482 



MASSACHUSETTS. 



Constitution, and the manner of receiving and 

 returning the votes given at such elections." 



The subjects which most largely occupied 

 the attention of the Legislature during the ses- 

 sion were the regulation of the sale of liquor, 

 the management of the Hoosac -Tunnel, and in- 

 vestigations of the management of the Reform 

 School at Westborough, and the construction 

 of the new Insane Asylum at Danvers. 



A prohibitory liquor law underwent pro- 

 tracted discussion, but was defeated. Then a 

 local-option measure was introduced and passed 

 as a compromise, but was vetoed by the Gov- 

 ernor. He set forth his objections at length, 

 the chief of which was, that the existing law 

 was working well and ought not to be changed. 

 In this connection he presented the following 

 facts, contrasting the results of the license sys- 

 tem and that of prohibition, which preceded it : 



As already observed, the State issues no licenses 

 whatever; the question being now one entirely of 

 local option. The first inquiry, therefore, is, What 

 proportion of the cities and towns have granted li- 

 censes under this option ? The whole number of 

 cities and towns in Massachusetts is 342, and of these 

 less than 100, or less than 30 per cent, of the whole 

 number, had granted any licenses at the close of the 

 year 1876. The present law is, therefore, absolutely 

 prohibitory in more than 70 per cent, of the whole 

 number of municipalities in the State. If liquors are 

 sold in these towns, the sale is in violation of law, 

 and the local authorities have power to enforce the 

 penalties. I have not full returns from the cities 

 and towns where licenses have been authorized, but 

 from returns furnished by the Chief Detective of the 

 Commonwealth at the beginning of the present year 

 from the 235 towns and cities, or from some more 

 than two-thirds of the whole number, it appears that 

 the whole number of arrests for drunkenness in these 

 places was 



In the year 1874 25,T40 



In the same places like arrests in 1876 18,696 



Showing a decrease oC 7,044 



between the last year of the prohibitory law 

 and the first year of the license law, in these 

 285- towns. 



The Chief of Police of Boston sent in the following 

 Htatistics of results in this city for the year 1876 : 



Number of arrests for drunkenness in 1874. .. 11,880 

 Number of arrests for drunkenness in 1876 ... 8,564 



Showlnar a decrease of 8,81 6 



Total number of prosecutions under liquor law 4,028 

 Total number of gallons of liquor forfeited. . . . 26,888 

 Total number of places abandoned as to sale 

 in 1876 619 



That visible drunkenness has diminished in our 

 streets will be admitted hy every candid observer; 

 indeed, an intoxicated person is now seldom seen 

 abroad, and there is a growing sentiment against in- 

 temperance. Drunkenness is no longer condoned in 

 respectable society, and the fashion of the times, as 

 well as the moral sentiment of the people of all 

 classes, is forming against it. The use of liquors is 

 no longer considered essential to occasions of public 

 hospitality, and recent significant examples have 

 been given of their entire disuse. It would not be 

 true to attribute the whole of this gratifying progress 

 of temperance to the existing laws ; but the law is 

 one of the conditions of society wherein this awaken- 

 ing has taken place ; and to melt-seems inexpedient 

 to supplant so serviceable and so acceptable an in- 

 strumentality in order to try chances in a new field 

 of experiment wi*h the hazard of losing all that has 

 been gained and all that may be reasonably hoped for. 



Several new schemes for the utilization of 

 the Hoosac Tunnel were presented and debated 

 at length before committees, where public hear- 

 ings were given, and in the two Houses. The 

 most conspicuous were the " Crane plan," in- 

 volving connecting lines of railroad from Bos- 

 ton to Chicago, under State management, and 

 ultimately to be owned by the State, and the 

 "Burt plan," which contemplated free compe- 

 tition through the tunnel, and a new western 

 connection. These were defeated, and a meas- 

 ure continuing the " toll-gate" plan for a term 

 of seven years, in order to make contracts se- 

 cure for that period, was vetoed by the Gov- 

 ernor, which left the subject where it was at 

 first. The question of reforming the system of 

 taxation was also the subject of much debate 

 and several propositions, but no change was 

 effected. Shortly after a strike on the Boston 

 & Maine Railroad, the Railroad Commission- 

 ers submitted five separate bills, providing pen- 

 alties for an abandonment of trains by the 

 employes of any railroad corporation ; for ob- 

 struction of trains on any railroad ; for careless- 

 ness or neglect in the management or control 

 of engines or cars ; for the use of violence, in- 

 timidation, bribery, or other means, against 

 employes of any road, by persons, or combina- 

 tions of persons, to induce them to leave the 

 employ of such roads ; and for refusal to aid in 

 moving the cars or trains of another road over 

 the lines of that on which persons guilty of such 

 refusal may be employed. Is one of these bills 

 were passed. 



A prolonged hearing was given on the ques- 

 tion of amending the Constitution, so as to give 

 to women the right of suffrage, and a resolu- 

 tion was reported in favor of the amendment, 

 but it was defeated without a count of votes. 



The investigation into the management of 

 the Westborough Reform School was occa- 

 sioned by charges of cruel and unnecessary 

 punishments. A majority and two minority 

 reports were submitted. Six of the ten mem- 

 bers of the joint committee, after reviewing 

 the allegations and evidence, announced their 

 conclusions as follows : 



1. Corporal punishment has been too frequently 

 resorted to, and in some cases unnecessarily severe, 

 and the manner of its application in many instances 

 objectionable. 



2. The use of what has been called the sweat-box 

 we consider an objectionable form of punishment, 

 liable to abuse, and had better be abandoned, al- 

 though no boy appears ever to have been injured by 

 its use. 



8. The application of water as a punishment for 

 an offense has been used but a very few times, and 

 then not in a manner to do any bodily harm to the 

 boys. "We advise its use only to quell insubordina- 

 tion existing at the moment, and for such a purpose 

 we should consider it a most efficient and proper 

 remedy. 



4. Too much power and discretion has been al- 

 lowed to subordinate officers, and we advise that 

 only such officers as are particularly authorized by 

 the trustees should ever administer punishment, and 

 only in such manner as they shall direct. 



Finally. We believe the institution is, in most re- 



