ADDRESS

Gentlemen of the City Council:

Two centuries ago the liberties of Boston were great and intact. A century ago they were still great, but have since diminished. Boston is now a complicated system of co-ordinate governments, with the good Commonwealth as the director of all. In addition to the City Government proper, consisting of the City Council, with the Mayor and the Departments under his immediate care, we have the School Committee, in all respects a co-ordinate branch of the City Government; we have many County offices, generally independent of the City Government, which pays all the bills; and we have the Metropolitan Boards, especially for water, sewers, and parks, quite independent of the City, which pays whatever is ordered. I wish to add that all these branches of our Government, independent of City Hall, or semi-independent, like the Transit Commission and the Board of Police, act with loyal fidelity and great skill. No person has been injured by this confusing system of Government, and we may properly acknowledge the fact that the division and

scattering of municipal power would never have taken place, had City Hall proved equal to all demands. In the opinion of the State and many of our own citizens such was not the case.

The lesson is obvious. Whenever and wherever we fail to satisfy the reasonable requirements of the City, the Commonwealth is pretty sure to be called upon for interference, and generally responds. If we believe that this interference was not always wise in all respects, and that it has resulted in considerable confusion, financial and other, it is for us, the City Government proper, to prove satisfactorily that we are better able to deal with municipal concerns, and to disburse rising thirty millions a year in local home rule. Let us make the attempt. Let us prove that our ancient public spirit is not dead. In all our official acts and deliberations, let us have but one object and test, the good of the City. Let us beware of playing politics. Let us shun sectional views, and consider the whole. Let us keep within the bounds assigned by law and reason. Let us remember that offices and contracts are not a reward for schemers, but a sacred trust that cannot be violated with impunity. The civil-service law, among the best of all our statutes, is entitled to your hearty support, which will be rewarded, while placehunting and the pursuit of patronage never fail to plague. The moment you undertake to place candidates for favor or employment, you disable yourselves