USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > The story of Essex County, Volume II > Part 28
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In addition to the work of the physicians, the towns and cities of Essex County have also endeavored to protect the health of the public since very early times. As has already been mentioned in connection with the epidemics of the seventeenth and eighteenth cen- turies, measures were often taken in the seaport towns to prevent the spreading of disease from newly arrived ships, and pesthouses and inoculating hospitals were sometimes provided by public action. Dur- ing the nineteenth century the scope of public health measures was greatly broadened, sewerage systems, supplies of pure water, and constant vigilance by permanent municipal boards of health being inaugurated.
The functions of modern boards of health are many, and of the greatest importance to the various communities. All cases of contagious disease are reported to the municipal boards of health, which attend to the placarding of houses and enforcement of quaran- tine. In addition they try to see that proper care is given, and arrange for the admittance of cases of tuberculosis into available sanatoriums. Records are kept each year of the contagious dis- eases. In addition to the supervision of contagion, it is the respon- sibility of each board of health to see that no condition that might injure the public health is allowed to persist. Unsanitary places for dumping refuse, open sewers, and similar nuisances are eliminated. In many communities the board of health has charge of the garbage disposal and like problems. The issuance of milk licenses and simi- lar permissions are also among the functions of these bodies.
The public health has been further secured by great improve- ments in the water supply of the various towns and cities. Up until
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1800 the population of Essex County was almost entirely dependent on cisterns and conveniently located wells for their water. In the towns every neighborhood had several wells, and the "town pump" was a familiar object. In the course of time, these wells, partly because of the lack of a proper sewerage system, became contaminated, unknown to the users. Since the spread of disease was greatly accelerated by the lack of pure water, the development of modern water systems has represented an important step in the improvement of the public health.
The first large scale attempt in Essex County to improve the water supply was made by the Salem and Danvers Aqueduct Com- pany, which was incorporated March 9, 1797. William Gray, Jr., was the first president of the company. The first source of supply was a large fish hogshead sunk in moist ground near Spring Pond. A pipe line consisting of pine logs with a three-inch bore was laid through South Danvers, now Peabody, to a reservoir on Gallows Hill in Salem. The reservoir was ten feet deep and twenty-four feet square, but it soon proved inadequate. The system was put into operation in 1799, and water was supplied to families at the rate of $5 each. The demand for water was such that a new line, consisting of logs of five-inch bore, was laid in 1804, and in 1817 a new reser- voir was constructed. In 1834 a six-inch iron pipe was laid in Salem, and five years later a new main was laid from the source of supply, which now included the whole of Spring Pond and Brown's Pond, to the reservoir on Gallows Hill. By 1860 the company had forty miles of pipe, 3,600 customers, and over a million gallon capacity in the reservoirs, but water was still scarce.
In 1866 Salem began to build its own water works and undertook to use Wenham Lake as a source of supply. Some years later a canal from Ipswich River at last made the water supply adequate. By 1921 the Salem water works had sixty-five miles of pipe, a daily pumping capacity of 25,000,000 gallons, and a reservoir with a capacity of 20,000,000 gallons, at an elevation of one hundred and forty-two feet above high water.
Before the Salem and Danvers Aqueduct was completed steps were being taken in Haverhill to improve the water supply in that town. The situation of Haverhill was excellent for the installation of water works, there being several good-sized lakes nearby at a
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considerable elevation above the town. In 1798 a group of Haver- hill men headed by Timothy Osgood petitioned the Legislature to be allowed to incorporate under the name of the Haverhill Aque- duct Company, and to convey water from Round Pond to the town. The company was organized in October, 1802, at a meeting held at Howard's Tavern. Green logs, with a two-inch bore, were used as pipes, but when the water was turned on the pressure was so great that the log pipes burst. This difficulty was solved by permitting the water to run into a reservoir at lesser elevation, from which another line led to the streets of the town. By 1867 the supply from Round Pond had become insufficient, and Plug Pond and Kenoza Lake were tapped. In 1879 a standpipe was erected on Kenoza Avenue, and five years later a sixteen-inch main was laid from Crystal Lake. The city purchased the water works in 1891.
Other communities in Essex County were slower in installing water works. It was not until 1869 that a centralized water supply was installed in Lynn, and Lawrence was without proper accommodations until 1875.
The Lynn works originally drew water from Flax Pond, and later Breed's Pond, Walden Pond, Birch Pond, and Saugus River, and the Ipswich River was tapped to satisfy the growing need. By 1921 7,000,000 gallons were used daily, and one hundred and forty miles of pipe line served 15,000 customers.
The Lawrence water works depend on the Merrimac River for their supply, the water being carefully filtered before it is turned into the mains. The filtration plant, finished in 1893, was the first in the county capable of eliminating bacteria from the water.
At present all the cities and larger towns of the county have ade- quate supplies of pure water piped to the homes of the users. Mod- ern filtration plants in most communities have made the danger of the spreading of disease by means of drinking water almost negligible. Only in the rural districts, and in some instances where home owners have continued to use well or cistern water in spite of the availability of water mains, do the old, unsanitary conditions remain.
The problem of the removal of sewage has also been taken care of by the towns and cities, though in some cases in a rather unsatis- factory manner. In well settled districts sewer pipes have been laid almost universally, but the problem of finding a proper outlet has
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been neglected. For years the sewerage systems of the towns and cities in the Merrimac Valley have emptied directly into the river, which has been sadly polluted on this account. Within the memory of the older residents the great sturgeon were frequently seen leap- ing from the water, and the shad and salmon still had their yearly runs, but now these fish are seldom, if ever, seen. Swimming in the river has been curtailed, and boating made less pleasurable. The clam industry on the Joppa Flats in Newburyport Harbor has been seriously interfered with, since the pollution of the river and harbor has made it necessary to require the chlorination of all clams dug in this area. In addition to the curtailment of recreation and business in the Merrimac Valley, the present method of sewage disposal may constitute a menace to the health of people living along the river banks.
Various methods of improving the condition of the river have been proposed in recent years. Each community might filter its own sewage and mill waste, as many cities in the country do already. Another suggestion, which has received some attention in the Leg- islature, has been to construct a trunk line sewer down the Merrimac to a point well out at sea. There can be little doubt but that some time in the future this still beautiful river will be restored to its original condition.
No account of medicine and public health in Essex County would be complete without some reference to the hospitals in the various communities. In the principal cities and towns are found modern, well-equipped hospitals of which any community would be proud. Some are conducted by the municipalities, and others are endowed private institutions supported by subscription and the fees of patients. Among them are the Lawrence General Hospital, the Gale Hos- pital, at Haverhill, the Lynn General Hospital, the Salem Hospital, and the Anna Jaques Hospital, at Newburyport. These and other hospitals in the county are equipped to receive cases of all kinds, and have facilities for the training of student nurses. Among the oldest hospitals in the county is the Salem Hospital, which was founded in 1873, and took over the work of the Salem Dispensary, which had been ministering to the needs of the poor since 1820. The Law- rence General Hospital, founded in 1883, is one of the best equipped institutions in this section. A cancer clinic, carried on in connection with the Lawrence General Hospital, is doing an important service.
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The great changes which have taken place in the practice of medicine and care of the public health in Essex County during the three centuries since its settlement have been most noticeable dur- ing the last fifty years. It is to be expected that, in case the present rate of progress is maintained, the gain in the battle against disease will be greater in the next century than it was in the last.
BIBLIOGRAPHY-"Standard History of Essex County, Massa- chusetts," C. F. Jewett & Company Boston, 1878.
"Municipal History of Essex County, Massachusetts," 4 vols., Benj. F. Arrington, ed., Lewis Hist. Publishing Company, New York, 1922.
"History of Essex County, Massachusetts," 2 vols., D. Hamilton Hurd, J. W. Lewis & Co., Philadelphia, 1888.
"History of Medicine in Massachusetts," Samuel Abbott Green, A. Williams & Co., Boston, ISSI.
Essex Institute Historical Collections.
"The Wonders of the Invisible World," Cotton Mather, John Russell Smith, London, 1862.
"Historical Sketch of Andover, Mass.," Sarah Loring Bailey, Houghton Mifflin & Co., Boston, I880.
"History of Lynn, Mass.," Alonzo Lewis and James R. Newhall, Boston, 1865.
"History of Newburyport, Mass.," John James Currier, New- buryport, 1906.
Essex Antiquarian.
"The History of Haverhill, Mass.," George W. Chase, Haver- hill, 1861.
"Witchcraft in Salem Village," John Fiske, Houghton Mifflin, Boston and New York, 1904.
"History of Newbury, Mass.," John J. Currier, Darwell and Upham, Boston, 1902.
"A Sketch of the History of Newbury," etc., Joshua Coffin, Sam- uel G. Drake, Boston, 1845.
"The History of the Town of Gloucester," John J. Babson, Gloucester, 1860.
"The Report on Insanity and Idiocy in Massachusetts," by the Commissioner on Lunacy, 1854.
Banks, Banking and Insurance
CHAPTER XXI
Banks, Banking and Insurance By Robert K. Vietor
The two principal functions of banks are to augment the circulat- ing medium of exchange, whether by the issue of bank notes or by other means extending credit facilities, and to provide a safe reposi- tory for funds. The first is advantageous to the community as a stimulus to commerce and industry; the second encourages thrift among the people, and supplies a highly beneficial sense of security. The extent to which these benefits are secured depends, of course, solely on the degree of perfection attained by the banking system.
At the present time, banking in Essex County has reached a posi- tion not excelled in security and convenience by any other section of the country, save, of course, for a few great financial centers. This highly developed system, however, is the product of a great many years of development. In the early days of the settlement banking facilities were unknown and commerce got along as best it could. Out of almost nothing the banks appeared and developed with remarkable rapidity until the county was literally dotted with sub- stantial banking institutions.
In the first settlements of Essex County the condition of com- merce, as well as that of many other fields of endeavor, was for many years in a very primitive state. Agriculture, fishing, hunting, and trapping were the principal pursuits of the colonists during the first few decades of settlement, each community being nearly self sufficient. Exchange was carried on mainly by means of barter, because of the scarcity of coined money or any other conventional form of currency. Barter, though at best a slipshod method of exchange, for a while was adequate for most of the slight needs of
Essex-56
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THE STORY OF ESSEX COUNTY
the colonists. But gradually, as the new settlements grew more pros- perous and demand for trade more widespread, the barter system became inadequate, and the means for supplying the needs to the com- munity which are now functions of the banking system began to appear.
Some of the forms of currency used in the early days appear, in retrospect, rather bizarre. Indian wampum, beaver skins, and bul- lets were all employed extensively as standard means of exchange. The use of these articles resulted in part from the trade with the Indians, which was a lucrative source of income for the colonists. But even though the objects used in exchange were many and diverse, the colonists kept their accounts in pounds, shillings, and pence. Thus, in exchange, to the minds of the settlers, a beaver skin stood equal to a certain sum in cash.
The money which first attained any considerable circulation was not, as might be supposed, of English coinage, but consisted of the famous Spanish "pieces of eight." The piece of eight reals was a silver coin of Spanish-American origin which came into the English colonies by way of the trade in salt fish and lumber which developed in the early days from the ports of Essex County to the Caribbean. The piece of eight, or Spanish dollar, continued to circulate during almost the whole of the colonial period in company with the various forms of American money to follow. English money never attained much circulation, since the purchase of finished goods from England in excess of the American goods sent there meant that money accepta- ble in the Mother Country was continually drained out.
The first domestic coins to circulate in Essex County were the "Pine Tree" shillings, so-called because of the design stamped on the face of each piece. They were coined at the iron works on the Saugus River in Lynn, by order of the Massachusetts General Court in 1652. In order to prevent the export of the new shillings, they were made to contain twenty-two and one-half per cent. less silver than the legal ratio of the shilling to the Spanish dollar would require. This debased condition of the Massachusetts coinage was a constant cause of confusion and difficulty until 1704, when the ratio of the shilling to the piece of eight was made commensurate with the value of the silver in the coins.
The currency of the period, even with the use of the pine tree shillings and the pieces of eight, was inadequate to meet the growing
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demands of commerce, and there was constant agitation to increase the supply of money. At the same time the need for improved credit facilities was felt.
During the second half of the seventeenth century merchants raised money for business transactions by means of the personal note. If a merchant desired to purchase a consignment of goods, providing his credit was of the best in the community, he would give his personal note, maturing at a time when the goods should be dis- posed of. This note, endorsed by the payee, would circulate freely wherever the merchant's name was known and respected, thus aug- menting the circulating medium, and supplying commercial credit. In this manner these functions, later taken over by the banks, were exercised late into the eighteenth century.
Although banking, in the modern sense, was not practiced in this section for over two hundred years after the first proposals, there were several attempts made to set up banks in the century following 1650. An early leader in the banking movement was the Rev. John Woodbridge, of Newbury, who tried to introduce banking into New England in 1664. Woodbridge's plan was to gather an association of reputable merchants who, with the sanction of the provincial gov- ernment, should issue notes to those seeking commercial credit, thus stimulating trade and increasing the currency supply.
In 1671 Woodbridge and others organized a bank of a sort, of which there is little record. Apparently, the project was aban- doned, for reasons unknown, before any notes were issued. But in 1681, on his own initiative and without government sanction, Woodbridge began, according to his own words, "to pass forth Bills, to make an experiment of that which had passed the scrutiny of above 30 years, with approbation. . ... In 6 moneths a consid- erable number espoused the designe; besides those that were con- cerned in the years '71 and '72."1 This early attempt at banking and the issue of notes is probably the first of its kind ever to occur in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, although the personal notes of mer- chants had been in circulation for some years.
The "experiment" of the Rev. John Woodbridge apparently was not long continued, for very little record of it can be found. Nothing
I. "Currency and Banking in the Province of the Massachusetts Bay," Part II, p. 69. Andrew McFarland Davis. American Economic Association, Cambridge, 1901.
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is heard about the matter after 1682, when he published a pamphlet in defense of his scheme. At least, banking of this sort failed to get any real foothold at the time. The only indication we have that Woodbridge did successfully carry on a banking business in New- bury is a quotation from Cotton Mather, written shortly after the former's suspension from the ministry: "the remarkable blessing of God upon his (Woodbridge's) own private estate abundantly made up to him the publik stipend which he had parted withal."2 From this statement it might be assumed that Woodbridge's prosperity was due to his banking activities. A further possibility is that his suspension from the ministry was occasioned by the taking of inter- est incidental to the extension of credit, which had long been con- sidered contrary to Christian behavior in religious circles.
The answer to the scarcity of money problem, however, was to be arrived at through the issue of paper money by the provincial government, rather than by the establishment of banks. The first example of anything resembling government paper occurred in 1675. The wars with the Indians had resulted in serious financial drain upon the colonial government, and those who had supplied the necessities of war were clamoring for payment. The government, being unable to meet the demands, issued bills pending the raising of the necessary funds by taxation. These notes circulated for a time, but the next year, 1676 the lands of the Colony were pledged to the creditors in terms that prevented the idea of transferability from becoming fixed in the minds of the people.
The first government issue of bills of credit which were intended to circulate as money occurred in 1690. The failure of the expedi- tion to Quebec left the Bay Colony in bad financial condition. It had been intended that the expedition should help pay for itself by means of the spoils of conquest. Thus the government found itself with greater financial obligations than it could hope to meet by funds raised by taxation, and the issue of bills of credit was the only alter- native to a complete repudiation of debts, which would probably have led to open mutiny among the soldiers and other creditors, who were already in a dangerous mood. On December 10, 1690, the General Court ordered the issue of £7,000 of indented bills of credit, ranging in denomination from £5 to five shillings.
2. Ibid., Part II, p. 72.
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BANKS, BANKING AND INSURANCE
Besides solving the budget difficulty, the issue of paper money helped answer the demands for a greater supply of currency which had been heard for many years. In the contemporary opinion of the Rev. John Woodbridge, of Newbury, writing in 1681, the evils of insufficient money were serious : "When coin is scarce, debts are contracted; dilatory and shuffling payments made; young beginners are checked; good men laid open to temptations, and opportunities given to bad ones, that exact from those who must crave credit or cannot make suitable pay."3
The issue of bills of credit, however, was not an unmixed bless- ing, for in the following years the Bay Colony was flooded with irre- deemable and depreciated paper money. Once the start had been made, the debtor classes kept up a constant demand for more and still more cheap money. The acquiescence of the colonial government can be partially excused by the necessity to raise money in some way to pay for the frequent wars in which the colonies were involved during most of the eighteenth century. In 1710 the irredeemable paper money outstanding amounted to £115,000, and by 1750 this figure had increased to £1,819,800. Sound money was restored, after over half a century of abuses, in 1750, after Parlia- ment had reimbursed the Colony, in silver, for the Cape Breton expedition. Specie payments were resumed at a ratio of seven and one-half in paper to one in silver.
Early in the eighteenth century commerce had developed to a point where improved credit facilities were in greater demand than formerly. Banking institutions were proposed in Boston in 1686 and 1714, but in neither case was it possible to secure governmental sanction. Credit facilities, however, came to be supplied by means of a policy initiated in 171 I which practically put the government into the banking business.
By order of the General Court money was loaned to merchants to enable them to furnish supplies for the expedition to Quebec. This military expedient was quickly recognized as a means of supplying commercial credit, and the continuance of such loans was demanded by the public. Loans of £50,000 in 1714, £100,000 in 1716, £50,000 in 1721, £60,000 in 1728, and £76,500 in 1733 were made. The
3. "Commonwealth History of Massachusetts," Vol. II, p. 194. Albert Bushnell Hart. States History Company, New York, 1929.
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THE STORY OF ESSEX COUNTY
money was distributed to the towns in proportion to the taxes paid, the towns in turn lending to individuals. Newbury, for instance, paid the colonial government four per cent. and charged five per cent. to borrowers, who offered real estate as security. The amount loaned to any person was limited to £30 in Newbury and £20 in Haverhill. In this way credit was supplied for many years to the small proprie- tors of Essex County, as well as those of other sections.
This system was, however, a poor substitute for banking. Com- merce requires a constant and restrained accommodation which can only be secured through conservatively conducted banking institu- tions, whereas the governmentally supplied credit was available only at odd times when public clamor had secured another appropriation, and, administered as it was by town constables, was lacking in expert direction. Since the appropriations were made in irredeemable paper, the system furthered the depreciation of the currency.
By the early 'thirties the currency was in a highly disorganized state. The excess of irredeemable paper money, brought about by the public loan policy, had caused government bills to depreciate in value to about one-third of the face value, and the circulation of depreciated Rhode Island paper added further complication. By the efforts of Governor Belcher, "new tenor" bills were exchanged for the old in 1737 at the ratio of one to three, with a backing of silver, but the war which followed made this attempt to improve the currency fruitless. The inflation and confusion were harmful to trade, and brought hardship on the salaried clergy and others.
The lack of proper credit facilities was met partially, after 1733, by a system evolved in Boston to assist a number of merchants to carry out an agreement not to receive Rhode Island paper in trade. The plan was to issue notes payable at a certain time in silver, each note being signed by several reputable merchants. The new notes circulated solely on the credit of the issuers. If one merchant desired to borrow, others would advance him a note, which he would endorse and pass on to anyone who would accept it in trade. The signers were much in the position of a bank extending credit to an individual. This form of procedure spread to the other trade centers of the Colony, and for many years played an important part in commercial life.
The land bank movement, effective in 1740-41, was another product of the popular demand for more plentiful though sound
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