UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. (MASSACHUSETTS.) 



Kepting the " district option bill " was voted 

 _pon. The bill, which was rejected by a vote 

 of 45.1)39 to 35,671, was subject to this referen- 



745 



cessive and wasteful consumption of water in 

 the metropolitan district and others, the con- 

 sumption of water should be the basis for deter- 



dum, and provided that the voters of the 8 Boston mining the assessment laid upon each city and 



districts should decide independently the ques- town; that all street-railway locations granted 



tion of license for their districts. by local boards be subject to the approval of the 



Wakefield. A soldiers' monument, the gift Railroad Commission; and that as the general 



of Mrs. Harriet N. Flint, was dedicated at Wake- law of 1890 for the abolition of grade-crossings 



field in June. 



Rivers and Harbors. The appropriations 

 made by Congress this year for waters of the 

 State were as follow: For beginning the work 

 on the great new channel of Boston harbor, 

 $3,600 ,000; harbor at Fall River, $156,000; Glouces- 

 ter, $302,000; New Bedford, $37,700; Hyannis 

 and Nantucket, $35,000; Newburyport, $30,000; 

 Rockport, $22,000; Lynn, $25,000; Beverly, $10,- 



has practically ceased to be operative, its further 

 operation should be secured by an appropriation 

 of $5,000,000 to be expended at the rate of not 

 more than $500,000 in any one year, under the 

 direction of the Railroad Commissioners. 



An incident of the 'session was the protest of 

 the two Socialists in the House against the pro- 

 posal to extend the invitation of the Legislature 

 to Prince Henry of Prussia to meet the General 



000; Cohasset, $21,000; Woods Hole, $20,000; Court in joint convention on the occasion of his 



Plymouth and Provincetown, $5,000; Manchester, formal return of the Governor's call at the State- 



$5,000; and provisionally $200,000 for the harbor House on the 6th of March, which was adopted 



of refuge at Sandy Bay, Cape Ann. Also $85,000 in the Senate by a rising vote without dissent, 

 for improvements to the Merrimac, Mystic, Mai- Delegates from various labor organizations, es- 



den, Weymouth, Town, and Taunton rivers. timated to be about 700 strong, appeared before 



Lawlessness. Seven men were tried at Plym- the Committeee on Constitutional Amendments 



outh in November on a charge of " whitecap- to support a petition that amendments to the 



ping," in having tarred, feathered, and horse- Constitution may be submitted to the voters of 



whipped a man at Marion for alleged immoral- the Commonwealth upon petition of 50.000 legal 



ity. The trial, which attracted much attention, 

 ended in a verdict of not guilty. 



upon petition of 50.000 legal 

 voters. 



The Sunday laws were modified by an act that 



Legislative Session. The Legislature this made the following provision: "I he provisions 

 year was made up of 198 Republicans 33 in the of the preceding section shall not be held to pro- 

 Senate _and 165 in the House 79 Democrats, of hibit the manufacture and distribution of steam, 

 whom 7 were in the Senate, and 2 Social-Demo- gas, or electricity for illuminating, heat, or mo- 

 tive power, nor the distribution of water for fire 

 or domestic purposes, nor the use of tlie telegraph 

 or the telephone, nor the retail sale of drugs and 

 medicines, nor articles ordered by the prescription 

 of a physician or mechanical appliances used by 

 physicians or surgeons, nor the retail sale of 

 tobacco in any of its forms by licensed innhold- 

 ers, common victualers, druggists, and newsdeal- 

 ers whose stores are open for the sale of news- 

 papers every day in the week, nor the retail sale 



crats, both in the House. 



Rufus A. Soule was reelected President of the 

 Senate, and James J. Myers was again chosen 

 Speaker of the House. 



The message of the Governor recommended 

 many radical changes in the administration of 

 State departments, and others, which were for- 

 mulated in bills and many of them passed. Fol- 

 lowing is a . summary of the recommendations: 

 That the powers and duties of the fire marshal 



be transferred to the district police; the powers of ice-cream, soda-water, and confectionery by 



licensed innholders and druggists, and by such 

 licensed common victualers as are not also li- 

 censed to sell intoxicating liquors, and who are 

 authorized to keep open their places of business 

 on the Lord's Day; nor the letting of horses and 

 carriages or of yachts and boats, nor the running 

 of steam ferryboats on established routes, nor 

 the running of street-railway cars, nor the prepa- 

 ration, printing, and publication of newspapers, 

 nor the sale and delivery of newspapers, nor the 

 wholesale or retail sale and delivery of milk, nor 

 the transportation of milk, nor the making of 

 butter and cheese, nor the keeping open of public 

 bath-houses, nor the making or selling by bakers 

 or their employees, before ten o'clock in the morn- 

 ing and between the hours of four o'clock and 

 half-past six o'clock in the evening, of bread or 

 other food usually dealt in by them, nor the car- 

 rying on of the business of bootblacks before 

 eleven o'clock in the forenoon." 



The Governor was directed to appoint a com- 

 mittee of three persons to examine and consider 

 the State laws in relation to the formation, tax- 

 ation, and conduct of all corporations, foreign 

 and domestic, except municipal, banking, and 

 public-service corporations, and to determine 

 what legislation, if any, is necessary to make the 

 relations existing between the Commonwealth 

 and corporations more advantageous to it and 

 to the public interest. 



An act calling for the appointment of a com- 



and duties of the Cattle Commissioners be, trans-' 

 ferred to the State Board of Agriculture; the 

 powers and duties of the inspector of gas and 

 gas-meters be transferred to the Board of Gas 

 and Electric Light Commissioners; the powers 

 and duties of the inspector-general of fish be 

 transferred to the Commissioners on Inland Fish- 

 eries and Game; the pow y ers and duties of the 

 State assayer of liquors be transferred to the 

 State Board of Health; the powers and duties 

 of the pension agent be transferred to the Com- 

 missioners of State Aid ; that the number of 

 such commissioners be reduced to one; and that 

 an appeal may be taken from his decision to the 

 Governor and Council ; all the State officers be 

 accommodated in the State-House, and none in 

 hired quarters outside; a Board of Publication 

 to be established composed of State officials, to 

 be appointed by the Governor and Council, to 

 serve without additional compensation, to super- 

 vise publication of public documents, which have 

 grown too large; the salaries of the Park Com- 

 missioners be permanently fixed instead of named 

 each year by the Governor and Council. It was 

 recommended that if legislation is to be passed 

 authorizing the continuation of a new subway in 

 the city of Boston, the act should contain these 

 provisions: First, that the subway shall be 

 owned, controlled, and paid for by the city of 

 Boston; and second, that the act shall not take 

 effect until it has been accepted by a majority 



of the voters of said city, voting at a special, mission to investigate the methods of support- 

 State, or municipal election. To prevent the ex- ing the public schools provides that its members. 



