Cambridge as Village and City 317 



I was lately assured by a gentleman in a city which 

 I will not name, but more than a thousand miles 

 from here, that the only cure for the accumulated 

 wrongs of that community would be an occasional 

 coup d'etat, with the massacre of all the city offi- 

 cers. So the last word of our boasted progress, 

 whentit comes to municipal government, is declared 

 to be the Oriental idea of " despotism tempered by 

 assassination " ! Now to what cause or causes are 

 we to ascribe the contrast between Cambridge and 

 the cities that are so wretchedly governed ? The 

 answer is, that in Cambridge we keep city govern- 

 ment clear of politics, we do not mix up municipal 

 questions with national questions. If I may repeat 

 what I have said elsewhere, ''since the object of 

 a municipal election is simply to secure an up- 

 right and efficient municipal government, to elect 

 a city magistrate because he is a Republican or a 

 Democrat is about as sensible as to elect him be- 

 cause he believes in homoeopathy or has a taste for 

 chrysanthemums." Upon this plain and obvious 

 principle of common sense our city has acted, on 

 the whole with remarkable success, during its half 

 century of municipal existence. The results we 

 see all about us, and the example may be com- 

 mended as an object lesson to all who are inter- 

 ested in the most vital work that can occupy the 



