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 24
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The state of the voting lists and the repeated applications of citizens to have their names inserted in them on the day of elec- tion, and after they had been delivered to the Inspectors, having been frequent topics of discussion during the course of the second administration of the city government, and the subject being of annual occurrence and permanent interest, it has been deemed useful, in addition to the statements already made in this history, that the chief principles and measures, successively adopted in relation to it, should be recapitulated and brought into one view.
In March, 1821, a question arose, concerning the mode of admitting the name of voters to be placed upon the voting lists, the inspectors, in some of the wards, having taken upon them- selves to place names on those lists after they had been delivered to them by the Mayor and Aldermen. It was deemed import- ant to put an early stop to practices so irregular and contrary to the charter. And a committee was appointed, consisting of the Mayor, Aldermen Child and Hooper, and Messrs. E. Williams, Wilkinson, Wright, and Davis, to inquire into "the propriety and expediency of adopting some uniform mode of admitting the names of voters to be placed on the voting lists." This Committee reported that the duty of making out the lists of the citizens qualified to vote in each ward, was, by the twenty-fourth section of the city charter, expressly devolved upon the Mayor
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and Aldermen; that the list they had prepared, it was their duty to deliver to the City Clerk, to be used by the Warden and Inspectors ; and the charter was express, that " no person shall be entitled to vote at such election, whose name is not borne on such list;" and that it was the special duty of the inspectors " to take care that no person should vote whose name is not borne on such list ; " and a resolve was accordingly passed, declaring that the inspectors had no right to admit any person to vote who was not on the list delivered to the City Clerk by the Mayor and Aldermen, and also a resolve, that ten days previous to any elec- tion, three copies of the lists made out by the Mayor and Alder- men should be deposited in three public places in each ward, so as to give full opportunity for every citizen, if he saw fit, to ascertain if his name was borne thercon, and have the mistake rectified.
In April of the same year (1824) a person who had not been taxed the preceding year, and whose name was, of consequence, not upon the voting lists, voluntarily procured himself to be assessed, and brought a certificate of the fact to the Mayor and Aldermen, demanding that his name should then be inserted in the voting lists. They refused to insert his name, and passed a vote, declaring that they had no authority so to do, under those circumstances.
In April, 1826, the errors which had occurred in the voting lists, as delivered to the Mayor and Aldermen by the Assessors, had been so numerous, that the Mayor made a special recom- mendation to the City Council for a more specific provision against such occurrences in future. The Committee raised on this recommendation, reported that, owing to the great press of business and the sickness of one of the Assessors, a greater num- ber of errors had occurred in the voting lists than was usual ; that this temporary cause of inaccuracy might, and would be prevented, by increasing the number of assessors ; but that there were causes of a permanent nature, for which the remedy lies wholly with the citizens themselves, and consists in their own vigilance. Mistakes in the voting lists, being for the most part detected in the heat, and under the excitement of an election, give rise to suspicions of intentional omissions utterly unfounded. The citizens should remember that, from the complexity and intrinsic difficulties, perfect accuracy is unattainable. Citizens
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who change their residenee from one ward to another, and who have recently come of age, are peculiarly subjects of such errors. Even fixed inhabitants may sometimes be omitted, either in copying or printing the voting lists, including eight or ten thou- sand voters. It is true, such errors seldom occur; but the safe principle for every citizen to adopt is, that there is no absolute certainty that his name is on the lists, except it be ascertained by previous personal inspection. . The Assessors' lists, which they are obliged by law annually to make out and deliver to the Mayor and Aldermen, are, substantially, the evidence of the right of the citizen to vote at any election. Their correctness depends upon their coincidence with the books of the Assessors. Of this coincidence, the Assessors are the legal certifying officers. The revision and correction of those lists by the Mayor and Aldermen must depend upon the evidence adduced by the individual citi- zens whose names have been omitted. Without such evidence, the Mayor and Aldermen have no authority to correct them. Between the lists and books of the Assessors, there is no reason to anticipate important variance; nor yet between the written and printed lists of the Assessors. In both respects, comparison is the duty of the Assessors, who are responsible for their accu- racy.
The chief sources of error are in the books of the Assessors, and are attributable to various circumstances incident to the subject, and not wholly to be prevented by any vigilance. Of these the following are the most common : -
1. In the manner in which the inquiries, on which the books of the Assessors are founded, are unavoidably made in families, where, when the head is absent, the information given by domestics is often incorrect, the Christian name mistaken, or surnames misspelt, particularly in the case of temporary resi- dents in boarding-houses, or boarders or domestics.
2. Changes of residence after the Assessors have finished their perambulation.
3. Persons moving into the city, or, who coming of age, after such perambulation is finished. Such persons, if their names are not on the lists, have none to blame but themselves.
4. A. very common source of error is the withholding at boarding-houses, through ignorance or wilfulness, the Christian names of the boarders ; so that only their surnames are inserted
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in the books of the Assessors; and although, when the tax is collected, the Collectors ascertain the Christian names, it is often too late for entry on the voting lists.
The remedy proposed for correcting these errors, and which received the sanction of both branches of the City Council were, - 1st. The increase of the number of the Assessors. 2d. A systematic preparation and printing of the voting lists, as early as the first of March, so that the intermediate time before election should be employed in their revision and correction. 3d. A more general and impressive sense, on the part of the citi- zens, of the duty of inspecting each for himself the voting lists previous to elections, particularly previous to that in April, when the lists being new, inaccuracies are more likely to occur.
In December, 1826, the duty of superintending the voting lists was devolved by the City Council on the Mayor, with the aid of the Assessors, subject to the revision of the Board of Aldermen; to whom, on the nineteenth of March, 1827, he reported the revised lists, and recommended that publie notice should be given to the following persons, concerning whom errors in the lists were most likely to occur ; - those doing business in other wards than those in which they live; those taxed without their Christian names ; those taxed within two years, who had become inhabitants since the first of May; those who have come of age, or changed their place of residence since the same period. Notice was at this time given, that all who had not paid taxes within two years would have their names stricken from the voting lists.
In April, 1828, complaints were made by the Warden and Inspectors of one of the wards, of the imperfection in the voting lists, and suggesting the expedieney of investing the Warden and Inspectors with power to insert names in those lists. The City Council, desirous that the nature and causes of the obsta- cles to obtaining correct voting lists should be well understood, postponed any report until the new lists, taken under the know- ledge of the previously existing complaints, should be tested by some strongly controverted election. This occurred on that of mayor on the eighth and fifteenth of December of this year; and the Mayor, on the twenty-second of the same month, as Chairman of a Committee of the City Council, made a report, which was accepted in the Board of Aldermen, and printed by
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the Common Council, but ultimately referred in that branch to the next City Council. In this report, the Committee stated, that " at no previous election had the satisfaction with the voting lists been more general ; that few errors had occurred, although the names on the lists amounted to twelve thousand. The Com- mittee then proceeded to state " minutely the errors for which the officers making out the voting lists were responsible : - 1st. Such as neglecting to place the name of an inhabitant on the tax books, so that it does not appear on the voting lists. These errors, when they occur, are often the effect of accident, the inha- bitant not being at home, or his house shut up, or wrong name given, when the Assessors called. These accidents most fre- quently occur to boarders, or men not heads of families, con- cerning whom wrong names are often given at the boarding- houses ; for these errors the Assessors are without blame. 2d. Neglect to transfer members of firms from the ward where they do business to the wards where they reside. This, when it occurs, often results from misinformation. 3d. Erasing the name by accident from the tax-books, so that it is not inserted in the voting lists. This is so rare as scarcely to deserve notice. 4th. Errors in printing the voting lists. These are more likely to happen in printing the voting lists than in printing any other work, from mistakes in chirography, as it respects names, and there being no connection of sense, whereby the intention of the writer can be ascertained. The above are generally all the errors for which the Assessors are responsible.
Those errors, for which the Assessors are not, and cannot be responsible, are the most numerous. Such are, - 1. . Ignorance of the voter himself of the ward in which he resides. 2. Reino- val after the first of May, without taking care to have his name inserted on the lists of the ward to which he has removed. 3. Absences in May from the city, of consequence not taxed, and thus the name not entered on the lists. 4. Having one's name transferred to a wrong ward, or by a wrong name, by officious friends. 5. Not having paid a tax, neither for the preceding nor for the current year, the name of such person having no right to be borne on the voting list. 6. Impracticability to obtain the Christian name of the person taxed, and the name, in such case, being not usually inserted in the voting lists. 7. Aliens taxed, but not naturalized, and so not entitled to vote. 8. Aliens natu-
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ralized, and their naturalization not made known to the Assess- ors. 9. Persons coming of age subsequently to the first of May, or to the perambulation of the Assessors. 10. Persons living in boarding-houses, or young persons not heads of families, whose names are not given to the Assessors by the families in which they reside. 11. Names of tenants or taxable inmates, whose names are given wrongly by domestics.
From experience, it appears that four out of five of the errors which occur, are of the nature of those last enumerated, for which the Assessors are not responsible, and for which there is no practicable remedy, except by personal inspection of the voting lists previous to the day of election.
In order to throw light on a subject of some complexity, and to guard voters against mistakes, they were reminded " that new voting lists are made out every year from the tax books of the Assessors ; that these tax books have reference to the state of resi- dence on the first of May ; and that a voter, not found in any ward in May by the Assessors, will not be taxed, and will not be upon the voting list of that year."
An ignorance of, this fact is one of the principal causes of discontent. Men shun taxes and seek the polls; but he who has received no tax bill has no right to expect that his name is on the voting lists. Old inhabitants are apt to imagine that, because their names are on the list of the preceding year, they must be on the new lists ; but it should be remembered that the only foundation of the voting lists in any year is the tax books of that year. The unavoidable diference between the lists of any former and any present year, from changes of residence, death, coming of age, and the like general causes, probably amounts every year to a difference of more than one half of all the names on the voting lists.
No facts can more impressively urge upon every voter the duty of ascertaining for himself, whether his name is inserted on the voting lists. As to the suggestion of the expediency of investing the Warden and Inspectors with power to insert names on the voting lists, the Committee stated that it was not consistent with the laws of the Commonwealth; that if attempted, it would be calculated to introduce errors into the voting lists, con- fusion at the polls, and charges of favoritism and corruption against the Inspectors. These officers have now but one single
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and simple duty ; that is, TO THE ADMITTING ALL TO VOTE WHOSE NAMES ARE BORNE ON THE LISTS AND TO THE EXCLUDING OF ALL OTHERS.
Should the Warden and Inspectors be allowed the right to insert names on the voting lists, every inducement, and even necessity, of making the lists accurate, previously to election day, would be taken away. It had been urged, that inspectors might be authorized to insert names of those who produced their tax bills ; but nothing would prevent the same tax bill from being presented in more than one ward at the same elec- tion ; the right to vote being often in a ward different from that specified in the tax bill. The questions arising, relative to this right, are often very complex, depending on various circumstan- ces ; when made before the Mayor and Aldermen, with great clamor and sense of right, they are often ascertained to be of a dubious character, and sometimes wholly unfounded. If made in the heat of an election, and in the midst of impassioned elect- ors, it would give rise to much excitement and charges of favor- itism. The possession of such a power by the Wardens and Inspectors would also cause the selection of these officers to be made with reference to party spirit, rather than to general cha- . racter. In some wards the Inspectors are changed every year ; and the mistakes made by them, amidst the occasional confusion of the election, notwithstanding the exceeding singleness and simplicity of their present duties, sufficiently indicate that no greater power ought to be intrusted to them.
Thus, names have been checked off by mistake; men, uncon- sciously by the Assessors, have been admitted to vote by an assumed name; and often voters have been turned from the polls, and denied the right to vote, whose names were actually borne on the voting lists, being overlooked by the Inspectors in the haste and hurry of a contested election. From this cause alone, there were, at one election, more cases of rejection, than from all the other causes taken together ; there having occurred more than THIRTY instances of rejection, from this cause alone, of persons whose names were borne on the lists. Notwithstand- ing the general good intentions and fidelity of the Warden and Inspectors, the above errors to which they are now exposed are sufficient to show that their duties should not be augmented.
So long as no person's name can be placed on the voting
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list, except by the Mayor and Aldermen, no one can lose his vote, unless he has been so indifferent as to neglect the inspec- tion of the voting lists once in each year. It is surely better, that the citizen who will not take so small a trouble for so great a privilege, should lose his vote, than that a system should be adopted, which, by establishing twelve distinct tribunals, should introduce controversies and party spirit, leading to confusion and to all the difficulties above stated at the polls. The Committee concluded, by stating the course adopted, previous to the last election, had produced such an approximation to correctness, that, during it, not more than four errors in the lists had occurred which it was possible for the Assessors to have cor- rected. Considering the great interest and importance of the subject, the above abstract of this report, being the result of several years experience and careful observation of facts by the Mayor, has been deemed important enough to be here distinctly preserved ; and the more so, because early under the succeeding city administration, a similar attempt was made to enlarge the power of the Inspectors, and Mr. Otis, as Mayor and Chairman of a Committee on this subject, in a report made to the City Council, expressly referred to the report, of which the above is an abstract, as an " elaborate exposition of facts and principles on the subject." 1
On the fourteenth of April, 1828, Charles P. Curtis, the City Solicitor, stated to the Board of Aldermen that an application had been made to him to defend a watchman for an alleged assault and battery, who, justified under color of his office, The Solicitor requested that he might receive instructions in this and similar cases ; and that a general rule might be established also in regard to advancing fees and expenses of witnesses. The communication was referred to Aldermen James Savage and John Pickering, to consider and report, who accordingly reported that it was expedient to instruct the Solicitor to defend the watchmen at the expense of the city, and to make all necessary advances during the progress of the action. With respect to other similar cases, it was difficult to lay down any invariable rule for the government of the Solicitor, in respect of actions brought against any officer of the city. From the great number
1 See p. 290.
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of those officers, of various degrees of intelligence and discretion, of various dispositions and temperaments, and selected from dif- ferent classes of citizens, it is obvious that occasions for ground- less suits will be as likely to oceur among them as among indi- viduals of a similar character, who are not city officers ; and if a spirit of litigation should be encouraged, as it would be by indemnifying the officers in all cases, the consequence would be extremely injurious to the peace and welfare of the city. But, on the other hand, it is the duty of the city to protect faithful officers in the proper execution of their duty, and to indemnify them when they are compelled to defend themselves in the dis- charge of their official duties. The Committee, therefore, re- ported the following order for the government of the City Soli- citor, namely, -" That in all the actions and suits described in the ordinance passed on the eighteenth of June, 1827, against any officer of the city, such officer shall, in the first instance, pro- secute and defend, at his own expense, and, if it shall be found, either by verdict or otherwise, in the opinion of the Solicitor, that such offieer did so prosecute or defend for good cause, and that he ought to be indemnified for his expenses in such suit, then the City Solicitor shall certify accordingly, and such officer shall be so indemnified ; otherwise, such expenses shall be borne by the officer himself.
This report was read and accepted accordingly.
In May, 1828, a few weeks before the general election day of the State, which, at that period, occurred annually on the last Wednesday of this month, a petition signed by Isaac Parker, Chief Justice of the Commonwealth, and about fourteen hun- dred citizens, was presented to the City Council, praying that the selling of spirituous liquors on the Common, on public holi- days, should be prevented. An order accordingly was issued, directing the Constables to prosecute any person, who, in the Common, or in the malls and streets in its vicinity, should sell any spirituous or mixed liquors, of which part was spirit- uous, or who should in any of those places play eards, dice, or with any implements of gaming, on the days of general election, artillery election, and the fourth of July. Notice of this order was published immediately in the city newspapers, and the Con- stables directed to make it known to all who should have per- mission to erect booth, tent, or table on those days.
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The expediency of selling by auction or otherwise the right which the Fanenil Hall Market Committee had secured for the city to the eastward of that Hall, was, in the autumn of this year (1828) brought before the City Council. This right em- braced an extent of flats equal to three hundred and fifteen feet in length, and on the west line one hundred and ninety-eight feet, and on the east one hundred and sixty-eight feet, and included fifty-seven thousand six hundred and forty-five feet square of wharf, besides the right of dockage on three sides of the said proposed wharf. The subject was referred to a Committee of the City Council, consisting of the Mayor, Aldermen Loring and Upham, and Messrs. Moody, E. Williams, Means, Pickman, and Pratt, of the Common Council, who, on the sixth of October, reported at large, stating the importance of this space to the city as a possession, its prospective, increasing value, and that its local relations were such, that there seemed to be no possible state of things in which it could be wise for the city to abandon the control of it, which it now possesses by its right of property. Lying at the head or junction of five of the most thronged and busy streets of the city, now called Commercial, Clinton, North and South Market, and Chatham Streets, the efficient and per- manent control of that space was deemed peculiarly important to be retained in the city goverment, from its very location, with reference to the general business of that part of the city ; but when, in addition to this, the fact is considered that it con- tains the whole space lying between the New City Market and the Channel, and that this is the only space within which the market itself can be extended, or the accommodations of those doing business in it enlarged, should the increasing greatness of the city render it necessary, it seemed to the Committee, that on this account alone, the city could not, in any state of things, be justified in divesting itself of the fee it had acquired in this property. The idea of selling these wharf rights could not, therefore, be entertained. The expediency of leasing them to others, rather than to undertake filling them up on the account of the city, having been urged upon the Committee, they declared that, in their opinion, the relation of this property was such, that its value and importance, either as a property or a posses- sion, could not be well understood previously to its being filled up and actually occupied ; and the control of it, in their judg-
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ment, ought not, even temporarily, to be put out of the power of the city, until its valne and importance should be tested by act- ual experience. They, therefore, recommended that measures should be adopted without delay by the city, for filling up the space on its own account, before entering upon any considera- tion of the subject of leasing it; and they entered into state- ments and reasonings, showing that the cost of filling up the proposed space of wharf in the most substantial manner, could not exceed twenty thousand dollars, and that when filled up, the annual receipt would probably be at least eight thousand dollars, and could not be less than sic thousand. The Committee there- fore recommended two resolutions, - the first authorizing the filling up the wharf rights, with authority to borrow, not exceed- ing twenty thousand dollars, for that purpose ; and the second, directing that the income hereafter derived from these wharf rights should be placed in the hands of the Committee for the reduction of the city debt, until the said income should equal the amount of debt created under the first resolution. 'This report was accepted, and the resolutions passed unanimously in both branches of the City Council; and the Committee who reported the resolutions were authorized to carry them into effect.
There were at this time active influences without doors at work to induce the City Council to make sale of these wharf and dockage rights. Capitalists sec early and clearly the value of choice locations for business and investment. And, in rela- tion to city property, if the City Council.can be prevailed upon by temptations of a higher price than, at the time the average rate of land in the vicinity commands, by the desire to diminish the amount of taxation for the passing year, or to reduce the city debt, the more important consideration of the permanent value of precious localities to the general interests of the city is apt to be disregarded, when weighed in the scale against tem- porary advantage or popularity. In this case, the sale of these flats was pressed upon the Mayor and other members of the Committee with urgency. The idea of ever obtaining an income from them of eight thousand dollars was ridiculed. The popularity to be obtained by an immediate large reduction of the debt incurred by erecting the New Market was set forth in strong lights. The actual result will be the best comment on the
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