LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 University of California. 
 
 'fYX-oUJi M'wU'. 'so-c 
 
 Class 
 
 
 
 
 
AN 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 COMMEMORATIVE OF THE 
 
 Organization of City Government 
 
 IN BOSTON, MAY 1, lS22. 
 
 DELIVERED AT THE REQUEST OF THE CITY COUNCIL, 
 
 ON SEPTEMBER 17, 1897, 
 
 BY 
 
 JOSIAH QUINCY, 
 
 MAYOR OF THE CITY. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 MUNICIPAL PRINTING OFFICE, 
 1897. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2007 with funding from 
 
 IVIicrosoft Corporation 
 
 http://www.archive.org7details/addresscommemora00quinrich 
 
AN 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 COMMEMORATIVE OF THE 
 
 Organization of City Government 
 
 IN BOSTON, MAY 1, 1822. 
 
 DELIVERED AT THE REQUEST OF THE CITY COUNCIL, 
 
 ON SEPTEMBER 17, 1897, 
 
 BY 
 
 JOSIAH 9UINCY, 
 
 MAYOR OF THE CITY. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 MUNICIPAL PRINTING OFFICE 
 1897. 
 
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In Common Council, April 8, 1897. 
 
 Mr. SANDS of Ward 12 offered an order — That a joint spe- 
 cial committee, to consist of the President and five members of 
 the Common Council, and the Chairman and such as the Board of 
 Aldermen may join, be appointed to confer with His Honor the 
 Mayor in regard to a proper observance of May 1, 1897, said 
 date being the seventy-fifth anniversary of the organization of 
 the City Government, under charter granted Feb. 23, 1822, and 
 adopted March 4, 1822. 
 
 Passed. Sent up for concurrence. In Board of Aldermen, 
 April 12, 1897, Concurred. 
 
 Aldermen Dyar, W. F. Donovan and Lott were appointed on 
 said committee. 
 
 In Common Council, April 15, 1897. 
 
 The President announced the appointment of members on the 
 part of the Council, on the committee on seventy-fifth anniver- 
 sary of Organization of Boston City Government, viz. : Messrs. 
 Conry of Ward 2, Sands of Ward 12, Mahoney of Ward 4, 
 Briggs of Ward 11, Connolly of Ward 17, and Jones of 
 Ward 21. 
 
 In Common Council, June 24, 1897. 
 
 Mr. SANDS of Ward 12 submitted the.following : — 
 
 The joint special committee on the observance of the seventy- 
 fifth anniversary of the Boston City Government submit the fol- 
 lowing report of their action to date. Memorial exercises will be 
 held in the Council Chamber, Sept. 17, 1897, before the mem- 
 bers of the government and invited guests, the address to be 
 delivered by His Honor the Mayor. An historical volume, em- 
 bodying this address and collateral facts concerning our munici- 
 pality is to be issued, and to prepare and publish this document, 
 the committee ask for an extension of time, and the passage of 
 the accompanying order : 
 
 Ordered, That the Clerk of Committees, under the direction 
 of the Committee on Printing, prepare and publish 2,500 copies 
 of a memorial to commemorate the seventy-fifth anniversary of 
 the Boston City Government, and that $1,000 be appropriated 
 and charged to City Council Incidental Expenses. 
 
 Report accepted, order passed. Sent up for concurrence. In 
 Board of Aldermen, June 30, 1897, Concurred. Approved by the 
 Mayor, July 2, 1897. 
 
 117620 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 In accordance with the foregoing votes a meeting was held in 
 the Common-Council Chamber on Friday, Sept. 17, 1897, at four 
 o'clock. 
 
 Of the former maj^ors present were, the Hon. Frederic W. Lin- 
 coln, the senior, who served the city in 1858, 1859, 1860, 1863, 
 1864, 1865, 1866, seven years in all; the Hon. Samuel A. Green, 
 1882, who was the presiding officer of the day ; the Hon Thomas 
 N. Hart, 1889 and 1890, who entered the chamber with Mayor 
 Quincy, and was accompanied by Alderman William F. Donovan 
 of the committee of arrangements, and Alderman David F. Barry, 
 all of whom had seats on the President's platform. 
 
 In their immediate front, for whom seats were reserved, were 
 the following : — 
 
 Former Chairmen of the Board of Aldermen, Benjamin James, 
 1869; Homer Rogers, 1889, and Alpheus Sanford, 1894-95. 
 Former Aldermen John M. Clark, who comes next to former 
 Alderman James in point of seniority ; Benjamin F. Anthony, 
 1882-83 ; Asa H. Caton, 1880 ; George L. Thorndike, 1880 ; 
 Charles M. Bromwich, 1886-87; Thomas H. Devlin, 1883; 
 Charles W. Smith, 1887-88-89-90 ; Sidney Cushing, 1890 ; Clar- 
 ence W. Hallstram, 1893-94; Nathaniel J. Rust, 1891-92; 
 WiUiam Pope, 1875-76. 
 
 President of the Common Council, Joseph A. Conry, 1895-96. 
 Former Presidents Joseph Story, 1855 and 1856 ; William G. 
 Harris, 1869 ; Matthias Rich, 1871 ; M. F. Dickinson, Jr., 1872 ; 
 Edward J. Jenkins, 1885-86, and Christopher F. O'Brien, 
 1894-95. 
 
 Former Councilmen Patrick E. Riddle, 1885, 1893-94-95-96 ; 
 M. W. Norris, 1888-89-90-91-92-94-95; M. T. Callahan, 
 1892-93-94-95-96, and Daniel D. Rourke, 1893-94. 
 
 Introduction by Hon. Samuel A. Green. 
 
 The formal proceedings were commenced by Hon. Samuel A. 
 Green, ex-Mayor of the city, who had been selected to preside, 
 and who introduced the orator of the day, Hon. Josiah Quincy, 
 in the following words : — 
 
ADDRESS 
 
 BY 
 
 EX-MAYOR SAMUEL A. GREEN. 
 
 It is an interesting occasion that brings us together this 
 afternoon. Three quarters of a century have come and 
 gone since the town of Boston laid aside its limited powers 
 and privileges, and took on the larger duties and obligations 
 which were granted by a city charter. In accordance with 
 a custom long established in our community, it seems emi- 
 nently fit that an event, so fraught with great and bene- 
 ficial results, should be marked in some way out of the 
 common course and made conspicuous by a formal recog- 
 nition. For such a celebration, what day in the whole 
 year is so proper, as the anniversary of the passage of the 
 order by the Court of Assistants, on September 17, two 
 hundred and sixty-seven years ago, that Tri-mountaine 
 should be called Boston. By a happy coincidence the day 
 is also the anniversary of another memorable event of more 
 recent times which should not to be overlooked on this oc- 
 casion. On September 17, one hundred and ten years ago, 
 the Constitution of the United States was adopted and 
 signed in convention, thus adding other traditions and asso- 
 ciations to the date which is considered the birthday of our 
 beloved city. 
 
 Among all civilized communities mankind delights in an- 
 niversaries, and rejoices in found periods of recorded time ; 
 and the fact crops out in political as well as ecclesiastical 
 history. This feeling is prompted by a delicate sentiment 
 of our nature, which goes back so far that the mind cannot 
 follow it. The commemoration of to-day is in harmony with 
 these views, and is suggested by an instinct as broad as 
 human nature itself. 
 
8 Seventy-Fifth Anniyersary of Boston. 
 
 It is my pleasant duty this afternoon to introduce the 
 speaker of the day ; and I take the opportunity now to con- 
 gratulate the citizens of Boston on having a public servant 
 so able to describe the organic changes that have taken place 
 in the municipal government during these seventy-five years, 
 and so competent to trace the evolution of events as they have 
 gradually unfolded themselves. I also felicitate the citizens 
 of Boston on having a Mayor who from two distinguished an- 
 cestors has inherited the traditions of the office, and who is 
 so familiar with the story of its political development. I 
 doubt if ever it has fallen to the lot of any other municipal- 
 ity in the land, within a period of three-quarters of a century, 
 to have the mayoral office filled by three lineal descendants of 
 one family, and each of them bearing the same name. 
 
 It may seem needless to introduce a gentleman so well- 
 known as the speaker who will address us this afternoon, but 
 as matter of mere form I will present to the audience His 
 Honor Mayor Quincy. 
 
ADDRESS 
 
 BY 
 
 JOSIAH OUINCY, MAYOR. 
 
 Mr. Chairman and G-entlemen of the City Council : 
 
 It has been thought appropriate that the city of Boston 
 shoukl observe in some simple manner the completion of the 
 first three-quarters of a century of its corporate existence. 
 The first city government Avas inaugurated on May 1, 1822 ; 
 as the present exercises could not be arranged for that 
 date, they were postponed until to-day, the two hundred and 
 sixty-seventh anniversary of the original establishment of the 
 town of Boston. It was felt that the occurrence of this 
 seventy-fifth anniversary, coming so near the close of the 
 nineteenth century, and at a time of transition in municipal 
 affairs, when our city is just entering, in many respects, 
 upon a new period in its development, might well serve as 
 an occasion for taking a brief survey of the past, for endeav- 
 oring to realize more fully just what the constitution of our 
 government is at present, and for considering some of the 
 lines upon which farther improvements are to be sought. 
 
 The year 1897 has been, or will be during its remaining 
 months, marked by events which may well serve to make it 
 a conspicuous milestone on the pathway of our municipal 
 progress. 
 
 Changes in City Government. 
 
 Perhaps first of all, — particularly as one of the moving 
 causes for the holding of these exercises, — should be men- 
 tioned the passage by the Legislature of the act for the 
 consolidation into one chamber of the Board of Aldermen 
 and the Common Council, which is to be submitted for the 
 
10 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 
 
 acceptance of the voters at the coming state election. If 
 they ratify the work of the General Court, the two branches 
 established by the charter of 1822 will, at the close of an 
 existence of three-quarters of a century, disappear as separate 
 bodies from our city government. 
 
 Great Public Works. 
 In the line of great public works, the present year has 
 seen the opening for travel of the first section of the subway, 
 the greatest piece of engineering work ever undertaken by 
 our city within its own limits, and only to be compared in 
 magnitude with our water works ; the beginning of the con- 
 struction of the new Southern Union Station, the largest 
 single enterprise ever undertaken by a private corporation 
 within this city, destined to be one of the finest railroad 
 passenger terminals in the whole world ; the abolition of all 
 railroad grade-crossings of the Providence main-line, within 
 the city, and the beginning of the abolition of those between 
 Charlestown and Cambridge, and Charlestown and Somer- 
 ville, — improvements which have baffled the efforts of the 
 ablest engineers for forty years ; the combination of our 
 great surface railway system with the projected elevated 
 railway system, thus assuring the completion of the latter; 
 and the opening of work upon the new Columbia Road, 
 uniting the Marine Park with Franklm Park, which will 
 practically finish our park system by completing the chain 
 of Parkways, over nine miles in length, connecting the 
 Public Garden with Castle Island. 
 
 The present year has seen the partial construction of the 
 new bridge to Charlestown, and the beginning of plans for 
 the new bridge to Cambridge to replace the two main bridge- 
 connections of the city, which date back to the last cen- 
 tury. It has seen legislative provision for the building of a 
 tunnel to East Boston ; the construction of the first section 
 of the pneumatic system for the transportation of mail matter 
 
City Government of Boston. 11 
 
 and light packages, and the laying of the first section of 
 pipe-line for the use of salt water in the extinguishment of 
 fire. The end of the year will see the acquisition by the 
 Metropolitan Water Commission, acting under authority of the 
 Commonwealth, of all of the great water supply system of 
 the city, and probably the introduction of the water of the 
 Nashua river. This year will also see the inauguration and 
 partial completion of a public undertaking of great import- 
 ance, namely, the laying out of a widened thoroughfare 
 for teaming through the business district, extending from 
 Charlestown street to Atlantic avenue, upon which the last 
 Legislature authorized the city to expend half a million dol- 
 lars. The abolition of the grade crossing of the Old Colony 
 railroad and Dorchester avenue has also been finally provided 
 for this year, by legislation securing the relocation of the 
 tracks for a distance of over half a mile ; and in connection 
 with this plan our Park Commission has already acquired the 
 stretch of marsh and shore adjacent to this railroad on the 
 Old Harbor, thereby bringing nearly the whole of two and 
 one-half miles of important water front under public owner- 
 ship. The widening of Charlestown street, to serve as an 
 approach to the new bridge to Charlestown, at an estimated 
 expense of half a million dollars, must also be included in 
 the list of important public undertakings of the year. 
 
 Progress in Works for Public Health. 
 
 In other lines of municipal activity, which signalize the 
 present year , may be mentioned the inauguration of a com- 
 prehensive policy of providing local playgrounds, the city 
 having acquired this year and last year, and partially 
 improved, seven different parcels of land for this purpose ; 
 the opening of our first public in-door gymnasium, acquired 
 by gift, and now conducted by the city under express 
 autliority of the Legislature ; the passage of an act revolu- 
 tionizing the financial basis upon which our sewerage and 
 drainage works are constructed and operated, and the 
 
12 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 
 
 opening of our first municipal bath-house for all-the-y ear- 
 around use, probably the best appointed and most costly 
 building yet erected for the purpose hj any American city. 
 
 Printing and Electric Plants. 
 The present year has also seen the establishment of a 
 municipal printing plant, the first to be put in operation by 
 any city in this country; and the installation by the city of 
 its first isolated electric lighting plant, at a cost of fifty 
 thousand dollars. 
 
 Harbor Improvements and Fortifications. 
 To turn to activities of the federal government affecting 
 Boston, this year has seen, or will see during its remaining 
 months, the completion of important harbor fortifications, for 
 the first time affording reasonable protection to the city 
 against modern ships of war, and the beginning of the 
 important work (for which provision has now been made by 
 Congress) of deepening the channel of our harbor to provide 
 properly for modern shipping. In connection with the har- 
 bor, the passage of important State legislation inaugurating 
 to some extent the policy of public ownership of the unim- 
 proved water front, and providmg for the construction of a 
 modern dock upon the land of the Commonwealth at South 
 Boston calls for particular mention. 
 
 Humanitarian Changes in Public Institutions. 
 
 In respect to the internal organization of our city govern- 
 ment, the separation of the Institutions Department into five 
 new departments, placmg Boston in advance of all other 
 American cities in the scientific organization and specializa- 
 tion of penal, charitable and reformatory work, is the most 
 notable event of the year. The creation of a department 
 of Municipal Statistics, the first to be established in this 
 
City Government of Boston. 13 
 
 country, again places our city in the lead in the inauguration 
 of a new branch of service, which has proved of great value 
 abroad and will doubtless become of equal utility here. 
 
 Opening of a New Municipal Period. 
 
 Certainly the aggregation of these results amply justifies 
 the statement that this year 1897 may well serve to mark 
 the close of one period and the beginning of another in the 
 municipal history of Boston. They indicate veiy clearly 
 that this city, having now exceeded the half-million mark 
 in population, may truthfully be said to have entered upon 
 its metropolitan era. We have turned our backs at last upon 
 the three-quarters of a century which lie behind us, and are 
 looking forward to the great municipal career which the 
 next quarter of a century should have in store for us. 
 Beginning in 1822 as a small provincial city, surrounded by 
 towns of comparatively little population, the Boston of to- 
 day finds herself occupying no mean rank among the great 
 cities of the world, and encircled by a chain of twenty-eight 
 cities and towns which bring the total inhabitants of the city 
 and immediate suburbs nearly to the million mark. Indica- 
 tions can be seen on every hand that our city has entered 
 upon a new era of municipal development, of extension and 
 improvement of municipal service, and is preparing herself for 
 the new and added responsibilities which the twentieth century 
 will bring to a great urban community. 
 
 Attempts at Incorporation. 
 
 Like other old towns, Boston had never been specially 
 incorporated by act of the General Court ; it was merely recog- 
 nized as a self-constituted local body politic. As early as the 
 seventeenth century efforts had been made to secure an act 
 of incorporation, but these had come to nothmg. There were 
 no less than four reports made by committees of the town in 
 
14 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 
 
 favor of the adoption of a city charter prior to that report 
 of 1821 which resulted in securing it. These four attempts 
 were made in the years 1784, 1792, 1804 and 1815. 
 
 The committee of 1784, which included Samuel Adams 
 and James Sullivan, submitted two plans. It is a some- 
 what curious coincidence that the first plan proposed by this 
 committee provided for a city government, acting for some 
 purposes as a single chamber, consisting of thirty-eight mem- 
 bers, the exact number provided for by the act of the present 
 year, while the second plan proposed a single body elected 
 one-third at large and two-thirds by wards, the same basis of 
 election now proposed. Both of these plans were over- 
 whelmingly rejected. The committee of 1792 included John 
 Quincy Adams, Charles Bulfinch, James Sullivan and other 
 well known men. They proposed a Town Council of twenty- 
 seven members, the nine Selectmen to be chosen at large, 
 and the remaining eighteen members to be elected in the nine 
 wards which it was proposed to establish. This plan also was 
 rejected after full consideration. In 1804 the town took the 
 interesting step of ordering what was called a constitutional 
 convention, the members of whicli were chosen by wards, that 
 system of voting having been introduced in 1799. Under 
 the plan proposed by this body the town meeting was retained, 
 but shorn of its powers ; it was also recommended in the 
 report " that suitable measures be taken to render the town 
 of Boston a county," vesting the executive powers of the 
 Court of Quarter-Sessions in the proposed Town Council. 
 In 1815 another large and influential committee proposed a 
 somewhat complicated modification of the plan of 1804. The 
 report of 1815, in spite of the complications of the proposed 
 scheme of government, came much nearer success than any 
 preceding efforts, only failing of adoption by a vote of 
 951 opposed as against 920 in favor; an indication that 
 the town was at last nearly ready to seek incorporation as 
 a city. 
 
City Government of Boston. 15 
 
 City Charter Adopted. 
 
 In view of the fact that the Constitution of Massachusetts 
 , as it then stood made no express provision for the incorpora- 
 tion of cities, the constitutional convention of 1820 thought 
 it proper to submit to the people of the state what is now 
 the Second Amendment, providing that the General Court 
 could incorporate as cities towns containing upward of 
 12,000 inhabitants. This amendment was adopted by a 
 small majority, and shortly afterward the town appointed a 
 final committee, which included John Phillips, then Presi- 
 dent of the Senate and afterwards first Mayor of the city ; 
 Josiah Quincy, then Speaker of the House of Representa- 
 tives and afterwards the second Mayor ; Lemuel Shaw, later 
 Chief Justice of the Commonwealth, and Daniel Webster. 
 This committee submitted its report on Dec. 31, 1821, which, 
 after it had been debated three days, and amended in several 
 important respects, was submitted to popular vote on Jan. 7, 
 1822. Upon the question whether Boston should be a sep- 
 arate county, which was submitted separately, the vote was 
 almost unanimous in the affirmative, while the plan for 
 changing the town into a city was adopted by a vote of 2,805 
 yeas to 2,006 nays. This was promptly followed by the pas- 
 sage by the General Court of the act of incorporation, ap- 
 proved by the Governor on Feb. 23, 1822 ; and on 
 March 4 the act was accepted by the town by a vote of 
 2,797 yeas to 1,881 nays. 
 
 r When the town government ended one hundred and twelve 
 officers were chosen annually in town meeting, in addition to 
 those appointed by the Selectmen ; and moreover each ward 
 elected one member of the Board of Health, two Assessors 
 of Taxes, and a ward clerk. ^ Under the new city charter 
 the voters of the whole city were to choose only one Mayor 
 and eight Aldermen-at-large, while the voters of each of the 
 twelve wards were also to choose four Councilmen, one 
 
16 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 
 
 member of the School Committee, one Overseer of the Poor, 
 not less than three Fh-ewards, and the Ward Officers. All 
 other necessary officers were to be chosen by the City Council 
 or b}^ the Mayor and Aldermen. The finances of the city 
 and county were united under a single Treasurer. The ordi- 
 nances were no longer subject to the disapproval of the county 
 court, though the General Court reserved the right to annul 
 any which did not meet with its approval. 
 
 The original act of incorporation, being chapter 110 of 
 the Acts of the year 1821, entitled "An Act Establishmg 
 the City of Boston," although revised by chapter 448 of the 
 Acts of 1854, entitled "An Act to Revise the Charter of 
 the City of Boston," and modified in many respects by other 
 legislation since that date, still stands unrepealed upon the 
 statute book. 
 
 Reasons for Incorporation. 
 
 In deciding to adopt a city form of government, to replace 
 that of the town which had lasted for nearly two centuries, the 
 people of Boston had two important objects in view. In the 
 first place, they felt that the time had come when the growth 
 of the town, containing in 1820 over 43,000 inhabitants, 
 made the change from direct government to representative 
 government a practical necessity. Pure democracy had been 
 outgrown and representative democracy had to take its place. 
 Under the town the people themselves constituted the gov- 
 ernment; the Selectmen were not a government in any 
 proper sense. They were a committee appointed by the 
 town for certain purposes, rather than officers of independ- 
 ent powers during a certain term of office, and until 1776 
 they acted as a committee and not as a board. They were 
 subject at any time to instructions from the town meet- 
 ing, and thus were agents, not governing officials. But the 
 voters of the town had become too numerous longer to 
 exercise directly the powers of municipal government. At 
 
City Government of Boston. 17 
 
 the town meeting held on Jan. 6, 1822, to act upon the 
 report of the committee which had been appointed to draft the 
 charter, over 4,800 votes were cast. As early as 1799 it had 
 been found necessary to establish ward elections for certain 
 purposes. In 1813 a sort of town council had been instituted 
 by vesting the choice of the City Treasurer and Collectors 
 of Taxes in a body of thirty-three members, consisting of 
 the nme Selectmen, the members of the Board of Health and 
 the twelve Overseers of the Poor ; and this body also acted 
 as a committee on finance. 
 
 Objection to County Court Control. 
 But there was another potent reason, not generally as well 
 understood, which was also largely instrumental in bringing 
 about the change in the form of government. Suffolk County 
 had been established in 1643, and had been given a county 
 court, which had jurisdiction over some matters closely con- 
 nected with the town of Boston, and which was for certain 
 purposes an executive body superior to the Selectmen. 
 Suffolk embraced at that time a large territory outside of 
 Boston, including Roxbury, Dorchester, the whole of what 
 is now Norfolk County and a good part of Worcester County. 
 The County Court met but four times a year, from which it 
 derived the name of the Court of Quarter-Sessions. Besides 
 the authority previously exercised, the General Court pro- 
 vided in 1692, the first year of the Provincial Government, 
 that all orders and by-laws of towns should be approved by 
 the justices in Quarter Sessions before they should become 
 operative. This law remained in force until 1822, and the 
 last edition of "The By-Laws and Orders of the Town of 
 Boston," issued m 1818, carried on its title-page the state- 
 ment that they were "Duly Approved by the Court of 
 Quarter Sessions." 
 
 The people of Boston early became restive under this ar- 
 rangement, and fully appreciated the advantages which would 
 
^ 
 
 v^ 
 
 18 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 
 
 accrue to them if the town could be made a county by itself, 
 relieved of the supervision and direction of justices ap- 
 pointed by the Governor for a large county, of which Boston 
 territorially only formed a very small part. As early as 1650, 
 seven years after the establishment of Suffolk County, the 
 town petitioned the General Court to be made into a separate 
 county, a petition repeated in 1677, but both times without 
 result. In 1708 the selectmen complained to the town 
 that one great reason why the orders and by-laws of the 
 town were not better executed was " the want of a proper 
 head or town officer or officers empowered for that purpose, 
 the law having put the execution of town orders into the 
 hands of the justices only, who are not town but county offi- 
 cers." They proposed as a remedy that a charter of in- 
 corporation should be drawn up, but when this had been 
 prepared it was rejected by the town meeting. In 1793 
 Norfolk County was established and Suffolk County was 
 reduced to Boston and Chelsea. The county was thus 
 reduced territorially nearly to the limits of the town ; but this 
 by no means removed the objections to the exercise of execu- 
 tive powers by the county justices. They exercised, beside 
 the veto power over town by-laws, the powers of granting 
 liquor licenses, of assessing county taxes, of discontinuing 
 highways, of locating distilleries, potteries and slaughter- 
 houses, and of appointing certain local officers. 
 
 Y Down to 1807 the Court of Quarter-Sessions consisted of V 
 all the justices of the peace of the county, many of whom 
 
 ' were laymen. In that year the court was made to consist of 
 a Chief Justice and four associates. A Municipal Court had 
 been established in 1800, particularly for the punishment of 
 violations of town by-laws. Besides the Court of Quar- 
 ter-Sessions and the Municipal Court there was a Court 
 of Common Pleas, which was called the Town Court. 
 The result was that the administration of justice was 
 complicated and defective; the final committee report, 
 
City Government of Boston. 19 
 
 which resulted in the adoption of the city charter, pre- 
 sented Dec. 10, 1821, declared that "the present mode 
 of administering justice in the first stages is attended 
 with many and growing abuses ; and though they have 
 already attained to a very considerable extent, they 
 must, unless prevented by an entire change in the system, 
 produce eventually the most mischievous and immoral con- 
 sequences." It was felt that a reorganization of the local 
 courts could only be secured in connection with a change in 
 the form of municipal government; and it was therefore 
 partly for the object of securing a better administration of 
 justice, and of obtauiing relief from the exercise of executive 
 and supervisory powers by the Court of Quarter-Sessions, 
 that the city charter was adopted. The benefits to Boston 
 of practically being a county by itself, and of having the 
 county and city governments administered by the same 
 authorities, have been very decided. 
 
 Chakter of 1822. 
 Under the charter of 1822, while it was declared that 
 the Mayor should be "taken and deemed to be the chief 
 executive officer" of the municipal corporation, and that it 
 should be his duty " to be vigilant and active at all times in 
 causing the laws for the government of the city to be en- 
 forced," in reality he was given practically no executive 
 powers except in common with the Board of Aldermen. The 
 executive and legislative powers were absolutely commingled, 
 except that the lower branch of the City Council was not 
 supposed to have > — although this was not strictly true in 
 fact — any executive functions; the Board of Aldermen 
 had a double character, being, in one aspect, one branch of 
 a two-chambered council in which the legislative power was 
 lodged, and, in another aspect, an executive body. 
 
 The enumerated powers of the Mayor under the original 
 charter (and he had no others except in the capacity of a 
 
20 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 
 
 ninth member of the Board of Aldermen) were merely to 
 preside, if present, at the meetings of the Mayor and Alder- 
 men; to summon meetings of the City Council, or of either 
 branch ; and to communicate information and to recommend 
 measures from time to time to the City Council. Where 
 appointments were directed to be made by the Mayor and 
 Aldermen, the Mayor had, to be sure, the exclusive power of 
 nomination ; but he had no power of making an appoints 
 ment, either temporarily or permanently, independent of the 
 board, and he had no power whatever of removal. 
 
 The charter declared in its first section that " the adminis- 
 tration of all the fiscal, prudential and municipal concerns of 
 said city, with the conduct and government thereof," should 
 be vested in a Mayor, a Board of Aldermen and a Common 
 Council. The Mayor and Aldermen were given " the admin- 
 istration of police, together with the executive powers of the 
 said corporation generally, together also with all the powers 
 heretofore vested in the Selectmen of the town of Boston, 
 either by the general laws of this Commonwealth, by par- 
 ticular laws relative to the powers and duti^ of said Select- 
 men, or by usages, votes or by-laws of said town." They 
 were also given the power of granting licenses to inn-holders 
 and victuallers, as well as for theatrical exhibitions and public 
 shows, and were further charged with the duty of making up 
 the lists of voters. 
 
 In the City Council, acting by concurrent vote of the two 
 branches, were vested "all other powers now hy law vested in 
 the town of Boston, or in the inhabitants thereof as a 
 municipal corporation." The City Council was also ex- 
 pressly given the power "to make all such needful and 
 salutary by-laws as towns by the laws of this Commonwealth 
 have power to make and establish," " to lay and assess taxes 
 for all purposes for which towns are by law required or 
 authorized to assess and grant money," "to provide for 
 
City Government of Boston. 21 
 
 the assessment and collection of such taxes, and to 
 make appropriations of all public moneys and provide for 
 the disbursement thereof, and take suitable measures to 
 ensure a just and prompt account thereof." It was further 
 authorized either to elect assessors or to provide for the 
 appointment or election of the same in some other manner, and 
 to provide '* for the appointment or election of all necessary 
 officers for the good government of the city not otherwise 
 provided for, to prescribe their duties and fix their com- 
 pensation." The City Council was further given "the care 
 and superintendence of the public buildings, and the care, 
 custody and management of all the property of the city, 
 with power to lease or sell the same (except the Common 
 and Faneuil Hall), with power also to purchase property, real 
 and personal, in the name and for the use of the city." All 
 the powers of the Board of Health, which had been estab- 
 lished in 1799, were also, most unfortunately, vested in the 
 City Council, " to be carried into execution by the appoint- 
 ment of Health Commissioners, or in some other proper 
 manner." It was also expressly provided that the City 
 Treasurer and City Clerk should be elected annually by the 
 two branches of the City Council in joint convention. 
 
 Division of Powers. 
 
 To sum up, most of the legislative powers were exercised 
 by the two branches of the City Council concurrently, but 
 some by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen alone ; most of 
 the executive powers were exercised by the Mayor and Alder- 
 men alone, but some were shared with the Common Coimcil. 
 In a general way, the Mayor was the successor of the Chair- 
 man of the Board of Selectmen ; the Mayor and Aldermen 
 together were the successors of the Selectmen, the number 
 of Aldermen being retained at eight, which with the Mayor 
 made nine, the number of the Selectmen under the town ; 
 and the City Council was the successor of the town meeting, 
 
22 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 
 
 though its powers in respect to the control of the executive 
 officers were much more limited. Although it was provided 
 in the charter that " all boards and officers acting under the 
 authority of the said corporation, and entrusted with the 
 expenditure of public money, shall be accountable therefor 
 to the City Council, in such manner as they may direct," 
 there does not seem to have been any manner in which that 
 body could hold to any effective responsibility either the 
 officers elected by the people, or those chosen by the Mayor 
 and Aldermen. 
 
 There were certain exceptions to the vesting of all the 
 powers of the municipality in the Mayor and Aldermen and in 
 the City Council. The election of one Overseer of the Poor 
 from each ward, which had been established under the town, 
 was continued, and the Board of Overseers was to exercise 
 the same powers which it had enjoyed under the town. A 
 School Committee was also constituted, to consist of one 
 person elected by the voters in each of the twelve wards, 
 joined to the Mayor and Aldermen, making a body of 
 twenty-one, who were to have " the care and superintendence 
 of the public schools." The election of not less than three 
 Firewards in each ward was also continued, who were to con- 
 stitute the Board of Firewards and to have the powers for- 
 merly exercised by the firewards of the town. 
 
 Under the Constitution of the Commonwealth, as it then 
 stood, a majority vote was required for the election of all 
 state officers, successive ballotings being held, if necessary, 
 until some candidate secured such majority. This rule was 
 applied by the first charter to the choice of the Mayor, 
 Aldermen and Common Councilmen. 
 
 The charter also provided, as a sort of shadow of the town 
 meeting, that " general meetings of the citizens qualified to 
 vote in city affairs may, from time to time, be held to consult 
 upon the common good, to give instructions to their repre- 
 sentatives, and to take all lawful measures to obtam a 
 
City Government of Boston. 23 
 
 redress of any grievances ; " and it required that such meetings 
 should be duly warned by the Mayor and Aldermen upon 
 the requisition of fifty qualified voters of the city. The 
 instructions, however, were not binding, and no practical 
 good came of this attempt to maintain pure democracy in 
 combination with representative institutions. 
 
 It is worthy of note that from Colony times the citizens of 
 Boston have held their local elections on a different date 
 from that of the State election, and have therefore enjoyed 
 almost from the beginning the advantages, now so generally 
 recognized by municipal reformers, of separating, to some 
 extent at least, local politics from those of the state or na- 
 tion. 
 
 Under the first charter the municipal election was 
 held on the second Monday of April, and the municipal year 
 began on the first day of May. By an act passed in 1824 
 the date of the municipal election was changed to the second 
 Monday of December (subsequently again changed to the 
 Tuesday next following the second Monday), and the 
 municipal year was made to begin on the first Monday of 
 January. 
 
 Scheme of Government. 
 
 The attempt to adhere as closely as possible to the form of 
 government in a town resulted in confusion, dissipation of 
 proper executive powers, and division of responsibility; errors 
 which were not remedied until nearly two-thirds of a century 
 later, by the passage of the charter amendment act of 1885. 
 The Mayor was the chief executive only in name ; he was 
 the figurehead of the corporation, but otherwise was practi- 
 cally nothing but one member of the Board of Aldermen. 
 What power he had was chiefly derived from the position 
 which the charter gave him as presiding officer of the Board, 
 and the right of appointing committees attaching, under 
 
24 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 
 
 parliamentary practice, to that office. If he succeeded — as 
 some Mayors of the city did in an eminent degree — in direct- 
 ing municipal affairs, in any real sense, it was by force of 
 his individual character or abilities, not by virtue of any 
 authority inherent in his office. His election by the people 
 as the nominal head of the corporation gave him a certain 
 prestige and influence, which he might be able to convert 
 into actual, if not legal, power. Thus the second Mayor of 
 the city was, within the first three years of his term, placed 
 at the head of several important committees having the ex- 
 penditure of money. 
 
 It is curious to note how carefully the framers of the 
 charter of 1822 seem to have closed their eyes to the les- 
 sons which they might have drawn from the organization 
 of the state and national governments. They adhered as 
 closely as possible to the town as their political model, and 
 endeavored to make the change from town habits of 
 government as slight as possible. Under the consti- 
 tution of the United States a government of limited 
 powers had been successfully established, under which 
 the three recognized branches of government, namely, the 
 executive, legislative and judicial, were carefully separated 
 and distinguished, each being given its appropriate authority 
 and independence within its proper sphere. The constitution 
 of the Commonwealth had wisely and explicitly declared in 
 the Bill of Rights that the legislative department of the state 
 government should never exercise executive or judicial power, 
 that the executive department should never exercise legisla- 
 tive or judicial power, and that the judicial department should 
 never exercise legislative or executive power, " to the end 
 that it may be a government of laws and not of men." 
 The evils which had resulted from vesting executive powers 
 in the judiciary, to be exercised by injunction or otherwise, 
 furnished one strong incentive for adopting the city form 
 of government ; the people of the town and the members of 
 
City Government of Boston. 25 
 
 the Legislature are alike entitled to the credit of making an 
 absolute separation in the incorporation of the new city be- 
 tween the judiciary and the legislative and executive. But 
 when it came to providing for the exercise of the executive 
 and legislative powers, following the false analogy of the pure 
 democracy of the town government, rather than the model of 
 the representative governments of the United States and of 
 the Commonwealth, these powers were hopelessly confused 
 and mingled together. It was nearly two-thirds of a century 
 before the Legislature returned, in defining the organization 
 of the government of Boston, to the sound political principle 
 declared in the constitution of the state in 1780, and finally 
 gave to our people the benefit of a separation between the 
 executive and legislative powers and authorities in their 
 municipal government. 
 
 Revised Charter of 1854. 
 
 It was nearly a third of a century before the first compre- 
 hensive revision of the city charter of 1822 was effected, 
 although between that date and 1854 some thirteen amendar 
 tory acts had been passed. Mayor Bigelow, in retiring from 
 office in 1852, after three years of service, had clearly pointed 
 out the defects of the charter in respect to the exercise of 
 the executive powers of the corporation and the duties of the 
 Mayor. He urged that these duties should be purely of an 
 executive character, and that the Mayor should be relieved 
 of membership in the Board of Aldermen and the School 
 Committee. At the Mayoralty election of 1853 three politi- 
 cal parties had candidates in the field, and, under the majority 
 requirement, it took three trials to secure an election. This 
 doubtless led the General Court to establish, by Chapter 39 
 of the Acts of 1854, the rule that only a plurality vote 
 should be required to elect at all town, city and county elec- 
 tions. A revised charter was drawn up under the direction 
 of the city government of 1854, and was passed by the 
 
26 Seventy-Fifth Anniversaky 
 
 Legislature subject to approval by the people, which approval 
 it received at the State election of that year. 
 
 "Whether the result was intended or not by the framers of 
 this charter, the movement which had started in a desire to give 
 the Mayor more executive power, ended in depriving him of a 
 large part of the little he already had, and in still further re- 
 ducing him to a figurehead. In order to make him more 
 purely an executive officer, he was deprived of his vote in 
 the Board of Aldermen, in which body the executive power 
 was chiefly lodged, though he was left the somewhat empty 
 privilege of presiding over its deliberations. The board was 
 to choose, however, a permanent chairman, to preside in the 
 absence of the Mayor, and to succeed to the office of 
 Mayor in case of a vacancy. The act practically con- 
 firmed and increased the powers of the Aldermen. The term 
 " Mayor and Aldermen " meant the Aldermen, as it was pro- 
 vided that " where anything is or may be required or author- 
 ized b}^ any law or ordinance to be done by the Mayor and 
 Aldermen, the Aldermen shall first act thereon." The Mayor 
 obtained, to be sure, the right to remove officers nominated by 
 him for confirmation by the Board of Aldermen ; but as 
 nearly all the important officers of the city were to be chosen 
 by the City Council, entirely independently of the Mayor, this 
 was of comparatively little account. In order that he might 
 be more free to attend to the duties of chief executive of the 
 city, which the charter nominally vested in him, the Mayor 
 was relieved of the burden of membership in the Board of 
 Aldermen, but if he attempted to find out what powers 
 went with the high-sounding title of " chief executive," 
 he soon discovered that, except for the influence which 
 his position might give him, he had, outside of the veto 
 power, much less authority than an Alderman, if, indeed, he 
 had as much as a Common Councilman. He could preside 
 over the Board, but he could not directly answer even grossly 
 personal attacks upon himself — and such were sometimes 
 made. 
 
City Government of Boston. 27 
 
 The charter of 1854 did, indeed, for the first time, give to 
 the Mayor a limited power of veto over all votes of the 
 Board of Aldermen, all votes which required to be passed by- 
 concurrent vote of the two branches of the City Council, and 
 all votes of the Common Council involving the expenditure 
 of money. This power, though a negative one, has certainly 
 proved of much practical importance; and thus, while the 
 positive influence of the Mayor as a factor in legislation was 
 reduced by taking away his vote in the Board of Aldermen, 
 his power to prevent legislative action was very greatly in- 
 creased by giving him the veto. Until 1885, however, he 
 had to reject appropriation bills in gross, though he might 
 favor all the items but one or two. The power of approv- 
 ing only good items has proved to be of immense benefit. 
 
 Joint Committees. 
 
 The charter of 1854 is also notable for the express recog- 
 nition which it gave to joint committees, and to the practice 
 of administration by committees. The Common Council had 
 made strenuous endeavors to compel the Aldermen, through 
 the constitution of joint committees, to share with them the 
 larger powers enjoyed by the upper branch; the new 
 charter expressly recognized this practice, and, moreover, pro- 
 vided that the City Council might constitute either a joint 
 committee, or a special committee of either branch, as a 
 Board of Health, either for general or for particular pur- 
 poses. The express authority thus given to the City Council 
 to entrust the exercise of important executive powers to a 
 committee, making its members practically department heads, 
 may be considered the beginning of the establishment of 
 that recognized system of administration by committees which 
 lasted down to 1885. 
 
 This charter made a radical change in the constitution 
 of the School Committee. Instead of being composed of 
 one member elected from each of the twelve wards, together 
 
28 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 
 
 with the the Mayor and Aldermen, making twenty-threee 
 in all, it was to consist of the Mayor, the President of 
 the Common Council, and seventy-two members, six elected 
 from each of the twelve wards, two of whom were to be 
 chosen each year for a term of three years. This seems to 
 have been the first provision for choosing any elective officer 
 of the city for a longer term than one year. 
 
 Election and Salaries of the City Government. 
 
 The new charter contained a provision for the election of 
 Aldermen by wards, instead of at large, but this was subject 
 to acceptance by the people by a separate vote, and it was 
 rejected by a somewhat narrow margm; so that the old 
 method of election of Aldermen on a general ticket con- 
 tinued down to 1885, the only change being that their num- 
 ber was raised from eight to twelve, to correspond with 
 the number of wards then existing. In 1885, under an 
 act passed by the preceding Legislature without submission 
 to the people, the election of Aldermen by districts was 
 established. But in 1893 the Legislature agam passed an 
 act, subject this time to acceptance by the people, returning 
 to the system of election at large ; providing, however, that 
 no person should have the right to vote for more than seven 
 candidates, and this act received the required popular approval. 
 
 There was no provision under either the charter of 1822 or 
 that of 1854 for the payment of members of the City Council. 
 The city was first authorized to provide for the payment of 
 salaries to members of the Board of Aldermen by an act passed 
 in 1888 ; in 1896 another act was passed, and accepted by the 
 people, providing for the payment of a salary of f 300 each to 
 members of the Common Council. The salary of the Mayor 
 under both charters was to be fixed by the City Council, but 
 was not to exceed the sum of $5,000 per annum ; it began at 
 the sum of $2,500 in 1822, was increased to $3,000 in 1855, 
 to $4,000 in 1856, to $5,000 in 1864, and finally by authority 
 of the Act of 1885 to $10,000. 
 
City Government of Boston. 29 
 
 Mayors of the City. 
 
 During the seventy-five years of the history of the city, 
 Boston has had thirty-one different mayors, so that the aver- 
 age term of service in the mayoralty has been about two 
 and a haK years. Nine have served for only a single year, 
 twelve for two years (two of these, however. Mayors Pierce 
 and Prince, having been elected for a one-year term at 
 two different times), eight for three years, two for four 
 years, and one, Frederic W. Lincoln, living to-day at the 
 age of eighty, and still in the service of the city as treasurer 
 of the Overseers of the Poor, has enjoyed the unique distinc- 
 tion of serving as Mayor for seven years, three at one time, 
 and four at another. All of the mayors have been born in 
 Massachusetts, except two who were born in New Hamp- 
 shire, one each in Connecticut and Maine and one in Ire- 
 land. In only one case has a mayor died in. office; and the 
 only resignation occurred when the late Mayor Pierce resigned 
 about a month before the expiration of his term in 1873, to 
 occupy the seat in Congress to which he had been elected. 
 
 The total vote cast for Mayor increased from 3,700 in 
 1822, to 8,896 at the end of the first quarter century period 
 in 1847, and to 17,716 at the end of the second quarter 
 century in 1872 ; the vote rose at the State election in 
 1896 to 82,198 votes cast for President. In the present 
 year the registered voters of the city may for the first time 
 reach the 100,000 mark. 
 
 Departments Under the Town. 
 In taking up the present departments of the city govern- 
 ment, it may be well to see in the first place how rpany of 
 them can be said to have had any existence under the town. 
 The Selectmen were first chosen by that name to serve for a 
 full year in 1645, previous elections having been for a shorter 
 period and under a different designation. The early Selectmen 
 assumed and exercised certain legislative powers, as well as 
 
30 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 
 
 executive functions, and therefore under the charter of 1822 
 they were succeeded in certain respects by tiie City Council, 
 though chiefly by the Mayor and Aldermen. Overseers 
 of the Poor were first chosen in 1690, consisting at first 
 of four persons, though the law of the Province author- 
 izing towns to choose such ofiicers was not passed until 
 two years later. In 1772 the Overseers were incorporated, 
 by special act, and the first charter had a clause providing for. 
 the election of one Overseer from each ward. As the Board 
 of Overseers gradually acquired or took jurisdiction over 
 in-door as well as out-door relief, over the care of the 
 insane, and over the workhouse, it must be regarded as the 
 original predecessor of what was until recently the Institu- 
 tions Department. Down to 1799 the duty of protecting 
 the public health was vested in the Selectmen, but in that 
 year a separate Board of Health was established, consisting 
 of twelve persons, and ward elections were first mstituted 
 to provide for the choice of one member of this board from 
 each ward. This important duty was soon remitted to the 
 Board of Aldermen. 
 
 Beside these two important town departments which were 
 both provided for by statute and seem to have been largely, 
 if not entirely, independent of the Selectmen, certain ofiices 
 had been established more or less under the control of the 
 Selectmen, which can be regarded as forerunners at least of 
 present departments. The constable was the earliest town 
 officer, and his duties occupy a number of pages in our 
 Colonial Law which seems now disproportionate. While he 
 combined other duties with those which the title imported, 
 he represented the police power of the state, and must there- 
 fore be regarded as the germ from which the present Board 
 of Police has developed. The employment of a night watch 
 was authorized by the General Court in 1699, and the dis- 
 tinction between the night watch and the police for daytime 
 duty was kept up until the revision of the charter in 1854. 
 
City Government of Boston. 31 
 
 The police department proper began in 1786, and became 
 complete in 1799 through the appointment of a superintendent 
 of police. 
 
 The treasurer's department dates from 1641; that of 
 the city clerk, as a separate department, from 1650, the 
 treasurer having been also the town recorder for the nine 
 years previous to that time. The office of Recorder, now 
 represented by the City Registrar, was one of those American 
 improvements made by our ancestors, to the great gain of 
 their descendants. Our records of vital statistics surpass 
 those of England. The market department may be said to 
 date from 1649, when a "clerk of the market" was first 
 chosen. The department of weights and measures dates 
 from 1640, when a sealer was first chosen. The street 
 department and the street laying-out department may both 
 be said to date from 1638, when surveyors of highways 
 were first elected. 
 
 The germ of the present assessing department is found 
 in the election as early as 1646 of a special commissioner 
 to assist the selectmen in the valuation of property. In 
 1694 regular assessors were first chosen; in 1792 it was 
 provided that two assistant assessors should be chosen by 
 each of the twelve wards, who should in turn choose the 
 principal assessors. 
 
 While a Latin school had been established in the year 
 1635, the public school system properly dates from 1684, 
 when grammar schools under the control of the Selectmen 
 were first established. The Selectmen continued to manage 
 the schools until 1789, when a School Committee was first 
 chosen, consisting of the nine Selectmen and twelve persons 
 chosen by the town. Primary schools were not made a part 
 of the public school system until 1818, and they were placed 
 under a separate committee of thirty-eight persons, three 
 
32 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 
 
 from each ward, who were appointed by the School Com- 
 mittee and were known as the Primary School Commit- 
 tee, and this system lasted until 1855. While the select- 
 men had had charge from the first of the extinguishment of 
 fires, a separate fire department may be said to have had 
 its origin with the first choice of fire wards in the year 
 1641. The street lighting service dates from the installa- 
 tion of 310 lamps in the year 1773 ; under the town it 
 seems to have been under the administration of the Select- 
 men. 
 
 Of the present thirty-three executive departments under 
 the Mayor, hereafter to be mentioned, we therefore find that 
 sixteen, namely the Assessing, Fire, Health, Institutions 
 (four in number). Lamp, La*w, Market, Overseeing of the 
 Poor, Registry, Street, Treasury and Weights-and-Measures 
 Departments can be considered as having a more or less 
 clearly-defined existence at the time of the institution of the 
 city government. 
 
 Establishment of City Departments. 
 
 In no way can the development of the municipal organiza- 
 tion be more strikingly seen than in noting the establishment 
 from time to time of the different departments through which 
 the government of the city is now carried on. The original 
 city charter only required (outside of the Mayor, Board of 
 Aldermen, Common Council and ward officers), the choice of 
 Firewards, Overseers of the Poor and a School Committee, to 
 be elected by the people, and of Assessors of Taxes, a City 
 Treasurer and a City Clerk, to be chosen by the City Council. 
 These, therefore, were the only departments of tlie city gov- 
 ernment originally established by the legislature. Any other 
 offices that might be found necessary were left to be created 
 by the City Council. 
 
 Of the present thirty-three departments of the city gov- 
 ernment under the Mayor, taking them in alphabetical order, 
 
City Government of Boston. 33 
 
 the Assessors were inherited from the town. The office of 
 City Auditor was established in 1824. The Building De- 
 partment was created by statute in 1871. The office of 
 Collector of Taxes was separated from that of Treasurer in 
 1875. The Board of Elections was established by the charter 
 amendment act of 1895, succeeding the Board of Registrars 
 of Voters, instituted in 1874, the duty of preparing lists of 
 voters prior to that time having been performed by the Mayor 
 and Aldermen. The office of City Engineer grew out of the 
 introduction of water, and dates from 1850. 
 
 A salary was first paid to the Chief Engineer of the Fire 
 Department in 1829. The office had existed for some time 
 previous, but the service had been performed gratuitously, 
 and the establishment of a salary for the Chief Engineer may 
 be regarded as the beginning of the Fire Department, in the 
 modern sense of the term, though nominally established by act 
 of the legislature in 1825 ; however, the men of the department 
 were first placed upon a paid basis in 1837. In 1850 an act 
 was passed reorganizing the Fire Department and authorizing 
 the City Council to establish a board to act as its head ; but 
 down to 1873 this power was not exercised, the Chief En- 
 gineer and Assistant Engineers being chosen by the City 
 Council, while the members of the fire companies were ap- 
 pointed by the Mayor. In that year, as a result of the great 
 fire of 1872, the department was placed under a Board of Fire 
 Commissioners, three in number, and they were succeeded in 
 1895 by the present single commissioner. The Boston 
 Protective Department was incorporated in 1874. 
 
 The first Board of Health was established in 1799, under 
 the statute passed by the General Court in that year, and 
 continued down to 1822. While the charter provided that 
 the City Council might provide for the exercise of the health 
 powers through a board of commissioners, or otherwise, that 
 body did not see fit until fifty years later, in 1872, to establish 
 
34 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 
 
 a regular Board of Health. During this period the health 
 powers were exercised by the City Council, acting through a 
 committee. 
 
 From very early times a hospital for contagious cases had 
 been maintained on Rainsford Island, but it was not until 
 1858 that the city was authorized by act of the legisla- 
 ture "to erect, establish and maintain a hospital for the 
 reception of persons who, by misfortune or poverty, may 
 require relief during temporary sickness." This act pro- 
 vided for the appointment of trustees for managing the 
 hospital. The present City Hospital buildings were begun 
 in 1861, and opened for use in 1864. In 1880 the trustees 
 were incorporated and authorized to receive gifts and be- 
 quests, and their number was fixed at five. 
 
 The four present departments of Penal Institutions, Pau- 
 pers, Children and Insane, may be said to date from the 
 establishment in 1857 of the Board of Directors of Public 
 Institutions, consisting of three members of the City Coun- 
 cil and nine citizens at large, three of whom were elected 
 annually for the term of three years. This board served 
 without pay, and lasted until 1889, though the three mem- 
 bers of the City Council were dropped from it in 1885, 
 under the charter amendment act of that year, reducing the 
 board to nine in number. In 1889 it was replaced by a 
 board of three salaried commissioners, which in turn gave 
 place, in 1895, to a single Institutions Commissioner; the 
 present year has seen this officer changed to a Penal Institu- 
 tions Commissioner, while new boards of trustees, consisting 
 of seven members each (of whom two must be women), have 
 been created to have charge of Paupers, Insane persons and 
 Children ; and an Institutions Registration Department has 
 also been established. The Penal Institutions Department 
 may be said to date back to the establishment, in 1824, of 
 the House of Correction on the present site in South Boston, 
 with a separate board of directors. 
 
City Government op Boston. 35 
 
 There has been a Supenntendent of Lamps since 1843, 
 but the o£&ce was under the Police Department until 1854. 
 
 Though the office of Town Attorney was established dur- 
 ing the latter years of the town government, the city had no 
 regular legal adviser for several years. The office of Attor- 
 ney and Solicitor was established by ordinance in 1827, 
 and the office of Corporation Counsel in 1881. 
 
 The Library Department dates from 1852, when the first 
 Librarian and Board of Trustees were appointed, though an 
 Act was passed by the General Court in 1848 authoriz- 
 ing the city to appropriate money for a free public library, 
 and some gifts of money and books had been received in 
 1850. The circulating department of the Library was 
 opened in 1854, and the old Library building on Boylston 
 street was dedicated in 1858. Authority to establish branch 
 libraries was given in 1869. The Library Trustees were 
 incorporated, and their number fixed at five, in 1878, and in 
 1880 the state gave the piece of land upon which the pres- 
 ent Library building stands. The trustees were given en- 
 tire control of the erection and management of the new 
 building in 1887, and it was opened for use in 1895. 
 
 The present Market Department properly dates from the 
 opening of Quincy Market in 1826, though the officer in 
 charge continued to be designated by the old colonial title of 
 " Clerk of the Market " down to 1852, when the present 
 office of superintendent was established by ordinance. 
 
 The present Cemetery Department, consisting of a board 
 of five trustees, established by the statute passed by the 
 legislature of the present year, is the successor, though 
 with broader powers and duties, of the Mount Hope Ceme- 
 tery Department; this cemetery was purchased by the 
 city in 1857, the board of trustees being established by 
 
36 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 
 
 ordinance in the same year. In earlier times there had been 
 a superintendent of burial grounds. 
 
 The Board of Overseers of the Poor has already been 
 spoken of. Down to 1823 it had charge of both in-door and 
 out-door relief, and of correction. The House of Indus- 
 try was removed from its control in 1823, the House of 
 Correction in 1824 and the House of Reformation in 1826. 
 
 In 1870 an act was passed by the Legislature, subject to 
 acceptance by the voters of Boston, under which a board of 
 nine Park Commissioners was to be created, four to be 
 appointed by the Governor, with the power to lay out one or 
 more parks. This act required a two-thirds vote for its accept- 
 ance, and while it received a large majority, it fell somewhat 
 short of this requirement. The annexations of 1874 led to 
 the passage of another park act in 1875 ; this was accepted 
 by the people, though by a very light vote, and the first Board 
 of Park Commissioners was appointed that year. Perhaps no 
 other department of the city government has since done as 
 much to make Boston an attractive place of residence. 
 
 The office of Superintendent of Printing was established 
 in 1871. Its importance has been very greatly increased by 
 the opening of a municipal printing plant during the cur- 
 rent year. 
 
 The Public Buildings Department was established by 
 ordinance in 1850. 
 
 A Superintendent of the Common was first appointed by 
 the Mayor in 1853. The Department of Public Grounds 
 was not established by ordinance, however, until 1870. 
 
 The office of City Registrar was established in 1849 by 
 ordinance. In 1892 it was made a State office by law, to 
 perform duties which elsewhere are confided to city and 
 town clerks. 
 
City Government of Boston. 37 
 
 The office of Sealer of Weights and Measures, dating back 
 to colonial times, was established by statute in 1800. In 
 1817 another act was passed defining the duties of this 
 office. 
 
 The Board of Sinking Fund Commissioners was estab- 
 lished by ordinance in 1870. 
 
 The Street Department, as at present organized, only dates 
 from 1891, Sewers, Paving, Sanitary, Police and Bridges hav- 
 ing prior to that time been under separate departments. 
 The Ferries were added to this department by the charter 
 amendment act of 1895. The first regular ferry to East 
 Boston appears to have been established in 1833. In 1852 
 the East Boston Ferry Company was incorporated, subject to 
 certain control on the part of the city, and acquired the fer- 
 ries ; and the ferry property was purchased by the city in 
 1870. 
 
 The Water Department dates from 1846, when commis- 
 sioners were appointed to bring the Lake Cochituate supply 
 to the city, the introduction of water being duly cele- 
 brated on Oct. 25, 1848. In 1849 a Cochituate Water Board 
 was established by ordinance, to consist of a commissioner, 
 an engineer and a water registrar, together with the Commitr 
 tee on Water. In 1850 the board was changed so as to 
 consist of one Alderman, one member of the Common Coun- 
 cil, and five citizens at large. A paid board of three 
 members was appointed in 1876, in consequence of the an- 
 nexation of Charlestown, bringing the Mystic water supply 
 under the control of the city, and this board continued until 
 1895, when under the charter amendment act of that year 
 it was replaced by a single commissioner. 
 
 The Wire Department was established by statute passed 
 in 1894. 
 
38 Seventy-Fifth Anntyersary 
 
 THE relation OF THE CITY TO THE STATE. 
 
 In considering the relations between Boston and the Com- 
 monwealth, it should be remembered that a city has a double 
 character. It is primarily an organ for local government, a 
 body politic for the satisfaction of local wants; it is secon- 
 darily an administrative agency of the state government, 
 charged with the duty of securing, within a local sphere, the 
 execution of state laws general in their application. It 
 is important that this dual capacity of the munici- 
 pal corporation should be kept constantly in mind, and 
 that these two functions should be clearly distinguished. 
 Complete local self-government involves full local con- 
 trol of purely municipal concerns ; but it does not require 
 that the state should refrain from using the municipal 
 machinery for carrying general laws into effect, or from con- 
 trolling its organization to the extent necessary for that 
 purpose. When we come to define the limits between these 
 two kinds of municipal activity, and to say in what matters 
 the city should be regarded as acting as a local government, 
 and in what other matters as the agent of the higher govern- 
 ment, there is room for much difference of opinion, particu- 
 larly if we inquire not only where it is logical, but where it is 
 wise, to establish the bounds of state authority. To take a 
 conspicuous illustration of a piece of municipal machinery 
 which fulfils this double function : our Board of Elections is 
 but a mere department of the city government in so far as 
 it has to do with elections to city offices, while it is unques- 
 tionably a governmental agency of the Commonwealth in 
 so far as it has to do with state elections. The Board of 
 Assessors, in like manner, must be regarded as an agency of 
 the Commonwealth in so far as its work affects the distribu- 
 tion of state taxes, the School Committee in so far as it is 
 carrying into effect the state law as to compulsory education, 
 and the Board of Health in so far as it is executing statutes 
 for the protection of the general public health, which is 
 
City Government of Boston. 39 
 
 affected by dangers that entirely disregard municipal 
 boundaries. 
 
 Of the thirty-three executive departments under the 
 control of the Mayor, perhaps nine may be regarded as estab- 
 lished partly, though not wholly in any case, for the ex- 
 ecution of state laws ; the other twenty-four are merely 
 convenient divisons in the scheme of purely municipal 
 organization. Of the executive authorities independent of 
 the Mayor, the School Committee is entrusted with the charge 
 of educational work a large portion of which is, in very 
 general terms, required by state law, but which would doubt- 
 less be carried on by the city about as at present without any 
 statutory requirement. The justice and expediency of estab- 
 lishing the Police Department as an independent organiza- 
 tion created by the state, for the enforcement both of its 
 laws and of the ordinances of the city, is a controverted 
 question. While asserting its paramount right to establish 
 a state police force, maintained at local expense, for the 
 enforcement of the laws within municipal limits, the Com- 
 monwealth has thus far made the exercise of such right a 
 question of expediency in each particular case. 
 
 State Legislation. 
 
 A good idea of the chief directions in whicJi legislative 
 control over the city of Boston has been asserted, is obtained 
 by an examination of the special laws relating to the city 
 which have been passed since its incorporation. These have 
 been compiled by the Law Department from time to time 
 and published by the city, and, including the acts of the pres- 
 ent year, now make up a volume of over seven hundred pages, 
 containing about the same number of separate acts. A 
 classification of some of these acts under general headings is 
 instructive. From 1822 to 1897, inclusive, there have been 
 passed by the Legislature about the following numbers of 
 
40 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 
 
 special acts affecting the city of Boston, or the municipalities 
 now annexed to the city, relative to the following subjects : — 
 
 Streets and sidewalks 79 
 
 Bridges 43 
 
 Water supply and distribution 42 
 
 Courts and other judicial matters . . . . .40 
 
 Construction and safety of buildings . . . .37 
 
 Organization of the city government or departments 
 
 thereof . ....... 34 
 
 Granting special incorporations, or affecting the rights 
 
 of private corporations ...... 34 
 
 Parks and playgrounds . . . . . .32 
 
 Sewers and drainage . . . . . . .31 
 
 Penal and charitable institutions . . . . . 25 
 
 Elections and election machinery 22 
 
 Constables and police ....... 20 
 
 Protection from fire, and Fire Department . . .20 
 Boston Harbor ........ 19 
 
 Annexations of territory or changes in boundary lines . 18 
 Schools and the School Committee . . . .13 
 
 Public Health 12 
 
 Public Library ........ 11 
 
 An analysis of these statutes indicates very clearly, on 
 the one hand, that many acts have been passed by the 
 Legislature relative to matters which might easily have been 
 entrusted to local control, without any surrender of the 
 proper sovereignty of the state, and that it has undoubtedly 
 been too much inclined to regulate some things which 
 could have been dealt with by the city itseK under the gen- 
 eral powers granted by the charter; it is, therefore, to 
 some extent true that the General Court has acted as the 
 legislative body of the city. But such an examination also 
 discloses the fact that a large proportion of the acts included 
 in the above classification were, for one reason or another, 
 
City Government of Boston. 41 
 
 beyond the scope of municipal control, and were, therefore, 
 proper subjects for the exercise of the legislative power of the 
 state. Obviously it has been necessary that this power should 
 be exercised wherever the joint action of two municipalities 
 was required, as in cases of annexations of territory or changes 
 in boundary lines, or of inter-municipal bridges. Jurisdic- 
 tion over the shores of the harbor has also necessarily rested 
 with the Commonwealth. Most of the acts relative to 
 water have involved the granting to the city of Boston of 
 the right to acquire land and construct works within the 
 limits of other municipalities. Of course, jurisdiction over 
 the courts properly belongs exclusively to the Common- 
 wealth; and the regulation of elections is also clearly its 
 function. 
 
 The greatest room for differences of opinion in regard 
 to the proper limits between state and municipal authority 
 is doubtless to be found in matters relating to the organi- 
 zation of the city government and its departments. Under 
 our State Constitution it must be conceded that it belongs to 
 the Legislature to fix, in the first instance, the framework of 
 a local government, subject to acceptance by the voters of the 
 municipality before it is adopted. The city of Boston started 
 with a scheme of government which was not only approved by 
 the voters of the town after its adoption by the Legislature, 
 but was drafted by the town for presentation to the Legis- 
 lature. The principle of municipal autonomy was not there- 
 fore violated when the city was instituted. The charter 
 revision of 1854 was also formally approved by the voters 
 before it went into effect, and was petitioned for by the city 
 council. 
 
 Charter Acts of 1885 and of 1895. 
 
 When we come to the important charter amendment act 
 
 of 1885, however, we find that a different course was 
 
 adopted, and that the legislature saw fit to exercise its 
 
 full power without submitting its action to local approval. 
 
42 Seventy-Fifth Annivebsary 
 
 It may be open to doubt whether so radical a change in the 
 distribution of the powers of the city government would 
 have been ratified by the voters of Boston at that time if the 
 act had been submitted to popular vote; and certainly the 
 City Council could hardly have been expected to assent to so 
 great a curtailment of its powers. But at the present time it 
 may be conceded that the change thus wrought has upon the 
 whole been a highly beneficial one, and that it has produced 
 more responsible, efficient and coherent executive goverLment. 
 Again, the charter amendment act of 1895, extending the 
 term of the Mayor to two years, substituting single commis- 
 sioners in place of paid boards at the head of the Fire, Water 
 and Institutions Departments, and establishing the Board of 
 Elections, was not submitted to local approval, and it is 
 doubtful whether such approval could have been secured; 
 but its results have thus far apparently been good. In 
 the last three-quarters of a century a very considerable 
 number of important acts have been referred to popular 
 vote, and in passing the act of the present year for the con- 
 solidation of the Board of Aldermen and the Common Council 
 into a single chamber, the Legislature has again properly sub- 
 mitted its action to the voters of Boston. 
 
 On the whole, therefore, while in a very few instances the 
 Legislature has passed important acts affecting the organiza- 
 tion of the City Government without regard to local senti- 
 ment at the time, and while the wisdom of some of these 
 acts has been disputed, yet it must in fairness be acknowl- 
 edged that in the main the General Court has shown, in 
 all matters of consequence, a large consideration for the views 
 of our citizens, and has been disposed to accord to them, to 
 a very great extent, the right of passing upon questions 
 vitally affecting their local government. 
 
 When we come to the minor acts affecting the organization 
 of the various departments, it may well be claimed that the 
 Legislature has shown too much disposition to establish 
 
City Government of Boston. 43 
 
 municipal departments by legislation, and has been too unwill- 
 ing to let the city of Boston work out the salvation of local 
 government for itself. It would perhaps be too much to 
 expect that the Legislature should submit to the acceptance 
 either of the City Council or of the voters every act relating 
 to the city of Boston ; but it seems clear that since the char- 
 ter revision of 1885 the City Council has not enjoyed, — partly 
 perhaps through its own fault, — what should be its legitimate 
 influence over the framing and enactment of legislation for 
 the city. This function has of late devolved almost wholly 
 upon the Mayor, and has constituted one of the most import- 
 ant duties of his office. For the last ten years the different 
 Mayors have been forced to exercise a large influence in 
 securing the passage of an important and comprehensive body 
 of laws affecting the city. 1/ 
 
 Advantages of being the Capital of the State. 
 
 In connection with state legislation it should be noted that 
 Boston has occupied a peculiarly advantageous position in 
 comparison with other large American cities. As a rule, 
 the largest city of a state is not its capital; New York, 
 Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago, St. Louis and Cincinnati 
 are illustrations. But a large city necessarily suffers greatly 
 in influence by being remote from the seat of legislation, and 
 by being compelled to present from a distance its views on 
 legislative matters. The great advantage which our city has 
 enjoyed in being the capital of the state, as well as its largest 
 city, as affecting its treatment by the Legislature, has not been 
 appreciated at its true importance. If the capital had been 
 removed to Worcester three-quarters of a century ago, Boston 
 would certainly have enjoyed much less consideration than she 
 has in fact received. Upon the whole, our people have not had 
 much cause to complain either of the attention which the Legis- 
 lature has given to Boston matters, or of the consideration 
 which local views have received. If there be truth in the 
 statement that the Legislature has in many matters acted as 
 
44 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 
 
 the City Council of Boston, it must at least be admitted that 
 full opportunity to be heard has always been afforded to our 
 citizens before committees of the Legislature ; and in no in- 
 stance, probably, has any measure affecting the city been 
 passed which met with the general opposition of its repre- 
 sentatives, without distinction of party. When our members 
 of the Legislature are divided upon a measure, the question 
 is necessarily settled by the votes of representatives from 
 outside of the city ; but with any reasonable unity of effort 
 it is nearly always in their power either to prevent the pas- 
 sage of special legislation affecting the city to which they 
 are opposed, or to secure the passage of such legislation 
 when they favor it. It must also be admitted that, with rare 
 exceptions, partisan political considerations have failed to 
 control the action of the Legislature in dealing with the city. 
 
 Present Distribution of Powers. 
 The executive and legislative functions of the government 
 of the city are now divided between five different authori- 
 ties, wholly or partially independent of each other, four 
 elected separately by the people, and the fifth appointed by 
 the Governor of the Commonwealth. These five authorities 
 are the Mayor, the City Council, the School Committee, the 
 Board of Street Commissioners and the Board of Police. 
 The Mayor exercises exclusively the executive powers of the 
 city (subject to the confirmation of many of his most im- 
 portant appointments by the Board of Aldermen), except 
 such as are vested in the School Committee, the Board of 
 Street Commissioners and the Board of Police. The execu- 
 tive powers of the two former bodies are to a certain extent 
 under the control of the Mayor, as his approval is required 
 for certain action by the School Committee, and for most 
 of the acts of the Street Commissioners ; even in the case 
 of the police, the Mayor is authorized to assume paramount 
 control in case of "tumult, riot, or violent disturbance of 
 public order." 
 
City Government of Boston. 45 
 
 The City Council exercises exclusively the legislative pow- 
 ers of the city, except that certain of these powers are exer- 
 cised by the Board of Aldermen alone, and that the Mayor 
 has a limited veto power over all legislative action of the 
 City Council or of either branch thereof ; but the full legis- 
 lative power of the municipal corporation is restricted by 
 certain rights given to the School Committee by general law, 
 and to the Board of Police by special act, to draw upon the 
 city treasury without any appropriation. 
 
 Thus we have in our executive government to-day first, a 
 chief executive authority, the Mayor, entirely independent of 
 any other executive control, but not possessing those limited 
 portions of the full executive powers of the city which are 
 otherwise vested, namely, — second, in the School Committee, 
 — third, in the Street Commissioners, — and fourth, in the 
 Board of Police. In our legislative government we have first, 
 the City Council as a whole, having the general powers of rais- 
 ing and appropriating money; second, the Board of Aldermen 
 acting alone, having the power of granting franchises, loca- 
 tions, and some licenses, etc. ; third, the School Committee, 
 and fourth, the Board of Police, both having certain inde- 
 pendent financial powers properly legislative in their nature ; 
 while, fifth, the Mayor has a qualified veto upon all legislative 
 acts of the City Council, or either branch thereof, and upon 
 certain action of the School Committee. 
 
 This division of the executive powers of the city seems 
 unavoidable under the present methods of choosing the three 
 executive authorities other than the Mayor, as it would be an 
 anomaly to make one set of officers, deriving their authority 
 directly from the people, subject to the directioii of another 
 officer deriving his authority in like manner ; and obviously 
 it would be impracticable to make officers appointed by the 
 Governor (representing the supreme power of the State and 
 responsible to him) subject to the control of the Mayor. It 
 
46 Seventy-Pipth Anniversary 
 
 might be possible, however, in the interest of centralized 
 financial control, which is now partly lacking in our govern- 
 ment, to give the Mayor that veto power over all expendi- 
 tures of money which he now possesses over the greater part 
 of them. At present he exercises no practical control over 
 the expenditures of the School Committee and of the Police 
 Department, aggregating for the present year $3,965,000, 
 and amounting to 35 per cent of the total current depart- 
 ment expenditures of the city. 
 
 Executive Departments in 1897. 
 The executive powers entrusted wholly to the Mayor are 
 now divided among thirty-three different executive depart- 
 ments, namely, the Assessing, Auditing, Building, Cemetery, 
 Children's Institutions, Collecting, Elections, Engineering, 
 Fire, Health, Hospital, Insane Hospital, Institutions, Regis- 
 tration, Lamps, Law, Library, Market, Overseeing of the 
 Poor, Parks, Pauper Institutions, Penal Institutions, Print- 
 ing, Public Buildings, Public Grounds, Registry, Sinking- 
 funds, Statistics, Street, Treasury, Inspection of Vessels and 
 Ballast, Water, Weights and Measures, and Wire Depart- 
 ments. Of course the powers and duties of some of these 
 departments have been fixed by statute. 
 
 Nineteen of these departments are under single heads, all 
 salaried officers, except the Inspectors of Vessels and Ballast, 
 who are paid by fees ; three departments, namely, those of 
 Assessing, Elections and Health, are under salaried boards, 
 consisting of nine, four and three members respectively; 
 and one, the Law Department, has a dual (salaried) head, 
 the Corporation Counsel and the City Solicitor jointly. 
 The remaining ten departments are controlled by unpaid 
 boards, the Parks being under a board of three, the City 
 Hospital, the Public Library, the Cemeteries and Statistics 
 being each under a board of five, the Sinking-funds under 
 a board of six, Paupers, Insane persons and Children each 
 
City Government of Boston. 47 
 
 under a board of seven, and the Board of Overseers of the 
 Poor numbering twelve. Thus no less than sixty-two per- 
 sons are now 'serving the city gratuitously as members of 
 department boards, against thirty-seven heads of departments 
 who are paid for their services. For the current year the 
 sum of about 11,400,000, — if the proper proportion of the 
 appropriation made at the beginning of the year for the Insti- 
 tutions Department is divided between the new institutions 
 boards — amounting to about one-eighth of the total current 
 expenditures of the executive departments of the city under 
 the control of the Mayor, will be disbursed by unpaid boards. 
 
 Of the single heads of departments all now have a term of 
 one year, except the Building, Fire, Penal Institutions, Water 
 and Wire Commissioners, each of whom have been given a 
 three-year term. Each member of the Board of Assessors 
 and of the Board of Health is appointed for three years, and 
 each member of the Board of Elections for four years. 
 
 The terms of the members of three of the unpaid boards 
 are three years, while those of the members of the remaining 
 seven boards are five years, so that the latter constitute the 
 most stable element in the city government at the present 
 time. Eleven women are now serving as members of boards, 
 a much larger number than at any time in the past history 
 of the city. 
 
 It is interesting to note that of these thirty-three executive 
 departments, no less than twenty-two have been created by 
 statute, and only eleven by ordinance. The salaries paid to 
 heads of departments range from |3,000 to f 7,500, and the 
 total compensation of the heads of the twenty-two executive 
 departments receiving salaries now amounts to the sum of 
 1151,000 a year, or an average of about $6,500 for each 
 department. 
 
48 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 
 
 Perhaps it is not too much to claim for Boston that she has 
 finally, at the end of three quarters of a century of experience, 
 arrived at the proper organization of the executive departments 
 in respect to the three kinds of heads above mentioned. It 
 can be said this year for the first time that every department 
 has at its head that one of the three forms of control best 
 adapted to its character. 
 
 Unpaid Boards. 
 In studying the question whether single salaried officers, 
 salaried boards, or unpaid boards, achieve the best results in 
 a city government as heads of executive departments, one 
 of the first conclusions reached is that no general rule 
 can be laid down. The choice between them depends en- 
 tirely upon the nature of the work in question ; the best 
 organization for one kind of work may be the worst for 
 another. It may be said in general, as the result of our 
 experience of three-quarters of a century, that where the 
 duties of the head of a department are purely of a business 
 or technical character, the single paid officer is the best; 
 and that the salaried board is desirable only in the few 
 cases where the duties of a department are of a some- 
 what judicial character, and touch closely the rights of the 
 citizen. The more nearly the duties consist in securing the 
 execution of work, the more appropriate is the single 
 head; the more there is of mere supervision, of selection 
 of methods and adoption of policies, the more suitable 
 is the unpaid board. Of course, it may also be said 
 in general that the latter form of organization is only desirable 
 where the duties of directing the operations of a department 
 can be so organized as only to require a fraction of the 
 time of each member of the board. In spite of some ex- 
 ceptions to the contrary, experience proves that the services 
 of the man who is able and willing to give all of his time to 
 the city without compensation are not of advantage to the pub- 
 lic. The city rather needs a comparatively small portion of the 
 
City Government of Boston. 49 
 
 time of busy men and women, who are successfully engaged 
 in other affairs. This makes it necessary that the work 
 entrusted to an unpaid board shall be limited in its 
 scope and special in its character ; that it shall be such that 
 subordinate officials can conduct its daily routine, subject to 
 directions received from the board at more or less frequent 
 regular meetings. 
 
 Within its appropriate sphere, no form of department con- 
 trol possesses as many advantages as the unpaid board. In 
 the first place, it ought theoretically to secure, — and it nearly 
 always does secure in practice, — unselfish service, rendered 
 with no motive except that of performing useful public 
 work, and perhaps of receiving the credit in the community 
 properly attaching thereto. Secondly, it ensures greater 
 continuity and stability of policy, advantages of primary 
 importance in many branches of service. Thirdly, it takes 
 certain municipal departments largely or wholly out of the 
 sphere of political influences, which are necessarily active in 
 a large city. The power of removal vested in the Mayor 
 makes him responsible in a general way for the proper con- 
 duct of the department; while the fact that the term of only 
 a single member of a board expires each year, and that 
 differences of political affiliations are generally found in 
 each board, necessarily limits the control which the chief 
 executive could exercise for any partisan purpose, though he 
 retains enough of authority to enable him ordinarily to 
 accomplish, without resorting to the extremity of removal from 
 office, whatever is required for the public good. Fourthly, 
 when an unpaid board is wisely balanced in its construc- 
 tion, the composite Avisdom of the whole membership ought 
 to be greater and of more practical value than that of any 
 single member. Lastly, experience has clearly shown that 
 men of successful achievement and high standing, who could 
 not be induced by any salary that could be paid to sell to the 
 city all of their time, are willing to give freely a portion of 
 
50 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 
 
 it. If the Boston of to-day has not been altogether able, 
 under the modern conditions of a great city, to maintain the 
 civic spirit which under the town government induced so 
 many of the best citizens to serve the public in office, she at 
 least has no reason to be ashamed of the sixty-two men and 
 women who are to-day serving her as members of unpaid boards, 
 of what they stand for in intelligence and in character, or of 
 what they are accomplishing for the public good in the ad- 
 ministration of the important affairs entrusted to their 
 charge. 
 
 Further Changes in City Government. 
 It may not be out of place to consider briefly at this time 
 what further changes still seem to be desirable, and therefore 
 are likely to be made in the not distant future, in the organi- 
 zation of our city government. So much has been accom- 
 plished toward perfecting and co-ordinating its machinery, 
 and this has already been made so admirable in many re- 
 spects, that such further steps as may be needed to render it 
 still more harmonious and efficient in its operation are alto- 
 gether likely to be taken. The citizens of the town of 
 Boston were noted for their interest in, and understanding 
 of, questions of governmental organization ; and in the city of 
 to-day there are not lacking associations and individuals who 
 desire the best that is attainable in city government, and are 
 influential enough to secure in the long run the adoption of 
 additional improvements. 
 
 The question of the proper constitution of the School Com- 
 mittee is a controverted one, and is complicated by the fact 
 that women aj-e now allowed to vote in the election of its 
 members ; but it must be admitted by all that the present 
 organization of this Committee perpetuates in one very im- 
 portant department of the work of the city government the 
 system of administration by elective committees, which was 
 finally done away with as to all other city work by the 
 
City Government of Boston. 51 
 
 charter amendment act of 1885. While the results at- 
 tained will vary according to the personnel of the Com- 
 mittee, it is safe to say that the most efficient perform- 
 ance of many important duties of a purely executive 
 character devolving upon it cannot be achieved under 
 the present system. The supervision of schools from 
 the purely educational side is perhaps rather a work of 
 a legislative than of an executive character, and this might 
 be well performed . by a committee containing as many as 
 twenty-four members ; but for the performance of the execu- 
 tive side of the work, a smaller body, supervising and 
 directing a proper force of executive or technical officers, 
 with a single, responsible executive head, would seem to 
 ensure more consistent policies and better results. The 
 relations, or lack of relations, between the School Com- 
 mittee and the City Council as to school appropriations are at 
 present somewhat unfortunate, and give rise at times to un- 
 necessary friction as to the division of financial responsi- 
 bility. The City Council now merely appropriates a gross 
 sum for the maintenance of the schools, and the impor- 
 tant work of apportioning this sum for different purposes is 
 performed by the School Committee itself; and moreover this 
 Committee, under the authority apparently given it by the 
 state law, does not hesitate to make expenditures consider- 
 ably in excess of its appropriations. In view of these facts 
 it would seem to be decidedly in the interest of simplicity 
 and responsibility to sever entirely the present financial tie 
 between the City Council and the School Committee, and to 
 give to the latter body directly, by statute, the right to draw 
 from the city treasury for school purposes a fixed percentage, 
 and no more, of the tax levy for each year. 
 
 In respect to the Board of Street Commissioners, the elec- 
 tion of its members by the people is an anomaly in our present 
 system of government and does not seem to rest upon any suffi- 
 cient reason. When the board was constituted in 1870, the 
 
52 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 
 
 powers given to it were taken from elective officers, namely 
 the Aldermen, and this was perhaps the original reason for 
 filling it by election by the people. While the work of 
 laying out streets should not be entrusted to a single offi- 
 cer, some other basis for a Land Court may be devised in 
 the future. 
 
 Organization of Executive Departments. 
 In the executive departments under the charge of the 
 Mayor, there does not now seem to be room either for 
 any considerable further consolidation of existing depart- 
 ments, or for the creation of new departments, though, doubt- 
 less, a few changes might be made in each direction. Upon 
 the whole, the present organization of the executive depart- 
 ments is a capital one ; it has been arrived at by a long 
 process of development, resulting m the final adoption of cer- 
 tain principles. The existing framework of the Street 
 Department, particularly, is an excellent one, and brings into 
 close relation, under a single head, nearly all of the different 
 branches of the municipal service, — now under the paving, 
 sewer, bridge, street cleaning, sanitary and street watering 
 divisions, — which have to do with the streets. The Super- 
 intendent of Streets, as the officer supervising and directing 
 the operations of these different divisions, each under its own 
 head, together employing at the present time no less than 
 3,000 men, has become a sort of deputy mayor as to the 
 important branches of municipal service embraced in his 
 department, to the great relief and advantage of the Mayor. 
 
 It is a safe rule that no more work should be imposed 
 directly upon the head of a department than is within the 
 limit of such capacity and endurance as the city may reason- 
 ably expect to secure. Even with our present large num- 
 ber of departments, there are several, notably the Board of 
 Health, which have already placed upon them rather a greater 
 multiplicity of duties than can be properly performed. 
 
City Government of Boston. 53 
 
 This board has already been relieved of the charge of the 
 city cemeteries, and might well be relieved of several other 
 duties, particularly the charge of public baths, which, per- 
 haps in connection with public sanitary conveniences, are 
 important enough to call for separate administrative control. 
 
 While some persons object to the multiplicity of depart- 
 ments already reached, on the score of complication of 
 machinery as well as expense, it may well be claimed, on the 
 other hand, that the proper distribution of public work tends 
 in reality towards its simplification; and expense is little, 
 if at all, increased where an unpaid board can be placed 
 at the head of a new department. The present is an age 
 of specialized effort in every field of human activity; if 
 municipal government is to keep up with the requirements of 
 the times it must be specialized wherever this seems necessary 
 for the accomplishment of the best results. The act of the 
 present year created five institutions departments where only 
 one existed before ; but it did so because the problems con- 
 nected with the care of criminals, paupers, insane persons 
 and children, vary in character, though related to each 
 other, and need, as to each of these classes, the undivided 
 attention of a separate board. The recent establishment of 
 a Board of Statistics furnishes, on the other hand, a good 
 illustration of a desirable extension of the work of the muni- 
 cipal government into a new field. The development of 
 municipal functions on new lines, which is one of the striking 
 tendencies of our day, occasionally calls for the creation of 
 new departments ; we should not hesitate to establish these 
 wherever there is work for the public good waiting to be done, 
 especially when they can be placed under the charge of un- 
 paid boards. 
 
54 Seventy-Fifth Anniyersary 
 
 Reorganization of City Council. 
 Coming to the legislative branch of our city government, 
 the need of some reorganization is almost universally con- 
 ceded, though there are wide differences of opinion as to 
 what form this should take. One difficulty inherent in the 
 present organization is the comparative unimportance of the 
 Common .Council. Under the charter as it existed prior to 
 1885, the functions of the Common Council, while by no 
 means equal to those of the Board of Aldermen, were still of 
 considerable importance ; since that time there has been little 
 legitimate business for that body to do outside of passing the 
 annual appropriation order (dividing the current revenue of 
 the city among the different departments), and the orders 
 authorizing loans. As the full amount which the city is 
 allowed by state law to raise by taxation is always appro- 
 priated each year, the making of the annual budget is really 
 only a question of distributing a fixed amount of money 
 among the different departments ; as such distribution prac- 
 tically can vary very little from the appropriations of the 
 preceding year, reducing the work of the City Council to that 
 of dividing the additional revenue in excess of that of the last 
 year, but little opportunity is afforded for useful public service. 
 
 The authorization of loans, amounting under our financial 
 system to a large sum each year, is indeed an important 
 matter, and might afford an ample opening to serve the 
 public ; but here the difficulty is met that it is ordinarily 
 impossible to secure the two-thirds vote of the whole mem- 
 bership of the Common Council required by statute for the 
 passage of a loan order except by combining in one measure 
 a sufficient number of local loan items to command the sup- 
 port of at least two-thirds of that body. The opportunities 
 afforded for the display of municipal statesmanship in the 
 framing and passing of a local-improvement loan order are 
 hardly sufficient to make service in the Common Council 
 attractive to those best qualified to serve the city. 
 
City Government of Boston. 55 
 
 It has been proposed that the Common Council should be 
 given equal powers concurrent in every respect with the 
 Board of Aldermen ; this would doubtless do some good, 
 but hardly enough, with a Common Council of seventy-five 
 members, to warrant its adoption. The reduction of the 
 number of Councilmen from three from each ward to one 
 has also been proposed; and this would also, particularly 
 in connection with the change in powers just mentioned, 
 accomplish something for the regeneration of the Common 
 Council. The act to be submitted to the voters for their 
 acceptance at the next election provides, not for the aboli- 
 tion of the Common Council, any more than for that of the 
 Board of Aldermen, but for the consolidation of the two 
 existing branches into a single chamber, two-thirds of whose 
 members, corresponding to the present Councilmen, are to be 
 elected by wards, and one-third, corresponding to the present 
 Aldermen, by the city at large. 
 
 One important object to be sought in connection with any 
 change is that of making the members elected at large true 
 representatives of the interests of the city as a whole, and 
 entirely independent, as the Mayor practically is, of any 
 local constituency within the city. The ideal balance of 
 power would seem to be to divide the votes in a single 
 chamber equally between members elected by wards, avowedly 
 as representatives of local interests, and members elected at 
 large, representing only the general welfare of the city. One 
 great evil which the city suffers from at present is the fact 
 that loan items of the greatest consequence from the general 
 standpoint cannot secure votes enough to pass, and are 
 crowded out in the interest of local items, log-rolled together 
 to make a loan order which can go through both branches of 
 the City Council. 
 
56 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 
 
 Relation between Legislative and Executive. 
 
 One important function of a legislative body, particularly 
 under a city government, is, through the power of the 
 purse, to maintain a proper scrutiny upon the doings of the 
 executive, and to bring before the public any acts deserving 
 of criticism. One trouble at present is that the City Coun- 
 cil, having lost its old power to control the expenditure of 
 money directly by its own committees, has not learned to 
 put to a proper use the important power which still belongs 
 to it of discussing, scrutinizing and checking the expendi- 
 ture of money by the executive. The powers of the Mayor 
 and of the heads of departments are so broad that they 
 should be constantly exercised in the full light of publicit}'^, 
 and this it should be the function of the City Council to 
 turn on. If proper and fair discussion of all important ex- 
 ecutive acts could be had in the City Council, it would be 
 greatly for the public advantage. One argument in favor 
 of a single chamber is that it would seem to afford a much 
 better opportunity than can exist with two branches for the 
 re-establishment of this proper relation between the legislar 
 tive and executive departments. 
 
 The object sought by all is the strengthening of the City 
 Council, in importance and influence, as a co-ordinate branch 
 in the government of the city, having jurisdiction only over 
 a limited field, but one of sufficient importance to call for the 
 exercise of the best talents. Obviously membership in a 
 comparatively small body is of more consequence, and is 
 therefore more apt to be sought or accepted by citizens of 
 ability, than membership in a large body ; and membership in 
 a single chamber, exercising all the powers vested in the 
 legislative branch of the government, must amount to more 
 than membership in one of two branches. It would indeed be 
 a mistake to reduce too greatly the number of members of a 
 single chamber in order to accomplish such an object, or to 
 
City Government of Boston. 67 
 
 do away with the necessary checks on hasty or ill-advi§ed 
 legislative action; but a body about midway in membership 
 between the Board of Aldermen and the Common Council, 
 and only authorized to pass upon important matters after 
 they have been considered at two meetings, separated by an 
 interval of at least a week, would seem to afford the proper 
 conditions. 
 
 One thing may be predicted with confidence ; our City 
 Council will become either of more consequence in our 
 municipal government or of less. It is not likely to remain 
 in its present condition of unstable equilibrium. If the 
 reorganization act is accepted by the people, the consequence 
 of the Council will undoubtedly be increased, and member- 
 ship in it will become more highly prized. If, on the other 
 hand, the act should be rejected, it is probable that further 
 powers will in time be taken away from the City Council by 
 the legislature, and that the Board of Apportionment system 
 which has prevailed in New York will be introduced here. 
 
 Conclusion. 
 As we stand to-day at the close of one period in the 
 municipal life of Boston and look forward into another, we 
 may well gather new courage and inspiration from the past, 
 to strengthen us for meeting the problems of the future. 
 Our city government was established in a time of small 
 things, measured by modern standards, and our fathers had 
 but slight material resources at their command. If we in 
 our day and generation can exhibit as much of wisdom, of 
 patient striving, of devotion to the service of the public, as 
 they did, we shall have no reason to be ashamed of the record 
 we leave behind us. The difficulties encountered in muni- 
 cipal government are different at different periods; the 
 qualities needed to overcome them are always the same. 
 Civic pride and patriotic spirit characterized the people of 
 the town of Boston from the earliest days, and these quali- 
 ties have not died out among their successors. While 
 
58 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of Boston. 
 
 but a fraction of the people of the city of to-day are 
 descendants of those who saw the first city governtnent 
 established, all of us are common inheritors of everything 
 that made Boston in the past worthy of the distinction 
 which she enjoyed. The city of three-quarters of a cen- 
 tury hence can scarcely differ as widely from that of to- 
 day, as does the city of to-day from that of 1822. We and 
 our children, therefore, have not as great a transformation to 
 effect as fell to the lot of our predecessors ; we have but to 
 see to it that the municipality continues to make progress 
 along Ilqcs of development already laid down. May we 
 in that work ever keep before our minds a high ideal of what 
 a great modern city ought to be, and a sense of the enlight- 
 ened service it should demand from each of its citizens, in 
 order that its beneficent activities may work for the greatest 
 good of all its citizens. 
 
^-^^ a 
 
HISTORICAL APPENDIX. 
 
60 
 
 Seventy-Fifth Anniyersaey 
 
 1822. 
 
 Mayor. 
 *JOHN PHILLIPS. 
 
 Aldermen. 
 
 ♦Samuel Billings, 
 *Ephraim Eliot, 
 *Jacob Hall, 
 ♦Joseph Head, 
 
 ♦Samuel F. McCleary, 
 
 ♦Joseph Jenkins, 
 ♦Joseph Lovering, 
 ♦Nathaniel Pope Russell, 
 ♦Bryant Parrott Tilden, 
 City Clerk. 
 
 Ward 1. 
 ♦William Barry, 
 ♦Thaddeus Page, 
 ♦Charles Wells, 
 ♦Simon Wilkinson. 
 
 Common Council. 
 
 ♦William Prescott, President. 
 
 Ward 5. 
 
 ♦George Washington Coffin 
 ♦Thomas Kendall, 
 ♦Horatio Gates Ware, 
 ♦Isaac Winslow. 
 
 Ward 9. 
 ♦Jonathan Davis, 
 ♦Hawkes Lincoln, 
 ♦William Prescott, 
 ♦John Welles. 
 
 Ward 2. 
 ♦Martin Bates, 
 ♦Benjamin Lamson, 
 ♦Henry Orne, 
 ♦Joseph Stodder. 
 
 Ward 3. 
 ♦Theodore Dexter, 
 ♦Joshua Emmons, 
 ♦Samuel Jones. 
 
 Ward 4. 
 ♦Joseph Cooledge, 
 ♦Samuel Perkins, 
 ♦Robert Gould Shaw, 
 ♦Joel Thayer. 
 
 Ward 6. 
 
 ♦Samuel Appleton, 
 ♦Thomas Motley, 
 ♦Jesse Shaw, 
 ♦William Sullivan. 
 
 Ward 7. 
 ♦Jonathan Amory, 
 ♦Patrick Tracy Jackson, 
 ♦Augustus Peabody, 
 ♦Enoch Silsby. 
 
 Ward 8. 
 ♦David Watts Bradlee, 
 ♦Peter Chardon Brooks, 
 ♦James Perkins, 
 ♦Benjamin Russell. 
 
 ♦Thomas Clark, Clerk. 
 
 Ward 10. 
 ♦Andrew Drake, 
 ♦Daniel Lewis Gibbens, 
 *David Collson Mosely, 
 ♦Isaac Stevens. 
 
 Ward 11. 
 
 ♦George Watson Brimmer, 
 ♦Asa Bxillard, 
 ♦Barzillai Holmes, 
 ♦Winslow Lewis. 
 
 Ward 12. 
 ♦Cyrus Alger, 
 ♦John French, 
 ♦John Howe, 
 ♦Moses Williams. 
 
 Note. — ♦ Deceased. 
 

City Government of Boston. 
 
 61 
 
 189T. 
 Mayor. 
 JOSIAH QUINCY.* 
 Aldermen. 
 
 Perlie a. Dyar, 
 John H. Lee, 
 David F. Barry, 
 Efiward W. Presho, 
 Perlie A. Dyar, 
 William F. Donovan, 
 William J. Donovan, 
 
 Chairman. 
 William Berwin, 
 Franklin L. Codman, 
 John H. Colby, 
 Josiah S. Dean, 
 William H. Lott, 
 Milton C. Paige. 
 
 Ward 1. 
 Collingwood C. Millar, 
 Charles I. Albee, 
 A. Dudley Bagley. 
 
 Ward 2. 
 Joseph A. Conry, 
 William J. Cronin, 
 James H. Donovan. 
 
 Ward 3. 
 John J. O'Callaghan, 
 Henry B. Carroll, 
 John I. Toland. 
 
 Ward 4. 
 William E. Mahoney, 
 John W. Donohue, 
 Joseph A. Turnbull. 
 
 Ward 5, 
 William J. Miller, 
 James J. Brock, 
 Dennis J. Falvey. 
 
 Ward 6. 
 John A. Rowan, 
 James H. Shannon, 
 Michael J. Donovan. 
 
 Ward 7. 
 William T. A. Fitzgerald, 
 Thomas Mackey, 
 William H. Rotli. 
 
 Ward 8. 
 Francis J. Horgan, 
 Daniel J. Kiley, 
 Louis Sonnabend. 
 
 Ward 9. 
 Patrick Bowen, 
 Michael Leonard, 
 Maurice J. McCarthy. 
 
 J. Miichel Galvin, City Clerk. 
 
 CouN oilmen. 
 Joseph A. Conry, President. 
 
 Ward 10. Ward 18. 
 
 Alfred F. Kinney, Michael E. Gaddis, 
 
 George S. Brooks, James J. Casey, 
 
 Walter E. Nichols. John H. Daly. 
 
 Ward 11. 
 Frank H. Briggs, 
 Charles R. Saunders, 
 George Holden Tinkham. 
 
 Ward 12. 
 Arthur G. Wood, 
 John B. Dumond, 
 Edward P. Sands. 
 
 Ward 13. 
 Hugh W. Bresnahan, 
 James T. Mahony, Jr. 
 Patrick J. O'Toole. 
 
 Ward 14. 
 John H. Dunn, 
 William P. Hickey, 
 James F. Mulcahy. 
 
 Ward 15. 
 
 Edward C. Cadigan,t 
 John J. Mahoney, 
 Daniel V. Mclsaac. 
 
 Ward 16. 
 Oliver F. Davenport, 
 Frederick W. Farwell, 
 Arthur P. Russell. 
 
 Ward 17. 
 Timothy E. McCarthy, 
 Timothy L. Connolly, 
 John P. Lanergan. 
 
 Joseph O'Kane, Clerk, 
 
 Ward 19. 
 Charles P. Nangle, 
 John F. Dempsey, 
 John J. Flanagan. 
 
 Ward 20. 
 Wilbur F. Adams, 
 Edwin D. Bell, 
 Louis T. Howard. 
 
 Ward 21. 
 Samuel C. Jones, 
 Alfred Newmarch, 
 Albert C. Sawyer. 
 
 Ward 22. 
 John A. Maier, 
 Charles F. Adams, 
 William Dallow, Jr. 
 
 Ward 23. 
 Edward Orchard, 
 Charles W. Dennis, 
 Konrad Young. 
 
 Ward 24. 
 William E. Harvey, 
 WillardW.Hibbard, 
 Harry B. Whall. 
 
 Ward 25. 
 William M. Farrington, 
 Ezra N. Rolland, 
 William D. Wheeler. 
 
 ♦Elected for two years. See chap. 449, Acts of 
 tDied July 2, 1897. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 As the proceedings at the inauguration of the City Govern- 
 ment have not been published before in detail, the following 
 account has been prepared from the best authorities. 
 
 Snow (History of Boston, p. 369) writes : — 
 " The first of May was appointed by the charter as the day 
 for the commencement of the municipal year. Suitable 
 preparations were made in Faneuil Hall for the ceremonies 
 of inducting the Mayor and other officers into their new 
 stations. A platform, raised about two feet from the floor, 
 was thrown from the selectmen's box to nearly the extent of 
 the hall. On this the Selectmen of the past year, the Alder- 
 men, and Common Council elect were accommodated with 
 chairs and settees, the floor being covered with carpets. Two 
 of the galleries were filled with ladies and the Hall was 
 crowded to excess." 
 
 The official record of the Proceedings of the Mayor and 
 Board of Aldermen proceeds as follows : — 
 
 City of Boston, May 1, 1822. 
 
 This being the day appointed for organization of the City 
 Government by virtue of an act of the Legislature of the 
 Commonwealth of Massachusetts, passed on the twenty third 
 day of February A.D. 1822, entitled "an act to establish 
 the City of Boston." 
 
64 Seventy-Fifth Anniyersary 
 
 The following Gentlemen appeared in Faneuil Hall and 
 took their seats, viz. : 
 
 Hon. John Phillips, Mayor, 
 
 aldermen. 
 
 Samuel Billings Joseph Jenkins 
 
 Ephraim Eliot Joseph Lovering 
 
 Jacob Hall Nathaniel P. Russell 
 
 Joseph Head Bryant V. Tilden. 
 
 The meeting was opened with prayer by the Rev^. Thomas 
 'Baldwin, D.D. . 
 
 The Hon. Isaac Parker, Chief Justice of the Supreme 
 Judicial Court, administered the several oaths required by 
 law to the Mayor. — 
 
 The Mayor then administered the like oaths to the 
 Aldermen, and afterwards to the members of the Common 
 Council. 
 
 "Eliphalet Williams, Esq., the Chairman of the selectmen 
 then rose, and, after an appropriate address, delivered the 
 city charter to the Mayor, contained in a superb silver case, 
 and the ancient act incorporating the town nearly two cen- 
 turies past, together with all the books of records, title deeds, 
 and documents belonging to the inhabitants. He concluded 
 with a compliment to the wisdom and judgment, which had 
 selected the gentlemen composing the present boards, for the 
 purpose of putting into operation the new and untried system 
 of city government." (Snow, History.) 
 
City Government of Boston. 65 
 
 In response, Mayor Phillips addressed to the retiring Board 
 of Selectmen, the following speech, which is copied from 
 Quincy's " Municipal History " of Boston, pp. 373-374 : 
 
 " Mr. Chairman, and Gentlemen of the Board of Selectmen : — 
 
 " The members of the City Council acknowledge their obli- 
 gations to you, for the attention and care which you have 
 bestowed in all the arrangements for their accommodation. 
 They tender their, thanks for the friendly and respectful 
 sentiments expressed in the address which accompanied the 
 delivery of the ancient act of incorporation of the town, and 
 the recent charter of the city. 
 
 " During the short period which has elapsed since I was 
 elected to the office, the duties of which I have now solemnly 
 undertaken to discharge to the best of my ability, I have 
 devoted such portion of my time as I could command to 
 examine the records of your proceedings, with the able as- 
 sistance which your Chairman most readily afforded me ; and 
 they furnish full evidence of the ability, diligence, and integ- 
 rity of those who have been justly denominated the Fathers 
 of the town. 
 
 " Gentlemen, you will now be relieved from labors, the 
 weight of which can only be duly estimated by those excel- 
 lent citizens who have preceded you in office. You retire 
 with the consciousness of important duties faithfully and 
 honorably discharged. Our best wishes attend you, whether 
 engaged in public employments or in private pursuits. May 
 you be useful and prosperous, and long continue your exer- 
 tions to advance the interest and honor of our city." 
 
 Then turning to the members of the new administration, 
 he said: 
 
 " Gentlemen of the City Council : — 
 
 " The experience of nearly two centuries has borne ample 
 testimony to the wisdom of those institutions which our an- 
 cestors established for the management of their municipal 
 concerns. Most of the towns in this Commonwealth may, 
 
66 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 
 
 probably, continue to enjoy the benefit of those salutary reg- 
 ulations for an unlimited series of years. But the great in- 
 crease of population in the town of Boston has made it 
 necessary for the Legislature frequently to enact statutes of 
 local application, to enable the inhabitants successfully to 
 conduct their affairs ; and at the last session, with a prompts 
 ness which claims our gratitude, on the application of the 
 town, they granted the charter which invests it with the 
 powers and immunities of a city. Those who have attended 
 to the inconveniences under which we have labored, will not 
 attribute this innovation to an eager thirst for novelty, or rest- 
 less desire of innovation. The most intelligent and experi- 
 enced of our citizens have for a long period meditated a 
 change, and exerted their influence to effect it. Difference 
 of opinion must be expected, and mutual concessions made, 
 in all cases where the interests of a large community is to be 
 accommodated. The precise form in wliich the charter is to 
 be presented, may not be acceptable to all; but its provisions 
 have met with the approbation of a large majority, and it 
 will receive the support of every good citizen. 
 
 " Those who encourage hopes that can never be realized, 
 and those who indulge unreasonable apprehensions because 
 this instrument is not framed agreeably to their wishes, will 
 be benefited by reflecting, how much more our social happi- 
 ness depends upon other causes than the provisions of a 
 charter. Purity of manners, general diffusion of knowledge, 
 and strict attention to the education of the young, above all 
 a firm, practical belief of that divine revelation which has 
 affixed the penalty of unceasing anguish to vice, and prom- 
 ised to virtue rewards of interminable duration, will counter- 
 act the evils of any form of government. While the love 
 of order, benevolent affections, and Christian piety, distin- 
 guish, as they have done, the inhabitants of this city, they 
 may enjoy the highest blessings under a charter with so few 
 imperfections as that which the wisdom of our Legislature 
 has sanctioned. 
 
City Government of Boston. 67 
 
 " To enter upon the administration of this government by 
 the invitation of our fellow-citizens, we are this day assem- 
 bled. When I look around and observe gentlemen of the 
 highest standing and most active employments, devoting their 
 talents and experience to assist in the commencement of this 
 arduous business, in common with my fellow-citizens, I appre- 
 ciate most highly their elevated and patriotic motives. I well 
 know. Gentlemen, the great sacrifice of time, of care, and of 
 emolument, which you make in assuming this burden. It 
 shall be my constant study to enlighten it by every means in 
 my power. In my official intercourse I shall not incumber 
 you with unnecessary forms, or encroach on your time with 
 prolix dissertations. In all the communications which the 
 charter requires me to make, conciseness and brevity will be 
 carefully studied. I will detain you no longer from the 
 discharge of the important duties which now devolve upon 
 you, than to invite you to unite in beseeching the Father 
 of Light, without whose blessing all exertion is fruitless, 
 and whose grace alone can give efficacy to the councils 
 of human wisdom, to enlighten and guide our deliber- 
 ations with the influence of his Holy Spirit, and then we 
 cannot fail to promote the best interests of our fellow-citi- 
 zens." 
 
 At this point is resumed the regular report from the 
 records of the Board of Aldermen, the proceedings in the 
 Common Council being almost the counterpart and not 
 worth repeating. 
 
 Afterwards the Board of Aldermen retired to their own 
 room. 
 
 The Hon. Mr. Sullivan came up with a message from the 
 Common Council to inform the Board of Aldermen that they 
 had elected the Hon. William Prescott their President, and 
 Thomas Clark Esq. Clerk. 
 
 Alderman Head was charged with a message to the Com- 
 mon Council to propose a Convention forthwith of both 
 boards for the purpose of electing a City Clerk. 
 
68 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 
 
 Major Russell came up with a message from the Board of 
 Common Council to inform the Board of Aldermen that they 
 concur in the proposition to form a Convention of the two 
 boards to meet forthwith in Faneuil Hall for the purpose of 
 electing a City Clerk. 
 
 IN CONVENTION. 
 
 Agreeably to assignment the two boards met in Convention 
 in Faneuil Hall for the purpose of electing a City Clerk. 
 
 Mess"- Tilden, Davis and Brooks were appointed a com- 
 mittee, to receive, sort & count the votes, for a City Clerk, 
 who reported, that the whole number of votes was fifty 
 four ; — necessary to make a choice twenty eight ; — Samuel 
 F. McCleary, Esq. had fifty two votes and was chosen. 
 
 The oath of office was administered to him by the Mayor. 
 
 The business of the Convention being accomplished the 
 two boards separated. 
 
 Ordered^ That Aldermen Head & Russell with such as 
 may be joined on the part of the board of Common Council, be 
 a Committee to consider what subjects require the immediate 
 attention of the City Council, with power to report, such by- 
 laws as may be immediately requisite. Sent down for con- 
 currence. Came up concurred, and the board of Common 
 Council joined on its part Mess'^^- J. Welles, Sullivan & 
 Orne. 
 
 Account against the town of Boston passed and allowed, 
 and Ordered^ that a warrant be drawn upon the Treasurer 
 for the amount thereof being 13022.45. 
 
 Voted to adjourn to meet at the Court of Sessions room in 
 the County Court house this afternoon 4 o' Clock. 
 
City Government of Boston. 69 
 
 Afternoon. 
 
 Court of Sessions Room. 
 
 The Committee appointed on the subject of the by-laws, 
 reported, three bills viz.: A by-law to establish rules & regu- 
 lations for the preservation of the public health and for the 
 appointment of temporary health Commissioners. 
 
 An order to continue in force by-laws. 
 
 An order prescribing the form of warrants for calling meet- 
 ings of the Citizens of the several wards. 
 
 Which several orders being twice read passed to be 
 enrolled. 
 
 Sent down for concurrence. Came up concurred. 
 
 Ordered^ That the Mayor and Alderman Head be a com- 
 mittee to consider and report on the subject of rules and 
 orders to be observed at this board. 
 
 Ordered^ That the Mayor, Aldermen Hall, Billings and 
 Jenkins, be a Committee to consider the subject of licensing 
 all Theatrical exhibitions and all public shows, and the terms 
 and conditions of licensing ; and also report by-laws, inflict- 
 ing forfeitures for the non observance of such by-laws and 
 report thereon. 
 
 Ordered^ That all Committees shall be nominated by the 
 Mayor until further order. 
 
 Alderman Head was charged with a message to propose a 
 convention of the City Council in the Court of Sessions room 
 tomorrow 10 o'Clock; to determine the number of Repre- 
 sentatives it will be expedient for the City to send to the 
 General Court, the present year. 
 
 Major Russell came up with a message from the Board of 
 Common Council; to state, that they non concur in the 
 proposition to form a Convention as above proposed, and 
 the Common Council propose to form a Convention in the 
 Supreme Court's room immediately for the purpose above 
 specified. 
 
70 Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 
 
 Alderman Tilden was charged with a message to inform 
 the Common Council, that the Board of Aldermen concur in 
 their last proposition to form a Convention in the Supreme 
 Court room for the purpose of determining the number of 
 Representatives it will be expedient for the City to send to 
 the next General Court — forthwith. — 
 
 m CONVENTION. . 
 
 Agreeably to assignment the two boards met in Convention 
 in the Supreme Court room for the purpose of determining 
 the number of Representatives it will be expedient for the 
 City to send to the next General Court. And the City Coun- 
 cil determined that the number should be twenty five. 
 
 The business of the Convention being accomplished the 
 two boards separated. 
 
 Ordered^ That Aldermen Eliot and Jenkins be a Committee 
 to consider the propriety of printing the Constitution of the 
 United States, and of this State, with such by-laws of the 
 town of Boston as are now in force. 
 
 Ordered^ That proposals will be received until the sixteenth 
 instant to supply the City with Summer strained oil, not ex- 
 ceeding thirty five hundred gallons, & with Winter strained 
 oil not exceeding three thousand gallons to be delivered in 
 such quantities, & at such times as maj^ be requested. 
 
 Ordered^ That proposals will be received until the fifteenth 
 instant, for the paving that may be wanted for the City the 
 ensuing season. 
 
 Voted^ That Aldermen Tilden and Billings be a committee 
 to direct the repairing of the side-walks in Summer street 
 near Church green. 
 
 Voted, That Aldermen Tilden, Billings and Jenkins be a 
 committee to direct all necessary repairs near the School-house 
 on Fort-hill. 
 
 Voted, That Aldermen Lovering, Hall & Jenkins be a com- 
 mittee to direct all necessary repairs in Brighton street and 
 Charles street. 
 
City Government op Boston. 71 
 
 Ordered^ That Wednesday next 11 o'Clock be appointed for 
 the meeting of the wards for the choice of Representatives, 
 and warrants were ordered to be issued accordingly, to meet 
 in the same places except in Ward No. 6, to be in the meet- 
 ing house in Butolph street. 
 
 Adjourned to four o'Clock to-morrow afternoon. 
 
 [End of official record.] 
 
 The new City Government had no official headquarters. 
 On May 6 the City Council appointed a committee to prepare 
 a room. No report or entry on the records shows what room 
 was obtained, but it seems beyond a doubt that it was in the 
 School-street court-house. 
 
 The records of 1823 show that in the fall of that year a 
 committee spent about f 1,000 in fitting up the hall of the 
 Common Council, and that it was a room which had been used 
 as a court room. The clerk's desk was a table borrowed from 
 the room of the Supreme Court. The Auditor's report of 
 1822-3 shows some $450 spent on furniture for the Mayor 
 and Aldermen's room. 
 
 By an ordinance of Dec. 20, 1824, rooms were assigned to 
 the City Treasurer at the westerly end of the old State House ; 
 for the City Clerk in the Mayor and Aldermen's room; for the 
 Auditor at the westerly end of the court-house, south side ; 
 Health Commissioners, Superintendent of Burying Grounds 
 and for the City Marshal in the room at the same end, north 
 side. The clerk of the Common Council and the Captain of 
 the Watch were accommodated in the room in a back building 
 opposite the southwest door of the court-house, while the 
 Assessors occupied a room at the easterly end of Faneuil Hall 
 on the south side. 
 
 Mayor Quincy in his inaugural address in January, 1827, 
 advised changes in the county court-house, as nothing could 
 be more inconvenient than the location of the public offices. 
 The Mayor and Aldermen, City Clerk, Auditor, and offices 
 
72 Seventy-Fifth Anniversaey of Boston. 
 
 of police were in one building; the Assistant City Clerk in 
 another, the Treasurer in a third, and the Assessors, Over- 
 seers of the Poor and Directors of the House of Industry in 
 a fourth, very much the condition that obtains to-day. 
 
 He recommended a fire-proof building at the western end 
 of Faneuil Hall, which would cost less than the proposed 
 new court-house. 
 
 In 1828 the Mayor and Aldermen's room was in the third 
 story of the west wing of the stone court-house, facing 
 School street. The Common Council chamber was in the 
 centre of the same story. The members' seats had a gradual 
 ascent from front to rear. The School Committee met in 
 the Mayor's office. 
 
 In 1830 the old State House was fitted up for the City 
 Council and the city offices, and by ordinance was called City 
 Hall. On Nov. 21, 1832, the building was damaged by fire. 
 The damages were repaired for about $3,500. No papers of 
 importance were lost. 
 
 In 1839 the City Council appropriated 160,000 for the 
 purchase of land in Court square and on School street, and 
 $500 as a premium for a new City Hall. None of the plans 
 were adopted, and July 27, 1840, it was decided to fit up the 
 School-street court-house; and on March 18, 1841, it was 
 dedicated as the new City Hall. This was occupied until 
 Jan. 12, 1863, when the City Government moved into Me- 
 chanic's Hall, at the corner of Chauncey and Bedford streets. 
 The last meeting of the Board of Aldermen in the School- 
 street building was on Jan. 7, 1863, and the first in Me- 
 chanics' Hall on January 12 of the same year. 
 
 The present City Hall was dedicated and occupied Sept. 
 18, 1865, at noon (the 17th being Sunday) ; the corner-stone 
 having been laid on Dec. 2i 
 
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