Hn 
 
 ADDEESS 
 
 WILLIAM B. WASHBURN, 
 
 LEGISLATURE OF MASSACHUSETTS, 
 
 January 2, 1873, 
 
 BOSTON" : 
 
 WRIGHT & POTTER, STATE PRINTERS, 
 19 PROVINCE STREET. 
 
 u 
 
 . 
 
 1873. 

 
 SEXATE No. 1. 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 OF 
 
 Jpis (EmIImtg 
 
 WILLIAM B. WASHBURN, 
 
 TO THE TWO BRANCHES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 LEGISLATURE OF MASSACHUSETTS, 
 JAXUABY 2, 1873. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 WRIGHT & POTTER, STATE PRINTERS, 
 
 19 PROVINCE STREET. 
 
 1873.
 
 ADDRESS. 
 
 Gentlemen of the Senate 
 
 and of the House of Representatives : 
 
 In accordance with the will of the people, we 
 have assembled here to assume the duties of the 
 executive and legislative branches of the govern- 
 ment of the Commonwealth for the current year. 
 As we stand upon the threshold of this new epoch, 
 with gratitude in our hearts for the abundant 
 mercies of the past, let us look to Him, the source 
 of all power, for wisdom and courage to meet the 
 responsibilities of the future, and dedicate our- 
 selves hi all sincerity to resolute and vigilant 
 faithfulness in the tasks set for our performance. 
 
 SUMMARY OF FUrASTCE. 
 
 "Wliile disaster has seriously, though temporarily, 
 crippled and embarrassed many of the industrial 
 and commercial interests of the Commonwealth,
 
 4 GOVERNOR'S ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 * 
 
 her public finances exhibit gratifying evidence of 
 thrift and security. Under the wise and provident 
 policy of the State, creating ample sinking funds 
 for the liquidation of every maturing instalment 
 of the public debt, more than three millions of 
 the funded liabilities have been extinguished dur- 
 ing the past year, without recourse to ordinary 
 revenue, taxation or temporary loans. The amount 
 thus retired included upwards of two and a half 
 millions of the Massachusetts 5-20 War Fund 
 Loan not absolutely maturing till 1886, but which 
 the surplus accumulation of the - sinking fund 
 established for its payment rendered it advisable 
 to anticipate. With an addition of more than a 
 million to the Troy and Greenfield Railroad and 
 Hoosac Tunnel Loan, by a further issue of scrip 
 on that account, there still remains a net reduction 
 of the funded debt of the Commonwealth amount- 
 ing to nearly two millions of dollars. The 
 appended statement exhibits the transactions of 
 the year in this connection : 
 
 Funded debt, January 1, 1872, . $29,629,364 00 
 
 Amounts liquidated during the 
 year :
 
 1873.] SENATE No. 1. 5 
 
 Massachusetts "War 
 
 Fund loan, . . $2,551,500 00 
 
 Union Fund loan, 
 1861, . . . 363,700 00 
 
 State Almshouse 
 loan, . . . 100,000 00 
 
 Loan of 1861 (fund- 
 ing debt), . . 100,000 00 
 
 $3,115,200 00 
 
 Balance remaining . . . $26,514,164 00 
 
 Added during the year on account 
 of the Troy and Greenfield Rail- 
 road and Hoosac Tunnel loan, . 1,178,540 00 
 
 Total, $27,692,704 00 
 
 With these changes the existing 
 debt, all of which is funded, 
 may be thus classified : 
 
 Railroad loans, $13,303,016 00 
 
 War loans, . . 13,519,688 00 
 
 Ordinary loans, . 870,000 00 
 
 Funded debt, . $27,692,704 00
 
 6 GOVERNORS ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 The only unfunded liabilities remaining con- 
 sist of small sums, for the payment of which the 
 treasury is amply provided. 
 
 "With the extinguishment in 1872 of the last in- 
 stalment of the loan of 1861 for funding the pub- 
 lic debt, there remain now no funded liabilities for 
 the payment of which the State has not provided a 
 sinking fund ; and any deficit likely to occur in one 
 or two of these funds can be easily supplied, either 
 by transfer of surplus accumulations, or from other 
 available resources. 
 
 During the present year $425,000 more of the 
 funded debt will reach maturity, viz. : of the Union 
 Fund Loan, $300,000; State House Enlargement 
 Loan, $65,000; and Almshouse Loan, $60,000, 
 all of which will be paid from their several sinking 
 funds. 
 
 The Finances of 1873. 
 
 Accepting the results of the past 
 year as a basis of judgment for 
 the present, the ordinary reve- 
 nues of the State may be esti- 
 mated at $2,300,000 00 
 
 Adding to this sum the unexpend- 
 ed cash on the same account, will
 
 1873.] SENATE Xo. 1. 7 
 
 put the treasury in possession 
 of something like . . . 2,900,000 00 
 The ordinary expenses of the year, 
 estimated upon present informa- 
 tion, can scarcely be less than . $4,420,000 00 
 
 With the material reduction of ordinary revenues 
 under the repealing legislation of 1872, the amount 
 necessary to be raised by a state tax may not be 
 less than two millions of dollars, exclusive of any 
 provision for temporary emergencies or special 
 grants by the present legislature. 
 
 THE TUSTOJL AST) ITS CCXXXECTIOtfS. 
 
 The opening of the Hoosac Tunnel from the 
 eastern portal to the central shaft, which event, as 
 you are already aware, took place on the twelfth 
 ultimo, with scarcely an appreciable difference in 
 the working lines from the two faces, must have 
 demonstrated the entire practicability of this great 
 enterprise to the most sceptical mind. 
 
 The unprecedented flow of water from the head- 
 ing west of the central shaft, obliged the contrac- 
 tors to discontinue work at that point some six 
 months ago. The completion of the connection 
 eastward affords natural drainage, and they will
 
 8 GOVERNOR'S ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 soon be relieved from delay or expense on that 
 account. In a few months the tunnel will be fin- 
 ished to the shaft from the eastern portal, and 
 thenceforward the work will be confined to two 
 faces. Between the shaft and the western portal 
 there now remains about 3,125 feet of rock to pen- 
 etrate, and through this the contractors, who have 
 prosecuted their labors during the season with 
 commendable diligence, expect to have an opening 
 some time before the end of the present year. In 
 order to present the tunnel in a completed state 
 at the expiration of the contract, it will be neces- 
 sary to push forward every branch of the work 
 with the utmost energy. 
 
 Under chapter 47, Resolves of 1872, there has 
 been advanced to the Messrs. Shanly since the 
 adjournment of the last legislature, the sum of 
 $100,000 from the reserve fund, to secure the pay- 
 ment of which a mortgage of their tools and ma- 
 chinery was taken. There has also, under the 
 second clause of said Resolve, been issued to them 
 certificates of indebtedness to the amount of $200,- 
 000, payable without interest on the completion 
 and acceptance of the tunnel. 
 
 The Commonwealth should immediately prepare 
 itself to reap every legitimate benefit to which it
 
 1873.] SENATE No. 1. 9 
 
 will be entitled upon the consummation of this 
 vast undertaking. By means of the tunnel our 
 chief city may not only be brought into shorter 
 and more direct communication with the great 
 lakes of the West, but through this channel Chica- 
 go will be brought nearer to the tide-water of our 
 own State than it now is to New York city. In 
 this view of the matter, the interests at stake are 
 of such consequence that they cannot properly be 
 remitted to a careless or secondary consideration. 
 
 While the tunnel proper has been well con- 
 structed, the road thereto from Greenfield, like all 
 others of which the engineer and contractor are 
 one and the same person, is wholly unfit for any 
 considerable traffic. Built for a temporary pur- 
 pose, and in the cheapest possible manner, the ne- 
 cessities of the immediate future require an im- 
 provement of the grade at many points, a straight- 
 ening of the location at others, a protection of the 
 embankments, an enlargement and a strengthening 
 of the bridges and culverts, and a general renewal 
 of the road-bed and superstructure. Furthermore, 
 a considerable expenditure must soon be made 
 upon the Fitchburg and the "Vermont and Massa- 
 chusetts roads if we would avail ourselves of the 
 opportunities to be afforded by the tunnel. In the
 
 10 GOVERNOR'S ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 location of the Yermont and Massachusetts chang- 
 es are required to shorten the distance, improve 
 the grade, and lessen the number of bridges, while 
 the road-bed and superstructure must be in great 
 part renewed, and a double track laid for the 
 whole or a portion of its length. "Without com- 
 menting on the general management of the Fitch- 
 burg road, it must be said that its equipment is 
 not equal to the necessities of a greatly increased 
 business; its facilities need to be multiplied at 
 least fourfold, by the construction of several first- 
 class grain elevators, and the adoption of various 
 approved appliances for receiving and handling 
 freight. 
 
 "What shall be done to secure the requisite im- 
 provements on these several roads, so that the 
 Commonwealth may obtain the business naturally 
 coming to the seaboard by way of the tunnel, is 
 one of the most important questions now waiting 
 legislative answer. Properly managed, this line 
 from Boston to the State's western frontier will be 
 <me of the best investments ever made. I am fully 
 persuaded it cannot be operated to the satisfaction 
 of the public while in the hands of several separate 
 organizations. To secure efficiency of action and 
 direct responsibility, the entire route must be
 
 1873.] SENATE No. 1. 11 
 
 brought under the immediate control of one body, 
 and be operated by one head. And in my judg- 
 ment the necessary improvements are more likely 
 to be made in a proper manner by one authority 
 working for the general interest, than by several 
 working each for its own specific interest. I am 
 in favor, therefore, of the early consolidation of 
 these roads so that they may be operated and man- 
 aged as a single line. 
 
 I very well know that serious objections to such 
 a combination exist in many minds. There is a 
 fear that the railway interest, already so powerful 
 that it frequently exercises an injurious influence 
 upon legislation, will be rendered even more dan- 
 gerous by such a union. But the practical ques- 
 tion in this exigency is simply whether one corpo- 
 ration will be more or less dangerous to the public 
 welfare than three or four. It seems to me that 
 there will be greater difficulty in contending with 
 several organizations, each proud of its indepen- 
 dence, but ready to shirk its responsibility, and 
 swift to combine with the others to carry any 
 desired measure, than with one controlled by a 
 single head which can be made accountable to the 
 people and the legislature for its acts. And no 
 one at this day doubts that an unbroken line is.
 
 12 GOVERNOR'S ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 more efficiently managed by one corporation than 
 by several. Looking at the problem from every 
 point of view, and carefully weighing all the ad- 
 vantages and disadvantages of either solution, 
 I am decided in the conviction that the tunnel 
 route should be consolidated at the earliest practi- 
 cable day. 
 
 In providing for this consolidation, as in char- 
 tering any new line, the Commonwealth does not 
 abdicate its supreme authority in the premises. 
 The corporation will be but the servant of the 
 State, entrusted with certain powers to be used for 
 the public good. If at any tune it becomes false 
 to its trust, and uses those powers for private and 
 selfish ends to the detriment of the general wel- 
 fare, it will be the duty of the State to resume its 
 own. 
 
 I trust your honorable bodies may be able to 
 frame an equitable Act of Consolidation which will 
 be accepted by the roads interested in good faith. 
 Should either of them refuse to accept the legisla- 
 tive terms proposed after careful consideration of 
 the whole issue, much as I should regret the ne- 
 cessity for such a procedure, the interests of the 
 State are so manifold and imperative that I see 
 nothing for her to do but take the matter into her
 
 1873.] SENATE No. 1. 13 
 
 own hands, the end of paramount importance be- 
 ing to put the entire line in readiness as soon as 
 possible for the great work coming to it with the 
 completion of the tunnel. 
 
 As the funds for building the tunnel are drawn 
 from the public treasury, we must take care 
 that the line using it does not become a monopoly. 
 Provision should be made in the act of con- 
 solidation for harmonious relations with connect- 
 ing and neighboring lines. Every other road 
 in the State so desiring to do should be allowed to 
 intersect the through line and receive and dis- 
 charge freight and passengers on a fair and an 
 equitable basis, that it in turn may be enabled to 
 deliver to the dwellers along its route a portion of 
 the benefits of this new avenue for commerce and 
 transportation. "With the proposed consolidation 
 effected, and these distributing agencies made pos- 
 sible, I doubt not we shall speedily find the tunnel 
 route a favorite with shippers and travellers, and 
 a great source of revenue and advantage to our 
 people. 
 
 THE GEXERAL RAILROAD LAW. 
 
 So far as I can learn, the general railroad Act 
 passed last spring has fully realized the hopes of
 
 14 GOVERNOR'S ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 its friends. While on the one hand no company 
 has organized under it, on the other hand it has 
 not prevented the building of any road deemed 
 necessary by the community. It retards no legiti- 
 mate enterprise, has been of salutary influence 
 upon existing roads, and works injury to no sec- 
 tion of the Commonwealth. It has received the 
 approval of the public, is recognized as an impor- 
 tant step hi the right direction, and responds to 
 the growing conviction among the people that 
 legislation, as far as practicable, should seek the 
 benefit of the many rather than of the few. 
 
 Doubtless special Acts will be sought at your 
 hands to secure special advantages; but these 
 must be denied if the vitality of the general Act is 
 to be maintained. Should privileges or restric- 
 tions not embraced in that law be requested, you 
 may wisely consider whether the statute is not 
 open to amendment without detriment to its gen- 
 eral application. 
 
 Your predecessors, impressed with the danger 
 of railway crossings at grade, and convinced that 
 such crossings might mostly be avoided with little 
 additional expense, declared against them in the 
 general law. This provision, though having a 
 commendable end in view, seems to me of doubtful
 
 1873.] SENATE Xo. 1. 15 
 
 wisdom. Under our broad system of railroad net- 
 work, instances will occur where it is all but 
 impossible to avoid such crossings, and where 
 there would be little danger therefrom. It does 
 not appear to be a legislative function to determine 
 when such an exigency has arisen. The question 
 is simply one of fact, to be settled by personal 
 inspection, eminently requiring personal responsi- 
 bility ; and, in my opinion, the determination of the 
 issue should be entrusted to a tribunal that can 
 pass upon the exigency at any tune. I therefore 
 suggest the propriety of an amendment, authoriz- 
 ing the railroad commissioners to permit such 
 crossings when in their judgment the public inter- 
 est so requires. 
 
 THE LABOR BUREAU. 
 
 Three annual reports by the Bureau of Labor 
 Statistics have been laid before the public, and the 
 fourth will be submitted to you in due time. 
 Those who were most instrumental in the creation 
 of this bureau generally admit that it has not ful- 
 filled their expectations. Nearly every branch of 
 the labor movement has openly and decidedly 
 expressed dissatisfaction with its methods and its 
 results, and I am not aware that capitalists and
 
 16 GOVERNOR'S ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 employers have expressed any particular gratifica- 
 tion therewith. AVhat course shall be pursued 
 hi reference to this department, is a question that 
 challenges your careful and thoughtful delibera- 
 tion. 
 
 While it may be confessed that the investiga- 
 tions of the bureau have not been so thorough and 
 complete as to commend its conclusions to univer- 
 sal assent, it must be borne in mind that its reports 
 contain our only official statements on the subjects 
 of which they treat, and have been printed and 
 circulated by public authority. They are referred 
 to now, and will be referred to hereafter, by those 
 seeking information as to the social condition of 
 Massachusetts. They have been cited, and will 
 again be cited, in the debates of Congress upon 
 measures proposed for the protection and enlarge- 
 ment of our industries, as showing how the benefits 
 of such protection are distributed. If they give 
 a false or partial picture of the relations of labor 
 to capital in our Commonwealth, the remedy for 
 complaint on this head must be sought, not in dis- 
 continuing the investigation upon which we have 
 entered, but in lifting it to a higher and broader 
 level, making it more thorough, and conducting it 
 with larger aims.
 
 1873.] SENATE Xo. 1. 17 
 
 "Whether a laborer can accomplish as much in 
 one hour as he can in two, whether the machinery 
 in a well-managed factory can turn out as many 
 yards of cloth in eight hours as in ten these 
 problems the Massachusetts Yankee may safely 
 be left to solve for himself without official aid or 
 prompting. But we ought approximately to know, 
 for instance, how many grown persons there are in 
 the State, not prevented from labor by vice, indo- 
 lence or physical infirmity, who cannot procure 
 comfortable homes for themselves and their depen- 
 dents, fair education for their children, adequate 
 provision for sickness and old age, and sufficient 
 leisure for the comprehension and discharge of the 
 duties of citizenship. The incapacity to procure 
 this is poverty. We ought to know whether the 
 proportion of such persons is increasing or dimin- 
 ishing, whether our legislation hastens or can be 
 made to hasten the decrease or counteract the 
 increase. If there is carried on in the State any 
 business so unremunerative that it will not permit 
 the employers to pay those employed such wages 
 as are necessary to keep them from poverty, how- 
 ever desirable that business may be, it ought to 
 cease. And surely we ought to know, if it be pos- 
 sible to ascertain, whether there are really among
 
 18 GOVERNOR'S ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 us employers who are laying up great riches for 
 themselves by keeping their employes in a con- 
 dition of impoverished dependence. 
 
 In order to secure statistical information on 
 these and other related issues, different instrumen- 
 talities from those now in use will be required. A 
 schedule should be carefully prepared by the legis- 
 lature, with the aid of competent assistance, indi- 
 cating the facts desired from every city and town 
 in the Commonwealth. In the small towns these 
 facts might be gathered by the assessors; in the 
 larger towns under the direction and superinten- 
 dence of the selectmen ; and in the cities, by wards, 
 through appointees of the mayor and aldermen. 
 Special returns should also be required from all the 
 savings banks and such other institutions as can 
 throw light on the general inquiry. Statistics from 
 .a few scattered points or isolated establishments 
 will not suffice; they must be comprehensive, or 
 the conclusions founded on them will be valueless 
 and misleading. 
 
 There may be objections to the plan thus sug- 
 gested for solving the difficulty in which we now 
 find ourselves. If your honorable bodies will pre- 
 sent a better one I shall be most happy to join you 
 in its adoption. But in my judgment, neither the
 
 1873.] SENATE No. 1. 19 
 
 well-being of our people nor the good name of our 
 State will permit us to rest in non-action. The 
 relations of capital and labor, of employer and 
 employes, these are issues that will not down at 
 any man's bidding. The questions they present are 
 among the gravest and most vital of the time ; they 
 cannot be thrust aside ; they will be heard ; they 
 must be discussed; they justly insist upon a prac- 
 tical answer. 
 
 THE STATE PRISON. 
 
 By a Resolve of the last General Court the 
 Inspectors of the State Prison were required to 
 submit to you a special report concerning that 
 institution embodying facts, figures and opinions 
 as to the practicability of enlarging and improving 
 the buildings now occupied, and as to the policy 
 of selling the property in Charlestown and put- 
 ting up a new prison at another point. In obey- 
 ing this order of the legislature the inspectors 
 have incurred a slight necessary expense, for the 
 payment of which I cannot doubt you will cheer- 
 fully make provision. Their report is to be sub- 
 mitted at an early date. The question which it 
 will present for your consideration is one of great 
 importance, and I ask you to give to its deter-
 
 20 GOVERNOR'S ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 mination your best judgment and calmest fore- 
 thought. 
 
 Society rightfully demands the restraint and 
 correction of criminals. Its welfare is imperilled 
 by attempts to shield the violators of law from 
 merited doom. The certainty of punishment is 
 one of the guarantees of safety. But we by no 
 means discharge our full duty when we enact laws 
 for the punishment of offenders and provide a 
 place for their confinement. ICven in their worst 
 state they are men with necessities and possibili- 
 ties for which we must have regard. We are our- 
 selves guilty of inhumanity if we wilfully neglect 
 what is requisite to their health while restrained of 
 freedom. And we ought always to keep their 
 reformation before our minds as an object of 
 hope and purpose. As a means to the first of 
 these ends, we must have light, ventilation, good 
 drainage, and other conditions on which physical 
 vigor depends. As an essential to success in 
 reformatory endeavor, we must, in my judgment, 
 have a classification of prisoners and a graded 
 system of government. 
 
 Whether any reasonable expenditure on the 
 existing State Prison will make it such an institu- 
 tion as becomes this Commonwealth, is the ques-
 
 1873.] SENATE No. 1. 21 
 
 tion first to be considered. The inspectors, after 
 careful examination, are of the opinion that an 
 appropriation of not less than $150,000 will be 
 required for necessary changes and repairs. Con- 
 siderable improvements of one kind or another 
 might undoubtedly be made by a judicious use of 
 this amount. But the plan of the establishment 
 is so radically at fault, that its culinary affairs 
 must always be carried 011 at a great disadvantage. 
 The ventilation of the building is very imperfect, 
 and its deficiencies in this regard can be no more 
 than partially remedied. Moreover, the drainage 
 of the site is wholly inadequate, and the tide-water 
 rises to a point so nearly on a level with the floors 
 of the building, that it is impossible to secure the 
 necessary outflow. There is an alarming preva- 
 lence of pulmonary disease in the institution, and 
 the number of fatal cases of illness is much greater 
 than formerly. And the gravest objection of all 
 that may be urged against this building is, that no 
 proper classification of prisoners can be made with- 
 in its walls. The warden performs his difficult 
 duties with vigor and discretion, but the situation 
 is such that he can do only a small part of what 
 it is desired to accomplish. 
 
 The inspectors fix the value of the present prison
 
 22 GOVERNOR'S ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 property at about $800,000. They will submit a 
 plan, in general outline, for a new prison, with the 
 figures of an architect as to its probable cost. 
 From these data, with an allowance for land, de- 
 pending on quantity and location, a fair estimate 
 can be formed of the necessary expense that will 
 ensue upon a determination to abandon what we 
 now have and establish the prison elsewhere. 
 Figures, however, constitute but one of the ele- 
 ments in the problem to be solved, and the fact 
 that it will cost somewhat more to build on another 
 site than to enlarge and repair on the present, 
 cannot be a very weighty argument against the 
 proposed policy if the faults and deficiencies of the 
 existing prison are without remedy. 
 
 While of the opinion that the site now occupied 
 is unfit for the purpose, I still deem it advisable 
 that our State Prison should be located in the 
 neighborhood of our chief city, from which a ma- 
 jority of its inmates come. It should be placed in 
 a healthy situation, upon dry soil, where perfect 
 drainage will be possible, and, for the convenience 
 of officials and those humanely interested in the 
 welfare of prisoners, on the line of a good double- 
 track railroad. Connected with it should be 
 twenty-five or thirty acres of land, affording room
 
 1873.] SENATE No. 1. 23 
 
 for large and well-ventilated workshops, and fur- 
 nishing- out-door occupation for prisoners at such 
 times as health requires open-air exercise. Of 
 course the buildings should be of the most ap- 
 proved plan in every respect, with capacity equal 
 to probable future demands as well as those of the 
 present time. 
 
 In the Charlestown institution proper separation 
 of prisoners cannot possibly be made. The young 
 man of a single crime, for which the charitable 
 heart may perhaps find more or less extenuation, is 
 necessarily confined in immediate proximity to the 
 most hardened and hopeless criminals. All his 
 surroundings minister to evil tendencies; the as- 
 sociations of the corridor and workshop are con- 
 taminating; the very atmosphere he breathes 
 every day of his confinement is polluted. Thus 
 condemned to contact and fellowship with vice, his 
 mental and moral condition on leaving prison is 
 too often worse than when he entered. Surely the 
 Commonwealth cannot permit this state of affairs 
 to exist much longer. Enlightened men and women 
 on every side are satisfied that a work of reform 
 must be undertaken. The basis of reform lies hi 
 separation and classification. Those who have but 
 just entered on vicious courses must not be com-
 
 24 GOVERNOR'S ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 pelled to constant association with those who have 
 become veterans in crime. 
 
 "With the separation that might be secured in 
 planning and erecting a new prison, would come 
 the opportunity for a graded system of manage- 
 ment. In the highest grade might perhaps be 
 placed those guilty of but a single offence, as well 
 as those whose good conduct and purpose to 
 reform entitled them to recognition. In the lowest 
 grade would necessarily be habitual and hardened 
 offenders, whose evil passions must be kept in 
 check by stern and rigorous punishment. Be- 
 tween these two should be at least one interme- 
 diate grade, with a chance for promotion from the 
 lowest to the highest, and a certainty of degrada- 
 tion for cause from the highest to the lowest. To 
 those in the upper grade should be accorded com- 
 forts and privileges uniformly denied to those in 
 the lower grades, so that an incentive to good 
 conduct and genuine reformation would continu- 
 ally exist. Thus the majority of prisoners might 
 be inspired with the hope of bettering their condi- 
 tion in the prison; and the fact that, when they left 
 it by expiration of sentence, they were in the upper 
 grade, would be a recommendation to the com- 
 munity; while the fact that a released convict
 
 1873.] SENATE No. 1. 25 
 
 came from one of the lower grades, would lead the 
 public to be on its guard. 
 
 I deeply feel that some plan of this sort ought 
 to be adopted in the prison. I have sketched it 
 in the merest outline, but it would not be difficult 
 to complete the detail if we had a properly-built 
 institution. Whatever has been said of our prison 
 system in the past, it is very far from being what 
 our present stage of civilization demands. The 
 plan I have suggested has two specific ends in 
 view: it makes punishment a direct and obvious 
 sequence of conduct, and reformation materially 
 as well as spiritually desirable. I very well com- 
 prehend that no system can guarantee the complete 
 restoration of criminals to integrity, but good men 
 and women would have special encouragement to 
 help such as had tried to help themselves. From 
 the endeavor of the Commonwealth to temper 
 justice with mercy in its dealings with offenders 
 sincerely penitent, I trust would spring a new 
 purpose among our people generally, and thus 
 many of those who have entered criminal ways 
 might be saved to honor and usefulness.
 
 26 GOVERNOR'S ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 STATE CHARITIES. 
 
 Under authority given the Executive by chapter 
 68, Acts of 1872, the Nautical School has been dis- 
 continued. Such of the boys on the school ship as 
 the trustees thought it inexpedient to release on 
 probation, were from time to time, as arrangements 
 for their reception could be made, transferred to 
 the Reform School at Westborough, and early in 
 July the vessel was sold at public auction. The 
 sale of the property netted $12,753.73, which sum 
 was paid into the state treasury. 
 
 The State Almshouses at Monson and Bridge- 
 water were abolished by chapter 45, Acts of 1872. 
 The transfer of paupers to Tewksbury provided 
 for in that act has taken place, though under the 
 discretionary authority granted the Board of State 
 Charities, a few (less than fifty) yet remain at each 
 of the other points, those at Bridgewater being 
 mostly infant children of women convicts confined 
 there, and those at Monson being retained to assist 
 in the work of the Primary School establishment. 
 The number of paupers at Tewksbury is about 800, 
 of whom nearly two-fifths are insane or imbecile 
 persons. 
 
 Coupled with my recommendation to the Gen-
 
 1873.] SENATE No. 1. 27 
 
 eral Court of 1872, that the Xautical School be 
 abolished, was a suggestion that provision be made 
 at Bridgewater for the boys in that school, and 
 other boys of corresponding age who might be 
 found guilty of offences punishable by confine- 
 ment. This suggestion was not carried into effect 
 by your predecessors. In making it I had no de- 
 cided preference for the point named over others 
 that might have been selected, but was actuated 
 by a desire to get these lads into a secure place, 
 where they would be subjected to proper discipline 
 and might receive proper instruction, and espe- 
 cially where they could be kept employed in pur- 
 suits adapted to their years and circumstances. 
 
 I have serious doubts whether the objections to 
 the proposition thus submitted were of such gravity 
 as to warrant the removal of the school-ship boys 
 to "Westborough. The institution there was not in 
 a condition to furnish for them either adequate se- 
 curity or proper employment; and the effect of 
 bringing them into immediate contact with the 
 younger boys has been very prejudicial to the in- 
 terests of the latter. From what has already been 
 said, it will readily be inferred that I deem it im- 
 peratively necessaiy to the well-being of these 
 younger boys, who for the most part are ignorant
 
 28 GOVERNOR'S. ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 of criminal habits, that they should be kept free 
 from the contaminating influence of the older ones, 
 the majority of whom have made a definite ad- 
 vance in paths of vice. Moreover, while our first 
 aim with respect to those of from fifteen to 
 eighteen years of age, should, be to develop and 
 strengthen their mental and moral capabilities, 
 their physical powers cannot be either safely or 
 prudently neglected. They should have no idle 
 hours on their hands. A fair proportion of the day 
 having been given to study and recreation, the re- 
 mainder should be assiduously devoted to labor, 
 not chiefly for its profit, but because wisely-con- 
 ducted labor is in itself the best of reformatory 
 agencies. They should be instructed in trades, so 
 that when they are released from confinement an 
 honest living will be easy of attainment. The 
 Westborough institution has not the requisites 
 necessary to successful dealing with these boys, 
 nor can they be furnished there except at what I 
 regard as an impolitic expenditure of money. 
 
 I have given this and connected questions a 
 large degree of attention during the last six or 
 eight months, and now beg to recommend to your 
 honorable bodies the discontinuance of the estab- 
 lishment at Bridgewater, and the creation of a
 
 1873.] SENATE No. 1. 29 
 
 State Workhouse at some other point, in which 
 shall be confined criminal boys above the age of 
 fifteen or sixteen years, and the class of male con- 
 victs sent under existing laws to Bridgewater. No 
 new building will be required for this purpose. "We 
 have jails and workhouses enough in the Common- 
 wealth for the accommodation and proper clas- 
 sification of our entire body of minor offenders. 
 We simply need to utilize them to the best advan- 
 tage for the general welfare. Make provision so 
 that the State can take one of our county houses 
 of correction, transfer to it the hundred men now 
 at Bridgewater and about the same number of the 
 older and most vicious boys at Westborough, and 
 there are responsible business firms standing ready 
 to contract for the services of all these persons for 
 a term of years on satisfactory conditions. It 
 would be a benefit to the boys to associate them in 
 labor with those older than themselves, and, thus 
 employed for a portion of their tune, they would 
 become familiar with occupations from which to 
 make a respectable and comfortable livelihood 
 when restored to freedom. I ask your serious and 
 considerate investigation of this subject, in the 
 hope that your inquiries will lead you to conclu- 
 sions similar to those I have reached.
 
 30 GOVERNOR'S ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 Throughout the State are various private institu- 
 tions for the care of one or another class of the 
 friendless or unfortunate. Of late years there has 
 grown up a custom of granting aid to some of 
 them from the public treasury. In my judgment 
 this is an unwise policy. So far as I know, these 
 several institutions are doing good work in their 
 respective fields of voluntary labor. Certainly I 
 wish them abundant success in their merciful en- 
 deavors. But if any one of them is aided in its 
 mission by the State, the claim of some other one 
 is equally valid and pressing, and a continuance of 
 the policy will soon subject us to an enormous ex- 
 pense. To see the evil in which it results we have 
 but to look to some of our sister States. The leg- 
 islature of 1872 declined to grant any of these 
 outside appropriations, and I believe its course in 
 this respect was approved by the great body of our 
 people. 
 
 PRISON FOR WOMEN. 
 
 The Commonwealth has been somewhat agitated 
 for a year or two on the question of a separate prison 
 for women. I am in favor of such a prison. But 
 I fail to see that we ought to erect a new building 
 for it. Having advised the withdrawal of the male
 
 1873.] SENATE No. 1. 31 
 
 convicts from. Bridgewater, I recommend the con- 
 version of the state institution there into a woman's 
 prison, and in this recommendation the Prison Com- 
 mission will virtually concur. I grant that neither 
 for situation nor arrangement is the Bridgewater 
 building exactly what we want. But it is better 
 fitted for this than any other necessary use, and if 
 it is needful to make some slight changes in its 
 construction, even if it should be found advisable 
 to add a new wing, the expense would be small in 
 comparison with the cost of a new institution. 
 
 The estimated average of women convicts for the 
 year is about 650, distributed as follows : at the 
 state workhouse, 150; in houses of correction, 
 200; in the house of industry, 300. The aggre- 
 gate now under sentence is somewhat in excess 
 of this average, but still not beyond the capacity 
 of the Bridgewater establishment. With all our 
 female convicts confined there, suitable employment 
 could readily be provided, such classification as 
 might be deemed best could be made, and the broad- 
 est and most humanitarian reformatory principles 
 of prison discipline might be fairly tried. After 
 much conference with those who have the good of 
 fallen women at heart, I am satisfied the Common-
 
 32 GOVERNOR'S ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 wealth cannot do better than put the present state 
 workhouse building to the use I suggest. 
 
 COUNTY JAILS. 
 
 The Prison Commission will bring to your notice 
 a comprehensive plan for the improvement and 
 classification of the county jails and workhouses, 
 with some suggestions as to a change in our laws 
 and customs respecting the treatment of vagrants 
 and drunkards. Our present method of fine and 
 costs in dealing with drunkards, not only generally 
 fails of beneficial results to them, but in the case 
 of married men frequently subjects their unoffend- 
 ing families to privations of a serious character. 
 Should you be able to devise a scheme calculated to 
 reform those given to intemperance, with the mini- 
 mum of hardship to their dependents, you may an- 
 ticipate Executive approval therefor. Having al- 
 ready sufficiently indicated my views in favor of 
 classification, I have only to add that while some 
 of our jails are well adapted for their purposes, 
 others are little less than a disgrace to the Com- 
 monwealth. For the suggestions of the Commis- 
 sion I bespeak your candid attention.
 
 1873.] SENATE No. 1. 33 
 
 MILITAEY MATTERS. 
 
 The Governor and Council have not yet made 
 the camp-ground purchase authorized by an Act of 
 your predecessors. Several sites have been exam- 
 ined with such care as was necessary, but it is dif- 
 ficult to find one combining all the requisites 
 desired. There is a reasonable prospect, however, 
 that success will attend the effort to secure a suit- 
 able location. 
 
 During the year the Surgeon-General's office 
 has, without expense to the recipients, collected 
 $71,013 from the general government on the claims 
 of soldiers and their families for pensions, bounty, 
 back pay, prize money, etc., which is an excess of 
 $23,411 over the aggregate collected during the 
 previous year. The total amount of these claims 
 collected since the work began, about six years ago, 
 is $734,933. The manner in which the labors of 
 this office are performed, and the style in which its 
 recor<^ are kept, merit general commendation. 
 
 The work of the Adjutant- General's office is sub- 
 stantially up to date. The management of the 
 department is marked by efficiency and promptness. 
 The 'two thousand dollars appropriated last spring 
 to pay the expense of issuing soldiers' diplomas
 
 34 GOVERNOR'S ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 has been nearly expended, and since it was put at 
 the command of the Adjutant-General about 12,000 
 of these diplomas have been made and delivered. 
 The department will require no unusual appropria- 
 tion this year, except for a single clerk to aid in 
 completing this work of patriotic appreciation, and 
 I recommend that such provision be made at an 
 early day. 
 
 The condition of the active militia is about the 
 same as it was last year. The ordinary military 
 expenditure of the year has been $150,085. This 
 is about $16,000 less than that of 1871. The num- 
 ber of men in camp was 5,040, a slight falling off 
 from last year. The fifty thousand dollars appro- 
 priated two years ago for breech-loading arms, has 
 been expended, on the unanimous recommendation 
 of a board of officers appointed by my predecessor, 
 in the purchase of 2,941 Peabody Rifles, nearly 
 all of which have been transferred to the hands 
 of the militia. I recommend the repeal of chap- 
 ters 187 and 298 of the Acts of 1872. 
 
 Accompanied by members of my staff, who by 
 reason of actual service during the late war were 
 specially qualified to aid me, I made a careful in- 
 spection of the whole body of active militia at the 
 annual encampment. As each regiment and bat-
 
 1873.] SENATE No. 1. 35 
 
 talion went into camp by itself, an unusual sense of 
 responsibility for the character of the encampment 
 was felt. "With one exception, I heard nothing but 
 well-deserved praise bestowed upon the several 
 organizations for the bearing and sobriety of the 
 men. This was owing in no small degree to the 
 fact that peremptory orders were given by the gen- 
 eral officers against the introduction of intoxicating 
 liquors upon the camp grounds. However they 
 may differ as to the use of this article at other 
 times, they agree as to the necessity for banishing 
 everything of the kind from camp, if good conduct 
 and good discipline are expected of the entire 
 force. 
 
 The expense of our militia is more than double 
 that of most States for a like number of men, and 
 serviceable as the force proved at the time of the 
 Boston fire, and doubtless would prove on any other 
 occasion, its efficiency is not what it should be. 
 We maintain altogether too many organizations, 
 and too few of them are up to the proper standard. 
 "We annually expend a hundred thousand dollars 
 for encampments, that the men may be drilled and 
 taught the duties and obligations of soldiers ; but a 
 large proportion of those instructed this year were 
 neither in camp last year nor will be next year.
 
 36 GOVERNOR'S ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 The members of the companies come and go at 
 their own pleasure, and many elect to withdraw be- 
 fore they have fairly learned the soldier's first les- 
 son, so that it is scarcely an exaggeration to say that 
 we are continually at work on beginners. Half the 
 number of our present organizations, filled to the 
 maximum with good men, who could in some way 
 be retained for a moderately-long specific period, 
 would give us a militia twice as efiicient as we can 
 get under our present system. In this judgment 
 I do not doubt you will find large concurrence 
 among the best men connected with the service. 
 
 I beg you carefully to consider whether it would 
 not be well to provide for a three-years enlistment 
 and mustering of the men in the active militia. 
 "With discrimination on the part of mustering offi- 
 cers, and a proper spirit in the line and staff, those 
 who belonged to the service would feel a genuine 
 and commendable pride in their respective organi- 
 zations, and in a short tune we should have a body 
 of citizen soldiery of the very best quality. It is 
 advisable to require the forwarding of the enlist- 
 ment rolls of this force to the Adjutant-General's 
 office, so that you may have what you now have not, 
 a record at headquarters of the men actually in 
 the service.
 
 1873.] SENATE No. 1. 37 
 
 Whatever step you take as to the rank and file, 
 I cannot doubt the propriety of amending the mili- 
 tia law so as to provide brigade boards for the ex- 
 amination of all elective officers. These boards 
 might consist of three officers each, appointed by the 
 respective brigadier-generals, and no commission 
 should issue except on the certificate of the proper 
 board that the person therein named has been ex- 
 amined and found qualified for the position to which 
 he has been chosen. 
 
 THE LIQUOR LAW. 
 
 I should be gratified, as doubtless most of you 
 would be, to see the day when no further legisla- 
 tion was required in reference to the use and sale 
 of intoxicating liquors, when the laws on this 
 subject were such as to satisfy the great majority 
 of the good and sensible people of the Common- 
 wealth. While human nature remains what it is, 
 we cannot reasonably cherish the expectation of a 
 period when there will be no class in the State with 
 new theories and fresh discoveries upon this ques- 
 tion ; but I do hope for the time when the body ot 
 our citizens will feel that no more thought and 
 labor need be spent in perfecting the law. If you 
 can hasten this time by the exercise of your wisdom
 
 38 GOVERNOR'S ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 and foresight, you will deserve and receive the 
 gratitude of your constituents and coming genera- 
 tions. 
 
 Unquestionably there are some who incline to the 
 belief that a stringent license law, rigidly executed, 
 such a law as has recently been enacted in two 
 or three States of the Union, would correct the 
 evils we are trying to extirpate. But that law has 
 not yet shown any special efficacy in bringing 
 about the reform for which we are striving. More- 
 over, this Commonwealth has so declared for pro- 
 hibition, again and again, that we are not placed in 
 the least doubt as to the will of the people. For 
 my own part, I do not think any radical changes of 
 policy either necessary or advisable, and I have but 
 two or three modifications of the existing statute 
 to suggest. 
 
 This statute is founded on the principle that dis- 
 tilled spirits may be sold for medicinal and mechan- 
 ical purposes only, while the State, through its 
 agent, duly appointed and subject to rigid rules, 
 shall furnish a pure article at a reasonable price, to 
 those only who have been legally authorized to 
 keep a supply for the purposes specified. Regula- 
 tions as to the price at which liquors shall be fur- 
 nished, requiring all to bear the stamp of the State
 
 1873.] SENATE No. 1. 39 
 
 Assayer as a proof that the quality is up to the 
 legal standard, constitute a guarantee against fraud 
 and extortion, and a pledge that the Commonwealth 
 is ready to do what it can to protect the town and 
 city agents against imposition. I see no other 
 practicable way in which proper supervision can be 
 exercised. 
 
 But to the full success of this supervisory plan 
 it is essential that every local agent should pur- 
 chase from the state agent only. If three-fourths 
 of them are allowed to obtain their liquors where 
 they please, the guarantee as to quality is wholly 
 lost, while the state agency cannot be sustained 
 by the purchases of the other fourth. I see no 
 valid reason why apothecaries, if appointed to 
 local agencies, should not be subjected to the 
 restrictions laid upon other citizens so appointed; 
 and I therefore recommend a change of the law in 
 this regard, so that all town and city agents shall 
 be on an equal footing. 
 
 If under licenses to sell ale and beer, sales 
 could be confined to those articles, though in most 
 cases a thirst for stronger drinks would be created, 
 the evil resulting from such licenses would be 
 comparatively small. But the Chief Constable of 
 the Commonwealth expresses the opinion that at
 
 40 GOVERNOR'S ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 least nine-tenths of our beer-shops use their 
 licenses as a cover for the sale of distilled spirits. 
 A beer-shop, so called, has come to mean generally 
 a place where all kinds of intoxicating liquors are 
 furnished. And if we are to accept the evidence 
 of those who have had the most painful experience 
 of the miseries produced by these places, they are 
 among the greatest obstacles to the social and 
 moral progress of the community. The testimony 
 of criminals of every degree is, that they were 
 drawn by frequenting beer-houses into offences 
 and violations of law of which they might other- 
 wise have remained innocent. The wise and pru- 
 dent legislator will not cease his efforts for the 
 diminution of crime till every measure has been 
 adopted which experience proves needful. 
 
 I am convinced that a large majority of the legal 
 voters of the Commonwealth are opposed to the 
 open bar in any form or in any place; and if it 
 were possible to obtain the views of our women 
 on this important question, I doubt not that at 
 least four-fifths of them would promptly pronounce 
 in favor of the speedy closing up of all these dens 
 of vice and crime. And I commend the subject 
 to your reflection, confidently trusting you will 
 agree with me in the conclusion that the time has
 
 1873.] SENATE Xo. 1. 41 
 
 come when the legality of a beer and ale shop 
 should no longer be sustained by our statutes. 
 
 If the law in reference to the liquor traffic is not 
 enforced, the general impression seems to prevail 
 that the fault must be either in the Executive or 
 the police officer. It is easy and perhaps natural 
 to lay sins of omission in this regard at their doors. 
 
 But at a recent term of the court in one of our 
 counties, through the efforts of an officer, a com- 
 mon seller, one who had been found guilty three 
 or four tunes, was again brought to trial and con- 
 viction, and sentenced to a fine of ten dollars and 
 costs, which sum his clerk easily made in profits 
 on sales during the trial. In another county, a 
 party found guilty of the same offence was sen- 
 tenced to a fine of two hundred dollars and costs, 
 and imprisonment in the house of correction for 
 six months. This sentence made the violation 
 of the law not only unprofitable but decidedly 
 disagreeable. 
 
 In the one case the prosecuting officer and the 
 court evidently do not intend to accomplish either 
 of these results, and the work of the police officer 
 is so neutralized that though he pile his complaints 
 against offenders mountain high he has no reason- 
 able prospect of suppressing the traffic. In the
 
 42 GOVERNOR'S ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 other case the officers of the law are all laboring 
 for one result, and there your statute is a terror to 
 evil-doers, the officials believe in the rigid en- 
 forcement of the law, while juries and people are 
 in harmony with them and gladly second their 
 endeavors. With like action and sympathy in 
 every county, we should have similar results, with 
 a beneficial effect upon all classes of society. 
 
 My object in referring to these facts is not to 
 criticise the course of any tribunal, but rather to 
 impress upon your minds that the enforcement of 
 the liquor law, like that of every other law, depends 
 not upon the action of a particular officer alone, 
 but upon unity of action among all officials. If 
 the prosecuting officer is willing to shield the 
 criminal; if jurors or witnesses are lacking in 
 firmness or integrity; if the court, with its large 
 discretionary powers, looks out for the mildest 
 possible sentence, we have a condition of things 
 which not only prevents a fair enforcement of the 
 law, but actually invites its violation, in spite of 
 all effort that can be made by the police or the 
 Executive. 
 
 Nor should it be overlooked or forgotten that 
 the execution of this law is almost wholly required 
 at the hands of the state police. In contending
 
 1873.] SENATE No. 1. 43 
 
 with other forms of vice and crime they generally 
 receive the assistance and co-operation of the local 
 police, but when it comes to the treatment of 
 offences arising under the liquor law, I regret to 
 say that they not only rarely receive assistance 
 from the local force, but are too often hindered 
 and thwarted in their own labors. I am gratified 
 to believe that there is of late, in some sections at 
 least, a growth of higher public sentiment on this 
 matter, and I trust the day is quite near at hand 
 when all officers will be obliged to do their whole 
 duty with respect to every statute. 
 
 THE STATE POLICE. 
 
 Some three months ago, Major Edward J. Jones 
 tendered his resignation as Chief Constable of the 
 Commonwealth. His high executive ability, and 
 his long experience in the duties of the position, 
 made him an officer whom it was particularly 
 desirable to retain. But his health had become 
 impaired by the trials and perplexities of the 
 office, which are sufficient to tax to the utmost the 
 mental and physical powers of the strongest man, 
 and there seemed no alternative but to yield to the 
 necessities of the case and accept his resignation. 
 
 After a patient and careful investigation, Cap-
 
 44 GOVERNOR'S ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 tain George W. Boynton, who had been connected 
 with the force for several years, and had proved 
 himself a most efficient officer, was appointed to 
 the succession. We have good reason to believe 
 that he will discharge the duties of the post with 
 fidelity, resolution and active intelligence. 
 
 The report of the Police Commissioners will 
 show you that the force has been increased by an 
 addition of thirty men, in accordance with the 
 legislation of the last General Court. These have 
 been distributed in different sections of the State, 
 where the commissioners believed their services 
 would be most useful. 
 
 The value of the State Police, not alone in the 
 enforcement of a particular law, but in the pres- 
 ervation of good order and the suppression of 
 crime generally, has never been more heartily 
 appreciated than at the present time. Immediately 
 after the great fire in this city, nearly the whole 
 force was ordered here for duty, and the sendee it 
 then rendered is beyond computation in figures. 
 And I may add that in most parts of the State, 
 whenever there is a large gathering of the people, 
 enough members of the constabulary are present 
 to insure quiet and an observance of the laws. 
 
 While there may be a few exceptions, the force,
 
 1873.] SENATE No. 1. 45 
 
 as a whole, is believed to be a faithful and trust- 
 worthy body of men. "Whenever evidence is fur- 
 nished that any member, whether by reason of 
 character or inefficiency, is unfit for the position 
 he holds, a change will at once be made. The 
 principle governing in this matter is, that the 
 minister of the laws must neither violate them 
 himself, nor connive with those who are violators, 
 that the true test of the worth of a man in a 
 given position is what he accomplishes, and that 
 in this calling especially he must be judged by his 
 works. If he cannot stand by this judgment, then 
 he must give place to one who can. 
 
 Senators and Representatives : 
 
 By faithful devotion to business and reasonable 
 care of legislation, your immediate predecessors 
 acquitted themselves, at their regular session, in a 
 manner that met the general approval of the pub- 
 lic. But no other act of theirs gained for them 
 such universal commendation as the termination of 
 their labors at a date four or five weeks earlier 
 than the average of several previous years. If 
 your efforts in the official duties upon which you 
 are about to enter, are characterized by the energy 
 and diligence ordinarily displayed in private af-
 
 46 GOVERNOR'S ADDRESS. [Jan.'73. 
 
 fairs, so that the responsible trusts committed to 
 your hands are properly discharged, and the ses- 
 sion brought to a close a month sooner than that 
 of 1872, I am confident you will receive the 
 hearty and unanimous praise of your constituents.
 
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