478 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



$1,033,771.24 in dividends, an increase of $6,- 

 975,707.73 in the aggregate of deposits, an in- 

 crease of $8,681,174.94 in total assets, and a de- 

 crease of 94 cents in the average to each account. 



Political. The Prohibitionists met in State 

 convention at Worcester on Sept. 6, and nomi- 

 nated the following ticket for State officers : 

 For Governor, Rev. Louis A. Banks ; for Lieu- 

 tenant-Governor, Henry C. Smith ; for Secretary 

 of State, Samuel B. Shapleigh; for Treasurer, 

 Wilbert 0. Parnham ; for Auditor, Alfred H. 

 Evans; for Attorney-General, Robert F. Ray- 

 mond. The usual platform was adopted. A 

 convention of the People's party was held at 

 Lynn on the same day, at which George H. Gary 

 was nominated for Governor, Joseph K. Harris 

 for Lieutenant-Governor, Isaac W. Skinner for 

 Secretary of State, Thomas A. Watson for Treas- 

 urer, Maurice W. Landers for Auditor, Conrad 

 Reno for Attorney-General. The platform de- 

 mands a postal-bank system for deposit and ex- 

 change. Government ownership of railroads, tele- 

 graph and telephone lines, and a Federal system 

 of coal-mining and distribution; recommends 

 State and National supervision and control of 

 the liquor traffic; protests against municipal 

 contract labor system, and demands that civil- 

 service rules be applied to all public employees ; 

 favors a universal workday of eight hours, and 

 full municipal suffrage for women; demands 

 such laws as shall compel the wealthy holders of 

 personal property to pay their share of the taxes, 

 and favors the municipalization of all local utili- 

 ties, such as furnishing of gas, electricity, water, 

 street railway transportation, etc. 



The Democratic Convention, held at Boston 

 on Sept. 27, placed in nomination the following 

 candidates: For Governor, John E. Russell; for 

 Lieutenant-Governor, James B. Carroll ; for Sec- 

 retary of State, James W. McDonald ; for Audi- 

 tor, John T. Wheelwright (who declined the 

 nomination, and was succeeded on the ticket by 

 Bordman Hall) ; for Treasurer, Eben S. Stevens; 

 and for Attorney-General, Charles S. Lilley. 

 The platform favors the election of United 

 States Senators by direct vote of the people, and 

 contains the following declaration : 



The Executive Council should be abolished, and the 

 power of confirmation should be vested in the Senate. 

 The Governor should appoint all purely executive 

 officers, and have full power of removal, so that such 

 officers and the mernbers of commissions may be 

 under his control, in order that coherent administra- 

 tion of State affairs and responsibility to the people 

 may take the place of our present chaotic and irre- 

 sponsible system. 



We call attention to the subserviency of the Repub- 

 lican Senate of the last Legislature to corporate influ- 

 ences, and particularly to its refusal to prohibit cor- 

 porations enjoying special franchises from issuing, 

 directly or indirectly, watered stock or other repre- 

 sentatives of value for which an insufficient equiva- 

 lent has been paid in. We demand a more rigid en- 

 forcement of existing laws relating to the capitalization 

 of corporations, the enactment of further laws against 

 stock watering, and the passage of measures tending 

 to secure to the commumtv a full return, by taxation 

 or otherwise, for all special privileges or franchises. 



We favor the adoption in this Commonwealth of 

 some plan of referendum by which important acts of 

 the Legislature can be submitted to popular vote.* 



We favor the adoption in this State of substantial 

 taxes upon legacies and successions, both direct and 

 collateral. 



The Republican State Convention met in Bos- 

 ton on Oct. 7. There had been an interesting 

 contest in the primaries between the friends of 

 Attorney-General Pillsbury and ex-Congressman 

 Frederic T. Greenhalge, in which the latter ap- 

 peared to be the more successful in securing del- 

 egates. Before the convention was held Mr. 

 Pillsbury withdrew, and Mr. Greenhalge was 

 nominated for Governor by acclamation. Lieu- 

 tenant-Governor Wolcott, Secretary of State Olin, 

 and Auditor Kimball were renominated. For 

 Treasurer, Henry M. Phillips was nominated, and 

 for Attorney-General, Hosea M. Knowlton. Upon 

 State issues the platform contains the following 

 declarations : 



The free school is the great bulwark of freedom. 

 We will stand by it, no matter who shall assail it. 

 Free public libraries, relief to the honest poor, succor 

 to the unfortunate and helpless, the rescue of the way- 

 ward, the amelioration of the conditions of living 

 among the toiling masses, all these shall have our 

 constant support. We favor every practical measure 

 that shall diminish intemperance, disorder, and crime. 

 The Republican party will have no common interest 

 with the saloon or the groggery. It will not recog- 

 nize their right to dictate nominations or policies. 

 We call for vigorous laws that shall bring severe pen- 

 alties upon every offender against purity and honesty 

 in elections. 



The expediency of levying a tax upon legacies and 

 successions was first commended to the attention of 

 the General Court by a Republican Governor. We 

 favor amendment to the existing law that will reach 

 all bequests and inheritances, direct or collateral. 



We believe that corporations which receive public 

 privileges and valuable franchises from the people 

 should be compelled to render good service to the 

 public at reasonable rates based upon an honest 

 capitalization, and that stock watering and all other 

 kindred schemes of fraud in such corporations should 

 be strictly prohibited by law. 



We believe in frequent appeals to the people, and 

 that, on important matters of legislation and under 

 reasonable restrictions, some proper system of initia- 

 tive and referendum may be wisely adopted, especially 

 in such matters as refer to local self-government. 



After a short but earnest canvass, in which 

 national issues bore the leading part, the Repub- 

 lican ticket was elected in November by unusu- 

 ally large majorities. For Governor, Greenhalge 

 received 192,613 votes; Russell, 156,916 ; Cary, 

 4,885 ; Banks, 8,556. There was also a Socialist 

 Labor ticket in the field, headed by George E. 

 O'Neill for Governor, who received 2,033 votes. 

 Members of the State Legislature were chosen at 

 the same time as follows : Senate Republicans 

 33, Democrats 7; House Republicans 183, Demo- 

 crats 56. The constitutional amendment relative 

 to the mileage of members of the Legislature 

 was adopted by a vote of 125,375 in favor and 

 80,855 against it. 



Special Election. The selection by the 

 Legislature of Congressman Henry Cabot Lodge 

 as successor to United States Senator Henry L. 

 Dawes, caused a vacancy in the Seventh Con- 

 gressional District, to fill which Gov. Russell 

 called a special election for April 25. The Re- 

 publicans nominated William E. Barrett ; the 

 Democrats, William Everett ; the People's party, 

 George H. Cary ; and the Prohibitionsts, Louis A. 

 Banks. Although this was a strongly Republican 

 district, the Democratic candidate was elected by 

 34 votes. The official vote stood : Everett, 9.733 

 votes; Barrett, 9,699 ; Cary .1,001; Banks, 602. 



