USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Municipal history of the town and city of Boston during two centuries : from September 17, 1630, to September 17, 1830 > Part 23
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1 See Appendix, F.
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Leading members of the City Council coincided in these general views; and at a meeting, early in January, 1828, at the suggestion of the Mayor, the succeeding School Committee took into consideration the subject referred to them by the preceding Board; and when under discussion, say the records, "James Savage remarked that, though he had, as a member of the Com- mon Council, voted an appropriation to the High School for Girls, it was mainly with a view to make a publie experiment of the system of mutual instruction; that he was opposed to the High School for Girls, and to the whole system of instruc- tion, as regards females ; he therefore moved, that a sub-commit- tee be raised to consider, -
" Whether the High School for Girls shall be continued, and the basis on which it shall be established ; -
" Whether the girls may not well be allowed to remain at the Grammar Schools throughout the year ; -
"And, whether the tine of their continuance at these schools may not be advantageously extended."
'This motion being adopted, the following Sub-Committee was appointed for its consideration, namely, - the Mayor, John Pickering, Samuel T. Armstrong, William B. Fowle, Samuel Barrett, Zabdiel B. Adams, and Amos Farnsworth.
This Committee made, on the twelfth of February, an elabo- rate report unanimously, in which was set forth, in detail, all the chief views and arguments connected with the subject; and declared their opinion, that the High School for Girls "ought not to be reestablished upon the basis of embracing the extent of time and the multiplied objects of education which the ori- ginal plan of that school contemplated;" and that it ought not. to be continued " on the restricted basis, as to time and objects, to which it was reduced by the vote of the seventeenth of No- vember, 1826;"1 but that " it was far preferable to arrange all our Grammar and Writing Schools so that the standard of edu- cation in them may be elevated and enlarged, thereby making them all, as it respects females, in fact, high schools, in which each child may advance, according to its attainments, to the same branches recently taught in the High School for Girls. The Sub-Committee then entered upon a wide survey of the whole school system; and closed their report by recommending
1 See page 222.
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a series of resolutions, which, after undergoing some modifica- tions, were adopted by the School Committee unanimously, in which the opinion of the School Committee was declared, that it was for the interest of the city, that the mutual or monitorial system of instruction should be introdneed into the Boylston and Bowdoin Schools; that an appropriation be requested of the City Council, for preparing the school houses for this purpose; and the Sub-Committee, who made the report, were reappointed to carry the resolutions adopted into effect. On the third of June ensuing, " Mr. Savage moved that the girls be permitted to remain in the English Grammar Schools throughout the year." This motion being adopted, and measures taken for carrying into effect the views thus sanctioned, the project of the High School for Girls was abandoned, and the scale of instruction in the Common Schools in the city was gradually elevated and enlarged.
This result, and the distinctness with which the Mayor had made known his opinion, concerning the inexpediency of esta- blishing such a High School for Girls at the expense of the city, in opposition to the views and interests of a body of citizens of great activity, and of no inconsiderable influence, gave origin to party assaults upon the motives and condnet of that officer, which he noticed in his final address to the Board of Aldermen, on taking leave of the office, in January, 1829.1 The soundness of these views, and their coincidence with the permanent inte- rests of the city, seem to be sanctioned by the fact, that twenty- three years (1851) have elapsed, and no effectual attempt, during that period, has been made for its revival, in the School Com- mittee, or in either branch of the City Council.
A question growing ont of the relation of the Mayor of the city to the School Committee, of which, by the city charter, he was officially a component part, onght not, perhaps, to be omitted in this history, although of no other general importance than as preserving a remembrance of the different construction made of that charter, and of its having temporarily been the occasion of party animadversions. When, under the town government, the School Committee was established, there was no individual elected by the vote of all the inhabitants as chief officer or head of the town. The Selectmen, as the Executive Board, was
1 See page 269.
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accustomed to elect annually a chairman ; but his authority and official character were derived solely from their election. The School Committee, therefore, considering, justly, that the power of electing a chairman of the Selectmen did not include the power of electing a chairman of the School Committee, not- withstanding the Selectmen were component parts of that Board, provided, in their first organization, " that, at the first meeting in each year, the Board should organize itself by choosing a chairman." And this was the uniform practice, until the adoption of the city charter. It was manifest that the rela- tion of things was materially changed by this charter. Like the Selectmen, the Mayor and Aldermen were made a component part of the School Committee; but the Mayor was not chosen by the Board of Aldermen, but elected head of the city by the body of its citizens; and, by the force of that relation, it was the opinion of many, and, at the commencement of the new goverment, apparently of all, that, ex officio, he had the right, and that it was his duty to clain the station of chairman of all the boards of which, ex officio, he was a component part. This opinion was so strong and so general, that it does not appear that, during the first seven years after the organization of the city goverment, that any question was raised, or any doubt expressed on the subject. John Phillips, the first Mayor, with the Aldermen met, on the sixth of May, 1822, the other mem- bers of the School Committee, and took the chair, as Mayor of the city, and the School Committee proceeded immediately to organize themselves by the choice of a secretary. Neither the record nor any document indicates that the proposition to choo : him or any one chairman was either made or thought of by al., member of the School Committee. The same was the case with his successor, during the nearly six years to which his ad- ministration extended. The first intimation of any discontent existing in the Committee, for their omission to elect a chair- man, occurred on the twelfth of February, 1828, more than a month after the School Committee had been that year organ- ized in the usual course.
On that day, the record states, that " it was suggested by Mr. Bowdon," (the Secretary of the Committee,) " that, in examin- ing the rules of the Board now in force, with a view to his duties as secretary, he had found a provision requiring, as a part of the
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organization of the Board, the annual choice of a 'chairman, at its first meeting in January; that the organization, by such choice, was not completed at the late meeting; and, advert- ing to the words of the preamble to the rules, that the School Committee is a constituent branch of the city government, by the charter, added that, as it was a part of the duty required of those elected by the several branches, he doubted whether they could dispense with the responsibility of that part of the organ- ization.
"After some debate on the subject, in which it was said by the Mayor, who disclaimed all personal motives, that 'he con- sidered the person holding the office of Mayor as being chair- man by force of the city charter,' it was voted that a committee of five be appointed to take into consideration a revision of the rules; and the Mayor, accordingly, appointed Messrs. James Bowdoin, John Pickering, Samuel T. Armstrong, Joseph Head, the Rev. C. P. Grosvenor, for the purpose."
The course and conduct of the Mayor, on this subject, having been animadverted upon in pamphlet and newspaper, as "as- suming " and " selfish," in order that no obscurity might rest on his opinions and motives, he immediately addressed a letter to the Board, in the following terms : -
TO THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE OF THE CITY OF BOSTON.
GENTLEMEN, - At your last meeting, Mr. Bowdoin called the attention of the Committee to its organization, by the choice of a chairman, and stating " the doubts he entertained if, when meeting as a Board, they could dispense with the responsibility of' that part of the organization."
As this suggestion and these doubts have reference to the relations of the office which the subscriber has now the honor to hold, and are in repugnance to the uniform practice and course of proceedings ever since the organization of the city government, the subscriber deems it his duty to that office, and to all who may be his successors in it, to state openly his views, resulting, as they do, from the terms of the city charter, now, for the first time, authoritatively ques- tioned, to the end, that no obscurity may rest upon their nature and foundation.
The School Committee is constituted by the last clause in the nineteenth section of the city charter, which is in these words :- "And the said citizens shall, at the same time, and in like manner, elect one person in each ward to be a member of the School Committee for the said city ; and the persons so chosen shall JOINTLY, WITH THE MAYOR AND ALDERMEN, constitute the School Committee for the said city, and have the care and superintendence of the public schools."
From the terms of this section it is apparent, -
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1. That the Mayor and Aldermen are part of the School Committee, ex officio.
2. That the term, " Mayor and Aldermen," is not a designation of the indivi- duals, but of their office and relation.
Hlad that term been intended to designate the individuals, to whom the persons so elected were to be joined, the expression would have been different, namely, - " and the persons so chosen shall, jointly, with the persons who shall be chosen Mayor and Aldermen," &c. As the expression of the charter now is, the per- sons so chosen are joined to the office and relation, and not to the persons as such. In corroboration of which reasoning, it is apprehended that it will not be questioned, that an Alderman resigning his seat at that Board, or the Mayor resigning his office, would, by that act, vacate his seat in the School Committee.
From the above reasoning, it follows, necessarily, that the Mayor and Alder- men compose a part of the School Committee, when it meets, ex officiis ; that is, as " Mayor and Aldermen," and in no other capacity, right, or relation.
By the tenth section of the city charter, it is declared, " that the Mayor and Aldermen, thus chosen and qualified, SHALL COMPOSE ONE BOARD, AND SHALL SIT AND ACT TOGETHER AS ONE BODY, AT ALL MEETINGS OF WHICH THE MAYOR, IF PRESENT, SHALL PRESIDE.
From both these sections the conclusion is, in the opinion of the subscriber, unavoidable, that the Mayor and Aldermen cannot meet, ex officiis, but as one board ; at all meetings of which the Mayor, if present, must preside.
If to the Mayor and Aldermen, for a particular purpose, as in this case of schools, other citizens are joined, they are, by force of the terms of the charter, so joined, as all citizens are joined, when they are connected with the Chief Executive Board of the Corporation ; that is, modified by the organization of that Supreme Executive Board, as established in the charter.
The subscriber requests, that this claim of official right may be put on file and on record, to the end that the nature and foundation of it may be understood, and that those who may hold this office hereafter, may have none of their just official clains compromitted, by any neglect or want of vigilance ou his part.
Very respectfully, Gentlemen, I am your obedient servant, JOSIAH QUINCY, Mayor.
BOSTON, 21 February, 1828.
No report appears by the records to have been made by the Committee thus appointed ; but the records of the next succeed- ing year state, " that the Board proceeded to elect a chairman by ballot, and the Mayor was unanimously chosen; a practice which has continued to the present day; notwithstanding, in the year 1835, by act of the Legislature, the Board of Aldermen were excluded, and the Mayor of the city constituted a component part of the School Committee. The course thus adopted being probably deemed important to maintain the independence of that board of the city government.
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CHAPTER XVI. CITY GOVERNMENT. 1828.
JOSIAH QUINCY, Mayor.1
General Relations of the City in respect of Debt - Health - Protection against Fire - Its Duty in respect of Education - Effect on its Prosperity by the Principle of Arbitrary Valuation without Relief -- Principles of Proceeding relative to the Voting Lists --- Indemnity of City Officers for Acts of Official Duty - Sale of Spirituous Liquors prohibited on the Common - Inexpe- diency of Selling the Flats to the Eastward of the New Market House, and the Result of the Measures taken on that Subject.
THE municipal prosperity of the city, and the decisive evi- dences of the content of the citizens with the conduct of their affairs, were noticed in the inaugural address of the Mayor,2 and the chief causes of these results were recapitulated. The appre- hensions of a city debt had been allayed by the rigid economy enforced, and by the fact, that none of the appropriations made at the beginning of the year had been exceeded. Success had attended the measures adopted for the reduction of the city debt, and at the close of the current financial year one hundred thousand dollars of it would be discharged. The general order of the city had been well maintained, and the number of com- plaints in every branch of the police diminished. The advan- tageous effect of the new arrangements in the Health Depart- ment were apparent. The general vaccination adopted under the authority of former city councils, and the vigilance of the Health Physician and police officers had been so effectual, that only one case of the smallpox, within the city, had been known or suspected, although it had spread with activity in towns in the immediate vicinity. Tables, founded on the bills of mortal- ity, showed that, from 1824 to 1827 inclusive, the annual ave-
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1 The whole number of votes cast, were 2629, of which Josiah Quincy had 2189. The Aldermen elected were, - John T. Loring, Robert Fennelly, James Savage, Thomas Kendall, James Hall, John Pickering, Phineas Upham, Samuel T. Armstrong.
2 See Appendix G.
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rage proportion of deaths to population had not only been less than that in any antecedent year, but it was believed to be less than that of any other city of equal population on record. These facts and calculations were stated, to show the wisdom of persevering in that systematic cleansing of the city from noxious animal and vegetable substances, which was con- menced in 1823, and had been since regularly pursued. The occasion was taken to press upon the minds of the citizens the duty of holding the executive officers of the city directly respon- sible for the right conduct of this branch of police, more than for any other, and the certainty that it can never, for any great length of time, be executed well, except by agents, whose labors it can command at all times and apply to all exigencies, and to the ever-varying requisitions of a city.
The establishment of a fire department had created a sense of security, and reduced the rates of insurance against fire on the real property within the city twenty per cent. This reduction, the. Presidents of several insurance offices had authorized it to be stated, was solely the effect of the efficiency of that department.
The duty and interest of society, with regard to public educa- tion, was stated to be best fulfilled by establishing such public schools as would elevate as highly as possible the intellectual and moral condition of the mass of the community. To this end, every necessary branch of elementary instruction should be put within the reach of every citizen. If other and higher branches of instruction are to be added to these, it should be to our common schools, and enjoyed on the same equal principles of common right, and as common property. Every school, the admission to which is based upon the principle of requiring higher attainments, at a specified age, than the mass of children in the ordinary course of school instruction, at that age, can attain, is, in truth, a school for the benefit of the few, and not of the many. In form, it may be general ; but in fact, it will be exclusive. The Mayor closed this address, by presenting views concerning the effect upon the prosperity of the city, of " assess- ing taxes on the principle of an arbitrary valuation without relief."
To these views, the attention of the city government was early called, by a petition of Jesse Putnam and a number of other citizens of wealth and respectability, stating that the inequality
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produced by the present system of taxation, was apparently unwise and unjust and disadvantageous to the prosperity of Boston, in comparison with the effects of the system pursued in other cities.
The Mayor, having been previously informed of an intention to bring this subject under the consideration of the City Coun- cil, had, in the December preceding, addressed letters to the Mayors of New York, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, where modes of assessment were praetised more generally satisfactory than those adopted in Massachusetts ; from each of whom a reply was received.
The Mayor of New York I stated that " the mode of assessing taxes in that city was considered the best that can be adopted." Lists from every individual of the amount of his estate are not required. To many persons engaged in mercantile business, a fair exhibit is impossible, and might be injurious. Two assess- ors are chosen by the people in cach ward at the annual elec- tion in November. They are under oath to make a fair and equitable assessment of all estates, real and personal, in their respective wards, excepting such lands and buildings as are exempted by law from taxation. The Assessors commence busi- ness early in May, and complete it by the first of July. They then advertise to hear appeals. For ten days, any one may apply and view the assessment. If they consider the amount too high, they may make oath to the Assessors of the value of their property, which is conchisive. The books are afterwards returned to the Mayor, Recorder, and Aldermen, who examine whether the wards are assessed in a just proportion to each other, and they have power to lessen one ward and augment another, so as to produce an equitable apportionment.
The Mayor of Baltimore 2 stated that " although their system of taxation was not free from objection, he was perfectly free to say that it gives general satisfaction." The Assessors, who are under oath to make a just valuation of all assessable property, apply together to the residence of each taxable person, and obtain a statement of their property, and assess or value the same to the best of their judgment; where they have reason to sus- peet deception or imposition in rendering an account of their property, they have the power of requiring an oath. A bill
] William Paulding.
2 Jacob Small.
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of particulars is required to be made out by the Collector, and delivered to each person assessed, on or before the first of July in each year, which, if not paid within three months, the Col- lector is authorized to enforce.
The Mayor of the city of Philadelphia 1 stated that "the assessments were made by fifteen assessors, annually elected, one for each ward. Triennially, two assessors are elected in each ward to make a new assessment; but every year the assessment is examined and corrected by each assessor in his own ward; and the new assessments are compared and equal- ized by a general meeting of the Assessors. These returns are made subsequently to county commissioners, who, under the law, are bound to fix certain days of appeal, before whom any citizen, who is aggrieved or injured in the valuation of his real estate, may appear, and have the valuation altered. No lists of valuation of property or estate are demanded of owners or occu- pants. The Assessors affix the value of the premises and own- er's name, as they pass from door to door, and if they err in obtaining the proper owner's names, the Collector gets it right on a duplicate. There never has been, to my knowledge, with a view to taxation, any estimate of the personal property of an individual or corporation. I am not aware of any dissatisfac- tion as to the manner of assessment, or of inequality in the affixed valuation."
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The petition of Jesse Putnam, with the accompanying docu- ments, was referred to the Mayor, Aldermen Pickering, Up- ham, and Armstrong, and to Messrs. E. Williams, Simonds, Appleton, Gibbens, Dyer, Gray, and Ward, of the Common Council, who referred the subject to a sub-committee, of which John C. Gray was chairman, with instructions, in conformity with the petition of Jesse Putnam, to "investigate the system of apportioning the taxes as now pursued in the city, and to con- sider of a modification of them." This Sub-Committee reported in March following, that " by the laws establishing this system, every individual is compelled to exhibit an exact statement of his property, personal as well as real, or in default thereof, to be doomed by assessors, according to the best of their knowledge and judgment. In a community so active and wealthy as ours,
1 Joseph Watson.
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there must be obviously serious embarrassments in carrying such a system into complete execution. In such a community there must be great and manifest objections on the part of numerous individuals to the first branch of the alternative offered by our laws, namely, - a complete disclosure of their property. In the first place, such a disclosure is often impracticable. The capital of an individual may be employed, for instance, in foreign trade, and may be materially affected by events which are unknown to the possessor at the time of his making his statement. Secondly, there are very many who cannot expose the state of their affairs without embarrassment or ruin. These circumstances, and others of equal importance, which have frequently been stated to the public, have produced a general unwillingness among the inhabitants of this city, and it is believed of other towns in the Commonwealth, to exhibit accurate lists of their possessions. Nor, perhaps, is this fact to be greatly regretted. By demanding such lists, we invite each individual to become a witness in a case in which he has the most immediate and direct pecuniary con- cern. Can it be questioned, that if the practice of exhibiting lists should become general, that the minds of individuals must, in many cases, be biased by their interest ; that statements of very different degrees of exactness and fairness might be ren- dered by persons possessing an equal amount of property ; that a strong temptation would be offered, if not to falsehood and perjury, at least to dangerous prevarication ; and that the Assessors might, in the end, be far from arriving at the exact truth, which it was the object of this provision to secure ? 'This general omission of our fellow-citizens, to give accurate state- ments of their property, however little to be regretted in a moral, or even an economical point of view, renders it the duty of the Assessors to doom all property to the best of their knowledge; and this is a task which is attended with much difficulty and embarrassment, so far as respects personal property. Their means of knowledge must be, in many cases, exceedingly limited, and their opinions founded merely on report or conjecture. Their power, therefore, no matter how wisely or conscientiously exercised, is, to a great degree, an arbitrary power ; and such it must always be under our actual system of taxation. Hence we find that a tax on personal property in general, is considered by the best writers on political economy, as one which can never
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be imposed without serious disadvantage, except in communities of very small size and very limited capital. These circumstan- ees have led many of our fellow-citizens to inquire, whether some radical change could not be made in our present system of taxa- tion." Having stated these views on this subject, the Sub-Com- mittee forbore to pursue further the questions arising at that time, as whatever change was effected must be made by the Legislature of the Commonwealth, and confined their attention to a change in the number and to varying the compensation of the Assessors, which they recommended in the form of an ordi- nance, which was, on the fourteenth of April, passed by the City Council ; who, in accepting this report of the Sub-Committee, in view of the extent and importance of the resulting questions, postponed them for future deliberation, and, finally, in December following, referred them, with all the documents, to the next City Council, in which they were not revived.
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