MASSACHUSETTS. 



471 



The question of consolidating several lines 

 of railroads in the Commonwealth and vesting 

 the control of the Hoosac Tunnel in the State, 

 in order to constitute an unbroken through- 

 line from Boston beyond the limits of the 

 State, received a great deal of attention, both 

 in and out of the Legislature. The legislation, 

 however, on this subject was confined to the 

 passage of a bill giving the Governor and 

 Council power to expend $200,000 in com- 

 pleting the tunnel and its approaches, and 

 also containing a clause prohibiting the con- 

 solidation of the Lowell and Fitchburg Rail- 

 roads. The bill allowing the Eastern and the 

 Boston & Maine Railroads to unite failed in 

 the House, after having passed the Senate. 



The general railroad legislation consisted of 

 a law concerning accidents, authorizing the 

 commissioners to investigate their causes, and 

 requiring notice of accidents to be given to 

 them within twenty-four hours after the occur- 

 rence of such accidents. The general railroad 

 law was amended by providing that corpora- 

 tions formed under it may reduce their capital 

 nnder certain restrictions, and change the gauge 

 of their road to narrow gauge. Accounts of rail- 

 road and street railroad corporations are re- 

 quired to be closed on the 30th of September. 

 State directors of railroads are to make an 

 annual report to the Legislature, with sugges- 

 tions as to management, etc., and no member 

 of the Legislature, and no person owning 

 stock, shall, during the term for which he is 

 chosen, be eligible to the office of State 

 director. 



An act doing away with the power of cities 

 and towns to legalize the sale of malt liquors 

 was passed early in the session, and went into 

 effect in May. " It brings the prohibitory 

 law," says one of the leading journals of the 

 State, " back to where it was in 1867, the only 

 drawback, in the opinion of the friends of the 

 statute, being the still-existing provision that 

 apothecaries may sell. A bill to do away with 

 this failed by a small majority in athin House, 

 and there was no attempt to reconsider, from 

 which it is inferred that an impression pre- 

 v.'tik-d that the matter had been pushed far 

 enough for this year." 



A new State -prison was ordered by the 

 Legislature, and an Insane Asylum for the 

 eastern portion of the State. An additional 

 judge of the Supreme Court was provided for. 

 The criminal code was so amended as to re- 

 quire that when a person indicted for murder 

 or manslaughter is acquitted on the ground of 

 insanity the court shall order such person to 

 one of the State lunatic hospitals for life. He 

 may, however, be discharged by the Governor 

 and Council when the former is satisfied, upon 

 n hearing of the matter, that it may be done 

 without injury to others. 



A law was passed providing that bank 

 shares shall be taxed where located, the bank 

 being held responsible for their collection. 

 The political campaign of 1873, in Massa- 



chusetts, was one of unusual interest, having 

 been not only attended with a high degree of 

 excitement in the Commonwealth, but attract- 

 ing general attention throughout the country 

 at large. The chief feature of the contest was 

 the determined efforts of General B. F. Butler 

 and his friends to secure the Republican nom- 

 ination for Governor for that gentleman at 

 the Worcester Convention. General Butler 

 personally conducted the canvass on his side, 

 having early entered the field and made speech- 

 es in various parts of the State. His action 

 encountered a most bitter opposition from 

 many of the leading members of the Repub- 

 lican party, and a large majority of the most 

 influential journals in the State" By these a 

 general complaint was made, that the Admin- 

 istration patronage and influence in the State 

 were used in favor of General Butler, and 

 there was a decided remonstrance not only in 

 the speeches and the editorials of the cam- 

 paign, but also in the resolutions of the con- 

 vention against Federal interference in State 

 politics. The contest was rendered still more 

 remarkable by the fact that this was the 

 second attempt of General Butler to gain pos- 

 session of the gubernatorial chair, he having 

 been defeated in his first determined effort in 

 1871. In the present campaign the contest 

 lay between Governor Washbnrn and General 

 Butler, and resulted, as is shown farther on, 

 in the success of the former. A significant 

 feature of the campaign was the movement of 

 the Labor Reformers who held a State Conven- 

 tion in Lowell, on the 5th of August, which 

 was presided over by Judge Robert Cowley, of 

 that city. In the language of that gentleman, 

 the object of the movement " is not to seek to 

 create any new party ; it is not to nominate a 

 State ticket in opposition to the two political 

 parties which now exist ; but it is to make our 

 issues on the Senators and Representatives, and 

 to goad both the existing parties to furthering 

 our distinctive measures, to take counsel to- 

 gether on the best means to be used for fur- 

 thering the enactment of the Ten-hours Law, 

 and sucli other measures of State and nation- 

 al legislation as are necessary for the improve- 

 ment of the condition of the people. We meet 

 at a most favorable time; for within a few 

 months the greatest manufacturing city in 

 America has advanced half-way from the rule 

 of eleven hours a day to the rale of ten. Law- 

 rence has followed the lead of Fall River. The 

 Pacific Mills have gone even further. The 

 Atlantic Mills, under the management of that 

 large-hearted and clear-headed superintendent, 

 Hon. William Gray, have long been run on 

 the ten-hours plan. Lowell, which has lately 

 fallen so far behind Fall River that she has not 

 now one-half the number of spindles and looms 

 which Fall River has Lowell, too, has ad- 

 vanced some steps toward the system which 

 we desire." 



No nominations were, therefore, made. A 

 resolution, however, was unanimously adopt- 



