Report of the city of Somerville 1881, Part 9

Author: Somerville (Mass.)
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Somerville, Mass.
Number of Pages: 294


USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1881 > Part 9


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"In reply to your communication, would state that the matter of laying out Sacramento Street across the Fitchburg Railroad location stands ex- actly where it did when I made my last annual report to the Committee on Claims, from which in answer to your inquiry. I extract the following : ' Somerville v. the Fitchburg Railroad for grade crossing at Sacramento Street. The issue in this case was most ably and thoroughly presented to the County Commissioners by the ex-City Solicitor, Robinson, in behalf of the city, in 1875, and without avail. It has not been tried again since that time, and with the well-known hostility of the Railroad Commissioners to grade crossings, cannot be urged a second time until the citizens of Cambridge and Somerville living in the vicinity of the street shall take sufficient interest in the case to furnish the solicitor with the facts in the case which establish the necessity of such a crossing.'"


FITCHBURG RAILROAD CROSSING ON SOMERVILLE AVENUE NEAR MILLER'S RIVER.


This was a matter of a system of gates and lights which your committee last year were unable to agree upon with the Fitchburg Railroad Corporation, and invited the attention of the present City Government to the question ; the result has been that a special com- mittee on the part of the Board of Aldermen and the Fitchburg Railroad Corporation have agreed upon and perfected a system and plan of gates, before the County Commissioners, and it only re- mains for them to issue the necessary order, to end this long con- troversy and establish a needed safeguard.


WATERING STREETS.


This year for the first time the care of the watering of the streets, and the appropriation for the same, $4,000, was placed in charge of this committee.


The work has been made systematic by laying it out into dis- tricts. The number of watering carts has been increased from six


177


to nine, and the care and attention needed have come - very natu- rally, it is thought - under the charge of the Superintendent of Streets.


Citizens have responded freely in providing their part of the ex- pense needed to water any one street, and your committee have tried to give full service to all streets whose residents desired the water enough to make the proper application and pay the amount fixed upon by your committee at so much each lineal foot.


ROAD SCRAPER.


An extremely useful machine for the clearing of gutters, etc., of weeds and obstructions has been purchased for the sum of $140, and been in use for several months, giving great satisfaction.


MYSTIC AVENUE


Has received attention from your committee, and the following work done upon it : The ditch abutting on William Jacques's land and the avenue has been filled in, and the ditch between Peter Gordon's estate and the avenue has also been filled in ; besides this, a large amount of filling has been done on the Klous estate, and all possi- ble has been performed by your committee to improve and perfect the avenue : and in compliance with the manifest desire of the City Council, your committee have expended upon it this year about. $4,000.


Attention is invited to the following tables, schedules, etc., which present in a concise form the general work of the committee for the: year.


178


STREETS GRADED, REPAIRED, ETC.


NAME.


FROM


To


Putnam


Highland Ave ..


Summer


.


SIDEWALKS CONSTRUCTED. Abutters paying one half cost of construction.


NAME.


SIDE.


FROM


To


Feet of cage stone.


Yards of brick.


Putnam


Both. .


Highland Ave ..


Summer


2,005


Gilman


Both. .


Cross


838


Walnut


South.


Highland Ave ..


Boston


614


Chester


North.


Herbert


Orchard.


429


273


1,600 “


66


Summer


Laurel


Prescott


1,200 "


66


66


Webster Ave ..


Union Sq.


Prospect


900


500 "


Norfolk.


Webster Ave ...


Camb'dge line,


250 “


Tremont


Webster Ave ...


Camb'dge line,


450 “


Middlesex Ave.


Mystic Ave.


1,400


Medford


Camb'dge line. .


1,000 "


Village


Dane.


Vine


400 “


66


66


Franklin Ave ..


Washington


872 “


1,200 ft. mac'ized and gravel'd.


Cedar


Highland Ave ..


R. R. Crossing,


800 "


Holland


Broadway


Irving


66


Bow


Union Sq.


Wesleyan Sq ..


179


PRIVATE SIDEWALKS CONSTRUCTED. City contributing only the labor of construction.


NAME.


STREET.


Feet of edge stone.


Yards of briek.


J. F. Young


Hawkins


60


P. Rafferty


Hawkins


95₺


C. Linnehan


Linwood


45


Sturtevant


Hawkins


53


Mrs. Burley and others.


Franklin Ave ..


8714


364


Abutter paying whole cost.


C. W. Kingsley .


Chester Place 416


233


STREET SIGNS ERECTED.


Hathorn Street,


Washington Street,


Lincoln Street,


Oak Street,


Bow Street,


College Avenue,


Summer Street,


Columbus Avenue.


School Street,


STREET CROSSINGS CONSTRUCTED.


Pearl Street, at Hillside Avenue.


Grove Street, at Elm Street.


Elm Street, at Grove Street. Bow Street, at Wesleyan Square. Broadway, at Cutter Street. Broadway, at Cross Street. Marshall Street, at Howe Street. Putnam Street, at Summer Street. Holland Street, at Newbury Street. Newbury Street, at Holland Street. Chester Place, at Chester Street. Cross Street, at Medford Street.


180


STREET CROSSINGS RECONSTRUCTED


Putnam Street, at Highland Avenue.


Mt. Vernon Street, at Perkins Street.


Mt. Vernon Street, at Broadway. Walnut Street, at Bow Street.


Cross Street, at Otis Street. Cross Street, at Bonair Street.


Medford Street, at Cross Street.


Boston Street, at Walnut Street.


Elm Street, at Sawyer's.


Elm Street, at Mink's.


Elm Street, at Cherry Street.


Elm Street, at Grove Street.


Elm Street, at Willow Avenue.


CULVERIS (WOODEN).


Middlesex Avenue, 2.


Sargent Avenne, 1.


Mystic Avenue, 1. N


Holland Street, 1.


Summer Street, 1. Morrison Street, 1.


CULVERT (STONE).


Holland Street.


PERMITS.


For hitching post,


8


Digging up streets,


163


Occupying sidewalks,


10


TREES.


Permits for setting out trees,


230


Number of trees cut down, 24


PAVING, ETC.


Gutters repaved, 252 yards ; edge stone reset, 895 feet ; brick sidewalk repaved, 393 yards ; whole number of yards of stone pav- ing, 3,834 ; brick paving, 2,142 yards ; whole number of feet of edge stone set, 5,968 yards ; number of loads of ashes collected, 4,559.


181


AMOUNTS CHARGED TO DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS FOR LABOR PERFORMED OR MATERIALS SUPPLIED.


Health Department,


$1,185 70


Fire Department, 36 00


Street Watering, 87 10


Public Property,


146 00


Sidewalks,


190 00


Somerville Water Works,


39 60


Sewers, 3 00


BILLS DELIVERED TO CITY TREASURER FOR COLLECTION.


Town of Wakefield, 555 yards of gravel, $55 50


Owen Cunningham, 11 loads of gravel. at $0.40, 4 40


Arthur Moland, rent, 65 00


C. H. North, constructing driveway, 7 00


E. Bowker, pasturage, Waltham, 40 00


C. A. Mongan, 12 loads gravel, at $0.25, 3 00


D. Brooks, 30 loads stone, at $0.70, 21 00


C. W. Kingsley, constructing sidewalk, setting edge stone, etc., 104 74


CASH RECEIVED AND PAID TO CITY TREASURER.


Chas. Hale, for constructing driveway, $7 00


Geo. W. McKenna, old junk and sods, 5 30


W. Roberts, sods, 1 25


Second Baptist Society, constructing driveway, 15 10


L. B. Stetson, gravel, 2 00


J. Conehey, sods,


12 00


P. Keffe, grass,


30 00


A. C. Winning. grass,


30 00


Cost of handling snow,


611 78


Middlesex Avenue has been reconstructed at a cost of 2,690 46


Boston Avenue Bridge has been replanked at a cost of 290 73


Mystic Avenue, 2,000 squares of filling has been done on the south side.


182


New streets accepted but not completed : Elliott Street, running from Park Street to Vine Street; Cross Street, from Broadway to Mystic Avenue ; Cross Street, from Medford Street to High Street. Very little work has been done on these streets.


ASA DURGIN, Chairman Committee on Highways.


Attest :


DOUGLAS FRAZAR, Clerk.


1


ANNUAL REPORT


OF THE


TRUSTEES OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY.


CITY OF SOMERVILLE.


IN BOARD OF ALDERMEN, Jan. 31, 1882.


Received and ordered to be printed in the Annual Report of 1881, and sent down for concurrence.


CHARLES E. GILMAN, Clerk.


Concurred in.


IN COMMON COUNCIL, Feb. 1, 1882. DOUGLAS FRAZAR, Clerk.


1


PUBLIC LIBRARY.


NINTH ANNUAL REPORT.


To the Members of the City Council :


GENTLEMEN, - The trustees of the public library have no changes of importance to report in regard to its interests and con- duct during the past year. With the purchase of valuable books, and the constant purpose in making additions to supply its defects, and enlarge it in those departments which are of most value and ser- vice to the public, it is every year gaining new power to fulfil the end for which it was established, - to assist other public agencies of intelligence and culture in the community, and make the access to good books easy and convenient; and the evidence multiplies that there is general appreciation among our citizens of the priv- ileges thus furnished them. Not, indeed, that the most valuable books are read so generally as we could desire, or that the library is sought with the serious purpose of culture to anything like the extent that it is capable of rendering valuable and practical assist- ance; the art of using a library well, or of getting all the help from books that they are capable of imparting, is more slowly and more seldom acquired than the habit or the love of reading. But we are glad to believe that increasing numbers are coming to depend upon our public library for practical assistance in serious studies ; and that while the departments of lighter books are properly sought for purposes of entertainment by great numbers, the result of fre- quenting the library is, in general, increasingly educative and benef- icent. That it may be so more and more, we bespeak the continued assistance and advice of teachers and parents, and all thoughtful persons in the community. A word dropped by a person of known intelligence and character often exerts a valuable directive influence upon the young in their choice of books, and may help to open un- imagined literary treasures to their enjoyment and possession.


186


In the desire to co-operate with the city government in the eco- nomical administration of all its departments, the trustees called last year for the smallest sum that seemed to them to be sufficient to meet the expense of carrying the library through the year in the most economical manner. The appropriation was, however, re- duced considerably below that point, so that the book committee have been obliged to forbear buying a good many books that would have been of great value ; and still we are sorry to report that the appropriation has been slightly overdrawn, - for the first time, we believe, in the history of the library. We desire to spend the city's money with entire prudence, and our successors will doubtless endeavor to confine their expenditures within the amount appro- priated to their use ; but we submit that the sum of last year was insufficient, even with the $500 balance on hand (a considerable portion of which, however, was applied to payment for purchases of books near the close of the previous year), and will be entirely inad- equate for the coming year, which we begin with a slight deficit.


We must again call your attention to the inadequate accommo- dations of our library rooms. To be alive, a library must grow ; growing, it demands increasing room. That our public library grows continually in usefulness an l in the regard of our citizens, we regard as certain. That it has long since outgrown its present quarters, and needs to be more conveniently and adequately housed, appears to us not less certain. We trust that your body may see the wisdom of taking at least some initial action looking to the accomplishment of this long-called-for and highly desirable result. We desire, through you, to commend the interests of the library and its necessities to the careful and generous consideration of the public.


We acknowledge the gift during the past year, to the library, of two books : " Progress and Poverty," from a friend, and " Anni- versary of the Settlement of Cambridge," from the city of Cam- bridge. We are also indebted to his Honor, Mayor Cummings, for two bound volumes of the Somerville Journal.


The librarian reports the present number of books in the library to be 9,035. Of this number, 684 were added during the past year. The number used during the year was 67,649 ; of this number, 731 were used for reference.


187


The library was open 307 days. The largest number of books given out on any one day was 740. The number of names regis- tered in 1881 was 903.


The treasurer's financial statement for 1881 is as follows : -


Credit balance from 1880,


$499 22


Appropriation,


1,200 00


Dog licenses,


927 13


Catalogues,


29 72


Fines,


205 10


$2,861 17


Expended for salaries,


$1,297 85


66


" books,


1,272 04


" express,


39 75


66


" printing,


210 50


66


" binding,


44 94


66


" sundries,


27 75


$2,892 83


Overdrawn, $31.66.


Respectfully submitted for the trustees,


HENRY H. BARBER,


SOMERVILLE, Jan. 31, 1882.


President.


ANNUAL REPORT


OF THE


OVERSEERS OF THE POOR, FOR THE


Year ending Dec. 31, 1881.


CITY OF SOMERVILLE.


IN BOARD OF MAYOR AND ALDERMEN, Feb 8, 1882. Report accepted, ordered to be printed in the Annual Report of 1882. Sent down for concurrence.


CHARLES E. GILMAN, Clerk.


Concurred in.


IN COMMON COUNCIL, Feb. 8, 1882. DOUGLAS FRAZAR, Clerk.


CITY OF SOMERVILLE.


SOMERVILLE, Jan. 30, 1882.


To his Honor the Mayor and City Council of Somerville :


GENTLEMEN, - The Board of Overseers of the Poor herewith present their report of receipts and disbursements for the year ending Dec. 31, 1881 ; we refer you to the accompanying tables numbered 1, 2, and 3, from the secretary and storekeeper, which will show you the various ways in which the funds of this depart- ment have been expended. During the past year we have changed our time of giving orders for outside aid from once in each week to once in two weeks ; we find that the deserving poor are no losers by the change, while the city is a gainer to the extent of $1,788.46. There is a steady increase in the demands for the care of the insane, and also from public institutions, and from other towns and cities on account of persons having settlements in our city. We have reason to think that these claims will continue to increase until this city has an almshouse to which we can at least invite these persons. When we notify other cities or towns of cases of this kind, in our limits, a notice like this is received : "Cannot the applicant be removed to our almshouse? If so we will send for them." Generally they don't want to be sent for, and thereafter take care of themselves. We therefore, as a matter of economy, again ask you to give the subject of an almshouse for Somerville your serious attention. We are paying high rates for board in private families for paupers, and are at the mercy of other places for care of our poor. One bill from Marlboro', for aid to two per- sons for seven months, was $267; twice the cost to Cambridge if it was their case, with an almshouse.


Our town store seems to have been managed by the keeper, Capt. Lewis, with the usual economy and discretion, as will be


192


· seen by his report. This board, after a careful consideration, have concluded to ask for the same appropriation as last year, $14,000, and hope to keep within the same.


THOMAS CUNNINGHAM, Secretary. Per order of the Board.


TABLE NO. 1.


Total number of families aided,


260


persons aided,


784


66


orders given from poor rooms,


3,24


66


orders for groceries and provisions,


1,392


66


60


66 fuel,


765


66


66 boots, shoes, and dry goods, 286


families chargeable to city,


153


66


other towns and


cities, 50


66


State, 57


aided by other towns and cities, and chargeable to us, 48


66 persons aided and supported in State, county, and city institutions, chargeable to us, 44


families registered, 653


24


THOS. CUNNINGHAM, Secretary.


TABLE NO. 2. - RECEIPTS AND DISBURSEMENTS.


Appropriation,


$14,000 00


Received from other towns and cities,


1,978 47


$15,978 47


Disbursements :


House rents,


$812 30


Board in private families,


957 87


Groceries, provisions, and orders,


3,317 61


Amount carried forward, $5,087 78


Number added during the year,


193


Amount brought forward,


$5,087 78


Burials,


208 50


Boots, shoes, and dry goods,


622 17


Salaries,


1,400 00


Fuel,


2,098 83


Stationery,


39 66


Miscellaneous,


202 14


State and city institutions,


4,149 46


Other towns and cities, support of pau-


pers,


2,263 18


Lodgers,


4 00


$16,075 72


Amount overdrawn,


$97 28


THOS. CUNNINGHAM, Secretary.


TABLE NO. 3. - STATEMENT OF STORE-KEEPER.


City of Somerville, Jan. 5, 1882, in account with Ansel Lewis, store-keeper : -


Amount of goods bought in Boston,


$3,014 65


Amount of goods in store,


262 21


Store-keeper's salary,


300 00


$3,576 89


Jan. 1, 1882 : -


Amount of goods delivered on orders,


$3,513 69


Amount of goods in store, 1881,


266 54


Paid for cheese and crackers,


115 27


Store-keeper's salary,


$3,895 50


ANSEL LEWIS, Store-Keeper.


13


1


FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT


OF THE


BOARD OF HEALTH


OF THE


CITY OF SOMERVILLE,


(WITH THE CITY PHYSICIAN'S REPORT)


FOR THE


YEAR 1881.


CITY OF SOMERVILLE.


IN BOARD OF ALDERMEN, Jan. 31, 1882.


Referred to the Committee on Printing, with instructions to print the same in the Annual Report for 1881. Sent down for concurrence.


CHARLES E. GILMAN, Clerk.


Concurred in. IN COMMON COUNCIL, Feb. 1, 1882. DOUGLAS FRAZAR, Clerk.


CITY OF SOMERVILLE.


OFFICE OF THE BOARD OF HEALTH, CITY HALL, SOMERVILLE, MASS., Jan. 31, 1882.


To the Honorable the Mayor and the City Council of the City of Somerville : GENTLEMEN, - The following is our report for the year 1881, and is the fourth annual report of this board.


MEMBERSHIP.


On the first of January, the members of the board were George A. Kimball, City Engineer, chairman ; John F. Couch, M. D., City Physician ; and John A. Cummings. Jan. 11, John A. Cum- mings, having become mayor of the city, resigned his membership, and Jan. 25 the mayor and aldermen appointed George C. Skil- ton a member of the board, to fill the vacancy caused by Mr. Cum- mings's resignation. March 16, the mayor and aldermen appointed George A. Kimball, City Engineer, a member of the board, for the term ending on the first Monday of February, 1883.


ORGANIZATION.


March 23, the following officers were elected : -


Chairman . GEORGE A. KIMBALL.


Clerk


GEORGE I. VINCENT.


Inspector WILLIAM H. BRINE, 40 Houghton Street. .


NUISANCES.


Nuisances have been abated as shown by the following table, which is arranged by the months when the complaints were received.


198


NUISANCES ABATED IN THE YEAR 1881.


*January.


February.


March.


April.


May.


June.


July.


August.


September.


October.


November.


December.


Total.


Cellar damp.


6


2


4


8


2


4


26


Cesspool defective.


offensive.


66 overflowing


1


10


1


1


1


14


Connections of waste with


4


5


1


6


4


1


1


7


8


5


1


54


Dead dog in cellar.


2


2


2


13


4


3


5


4


1


49


9


1


1


1


8


3


1


3


3


30


11


1


5


8


9


4


1


3


6


2


50


1


1


6


2


2


2


3


1


3


5


1


2


7


1


1


1


12


stopped up


3


2


1


2


8


Filth in cellar


1


2


1


1


4


3


1


1


1


1


1


1


1


1


4


3


1


2


2


8


2


28


...


1


1


1


3


Offensive materials carted thro' streets


1


1


Offensive odor in and about dwellings


2


1


2


1


6


1


13


Opening in drain-pipe in cellar, Slaughter house offensive.


1


1


2


1


7


3


1


16


Soil pipe not ventilated.


3


6


1


10


Stable and stable premises


2


1


3


1


8


1


3


4


17


2


3


2


1


33


1


2


4


5


1


4


1


3


1


22


13


9


9


19


15


3


21


38


58


10


1


199


2


1


3


2


3


1


2


1


20


4


9


7


9


8


19


2


2


80


Wagons washed on sidewalk .


1


3


1


6 1


68


23


23


27


31


17


11


12


49


17


8


1


287


stopped up


1


..


1


1


1


2


6


Water-closet defective.


insufficiently sup- plied with water,


1


2


1


2


2


8


66


not supplied with water.


2


3


66


not trapped.


8


8


66


not ventilated.


1


1


1


1


2


1


1


1


7


1


1


Well water unfit for use .


4


2


3


1


...


2


5


5


22


197|


56


73


117


141


79


64


101


176


77


22


5


1108


2


...


.


2


1


8


Vault full


leaking


1


3


not properly constructed,


13


66 offensive


1


1


Waste-pipe defective


leaking ..


1


5


5


2


4


3


9


1


1


1


3


1


1


Slops thrown on surface


filthy .


1


Stagnant water in house cellar.


2


1


3


2


6


on premises.


12 1


Grease rendered in open kettle, Hennery offensive .


2 4


Hens kept in cellar


3


2


Manure exposed and offensive . Offal in cellar. on land .


11


1


1


Drainage defective


13


emptying into cellar. . 66 emptying on surface . Drain-pipe broken and leaking. ·1 defective


2 26


not trapped


1


1


1


3


drain pipes defective


1


1


. .


* Including nuisances referred to us by the Board of 1880.


.


1


1


Wooden wastepipes and drains,


in stable cellar .. on surface ..


3


. .


1


1


offensive


Water-course polluted ..


not trapped


. .


. .


1


1


199


Number of nuisances abated, 1,108 ; number referred to Board of 1882, 78 : total, 1,186.


Number of complaints, 554; number made without sufficient cause, 6.


Number of houses ordered vacated, 38; of which number, 35 have since been put in a proper sanitary condition ; number vacated in compliance with our orders, 3 ; number caused to be vacated by the Chief of Police by our direction, 3.


Number of notices issued through the Police Department and the mails, 692 ; number served by constables, 63.


Number of letters sent, 57.


PRIVIES. - Privy-vaults continue to cause a great many com- plaints. In thickly settled neighborhoods it is almost impossible to maintain them without creating a nuisance ; and wherever sewers are accessible, we invariably recommend that water-closets be used and privies removed. Where sewers cannot be reached, however, we consider privies a necessity, as the cases are rare where cess- pools will accommodate the drainage from water-closets.


There are few if any properly constructed privy-vaults in the city ; and for the benefit of those who are obliged to have thiem, we repeat the substance of the recommendations in regard to their con- struction and care which we made in our first annual report, viz. :


" Build the vault water-tight, and as nearly air-tight as possible ; provide it with good ventilation ; pour no slops into it, and allow no rain or surface water to flow into it ; clean it out often.


During the year twenty-two privies have been abandoned.


WAVERLY STREET SEWER OUTLET. - The Waverly Street sewer discharges into an open creek within one hundred and sixty feet of two long blocks of dwellings. This creek pursues a winding course until it reaches the culvert built in 1880, under the Mystic River branch of the Boston and Lowell Railroad, and a considerable quantity of the solid matter has lodged upon the flats bordering on the creek. As a partial remedy, in the month of December the Boston Board of Health and this board cut a ditch across the flats above the culvert, in order to give the sewage a more direct channel, and placed a tide gate below the culvert and near the Eastern Railroad, so as to prevent the incoming tide from spreading


200


the sewage over the flats. These measures, as we said above, were designed to afford only a partial relief. We think that at an early day the sewer should be extended so that its outlet may be at a proper distance from dwellings.


STABLES. - Frequent complaints having been made of offensive stables and exposed manure heaps, we have visited in the past year a large number of both public and private stables. As our population increases and dwelling-houses are necessarily built near together, we feel that our duty demands of us the adoption of more rigid sanitary measures for the abatement of this, a growing evil. Much can be done by the occupants of the stables to preserve cleanliness ; in fact, all is within their power if the stable is prop- erly constructed. We find that many stables in which large num- bers of horses are kept are totally unfit for the purpose ; they hav- ing been erected without cellars, and with no provision for either the building or the surface drainage, and the manure being thrown out upon the ground and left entirely uncovered. While we shall endeavor to compel a change in many such stables already erected, we are of the opinion that proper restrictions should be placed upon all who may hereafter apply to the Board of Aldermen for permits to build stables for more than four horses.


Our regulations regarding " stables and the removal of manure " will be found at the end of this report.


ALEWIFE BROOK. - The nuisance occasioned by the condition of this brook has received the attention of the board ever since its organization. We have repeatedly called the attention of the Cambridge authorities to the dangers to which the residents of this city living in that vicinity were exposed, and requested them to abate the nuisance. There being no material change in the condi- tion of the brook, we, on the 25th of January, 1881, sent a commu- nication to the Senate and House of Representatives, in which, after referring to the filthy condition of the brook and its being a proba- ble cause of sickness in that vicinity, we prayed for such legislation as would compel Cambridge, within a reasonable time, to divert its house drainage and its sewage from business establishments from the brook and its tributaries. As a result of that communica- tion, a bill was passed on the 6th of May, 1881, which provided for


201


the purification of the brook. The bill met the approval of the board. It is true that there were some objectionable features in it ; but when we consider that it was only a temporary measure, and that pending the formation of a metropolitan system of sewerage, which must eventually come, our people would be relieved from this nuisance, and our city would receive $1,000 annually from Cambridge for the use of a portion of our sewers, we think a great mistake was made in not accepting the act. As we have not accepted the means of relief offered by the Legislature and agreed to by Cambridge, we should take the initiative in any new move. We would suggest that a committee of conference composed of members of both branches of the City Council be appointed to confer with a like committee from the Cambridge city government. We believe an understanding could be arrived at that would be satisfactory to the people of both cities.




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