MASSACHUSETTS. 



535 



It was also enacted that applications for li- 

 censes to sell liquors shall be advertised ; that 

 the objection of an owner of real estate adjoin- 

 ing that upon which liquor is to be sold may 

 prevent the issue of a license therefor ; that 

 licenses to sell liquors shall be granted only in 

 those cities and towns in which there is a direct 

 vote therefor ; that in non-license municipali- 

 ties club-rooms in which liquors are dispensed, 

 or sold shall be deemed common nuisances. 



The change of the Constitution proposed by 

 the Legislature of 1880 was concurred in. This 

 provides that no person having served in the 

 army or navy of the United States in time of 

 war, and having been honorably discharged 

 from such service, if otherwise qualified to 

 vote, shall be disqualified therefor on account 

 of being a pauper; or, if a pauper, because of 

 the non-payment of a poll-tax. The act of leg- 

 islation necessary to submit it to the people at 

 the next State election was also passed. The 

 State thus introduces into its fundamental law 

 a provision that its soldier-paupers may vote 

 without even the payment of the tax to which 

 other people are subjected, when it is at the 

 same time paying $400,000 annually to pre- 

 vent the possibility of soldiers becoming pau- 

 pers. 



For the purpose of obviating the evils of 

 double taxation, it was enacted that when any 

 person has an interest in taxable real estate as 

 holder of a mortgage, given to secure the pay- 

 ment of money, the amount of which is fixed 

 and certain, the amount of said person's inter- 

 est as mortgagee shall be assessed as real estate 

 in the city or town where the land lies, and the 

 mortgagor shall be assessed only for the value 

 of said real estate, less the mortgagee's interest 

 in it, and that savings-banks and institutions 

 for savings, including the Massachusetts Hos- 

 pital Life-Insurance Company, shall not be re- 

 quired to pay to the Treasurer of the Common- 

 wealth taxes upon such portion of their deposits 

 as is invested in loans secured by mortgages of 

 taxable real estate. 



The net yearly income of vessels engaged in 

 foreign commerce, and not the value of those 

 vessels, is hereafter to be taxed. 



The tax on deposits in savings-banks and in- 

 stitutions for saving was reduced from three 

 fourths to one half of one per cent. 



The bill providing for a direct tax for the 

 current expenses of the State fixed the sum to 

 be levied for that purpose at $1,500,000, the 

 amount of the same tax for the previous year. 

 Of this gross sum the city of Boston pays 

 $619,110. 



Upon the petitions of many citizens of emi- 

 nence it was enacted that criminal proceedings 

 nlay be instituted against a person from whom 

 a divorce has been obtained for a criminal of- 

 fense; that all decrees of divorce shall, in the 

 first instance, be decrees nisi, to become abso- 

 lute after the expiration of six months from the 

 entry thereof on application of either party ; 

 that the court before which any libel for di- 



vorce is pending may make such orders and 

 decrees concerning a temporary separation of 

 the parties, the separate maintenance of the 

 wife, and the custody and support of minor 

 children, as in its judgment the interests of 

 the parties and the necessities of the case de- 

 mand, and that the party against whom a di- 

 vorce has been or may hereafter be granted 

 shall not marry within two years from the time 

 of the entry of the final decree of divorce ; at 

 the expiration of said time said party may marry 

 without petition to the court. 



Damages of not less than $500 nor more than 

 $5,000 may be recovered by action of tort for 

 loss of a life caused by the negligence or care- 

 lessness of a railroad corporation, or by the 

 unfitness for their duties of its servants or 

 employes. 



There were also added to the statutes a meas- 

 ure providing that, under a penalty of $100 for 

 each person thus employed, no railroad com- 

 pany shall place in a position that requires him 

 to distinguish form or color signals any per- 

 son who has not a certificate from some com- 

 petent person that he is not affected by color- 

 blindness. 



Of the laws relating to the subject of the 

 elections, one provides that there shall be ap- 

 pointed in each voting precinct of the city of 

 Boston, by the mayor, with the approval of 

 the Board of Aldermen, at some time before 

 the first day of October in each year, one war- 

 den, one deputy-warden, one clerk, one depu- 

 ty-clerk, two inspectors, and two deputy-in- 

 spectors, qualified voters in the ward of which 

 each precinct forms a part, who shall hold of- 

 fice for one year. Either of said officers may 

 be removed at any time by the mayor, with 

 the approval of the Board of Aldermen, upon 

 written charges of incompetence or official 

 misconduct, preferred either by the city clerk 

 or by not less than six qualified voters of the 

 ward in which the officer is appointed to act. 

 Vacancies are to be filled by new appoint- 

 ments, and deputies are to serve only in the 

 absence of their superiors. It is further pro- 

 vided that upon the petition, in writing, of ten 

 qualified voters, presented at least fourteen 

 days before an election, the mayor shall ap- 

 point a supervisor from each of the two great 

 political parties, who shall watch the voting 

 and witness the counting, that no ballots shall 

 be taken from the boxes until after the polls 

 have been closed. By another act registration 

 in Boston is prohibited between the close of 

 registration and the day of the next succeed- 

 ing election. 



Each city that chooses may have a board of 

 registrars of voters, which shall consist of one 

 of its inhabitants, who shall hold no other of- 

 fice, its clerk, and the chairman of its board of 

 assessors. 



Upon the affidavit of any legal voter that he 

 believes that a certain person has been illegally 

 registered, investigation of such registration is 

 to be made, and the name of the suspected 



