MASSACHUSETTS. 



459 



the 1st of October, was 136, while during the 

 same months, in 1867, there were only 65. There 

 are three schools for the correction and refor- 

 mation of juvenile delinquents, viz. : the State 

 Eeform School at Westboro'; the Nautical 

 School, partly on a vessel lying in Boston har- 

 bor, and partly on board another vessel at New 

 Bedford ; and the State Industrial School for 

 girls, at Lancaster. On the 1st of October, there 

 were 321 inmates at Westboro', 134 at Lan- 

 caster, and 281 in the Nautical School, making 

 736 in all: 115 were committed; 50 returned, 

 and 163 discharged at the first-named institu- 

 tion. At Lancaster there were 56 commit- 

 ments, 66 returns, and 145 discharges. Those 

 discharged are apprenticed or furnished with 

 situations, unless otherwise provided for by 

 their own friends. Besides these State insti- 

 tutions, Boston has a House of Reformation on 

 Deer Island, and there are several private in- 

 stitutions of a similar character. The whole 

 cost of the three State reformatories, for the 

 year, was $115,000 above their earnings. 



The amount of money granted for the sup- 

 port of common schools during the year was 

 $2,635,774.06, or about $280,000 more than the 

 amount devoted to that purpose in the prece- 

 ding year. Besides these, $1,495,573 were 

 paid for the erection of new school-houses. 

 The average monthly pay for teachers in Mas- 

 sachusetts is $72.93 for male, and $27.84 for 

 female teachers. 



The public debt of the State on the first of 

 January, 1869, was $27,735,870.05, which may 

 be classified as follows : 



Eailroad debt $9,142,176 



Ante-war debt. 1,092,000 



War debt 16,573,244 



Of the funded liabilities, the payment of all 

 but $352,000 is fully secured by sinking funds. 

 The estimated expenses of the government for 

 the year 1869 are $5,000,000. The estimated 

 receipts from all sources, so far as provided, 

 are $3,000,000, leaving $2,928,450, including 

 the temporary debt, to be provided for by 

 taxation. The city of Boston has a debt of 

 $14,146,900.65. 



The conventions of the two political parties 

 were held in September. The following is the 

 platform of the Democratic Convention : 



Resolved, That the people of the United States have 

 sufficiently proved by experience the lesson of history, 

 that the caprice of majorities is intolerable tyranny ; 

 ye therefore invoke the protection, and demand an 

 immediate return to the limitations and requirements 

 of the Constitution of the United States. 



Resolved, That the leaders of the Eepublican party 

 in Congress having shown a consistent and persistent 

 purpose to usurp all the powers and functions of all 

 other departments of the Government ; to trample 

 on the Constitution in order to organize a squad of 

 negro colonies dependent on themselves, by whose 

 aid to perpetuate their own political power, and neu- 

 tralize the white voters of the South ; to disregard 

 and debase the high office of President by deposing 

 its incumbent for difference of political opimon ; in 

 order to satisfy their lust for power, thereby inevita- 

 bly destroying the balance of our government, and 

 throwing down that great constitutional department 



to be the mere football of furious faction ; and to de- 

 prive the Supreme Court, which is the best defence 

 of an oppressed minority, of all power to inquire into 

 the constitutionality of certain congressional enact- 

 ments ; thus planting the heel of party even upon the 

 neck of the judiciary itself, lest their revolutionary 

 measures should be put to the test of the organic 

 laws and be declared void ; the time has come when 

 every man must choose between the sovereignty of a 

 party majority in Congress or the supremacy of the 

 Constitution of the fathers. 



Resolved, That congressional reconstruction, while 

 it is unstatesmanlike in its attempt to rule commu- 

 nities by their least able classes, ridiculous in its pre- 

 tension, that a government can be truly republican 

 which a majority of the government tolerate only 

 from intimidation, contemptible for its preposterous 

 pretence that States which never got out of the Union 

 can be restored by allowing seats in both Houses of 

 Congress to be occupied by vagrant squatters who 

 misrepresent the districts to which they do not be- 

 long, and whose pretended elections pollute the very 

 fountain of congressional representation ; dangerous, 

 as establishing a policy the logical results of which, 

 as shown in Ireland and Poland, are incompatible 

 with peace and liberty, is above all unconstitutional 

 and revolutionary. 



Resolved, That we would earnestly recall the people 

 to^ the tried and proved wisdom of the ancient doc- 

 trines which require from our lawgivers a strict con- 

 struction of the letter of the Constitution of the United 

 States, and demand scrupulous observance by Con- 

 gress of the reserved rights of States. 



Resolved, That gold and silver coin is the only con- 

 stitutional legal tender, and while we would have but 

 one currency for all, the Democracy of Massachusetts 

 now, as in the past, are true to their old faith in hard 

 money, and demand that it be restored at the earliest 

 possible moment, consistent with the interest of the 

 business and labor of the country. 



Resolved, That, while we recognize the present ne- 

 cessity of ^a tax on imports, we renew our adhesion to 

 the doctrine of a tariff solely for revenue. 



Resolved, That in the nomination of John Quincy 

 Adams, a name renowned wherever the history of our 

 country is known, as the standard-bearer for the ap- 

 proaching contest, as also the gentlemen associated 

 upon the State ticket, we have presented to the Demo- 

 crats and Conservatives of Massachusetts a ticket 

 worthy of their full confidence and cordial support at 

 the polls. 



Resolved, That while we deprecate all attempts to 

 detract from the military fame, or black en the private 

 character of General Grant, we feel that when arms 

 exert an undue and abnormal power in a free govern- 

 ment in a time of peace, and its constitutional func- 

 tions are greatly deranged and partially suspended 

 by partisan violence, a people jealous of their liberties 

 should not lift higher yet the hand which holds the 

 sword. The nation needs now not the successful sol- 

 dier, skilled only in the art of war, and prone to rule 

 by the swift methods of the camp, but the wise and 

 thoughtful statesman,^ trained in the patient processes 

 of conciliation and kindness, and relying alone upon 

 the mild, firm sway of law and justice. 



Resolved, That we heartily agree with the declara- 

 tion of principles put forth by the convention which 

 met in New York City on the 4th day of July last, 

 that we cordially approve of the candidates selected, 

 and confidently ask the suffrages of all those who value 

 the Constitution higher than a platform, and love 

 their country better th.an any party, for Horatio Sey- 

 mour and Frank P. Blair. 



Resolved, That if the lavish and reckless extrava- 

 gance of Eepublican rule in national and State affairs 

 is to be accepted, as our opponents claim, for a judi- 

 cious economy, tnen we insist upon a rigid parsimony 

 in the expenditure of the public money. Every dol- 

 lar received by taxation from the people, not abso- 

 lutely necessary for the economical and legitimate 



