forced the Board of Overseers to do its work for $39,000. How strong the feeling had run in this controversy is evidenced by the statement of Mayor Lincoln in 1865 that henceforth "the swarm of beggars, who in the winter time took up their abode with us to live upon our alms, will be forced to labor for their living." The conditions under which the Overseers worked were greatly improved by the establishment of a central office building on Hawkins street at a cost, including the land, of about $200,000. Part of the money was provided by subscriptions from private sources. The new building also sheltered many private charitable organizations and served as a temporary home for the destitute. By a charter amendment of 1885, the appointment of the Overseers was transferred to the Mayor, subject to the approval of the Aldermen.

The question of the proper classification of inmates in institutions had long been agitated. In the House of Industry were found both paupers and criminals. A part of the responsibility of this vicious condition lay in the laws themselves, which gave the city permission to send minor offenders either to the House of Industry or the House of Correction. Boston had taken advantage of this law to such an extent that in 1862 much more than half the inmates of the House of Industry were serving sentences. To mend the situation, it was found necessary to erect a new building, and in 1870 an appropriation for an almshouse on Deer Island, to contain paupers only, was actually made. But construction was delayed, for the question of separating paupers and criminals would not down. A partial relief was found by removing male paupers to Rainsford Island. Finally the so-called Austin Farm in West Roxbury was chosen as a place for the new almshouse, in 1873. Meanwhile the new House of Reformation had been completed which permitted a better classification of juvenile offenders.

Boston had hitherto clung to the principle of caring for her insane in the Lunatic Hospital, so-called, erected in 1839 at South Boston, in order that the inmates might be near their families. But that institution had become utterly inadequate by 1860, and it was planned

at great cost to erect a suitable building for the insane in the town of Winthrop, the City Council authorizing the necessary expenditure. The land required was actually purchased; but when the time came for appropriating money for the building,- it was to be a very elaborate structure- Mayor Norcross vetoed it, holding that in a time of inflation (1865) the expenditure would be very much larger than anticipated. The Mayor's veto was overridden by the Aldermen and came very near suffering defeat at the hands of the Common Council. But saner thought prevailed. In 1873, the General Court was petitioned for an allowance equal to the amount assessed on the city for the support of the insane, or for the establishment of a hospital near Boston. The outcome was that the Commonwealth provided for the erection of a hospital for the insane at Danvers.

The income from institutional labor was self-evidently not sufficient to meet the outgo. Several attempts had been made to render the House of Correction self-supporting; and its receipts from labor in 1859 were about $25,000, but in the following years, which include those of the Civil War, it was difficult to find a market for the products of this institution. At the close of the war, the receipts grew materially through the introduction of the manufacture of shoes, so that from 1869 until 1872 the House of Correction became nearly self-supporting.

The opportunity for the employment of female prisoners had also been improved through the introduction of sewing machines. During the period of depression, in 1873, the receipts fell off again. In these hard times, the jealousy of free labor toward institutional products became manifest for the first time. Indeed it became so pronounced that the appointment of a committee. of the City Council was called for to consider "whether the present mode of employing criminals in city institutions has the effect of reducing wages of workmen or depriving them of employment.' So far as known the committee did not answer the question, since it held that matters of employment were in the hands of the Board of Directors of Public Institutions. Of the

receipts from remunerative labor from the other institutions, little need be said. Mayor Lincoln had advocated the development of the agricultural resources on Long Island and to some purpose. Then, too, stonecutting had been introduced and increased the receipts from the House of Industry. There was also income from the Austin Farm and a very considerable increase in receipts from the board of patients at the Boston City Hospital.

During the period 1874 to 1886, the expenditure for institutions rose gradually in all its branches, with an exceptional year intervening. The cost of out-door relief advanced, partly, because of newly annexed territory and, partly, owing to the outlay for physicians and medicines through the service of the Boston Dispensary. Another reason was the adoption of a stricter settlement law that had the effect of reducing the number of state paupers, which meant increased burdens to the individual towns and cities.

Deer Island became crowded, and there was need at once of securing accommodations elsewhere. Austin Farm, purchased in 1873, had not been utilized, but finally buildings were completed in 1877, and the female paupers housed there were transferred to them from Deer Island. Other changes made were the utilization of the old Roxbury Almshouse on Marcella street for destitute and neglected boys, and the refitting of the Charlestown Almshouse for aged paupers. Shortly after, in 1879, a home for girls was erected on Marcella street. The makeshift policy which hitherto maintained could not endure for long. The city was compelled once more to find adequate shelter for some of its institutions, accordingly Long Island was purchased and the necessary money provided for the erection of buildings to shelter about five hundred paupers. The expense for the care of paupers increased from $209,000 in 1874 to more than $343,000 in 1886. The number of inmates had grown meanwhile from 1,500 to 2,378.

In spite of the continued protest and ill-feelings over the presence of the House of Correction at South Boston, which had been voiced at different periods, it still remained in the old place.

The erection of the Danvers State Hospital made available accommodations for more than four hundred patients. There was much insistence that the city should build a new hospital for the insane of its own. The local institution continued to be filled regardless of transfers to Danvers, and the city was accordingly obliged to send larger and larger numbers to state institutions. By 1885, Boston had 622 insane in state asylums. The pressure on the state institutions grew, and the General Court insisted that the municipality should provide better facilities for her own insane.

The Department of Public Institutions continued to be under the management of a Board of Directors until 1885, but with the enactment of a new charter, which prohibited members of the Council to serve on the executive board, the number of directors was reduced to nine, to be appointed by the Mayor, subject to the confirmation of the Aldermen.

The work of the Overseers of the Poor went on with little variation except that occasioned by the changing times. At every period of depression the expenditures rose, only to fall off again when better times ensued. The difficulty was to get sufficient money to meet emergencies. Thus, during the hard times in the early nineties, one effort after another to have the city make special appropriations for the relief of the poor, either by direct expenditure or by finding employment, failed. Under the statute, there was no other channel for the expenditure of city money for poor relief than the Overseers of the Poor. Conditions proved so bad that in 1894 Mayor Matthews issued an appeal to citizens to aid in overcoming the distress; and a relief committee was formed which, among other things, carried out work on streets, parks and sewers during the winter months, the expenditures being borne in part by private contributions. There is no indication of waste on the part of the Overseers; they were rather economical in their management, but unable to meet a distressful condition. It was not until 1905 that the Overseers required light work from all able-bodied men in return for shelter and food.

The question of the management of the correctional and charitable institutions in Boston had always given

rise to a variety of opinion and to much contention. These institutions, as they grew up, were not at first placed under the same management. Naturally, this made for lack of understanding and co-operation, and was considered wasteful, especially in the matter of purchasing supplies. The first experiment in uniting the institutions under an unpaid board was not successful. The next experiment was to transfer the control of the various institutions to paid directors, to be appointed by the Mayor subject to the confirmation. of the Board of Aldermen. This innovation was actually carried out in 1889, but did not give the anticipated satisfaction. The succeeding change was to place the whole department under the control of a single commissioner. The entire trend of departmental work had been toward substituting a single head for boards.

But under Mayor Quincy, the last of his name, radical changes in institutional government were proposed and carried out. In 1897, authority was obtained for separate departments to take charge of children, paupers, the insane and criminals. The criminals were placed under the management of a paid commissioner, to be appointed by the Mayor without confirmation of the Board of Aldermen. The children, paupers and the insane were placed under separate boards of trustees, one for each class, who served without pay for terms of five years and were appointed by the Mayor without confirmation of the Board of Aldermen. Mayor Quincy was very strongly imbued with the value of unpaid boards for institutions, and recommended them unhesitatingly in his inaugurals of 1896 and 1897. At his instigation also they were later adopted in other departments. One object to be obtained by the new departure was a better classification of inmates. Mayor Quincy's plans were put in operation in 1897 and necessitated many changes both in the location of institutions and their capacity. Among the plans for carrying out his ideas was the construction of a new institution to be known as the Suffolk County Reformatory, which was to receive, ultimately, all the inmates of the South Boston institution.