USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester > Town annual reports of the several departments for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1874 > Part 11
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27
No ! if economy is actually desired and earnestly sought, its way, like the path of the righteous, will not be as straight .or smooth as Lake or Park AVENUES, yet it may be discerned with ease. It will be found in individual frugality ; in the practice of those minor virtues which, as they involve and require self-denial, we so often preach-to others. Municipal officers must cease interchanging visits ;- pleasant doubtless ;- but the cost of which rarely depletes the private purse. Citizens must relinquish that system of large-hearted and open-handed hospitality, (and they are giving it up fast enough ! ) which once characterized Worcester above all places in the Commonwealth. Our Wives and Daughters must discontinue the lavish use and wear of Satins and Silks, arrayed in which they do not even vie with the lilies of the field ; and our merchants must cease to tempt feminine desire with such extravagant but needless raiment. In this way,-and so thoroughly,-may we get great gains that shall be useless ; since they cannot be taken to the next world and parsimony is the novel and strange motto for this. Thus indeed can we realize the ideal of the modern Reformer. Thereafter shall Worcester, fallen with her leaders into the ditch of railroad investment,
149
PUBLIC GROUNDS.
emerge without them,-wiser, if not so clean as before. There- after shall we accumulate riches to submerge in Ass-urance Companies, not necessarily unsound of themselves, but failures notwithstanding less from the mis-location of policies than of brains. So shall our savings go to build Northern Pacific Rail- roads ; or to purchase Denver City & St. Jo. Bonds, and those countless similar luxuries wherewith the Modern Financial Reformer delights to catch his gudgeons and-add to the solid
wealth of Worcester ! After all this, and in lack of other delusion, we shall have left, when the next crash comes, the satis- faction of ready, old scapegoats in Avenue, Sewer, and Water. True-we clamored for these latter ; but so did the Jews for a
King ! And the pedigree of our Jews is unimpeachable. Having wasted our substance ; scattering it broadcast from the sea coast to the Rocky Mountains, whithersoever there appeared even a nebula of cent-per-cent ; how natural, as the dream of ill-gotten wealth dissolves, to decry those obligations that are simply the measure of reluctance to pay ! Because the money that is earned at home is not spent at home. For the reason that our women go abroad for purple and fine linen, and our men put their money out at usury instead of into bricks and mortar. How easy to enjoy palpable, permanent benefits and-denounce their authors ! Human nature changes slowly, if at all : and when, now as in the days of yore, " the grinders cease because they are few, and the doors are shut in the streets when the sound of the grinding is low ;" may not the cause be latent in a lurking apprehension that the grist will be lost ? The Toll due to the COMMISSION OF PUBLIC GROUNDS will be left to Time for collection.
This COMMISSION desires most earnestly to invite the attention of the Board of Aldermen to the whole subject of the moving of buildings through the public streets. For three successive years have questions arisen, not necessarily affecting the COM- MISSION OF PUBLIC GROUNDS ; as has been judicially decided ; but which their fellow-citizens not unnaturally suppose to be included in its jurisdiction. During the year A. D. 1871, application was made to Mayor Earle for leave to move the house of the late William Brown through Pleasant Street. That most courteous gentleman and vigilant functionary inspected the route,
150
CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 29.
in company with the contractor, Mr. Babcock, and the Chairman of this COMMISSION. Finding that there were but Twenty-Five Feet (25) between the kerb-stones, Mr. Babcock declined to assume the responsibility of the damage inevitable upon the pass- age of so large a building as a whole. Here, the matter rested. Subsequently, during the official term of Mayor Verry, the desired permission was obtained, a condition being established that the house should be moved in sections.
But it was reserved for A. D. 1873, to see this matter brought to a head. During the Spring of that year the mansion of Hon. Isaac Davis was started upon its travels from that spot whereon it had so long rested-a conspicuous landmark. The obstruction to the chief, and then only, thoroughfare of the City was so great ; and the injury to the limbs and at times trunks of trees such because of its mass, although in sections ; that the demand became loud and incessant for a remedy. Such was promised, for the moment, by the intervention of the Horse-Railway Company. But that Corporation quickly decided that its track was occupied to better advantage than it would be were its own cars running, and therefore made " friends of the mammon of unrighteousness." Finally, at the instance and with the cordial co-operation of His Honor, Mayor Jillson, whom it is not too late to thank thus publicly, this COMMISSION applied to the Supreme Judicial Court for an injunction. It matters not whether the exact issue in this particular case was presented with sufficient precision ; the action of the Aldermen, at the time, having been understood to be informal and void. The decision of the Judge, in chambers, covered the essential point of Jurisdiction, which was the main issue to be ascertained after all. That decision of Mr. Justice Morton, rescued from newspaper files, is inserted here that it may go upon record for the guidance of all concerned.
SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT-IN CHAMBERS, Aug. 12-MORTON, J.
Edward W. Lincoln et al. vs. Benjamin W .. Dean et al .- This was an applica- tion by the Commissioners of Public Grounds of the City of Worcester for an injunction to restrain the defendants from moving a building through cer- tain streets, upon the ground that it would injure and destroy certain shade trees, under an ordinance of the city, which provides that no person shall dig up, cut down, or in any way injure any tree standing in the streets of the city without first getting the consent in writing of these commissioners, and they
151
PUBLIC GROUNDS.
claim that the defendants in violating this ordinance can be enjoined as prayed for. But the court deemed this a misapplication of their rights as com- missioners on shade trees, that they might for the same reason ask to enjoin the mayor and aldermen from paving the streets, because it would injure and destroy the shade trees. The injunction was refused.
H. L. Parker for complainants ; George F. Hoar for respondents.
The privilege of felling SHADE TREES existing in the sidewalks, which may appear to the purchaser of a building in his way, is not touched. Unless, therefore the Mayor and Aldermen shall claim to be participants in that " sole care, superintendence, and management of the shade and ornamental trees standing and growing in or upon any of the public streets and highways " of Worcester which, by the Charter is confided to the COMMISSION of PUBLIC GROUNDS ; that annoyance will be endured by those who have hitherto tolerated it from a controlling sense of duty.
A. D. 1874, permission was given to Dr. Henry Clarke to move his dwelling-house, upon Chestnut Street, westward. It was. but the toss of a copper whether he should buy a lot of land from the Chairman of this COMMISSION or the latter should buy the house. Ultimately,-the last named course was adopted ; with an express understanding and covenant that Mr. Lincoln would receive the building, delivered upon his land by Mr. Ben- jamin C. Jacques. The Chairman of this COMMISSION stated, over and over again, that he would not suffer himself to be placed in a position that would preclude the faithful discharge of his duties to the city, so long as he held office. Well-the first section of the house was started to the extreme detriment of a horse-chestnut tree. Thereupon-in rapid succession, indignation meetings upon the kerb-stone, with informal congregation of Aldermen, and subsequent virulence in the press. Complaint had meanwhile been made by the Chairman of this COMMISSION to the City Marshal who found, upon careful investigation, that the sub-contractor, Mr. Benjamin W. Dean, was blameless in the premises ; an ice-cart and a loaded team having driven over the well-secured chain that was used as a guy, thereby giving it a wrench that nothing could withstand.
An additional grievance appeared to consist in the selection of a route through Chestnut Street ; and the question was asked,- why not go through Pleasant ? To this the answer was, that the way
152
CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 29.
chosen was the nearest; by far the widest; and, beyond comparison, least obstructed by trees. It was an express stipulation of Mr. Lin- coln that the route via Chestnut Street should be adopted, as he insisted that the good people upon Pleasant Street ought not to have their patience tried too often or severely. The municipal license had not insisted that the building should take an especial direction ; and was it to "come betwixt the wind and " any " nobility " why not upon Chestnut Street ! That the grievance was private, having no relation to public inconvenience, may per- haps be inferred from the fact that it is proposed to solicit leave to move a dwelling-house upon Pleasant Street ; in whose sale, as well as in the final disposition of the land whereon it now stands, some of those very gentlemen living upon or traversing Chestnut Street are presumed to take a pious share. Nevertheless, it has been found that many a man has moved buildings once, who never repeated the job. And it may well be that, in .the par- ticular instance under review, the first remuneration received by the Chairman for his investment, may take the shape of an invita- tion from our polite Collector and Treasurer to pay some more taxes.
His Honor, Mayor Davis (E. L.) who so recently presided over your deliberations with customary grace and innate suavity, remarked in his inaugural address that "as the period within which the City may take this property " (NEWTON HILL,) " extends two years from April 15, 1873, I have no desire to press the subject upon your attention now, being perfectly willing to abide the time when it shall naturally claim your consideration." Patience is a virtue, illustrated by none more conspicuously than by the COMMISSION OF PUBLIC GROUNDS. Nevertheless, the advice of the COMMISSION holds good; and its application is strength- ened by reflection upon each peril escaped, every degree of cold that substitutes Ice for the fluid that should constitute our means of salvation. Incendiarism among wooden rookeries, on Pleas- ant or Main Streets, does not diminish our ever imminent danger if it promotes the discipline and efficiency of the Fire Department. This COMMISSION calls the attention of the Honorable Council to the fact that the two (2) years specified by the late Mayor will shortly lapse ; and that the question to be determined is, whether
153
PUBLIC GROUNDS.
sectional jealousy or private greed shall prevent the consumma- tion of one of those plans for civic improvement which it is the fortune of few to advocate, and the lot of fewer still to achieve. This COMMISSION assumes as its own and gives renewed expression to the opinions advanced by its Chairman in the Joint Convention of both branches of the Honorable Council, upon the thirteenth day of last April.
" Must not the solution of the problem of our possible future exemption from a ruinous conflagration be found in an abundant supply of water and the amplest facilities for its immediate and direct application ? It cannot be denied that the cheapest, sim- plest, and perhaps only effective method of supply must be sought in storage. The construction of reservoirs upon our hills will provide a partial remedy. The use of adequate and independent pipes, for the delivery of water from those reservoirs which might with propriety be termed our municipal safeguards, would complete it. A concurrence of untoward circumstances may ren- der all precautions nugatory. But in the ashes of our burned city, and in the blank despair of our vanished prosperity, we should not have to reproach ourselves that all might have been avoided, had we but displayed the commonest prudence.
We have just had another serious warning upon how slight chances rests our immunity. What the loss was may be exactly computed. What it might have been, the imagination shrinks from depicting.
With such a hurricane as has blown throughout much of March, is it exaggeration to say that the flames would have been fanned into a fury that might have devastated the southern half of Wor- cester, 'rolling up like a scroll' those superb blocks that have late- ly arisen to adorn and enrich our noble Main Street! Every available means for the extinguishment of fires was employed. All that energy and skill could do was lavishly exerted. Yet it remains to be confessed that the flames, with everything in our favor, were simply confined to their original limits. Had every- thing been adverse, who shall define the limits within which they could have been restricted ? That a conflagration, so located, should do no greater harm, is wonderful. That any future one should be allowed to become equally threatening, when its pre- vention, or quick suppression, is merely a question of dollars and cents, is a reflection upon your fitness to occupy these seats which my confidence in your sagacity and courage will not permit me to advance.
I shall not insult your intelligence by discussing the advantages of using gravitation as a method of extinguishing fires. Were
21
154
CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 29.
argument needed by this Honorable Council, thus specially con- vened, I might safely leave it to the expert mechanicians of whom our City is full and whose competent representatives are present to-night. I take the principle of gravitation, and its convenience of employment for granted.
Need I repeat here, and to this convention, the geographical reasons in favor of availing ourselves of Newton Hill, to protect the three western wards of the City ? Must I state again that its summit is six feet above the level of high water at Bell Pond ; or call your attention over and over again to its proximity to the Oread, the Jaques Hospital, or the Technical Institute ? All that has been told and reiterated even to wearisomeness. Your con- stituents made it a reality, and have empowered you to give prac- tical effect to their decision, at the polls.
Is there a valid reason why you should not ? If Newton Hill could be obtained for nothing the opportunity would be eagerly seized. But that, nor aught else, can be procured gratuitously in these days. If then, a price must be paid for it, (and that it must your application to the General Court concedes), may not its amount be measured somewhat by the object to be attained,- the security of a city from destruction and the consequent par- alysis or entire annihilation of its material prosperity! Burn down the western half of our City, and the goats of Wards Two and Four may browse unmolested around their deserted railway sta- tions. Upon the precise measure of the value of that Hill, I do not dwell, as it is a matter for your determination. For any nu- reasonable demand you have secured a remedy from the Leg- islature.
One thing must not be overlooked in this connection. Should that hill, passing from you, be sold, graded, and built upon, you would be obliged to force water up the ascent for the supply of the residents at great expense, in inadequate amount, and with diminishing head; laying down pipes that would be a further drain upon what is already insufficient. Without a reservoir, you expend force. With one, you accumulate it.
But it will be contended, why not avail ourselves of the High Service (so-called), taking the water directly from the main ? To this the answer should suffice in homely but expressive phrase, that it "puts too many eggs in one basket." The large, eastern main has proved impotent, once at least, within a very recent period, subjecting the entire city to extreme danger for many days in succession. Such peril is too great to be suffered long. But it so happens that the risk of fracture, with the consequent interruption of the supply, is most imminent precisely when our need is exacting. A pipe is never so liable to fail as when the
155
PUBLIC GROUNDS.
column of water is disturbed-when the stream is let on, or shut off. The strain upon the metal, at such moments, is that of per- cussion, disintegrating the fibre and granulating the particles. Doubtless you all have noticed this effect upon the service pipes at your homes, causing annoyance and trouble which is often wrongly attributed to the innocent plumber. The safety of a city cannot be too carefully guarded. A reservoir upon Newton Hill would be elevated enough to protect the highest points of land upon Chestnut or Harvard Streets ; and that is all which could be required. Your mains, radiating from it,'would gain in strength, because their number would adınit of a diminution in size. The reduction of power by miles of friction is saved. And while it is not likely that lose can be manufactured, at a reasona- ble price, strong enough to withstand the full head from Leices- ter, there can be no question that the hose in common use, has endured the utmost pressure from Bell Pond - an elevation almost as high as that of Newton Hill. The principle of gravi- tation, with its system of reservoirs as a corollary, enables you to dispense with the purchase and maintenance of costly steamers and their more expensive equipment. Reliance upon a High Service, without the reservoirs, necessitates the steamers ; since no city like Worcester can afford pipes stout enough, because of sufficient capacity, to contend directly with a sweeping conflagra- tion. And it is this possible wholesale destruction against which provision has to be made without delay.
Still-say some-why take the whole Hill. Why not construct a reservoir upon the level area of the summit and be content with that ? To this, the sufficient and conclusive reply is, that distributing pipes must radiate from the summit, in all directions ; otherwise, the very purpose of a reservoir is thwarted and made ineffectual. Access must be had to those pipes when repairs be- come necessary. It must remain a hill to retain its value for the purposes of a reservoir ; and, being a hill, cannot be arbitrarily graded or cut down by those who would continue its proprietors. Not a cellar would be dug, since any excavation might intercept or frustrate the water-mains. Its occupation, like its ownership, must be exclusive. Yet should its acquisition by the city, for the purposes of a reservoir, result in the consolidation of its posses- sion with that of Elm Park, the consummation would be none the less desirable.
I believe that improvement upon a broad and generous scale, everywhere and in all parts of our extended territory, is the wisest policy-the truest economy. Yet even before liberal ex- penditures for easy chairs or tuneful pianos, in our schools : aye, sooner than prudent and far-sighted appropriations for wide and
156
CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 29.
stately avenues, (and no one more higlily approves of them or will advocate thiem more zealously !) should be our precaution for the preservation of our homes, without which schools were a super- fluity : our care for the security of that property upon which we have to depend for the means wherewith to defray the cost of highway, sidewalk, and sewer.
The whole subject is in your hands for final disposition. Hav- ing devoted much time and thought to its consideration, I am firmly persuaded that, while no merely human precaution can ensure perfect security, the closest approximation to it is to be found in the system here outlined. Were the protection of my own home, solely, at stake, no word of mine would have disturbed your counsels. But, realizing, as I have been compelled to do more vividly than ever, by the destruction of that temple in which I have been privileged to worship for upwards of a quarter of a century, upon how frail a chance the permanence of our munici- pal prosperity depends, I should have proved recreant to my con- victions of duty as a citizen, had I failed to impress upon you iny own profound sense of the imminent peril, at the same time indi- cating what, in my judgment, is the obvious, feasible, and effective remedy."
A great deal of loose talk, emanating from looser tongues which dispense ignorance and misrepresentation with almost miraculous impartiality, impeaches the honesty of this project for the acquisition of NEWTON HILL; to be used for a reservoir ; and to be annexed to Elm Park, whose enlarged territory would even then sparely compete with the superb, natural Water-Park upon the Eastern line of the city. For such objects, upon equitable terms, and at a more reasonable price than has yet been men- tioned, the Western Wards might well assume, if they did not greedily require betterments; thereby saving themselves from the construction of sewers, gas-mains, and streets, with their inevitable concomitant of frowning chapelles d'aisance," rising tier upon tier, spoiling the landscape and confronting the view for ever- more.
But still there is a "Ring !" When a boy cannot whip another of his own size, he can make wry faces at his sister. The Chair- man of this COMMISSION disclaims being annular, but deems it not impossible that he may be
"totus teres atque rotundus."
*Perhaps a translation is not necessary!
157
PUBLIC GROUNDS.
His fellow-citizens will pardon a little pedantry, as the High- School House wherein he obtained his knowledge of alien lan- guages cost them little ; occupying but a single teacher and being worthless as a building.
Yet,-more seriously : cannot the Departments of our Munici- pal Administration be conducted with fewer imputations of cor- ruption ? The Reports of this COMMISSION have often commented freely upon divers and distinct branches of civic service. But in them all was there ever a denial that the dishonesty, or even profligacy, so often charged, had been or could by possibility be detected.
The opinion of the COMMISSION that the acquisition of NEWTON HILL, by the city, is a measure of exceeding importance to the permanent interests of the whole community, not only remains unchanged but has continually strengthened. Having never justified the payment of an exorbitant price, it would not advise such payment now. It took the precaution, in connection with Mayor Earle and Solicitor Nelson, to guard the interests of the city, when application was made to the General Court for a con- cession of Eminent Domain : and it occupies the same position at present. But, "if there are blind, leaders of the blind ; "-is that a good and sufficient reason why the COMMISSION OF PUBLIC GROUNDS should "fall into the same ditch ?" Better far to act as engineer than brakeman !
Intimations have been thrown out that the proprietors of that HILL would be willing to accept a less sum than has been asked heretofore. If such is the fact, it would seem to be a simple act of courtesy that any such reduction of terms should be communicated to the Honorable Council. This COMMISSION, at the request of the Council, has thrice solicited information as to the lowest terms upon which NEWTON HILL could be purchased. Should any change have occurred, modifying former estimates of value, it can scarcely be deemed derogatory to proprietary dignity for once to volunteer the knowlege.
In the Report of this commission, A. D., 1870, occurs the subjoined passage :
"The entire bulk of Manure from the city stables is now delivered upon the Poor-Farm, being hauled some two (2) miles
158
CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 29.
or more beyond the Common which is starving for lack of it. If the collection of offal were so systematised, as to be rendered available for the support of a Piggery upon that Farm, as it should be, an existing evil would be converted into a source of profit. Sufficient Pork would be gained for the supply of that ineagre table, so strenuously insisted upon by the City Fathers, at their annual Dinner : and a portion of the manure from the city- stables might be spared, to stay the complete impoverishment of the Public Grounds."
The policy, then and so suggested, was since adopted by the city ; and by its practical operation with its sanitary consequences, its primitive advocates are fully vindicated. The offal is collected promptly and cleanly ; even if it must be confessed that, in some extremely hot days, the ferment, left purposely uncovered, exhales a perfume which scarcely suggests-
"the spicy breezes Blow (ing) soft o'er Ceylon's Isle."
Nevertheless the Offal is collected and-the City "goes the whole Hog." Even the succulent spare-rib is not wanting when farmer Farwell (alas ! that we must so soon cry Far (e) well!) receives his official visitors and, between brown-bread and sausage, complacently accepts compliments upon Pauper-fare ! But the COMMISSION OF PUBLIC GROUNDS declines the soft seduc- tion and, "sitting on the ragged edge" of hope deferred weeps over the pungent heaps of compost that it possesses in suggestion only. In spite of all, Manure is not forthcoming from the City- Stables. Almost nineteen centuries have elapsed since it was proclaimed that-
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.