516 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



The average number of persons employed 

 reaches a total of 27,403, showing an increase 

 for the year of 1,880. The whole number em- 

 ployed by all corporations making returns to 

 the board is 30,904. 



The tabulated statement of accidents shows 

 that the whole number of persons injured was 

 414, or one less than the previous year. ^ Of 

 this number, only 27 were passengers, against 

 42 in 1881. The number killed was 163, against 

 184 the previous year. The number of em- 

 ployee injured, not fatally, was 142 ; the num- 

 ber killed was 56. The corresponding num- 

 bers for 1880-'81 were 128 and 72. 



The number of trespassers killed during the 

 year was 75, and the number of injured and 

 not killed was 57. Of the whole number, 109 

 were walking, standing, or lying on the track, 

 and 23 were unlawfully riding on the cars. 

 Among the number killed, 7 are reported as 

 suicides. The number injured at highway cross- 

 ings was 54, of whom 21 were killed. Of the 

 54, 29 were injured at crossings guarded by 

 gates or flags, and 25 at unguarded crossings. 



The amount of damages paid in ten years by 

 the eight roads of standard gauge terminating 

 in Boston is $1,211,587.10, or an average of 

 more than $120,000 annually. This was ex- 

 clusive of all damage to freight or rolling stock, 

 and of legal expenses attending suits. 



GUBERNATORIAL RECOMMENDATIONS. Gov- 

 ernor Butler, in his message to the Legislature, 

 recommends the abolition of the poll-tax as a 

 prerequisite to voting. He says : 



I believe in such a tax as a duty of the citizen, but 

 not as a qualification to his suffrage. Every man 

 ought to pay, according to his ability, his just share 

 of the burden of maintaining the government which 

 protects himself, his family, and his property, and 

 which affords the means of education to his children. 

 But the penalty for non-payment should not be dis- 

 franchisement and loss of citizenship ; that is too se- 

 vere, and in all civilized countries is only attached to 

 the highest crimes. 



It is the duty of every man to attend and take part 

 in every election, and by his vote to g^ive his assent to 

 the laws which may be passed by his chosen repre- 

 sentative ; for all governments derive their "just 

 powers from the assent of the governed." 



This duty of a freeman was enforced by our fathers 

 in the earliest colony time. In 1660 towns in Massa- 

 chusetts passed and enforced the following by-law : 



" It is likewise ordered that if any man who is 

 warned to any town meeting be not there when he is 

 called, he shall be liable to pay Gd. If he come not at 

 all, ISd. Nor shall any depart without leave, upon 

 the like penalty." 



How different are the provisions of law now by 

 which the State practically offers a bounty of from 



one to two dollars to any citizen who will stay away 

 from town meeting ! 



Let, therefore, a nominal poll-tax for State purposes 

 be assessed as now on the polls of the citizens, and 

 then, if any citizen chooses to pay it, by doimj his 

 duty as a citizen by voting, let that act be a discharge 

 and payment of such tax. 



That would be a payment "in kind" by the free- 

 man doing his duty as our fathers required him to do 

 it, by fining him if he did not attend town meeting, 

 as we have already seen. 



He also recommends amendments to the 

 registration laws making registration easier, 

 and that all ballots be inclosed in self-sealing 

 envelopes of the same size, quality, and color, 

 to be furnished by the State. On the right of 

 suffrage for women he says : 



For myself, I believe that that right is given them 

 by the Constitution of the United States. By the 

 decision of the courts, I am overruled in my action on 

 this subject, but not in my convictions. It is an ex- 

 periment in our government which never has been 

 here practicallv tried. For, although women are al- 

 lowed to vote for a single class of municipal officers, 

 yet there are so many restrictions and impediments 

 thrown around it, that no woman with a proper spirit 

 of self-respect ought to allow herself to pass through 

 the ordeal to attain a useless privilege of voting thus 

 invidiously. This, I believe, is the esteem in which 

 it is held by a majority of the most estimable women 

 of the Commonwealth. 



Women can not be permitted to vote in this Com- 

 monwealth, by our Constitution, for national or State 

 officers (except for presidential electors) if the law 

 were changed 5 but they may vote, if the law so pro- 

 vides, in municipal elections. 



While this experiment ought to be fully made, yet 

 it can not be so, as we have seen, without a constitu- 

 tional amendment. To make that amendment would 

 take three years. If the experiment should turn out 

 to be an unfortunate one, it would take three years 

 more to restore the constitutional provision. 



There is one way, however, in which the experi- 

 ment can most advantageously be tried, and at the 

 same time, without any possibility of mischief, settle 

 a question which, in my mind, will be determinative 

 whether women should have the ballot, and that is 

 whether the majority of women of this Common- 

 wealth desire to vote. This is averred on the one 

 side, and denied on the other ; but certain it is, if the 

 great body of intelligent women of the Common- 

 wealth desire to vote they will have the vote, for I 

 believe that fact being known, no just man would op- 

 pose it. I suggest, therefore, that a law be passed, 

 allowing women to vote under the same regulations 

 as men in municipal elections, wh^ich law shall take 

 effect when it shall be accepted by a majority of the 

 women voting at some general election. 



Objection has been made that women do not desire 

 to vote because it would be unpleasant to go into the 

 ward-rooms and voting-places. To obviate that ob- 

 jection, and to get a full and fair expression of the 

 women upon this question, whether they will accept 

 and exercise the right of voting, I would suggest that 

 the women above twenty-one should be registered, 

 the place, by number, or other sufficient description 

 of residence, forming a part of the registry, and that 

 every woman may deposit her vote, indorsed with 

 her name and place or residence in her own hand- 

 writing, in the post-office, or in some proper box pro- 

 vided for the purpose, addressed to the proper officers 

 of election in the cities and towns where they reside, 

 within ten days before such general election, at which 

 time the officers of election majr open, examine, and 

 compare the ballots with the registry lists, and assort, 

 count, and declare the votes as in other cases. 



Other recommendations are, that election- 

 day be made a legal holiday, and that the power 



