MASSACHUSETTS. 



495 



that made it apply only to those who served as 

 citizens of the State, or in its quota of forces. 

 This change made it a new proposition re- 

 quiring the approval of another Legislature. 



The subject of revising the laws of the State 

 occupied considerable attention in the early 

 part of the session, and finally the Governor 

 was authorized to appoint three commissioners 

 to perform the work. Their report must be 

 made to the Governor not later than January 

 1, 1882, and by him submitted to the Legisla- 

 ture. 



The question of regulating the traffic in in- 

 toxicating liquors occupied a good deal of at- 

 tention, as usual. There were several proposi- 

 tions for the amendment of the law, but only 

 two were adopted. One of these, modified the 

 " Civil Damage " act of 1870, so as to relieve 

 from liability for damages the lessor of real 

 estate occupied for the sale of liquors, when 

 the occupant is licensed to carry on the busi- 

 ness. The other change requires licenses to 

 specify the room or rooms in which liquors 

 are to be sold or kept, and prohibits their sale 

 elsewhere on the premises, except in the case 

 of innholders; authorizes the Licensing Board 

 to close all entrances to the premises except 

 those from the public street, and to remove 

 any screen or obstruction that may interfere 

 with a view of the interior; prohibits the sale 

 of intoxicating liquors to any minor for the use 

 of another person, or to any person known to 

 have been intoxicated within six months; and 

 declares that any beverage containing three 

 per cent, of alcohol shall be deemed to be an 

 intoxicating liquor. 



There was considerable discussion upon 

 matters pertaining to railroad and insurance 

 companies, but the changes made in the laws 

 were of little general importance. An act was 

 passed intended to put an end to the rivalry of 

 the Eastern and Boston and Maine Railroads, 

 two competing lines between Boston and Port- 

 land, by authorizing them to make an arrange- 

 ment, by contract or lease, for the joint opera- 

 tion of the two roads. Provision was made 

 for an excise tax on life-insurance business of 

 one half of one per cent, on a valuation equal 

 to the aggregate net value of policies, on the 

 31st of December preceding the assessment, 

 held by residents of the State. 



Among the other acts of the session was one 

 providing for the inspection of milk, regulat- 

 ing its sale and prohibiting adulteration under 

 severe penalties; a stringent measure for the 

 suppression of " tramps " ; a special charter of 

 the American Bell Telephone Company, which 

 provoked much discussion; an incorporation 

 of a new "Cape Cod Canal Company," to 

 construct a ship-canal from Buzzard's Bay to 

 Barnstable Bay through the town of Sandwich, 

 in case the old " Cape Cod Ship-Canal Com- 

 pany " should fail to have paid into its Treas- 

 ury "$400,000, and to have spent $100,000 on 

 work actually performed or materials used by 

 the 1st of November, 1880 ; an act authorizing 



the sale of a part of the Commonwealth lands 

 or "fiats" in South Boston to the New York 

 and New England Railroad Company, to be 

 used for depots, stations, warehouses, and other 

 terminal appliances. An old law prohibiting 

 smoking in the streets of Boston was repealed ; 

 persons not residents of the State were made 

 eligible to the Board of Overseers of Harvard 

 College. A law was also passed excusing 

 pupils in the public schools from reading the 

 Bible or any particular version of it when their 

 parents or guardians had conscientious scruples 

 against the exercise ; and a memorial to Con- 

 gress was adopted in favor of measures looking 

 to a renewal of reciprocal trade between the 

 United States and Canada. 



The annual attempt to secure action in favor 

 of woman suffrage suffered another defeat, 

 and by an unusually large adverse vote. A 

 bill to allow women to vote at town meetings, 

 at which the question of granting licenses to 

 sell liquor is acted upon, was also defeated. 

 Among the other defeated measures was a 

 stringent prohibitory law, an act to reduce 

 the tax on the deposits in savings-banks, and 

 one to prevent double taxation in certain 

 cases. 



The joint special committee appointed in 

 1879 to consider the subject of convict-labor, 

 made a report comprising three hundred and 

 forty-eight printed pages, the bulk of which 

 was made up of testimony, statistical tables, 

 etc. The points specially considered were : 



1. The effect of said system upon the general in- 

 dustries of the State. 



2. The effect of said system upon the interests of 

 free labor. 



3. The effect of this system upon the reformation of 

 the convict. 



4. What advantage, if any, the products of prison- 

 labor have over other manufactures in the matter of 

 profits and cheapness of labor. 



5. The effect of any prison-contract upon the par- 

 ticular kind or kinds of goods mentioned in said 

 contract. 



6. The feasibility of abolishing the contract system 

 and substituting 'therefor some other, whereby the 

 profit shall not go to private contractors, but to the 

 State. 



7. Such other points not here enumerated as will 

 give said committee full statistics and information 

 upon the subject mentioned. 



The committee was present by invitation at 

 a conference of the Prison -Labor Commis- 

 sioners of New Jersey and Connecticut, held 

 at New Haven, Connecticut, October 9, 1879, 

 at which the following propositions were unani- 

 mously adopted : 



1. The general purpose of incarceration is the pro- 

 tection of society by the punishment of crime ; and in 

 carrying out this purpose the reformation of the pris- 

 oner should be constantly kept in view. 



2. Partisan politics shoula be absolutely excluded 

 from the management of penal and reformatory insti- 

 tutions. 



3. The welfare of the State and the prisoner both 

 demand that the latter should be employed in produc- 

 tive labor. 



4. The right of the State to make its prisons self- 

 supporting should be conceded ; but it should not ex- 

 pect to make a profit out of the labor of its criminals 



