committee still designating by recommendation the size of the building.
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One of the most prolific causes of political dissension was thus removed from the school committee. The school houses, until the establishment of the school house department, were built under the direction of the school committee and the common council, neither of which was invari- ably actuated by the desire to conserve the money of the tax payers as diligently as was compatible with furnishing proper housing for the children. In the early days of the city, the quarters for the primary schools were privately owned, and it was not until 1834 that Boston began to construct its own primary school buildings.
Those who are aware of the difficulty in making the school accom- modations keep pace with the number of children will find it hard to believe that at times the movement of population away from the old residential districts has left school houses with few pupils and scores of vacant chairs. In most instances, however, the shift has been gradual and the city has been able to dispose of buildings for which there was no longer use for school purposes, before they were entirely deserted. The increase in the school population has for many years outstripped the pro- visions for it. In 1925 the school population was 137,909, more than three times the whole population of Boston when it became a city, and it has since increased to approximately 150,000.
"There is a constant race between the birth rate and the school house with the birth rate generally ahead," said Mayor James M. Curley in his valedictory message to the council.
Though the public schools have generally been in a position to stand comparison with those of other cities, they have not been without their critics. The expense of maintaining them has mounted at a ratio greater than in many other departments.
"That there is something inherently wrong with our public schools is evident," said Mayor Curley only two years ago. "An analysis of some of its statistics is illuminative if not pleasant. In a passage of twenty years from 1905 to 1925, the number of pupils in attendance at the schools increased from 100,463 to 137,909, or roughly an increase of 37 per cent. In the same period the expenses of the system in Boston have jumped from $3,676,731.76 to $17,684,567.59, that is $14,007,836.33 or roughly about 400 per cent. These facts . . deserve some thought and it might be valuable to the tax payer to have them thor- oughly examined and learn what the causes are. . The increasing tendency to add to the subjects taught or rehearsed and the specialists who carry on the work should be well worth investigation if only with a view to getting rid of the superfluities that add to the public burden without increasing the intelligence, industrial fitness and capacity for citizenship and duty of the pupils."
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Until very recent years the management of the Boston schools has been the football of political parties. Politics has by no means been eliminated but even the most critical is obliged to admit that today the school committee is freer from political, racial or religious influences than it has ever been before.
Parks-In 1922 the park system of Boston consisted of the common and the mall, the former protected by the terms of the first charter, which prohibited its sale except by the vote of the people. In fact the city, with these exceptions, had no public lands but the burying grounds. Lowlands at the Back Bay were acquired in 1924. Josiah Quincy, Jr., is entitled to be called the father of the park system for, while his recom- mendations to the common council were carried out in a small part only, he strongly stressed in his second inaugural message the need of public parks. During his administration, Dorchester Heights at South Boston was acquired for park and reservoir purposes. The necessity for ex- pansion, which stimulated the improvement of the Back Bay, gave the opportunity for the beginning of the construction of modern parks within the city limits. Two causeways had already been constructed across the marsh lands; one, about along the line of the present Beacon Street and the other, branching from it to Roxbury, by the corporation which had been chartered to improve the Back Bay.
It was not until 1856, after protracted negotiations between the city, the corporation possessing extensive rights in the Back Bay, and the Commonwealth, that the Commonwealth ceded to Boston the land on which the public garden now stands. A later act of the Legislature con- tained the proviso that no buildings should be "erected between Arling- ton and Charles street except such as are expedient for horticultural purposes, provided that nothing herein shall render it unlawful to erect a city hall in the public garden."
In 1869, the Legislature, because of a petition by a number of Boston citizens, gave authority to the city to purchase land for park purposes. With its usual disposition to interfere in the management of Boston affairs, the General Court made provision for a board of park commis- sioners having authority to take land for park purposes, four to be appointed by the Governor and four by the Common Council. The mayor was also a member. This was rejected by the voters. Though a majority declared in its favor, it required a two-thirds majority for acceptance. Six years later, during the administration of Mayor Cobb, an act was passed and accepted authorizing the mayor to appoint a park commission of three members, who were given broad powers in the acquisition of land, but who could not incur expenditures without the consent of the city council.
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The development of the city's park system really began in 1877. Today Boston has twenty-four large parks besides many public grounds and squares, the total area covering 2,685 acres. The principal parks are the common, the public garden, the Fens, Arnold Arboretum, Bussey Park and Franklin Park. The marine park system is a late develop- ment, Marine Park at South Boston having been the first to be acquired. Castle Island was made a part of the system some years later.
Playgrounds-In Boston the playground system is under the juris- diction of the park commissioner. The first separate playground ac- quired by the city was that in Charlestown, purchased in 1891. It was Josiah Quincy whose administration was signalized by a real develop- ment of the system. He designed to have a place in every ward where the children could play under satisfactory conditions, and the necessary legislative sanction was obtained to enable the establishment of a com- prehensive system of playgrounds. There are now sixty-six areas de- voted specifically to the activities of the playground system, most of which are suitably equipped with shelters, shower baths and other appa- ratus to facilitate the various recreational exercises of the children. Fifty-three of these are separate grounds and thirteen are located in parks.
The acquisition of the parks and playgrounds and their development has not been effected without much juggling of prices and manipulation of values for private profit. But if the public has been called upon to pay the political debts of individuals or of groups through the purchase of property for park, playground or school purposes, it has for its delec- tation stretches of open spaces whose beauties may be enjoyed by the poorest denizen of the slums, whose life-giving air and sunlight are as free to the dweller in the tenement as to the resident of the mansions in Beacon Street, and whose facilities for recreation are utilized by the children of all classes, races and degrees of worldly wealth. Political expediency has often dictated the purchase of property that seemed useless for recreational purposes but in spite of this, it cannot be said that the people have not benefited.
Public Health-Solicitude for the public health has been manifested more intelligently in the past twenty years than in the earlier history of Boston, not only because of the advances made in scientific handling of the problems of sanitation. These problems have become more numer- ous and complicated with each thousand added to the city's population. Down to very recent times the measures for preservation of the public health have been strangely inadequate, due in part to the incapacity of officials appointed or elected because of political considerations and with little regard for their qualifications, and in part because the people have
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not, except in times of epidemic, realized the importance of accepting restrictive measures which, to a certain extent, encroach on individual freedom of action but which are necessary for the common good.
The first board of health in Boston was established in 1799. When the town became a city the board was wiped out, control of health mat- ters devolving on the city council. The council failed to appreciate the importance to the community of this branch of its work. It delegated its authority at times to a commission of three and at times to a single com- missioner. In 1847, for reasons which do not appear, the control of health matters was transferred to the mayor and aldermen, without any perceptible improvement in conditions. In times of emergency the com- missioners, themselves political appointees, were given the assistance of physicians elected by the city council. Often the physicians were incom- petent. The mayor and aldermen, when the medical advice was con- scientiously given, frequently declined to accept it if it ran counter to their opinion.
The severe epidemic of smallpox in 1872 brought to a climax the pub- lic indignation at the failure of the authorities to take steps to improve the sanitation of the city. An ordinance was finally passed, authorizing the mayor to appoint three persons, not members of the council, to act as a health board. In the following year the board was established and continued to function, with minor changes, till in 1915 a single-headed commission was made, with a deputy in charge of each division created by the ordinance. Though some improvement was made by the crea- tion of a board of health independent of the aldermen, it cannot be said that the department gave satisfactory service till placed in charge of a single commissioner. Since then advancement has been rapid in practi- cally every line that pertains to the improvement of the public health. While the selection of the commissioner is still more or less a matter of political consideration, no mayor would venture to pick one not thor- oughly qualified for the work. As a matter of fact those chosen have been physicians of high standing, trained for the particular work to be undertaken. The deputies in charge of the major subdivisions, of which there are now eight, have also been selected for their knowledge of the particular work under their supervision. From being "one of the most unhealthy of the large cities," a characterization made in the early nine- ties, Boston has moved into foremost section of the list of cities whose regard for the health of its inhabitants is productive of the best results.
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