MASSACHUSETTS. 



423 



A radical change has been made in the regula- 

 tions governing the students of the law school, 

 Boston University. The change is in the entrance 

 requirements, which affect also the students that 

 entered under the old regime, who will be compelled 

 to pass an extra examination in the entrance re- 

 quirements, or present satisfactory certificates from 

 recognized schools, stating that the student is pro- 

 ficient in the studies specified in the change before 

 they can receive the LL. B. degree. 



The principal changes in the requirements that 

 have been made are in English, Latin, and mathe- 

 matics. 



Kingston has a new public library bearing the 

 name of the giver, Frederic C. Adams. It was dedi- 

 cated Aug. 4. 



Charities and Corrections. The State Board 

 of Insanity, provided for by the Legislature this 

 year, was formed in September, the Governor hav- 

 ing appointed as members Dr. George P. Jelly, for 

 five years; Dr. Herbert B. Howard, for four years; 

 Dr. Charles R. Codman, for three years ; Ed- 

 ward S. Bradford, for two years ; and Francis B. 

 Gardner, for one year. 



The Woman's Relief Corps of the State dedicated 

 a new dormitory at the Soldiers' Home, Nov. 9, and 

 at the same time gave to the Home a marble bust of 

 Gen. Horace Binney Sargent. 



The report of the Prison Commissioners for 1897 

 shows that the cost of support was $143,639, and 

 the cost per capita was $174.53, while in 1896 it 

 was $181.61. The net profits derived from indus- 

 tries of convicts were reduced by $23,197.25. There 

 has been a constant increase in the population of 

 the prison during the year. At the date of the last 

 report there were 796 prisoners. One hundred and 

 ninety-seven have been committed by the courts, 

 and one has been returned by the revocation of his 

 pardon. One hundred and twenty-eight have been 

 discharged by expiration of sentence, as shortened 

 by deductions for good conduct ; 14 have been re- 

 moved to the lunatic hospital; 9 have been re- 

 leased on parole by the commissioners; 6 have 

 died ; 4 have been pardoned ; 4 have been removed 

 to the State farm, and 3 have been transferred to 

 the Massachusetts Reformatory leaving at the 

 present time 826 inmates. 



The Attorney-General, in his report, says : " The 

 number of capital cases requiring the attention of 

 this office, or of the District Attorneys, though 

 greater than in the two years next preceding, is less 

 than the average of recent years. The assertion 

 has often been made that the crime of murder is 

 increasing in this Commonwealth. I believe that 

 statistics show this to be untrue. The number of 

 indictments for murder in proportion to the popu- 

 lation of the Commonwealth has decreased, rather 

 than increased." The largest number of indict- 

 ments for murder since 1875 was 27, in 1881 ; the 

 smallest, 8, in 1896. There were 14 in 1897. 



Military. The number of men in the National 

 Guard at the beginning of the year was about 8,500. 

 The following, on the part of the State in the war 

 with Spain, is from the Boston "Journal": "On 

 land and sea, it is a matter of official record that 

 Massachusetts has given more men to this war than 

 any other equal population in the Union. We 

 have had 3 of our 5 volunteer regiments actu- 

 ally in the field a proportion which no other State 

 can equal. We have sent thousands of men into the 

 regular service. Afloat we have gloriously main- 

 tained our traditions. The nation has received our 

 entire naval brigade of 500 officers and men, and 

 another battalion has been recruited and held in 

 reserve. Fifteen hundred Massachusetts seamen 

 have enlisted in the regular navy at the Charlostown 

 Navy Yard and 450 more at Gloucester. There is 



not a ship in the service on which Bay State men 

 are not to be found. Their numbers and quality 

 are suggested by the circumstance that five of 

 Hobson's seven comrades on the ' Merrimac' joined 

 the service from within our borders. Two legis- 

 lative appropriations have placed a war fund of 

 $1.500,000 at the disposal of the Governor. Out of 

 this fund a local defense of the State's coast line 

 was quickly extemporized, and the Massachusetts 

 troops have been sent into the service with a com- 

 plete equipment for health and comfort which 

 evoked the admiration of the War Department." 



From an address by the Governor in October are 

 taken the following additional data: "Under the 

 first and second call Massachusetts furnished 6,988 

 men, and in the signal corps and regulars about 

 1,500 more, making a total of 8,500. In the naval 

 brigade about 600. and in the navy and marine corps 

 about 2.000, bringing the total in the army and navy 

 up to 11,000 men. Out of that sum of $500,000 

 placed in my hands for expenditure at my dis- 

 cretion, the sum of $307,000 has already been paid 

 out, chiefly for arms, equipment, pay allowance, 

 subsistence, and clothing. The Legislature of Mas- 

 sachusetts, with wise generosity, provided that for 

 all soldiers of Massachusetts, whether enlisting in 

 the volunteer service of the United States or in the 

 regular service, whether on land or afloat, the 

 Commonwealth would supplement the payment 

 made by the United States Government by a monthly 

 payment of $7. Under this generous policy over 

 $210,000 has already been paid from the treasury 

 of the Commonwealth. Not only that, but it pro- 

 vided that upon the death of a soldier this monthly 

 payment of $7 should be continued after his de- 

 cease. The Commonwealth has also made provi- 

 sions for hospital treatment for all soldiers of the 

 Commonwealth in whatever hospitals they may 

 have been received, and in cases where the condition 

 of the family is such as to make it necessary, it aids 

 also in the final solemn rites of burial. Two hun- 

 dred and fifty thousand dollars has been placed in 

 the treasury of the Volunteer Aid Association 

 without personal solicitation. The Legislature gave 

 me authority to spend $50,000 in the purchase of a 

 ship that should be equipped as a hospital and relief 

 ship to follow our brave soldiers to Cuba or to 

 Porto Rico, and to carry to them aid and relief and 

 comfort and supplies, and to bring back those 

 broken down by wounds or sickness. That vessel 

 has performed a most beneficent work." Massa- 

 chusetts lost 298 men in the service, only 9 of whom, 

 it is stated, were killed in battle. 



Cattle. The number of cattle paid for as tuber- 

 culous during 1897 was 5.275, and the amount paid 

 for them was $179,867.52. More than $5,500 was 

 paid for 160 animals in which no lesions of tubercu- 

 losis were found. Quarantine killing and burial 

 expenses and arbitration brought the average 

 amount paid for condemned cattle up to $34.12 per 

 head. 



Insurance. The commissioner's report has the 

 following on assessment companies : " Following 

 the passage of the general assessment law of 1877, 

 62 assessment companies were almost immediately 

 organized. Every one of them has now departed, 

 some going in infancy, some in childhood, while 

 only two lived to be of much consequence, and both 

 of these are now having their bankrupt estates ad- 

 ministered upon by order of the court. Their bene- 

 ficiaries will receive perhaps 25 per cent, of their 

 claims, while their old or feeble members, whom no 

 company would now insure, are left desolate, all 

 their fond hopes, that when life for them should 

 cease something would be left to their dependents, 

 being dashed to earth. Many of these people feel 

 that they have been deceived nay, robbed without 





