^LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
 I 
 
 J UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
Wfff. ,.,.nnvtl nf .1. H. lUlllock-. 
 
 ^v§^ '^■' 
 
 — i?n9^(5;, 
 
 :^^ 
 
 61 
 
 VALEDICTOIIY ADDRESS 
 
 Wi 
 
 JIIS EXCELLENCY 
 
 ALEXANDER H. BULLOCK 
 
 TO Tllh; 'l"\V() BRANCHES 
 
 '^t 
 
 m\ 
 
 jAxrAin: r, 1869. 
 
 05) 
 
 liO S'l'O X : 
 
 wiMdiir & rorri;!;, - r \ i i-; r i; i n r i; i; >, 
 
 r'.l Mll.lv STHKF/r (COILM ll.lll-;i!AI,). 
 
 IS!!!!. 
 
 -V ^^ /., i-C 
 
 g/g,€VS>^ 
 
 '""^-^W\S'l 
 
SENATE No. 1. 
 
 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS 
 
 HIS EXCELLENCY 
 
 ALEXANDER H. BULLOCK, 
 
 TWO BRANCHES 
 
 ^i^gbktmt 0f P^aSSarljlTSi^ttS, ^5^HU^^^A^ 
 
 January 7, 1869. 
 
 v ^:,^ 3 869 j;^ 
 
 ^BOSTON: 
 
 WRIGHT & POTTER, STATE PRINTERS, 
 
 79 Milk Street, (corner of Federal.) 
 
 1869. 
 

ADDRESS. 
 
 Gentlemen of the Senate, 
 
 and of the House of Representatives : 
 
 Before transferring to an eminent citizen of the 
 Commonwealth the labors and responsibilities of the 
 office to which he has been summoned by his fellow 
 citizens in a manner which marks their appreciation 
 of his private virtues and his public services, I deem 
 it proper to communicate with the Legislature con- 
 cerning several matters of grave import, affecting the 
 moral and material interests of Massachusetts. Im- 
 pressed with the duty of the Chief Magistrate to 
 impart, and the right of the people to receive, the 
 fullest and most precise information respecting the 
 public business, I have the honor to present such in- 
 formation in detail upon some of the measures which 
 
4 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 have been initiated, have progressed, or been matured 
 during my official term. I have the honor to trans- 
 mit at the same time, for the information of the 
 Legislature, several reports of public officers, and 
 other documents which merit the attention and may 
 require the action of the General Court. 
 
 THE PUBLIC FINANCE. 
 
 A brief review of the financial results of the last 
 three years will commend itself to the attention and 
 thoughtful consideration of the tax-paying citizens of 
 the Commonwealth. 
 
 At the commencement of my official term the nation 
 had just emerged from a long and costly war, which 
 had entailed upon Massachusetts a heavy burden of 
 indebtedness already accrued, with the inevitable con- 
 tingency of a large prospective increase under the 
 * operation of various acts of special legislation ren- 
 dered necessary by the exigencies of the conflict. It 
 should also be remembered that, in response to the 
 demands of public enterprise, charity and education, 
 Massachusetts has in this period, as before, gener- 
 ously maintained her reputation, bestowing her 
 munificence with unprecedented liberality. 
 
 The result is strikingly apparent in the fact, that, 
 while the floating or unfunded liabilities of the State 
 
1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 5 
 
 have been reduced but little more than three 
 millions of dollars since 1866, (amounting at the pres- 
 ent time to nine hundred twenty-eight thousand dol- 
 lars,) the funded debt has been enlarged upwards of 
 seven millions during the same period, a net increase 
 of more than two milHons having occurred within 
 the last year. 
 
 Among the causes directly and indirectly contribut- 
 ing to this result may be enumerated the following : — 
 First, the large disbursements required for the 
 liquidation of State bounties remaining unpaid at the 
 close of the war, the aggregate amount paid from the 
 beginning being nearly four and a half millions of dol- 
 lars in excess of the scrip issued for that purpose ; 
 second, the continuance of State aid to the families and 
 dependents of Massachusetts Volunteers, the re-im- 
 bursement of which to cities and towns swells to an 
 aggregate of three and three-quarters millions of dol- 
 lars for the years 1866-7-8 ; third, the heavy drafts 
 upon the treasury for the prosecution of the Troy and 
 Greenfield Railroad and Hoosac Tunnel enterprise, for 
 which, during the four years previous to 1868, nearly 
 three millions of dollars in excess of the issue of scrip 
 have been advanced from the proceeds of temporary 
 loans and from the ordinary revenues of the Common- 
 wealth, to which might be added another half million 
 
6 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 of dollars since advanced on the same account and in 
 the same manner ; fourth, the largely increased inter- 
 est on the public debt, and the high premium on gold, 
 both amounting in the aggregate to an annual average 
 of one million four hundred and fifty thousand dol- 
 lars ; fifth, the extraordinary expenditures authorized 
 by acts of special legislation in excess of previous esti- 
 mates, — in some cases but partially provided for, and in 
 others not even considered, in the basis of taxation, — 
 amounting in a single year to more than eight hundred 
 thousand dollars, and during the three years mentioned 
 to more than one and a half millions of dollars ; sixth, 
 the loan in aid of the Boston, Hartford and Erie Hail- 
 road, authorized by the Legislature of 1867. 
 
 From an intelligent estimate of these heavy aggre- 
 gates and the causes of their accumulation it will be 
 easy to understand how rapidly a public debt may 
 stride into very large proportions. The following tab- 
 ulated statement exhibits these financial results in a 
 clear and comprehensive form : — 
 
 Funded debt, Jan. 1, 1866, . .$19,056,435 56 
 Unfunded debt, Jan. 1, 1866, . . 4,177,196 19 
 
 Total, $23,233,631 75 
 
1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 7 
 
 Funded debt, Jan. 1, 1869, . . $26,807,420 00 
 Unfunded debt, Jan. 1, 1869, . . 928,450 05 
 
 Total, 127,735,870 05 
 
 Increase of funded debt, . . . $7,750,984 44 
 Decrease of unfunded debt, . . 3,248,746 14 
 
 Showing a net increase of the aggre- 
 gate debt, during the three years, of $4,502,238 30 
 
 From this comparative statement of the funded lia- 
 bihties of the Commonwealth, is deducted that portion 
 which has been liquidated on maturity during years 
 named, amounting to $2,859,900, and there remains 
 the net increase as above stated, which has accumu- 
 lated from the following issues of scrip : — 
 
 For the Bounty Fund Loan, . . $1,951,244 00 
 For Massachusetts War Loan, . . 3,505,000 00 
 Troy and Greenfield Railroad and 
 
 Hoosac Tunnel Loan, . . . 2,952,400 00 
 Western Eailroad Loan, . . . 1,510,080 00 
 Hartford and Erie Railroad Loan, . 290,400 00 
 
8 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 Redemption of the Funded Debt. 
 
 It sliould be borne in mind that, while the forego- 
 ing statement indicates a large increase of the public 
 debt, the available assets applicable to its redemption 
 have proportionably accumulated ; so that, in a strictly 
 financial view, the pecuniary condition of the Com- 
 monwealth has rarely, if ever, exhibited a more grati- 
 fying and creditable aspect. 
 
 In substantial conformity with recommendations 
 communicated in my last annual message, for the 
 retirement or payment of existing unfunded loans 
 and liabilities, and the establishment of additional 
 sinking funds from resources already available and 
 at our disposal, for the redemption of the funded 
 loans without resort to further taxation for that 
 purpose, the Legislature of 1868 made ample pro- 
 vision for the payment of nearly six millions of 
 liabilities, includmg the Coast Defence Loan and 
 the new Loan in aid of the Troy and Greenfield 
 Railroad and Hoosac Tunnel. 
 
 As the result of that legislation, almost three mil- 
 lions of dollars previously advanced from temporary 
 loans and from the ordinary revenue, in anticipation 
 of the sale of scrip, have been restored to the common 
 uses of the treasury ; while the payment at maturity 
 of all but $352,000 of the entire funded loan is now 
 
1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 9 
 
 fully secured by well-endowed sinking funds, which, 
 with their legitimate accumulations, will be ample 
 for that purpose, without the unwelcome contingency 
 of taxation. For the payment of the small amount 
 thus unprovided for by specific legislation, most of it 
 maturing in 1870-72, the surplusage of funds already 
 established will be much more than sufficient. 
 
 The Massachusetts Funds and their Securities. 
 
 In connection with the subject of finance, every 
 tax-payer will be especially gratified to know that the 
 securities in which the funds are invested, a very 
 large proportion of them being Massachusetts bonds, 
 possess a market value nearly one-sixth more than 
 their cost. The assets belonging to the seventeen 
 Sinking and Trust Funds of the Slate amount to 
 more than twelve millions of dollars, and the aggre- 
 gate market value of their securities exceeds the 
 amount of original investments by nearly one million 
 eight hundred thousand dollars. 
 
 The several Sinking Funds applicable to the redemp- 
 tion of the Funded Debt already amount in the aggre- 
 gate to nine and a half millions of dollars — consid- 
 erably more than one-thkd of the entire debt. When 
 it is considered that the maturing of this debt is 
 graded over intervals extending onward for more than 
 
 2 
 
10 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 thirty years, it will be at once seen that these funds, 
 with their natural accumulations, cannot fail to 
 become in the aggregate largely in excess of the 
 amount actually required for liquidation. Besides, 
 the securities in which they are invested have at the 
 present time a market value of more tlian one and a 
 quarter millmis of dollars above the origiiial invest- 
 ment or cost. 
 
 Assuredly, in view of this largely enhanced value 
 of its bonds, unusual if not unprecedented in the 
 history of States, every citizen of Massachusetts may 
 cherish pride in its financial credit at home and 
 abroad. Our bonds, of which the payment of both 
 principal and interest in gold is sacredly guarantied 
 and unerringly fulfilled, command everywhere a con- 
 fidence not surpassed in the commerce of the globe. 
 
 STATE LOAN TO BOSTON, HARTFORD AND ERIE RAILROAD 
 
 COMPANY. 
 
 By chapter 284 of the acts of the year 1867, a 
 State loan of three millions of dollars was made to 
 the Boston, Hartford and Erie Railroad Company, to 
 enable it to complete its road to the Hudson River. 
 The absolute granting or delivery of this subsidy was 
 by the act made contingent upon the fulfilment of 
 certain conditions which should be made to appear 
 
1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 11 
 
 to the satisfaction of tlie Governor and Council, of 
 the Attorney-General, and of certain commissioners 
 to be appointed under the sixth section. I deemed 
 it fortunate for the State, that upon this commission 
 I was enabled to procure the services of Messrs. 
 George T. Bigelow, Emory Washburn and Samuel 
 Ashburner. 
 
 The Commissioners, after long and thorough inves- 
 tigation, made an extended report upon the whole 
 subject, and in conclusion expressed the opinion that, 
 if the means and resources of the company should 
 be honestly and judiciously used, and with a reason- 
 able degree of energy, enterprise and economy, the 
 road might be thereby constructed and moderately 
 equipped, and they accordingly recommended the 
 allowance by the Governor and Council of a loan 
 of scrip for the work already done and equipment 
 purchased. A copy of this report is herewith com- 
 municated. This document was transmitted to the 
 Attorney-General, with the request that he would 
 report upon the various matters in which his con- 
 current action was required. A copy of his reply is 
 also transmitted. 
 
 It was quite obvious to my mind that it was the 
 design of the Legislature to secure the separate and 
 responsible judgment of the Governor and Council 
 
12 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 upon each of the particulars named in the act as 
 necessary to be shown. It also became early appar- 
 ent that the principal questions concerning which 
 doubts would exist, were, whether the requirements 
 of the statute concerning the payment and cancella- 
 tion of the mortgage debts secured by the under- 
 lying mortgages on that part of the road this side 
 of Southbridge and Willimantic had been complied 
 with, and whether the company had satisfactorily 
 shown that they would be able, without further aid 
 from this Commonwealth, to complete their line from 
 Boston to Fishkill before May 27, 1872. 
 
 Deeply impressed with the responsibility imposed 
 upon me in respect to these questions, I gave my 
 careful and personal attention to the examination of 
 the details which could throw light upon them. 
 
 A considerable discrepancy was found to exist in 
 the various statements of the outstanding bonds which 
 are secured by the underlying mortgages. This dis- 
 crepancy was largely relieved by subsequent explana- 
 tions ; and a bond with personal sureties was required, 
 in the penal sum of one million of dollars, to protect 
 the franchise and property described in the Berdell 
 mortgage from the uncancelled bonds, thus dispensing 
 with the necessity of a precise ascertainment of the 
 
1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 13 
 
 number of bonds outstanding, whicb indeed seemed 
 impracticable. 
 
 The Committee of the Council, to whom I referred 
 the question, became satisfied that the company will 
 be able to complete their line of road to Fishkill 
 within the time specified by the act, without further 
 aid from this Commonwealth, as appears by their 
 report, a copy of which is herewith submitted. 
 Wishing, however, rigidly to test the conclusion to 
 which the Committee of the Council had come upon 
 this latter subject, I addressed to the Commissioners a 
 supplementary communication, which expressed the 
 doubts that still remained in my mind, and the want 
 of full information, which, as it seemed to me, still 
 existed, upon certain facts bearing upon the question ; 
 and a copy of this communication, and of the reply 
 of the Commissioners, is also herewith sent to the 
 Legislature. 
 
 By this reply, the validity of the acceptances of the 
 Erie Railroad did not appear to be established, and I 
 was not able quite to concur with the opinion of the 
 Commissioners that it would seem a fair estimate to 
 offset the accruing interest money, which the company 
 would apparently be obliged to pay, against the earn- 
 ings of the road. Up to this time it had been assumed 
 that the full period allowed by the act for the comple- 
 
14 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 tion of the road to Fislikill might be occupied in doing 
 the work. It was obvious that an amount of about 
 f 3,000,000 would become due for interest before the 
 end of that period. By the last exhibit of the Com- 
 missioners, the sums to be paid by the company 
 exceeded their pecuniary resources, now within their 
 control. There were also certain other matters of 
 detail concerning which I desired further information. 
 I therefore presented certain inquiries to the officers 
 of the company, a copy of which, and of their replies 
 thereto, and of an accompanying opinion of Mr. 
 William M. Evarts is transmitted to you. 
 
 By these replies, it appeared that it is the purpose 
 of the company nearly or quite to complete their line 
 of road to Fishkill during the present year ; and, upon 
 personal conference with Mr. Ashburner, one of the 
 Commissioners, himself a civil engineer of large expe- 
 rience in this kind of work, I became satisfied that 
 this may be done. This early completion of the road 
 will greatly diminish the amount of interest to be 
 paid. 
 
 This opinion of Mr. Evarts was submitted to the 
 Attorney-General, and he deemed it satisfactory to es- 
 tablish the liability of the Erie Railroad Company for 
 the bonds which they have received. But it should 
 now be stated that the acceptances of the Erie Com- 
 
1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 15 
 
 ' pany have since been anticipated by the cash payment 
 of the whole amount. 
 
 Upon the whole case, as thus presented, the ques- 
 tion then remained, what rule should be adopted as a 
 guide by which to determine whether the company 
 will be able to complete their line of road to Fishkill 
 without further aid from the Commonwealth 1 Were 
 they to be required to demonstrate mathematically an 
 actual present ability, from means now within their 
 control, to meet the necessary disbursements? Or, 
 would they meet the requirement of the statute by 
 making it appear to the satisfaction of the reason and 
 conscience that in all human probability they will be 
 able to accomplish the work 1 Accepting the latter 
 as the true rule, bearing in mind the valuation which 
 the public have now for a long time put upon the 
 shares of the company, and believing that this indi- 
 cates the existence of a borrowing capacity on the part 
 of the company yet remaining, which is equal to the 
 difference between the required disbursements and 
 their present actual means, I felt constrained to grant 
 the first instalments of the loan in accordance with 
 the certificate of the Commissioners. Five hundred 
 thousand dollars expressed in sterling bonds have 
 accordingly been already delivered. 
 
 My individual judgment is adverse to the practice 
 
16 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 which has sprung up of late years in the Legislature 
 of granting large sums of money conditioned upon the 
 discretionary action of the Governor and Council. It 
 may well be doubted whether in some instances of this 
 kind the Executive Department has not been charged 
 with a trust of finance which belongs peculiarly to the 
 Legislature. However that may be, acting under a 
 responsibility to execute the law, and after an amount 
 of time, care and thought bestowed upon this case 
 which is by no means represented in the brief terms 
 of the present statement, I have seen my way and duty 
 to consummate this loan. I think it proper that the 
 papers relating to the question should be made known 
 to the Legislature ; and I have confidence that the 
 progress and completion of the road, and its future 
 working operations, will sustain the result I have 
 reached, and confirm my opinion of its importance in 
 the commercial interests of the Commonwealth. 
 
 DISEASE IN CATTLE. 
 
 During the past season a considerable degree of 
 interest, at times amounting almost to general con- 
 cern, has been awakened by the appearance of a mal- 
 ady among the cattle. Its most marked development 
 has been in Texas or Cherokee beeves; but these, 
 when transported to the North and East in the spring 
 
1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 17 
 
 and summer months, have endangered the kind in all 
 the States exposed by their transit and stay. Acting 
 in co-operation with the Executive heads of many of 
 the States, and in compliance with the request of 
 some of our own citizens most intelligent in the sub- 
 ject, I appointed Commissioners to have charge of the 
 field of inquiry, and to see to the enforcement of the 
 laws provided for such cases. So inadequate as to 
 the compensation of the Commissioners are the pro- 
 visions of chapter twenty-eight of the acts of 1862, 
 under which alone such appointment could be made, 
 that I found it impracticable to obtain the services of 
 any person upon the commission whose scientific or 
 professional studies peculiarly fitted him for this par- 
 ticular investigation. In a matter so profoundly 
 interesting in its relations to political and domestic 
 economy, afi'ecting directly the property and health of 
 the people, the limitations of the statute in effect 
 deprived the State of the ofl^cial service of a reputa- 
 ble physician or veterinary surgeon. But the good 
 will and patriotic spirit of two men of practical wis- 
 dom enabled me to so far organize the commission as 
 to keep watch at the frontier points of delivery of 
 cattle to our railroads, and, generally, to protect our 
 markets and herds. 
 
 Late in the autumn I further appointed Dr. E. F. 
 
18 YALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 Thayer, a veterinary surgeon of approved repute, to 
 represent this Commonwealth in a convention of Com- 
 missioners from several States, held in Springfield, 
 Illinois, for the consideration of the whole subject. 
 Twelve States were represented in this assembly, 
 whose deliberations resulted in the approval of a 
 series of measures to be recommended to the Legisla- 
 tures of the States. These will be found contained 
 in the report of the Commissioner, which is now 
 transmitted to the General Court. 
 
 CAPE COD HARBOR. 
 
 In my last annual message I expressed my readiness 
 to approve the plan of the Commissioners for the pro- 
 tection and preservation of the harbor at Province- 
 town so soon as the Legislature should enlarge the 
 appropriation sufficiently to meet the estimate of cost. 
 A further appropriation of fifty thousand dollars was 
 made ; and I have now the pleasure to communicate 
 to the General Court the complete success of the 
 undertaking. 
 
 The protection and preservation of Cape Cod Har- 
 bor, so important to the State and nation, has been a 
 subject of interest for many years. The United 
 States Engineers have given it their attention from 
 time to time since the first military survey by Col. 
 
1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 19 
 
 J. D. Graham in 1833-4-5, and various works 
 have been undertaken there, mostly, however, of 
 small proportions. Col. Graham called the attention 
 of the Government to the importance of closing up 
 East Harbor Inlet, and pointed out the danger of the 
 ocean breaking through the low and narrow gaps in 
 the outside beach at the " head of the meadows." 
 Various Boards of United States Engineers and State 
 Commissioners have examined and reported these 
 sources of danger, and plans have been proposed for 
 closing the Inlet of East Harbor ; one for a strong 
 stone dike of double walls filled in with sand, and 
 one for a dike of loaded crib work. 
 
 Circumstances, however, seem to have prevented 
 action in regard to any of these proposed improve- 
 ments, until, in the opinion of those most familiar 
 with it, the condition of the Harbor became so critical 
 that a Special Board of State Commissioners was 
 appointed, with an eminent hydraulic engineer, Mr. 
 James B. Francis, as its chairman, for the purpose of 
 devising practical means for the " protection and 
 preservation " of the Harbor. 
 
 As a basis for study and action, this Board called 
 upon Prof Benjamin Peirce, Superintendent of the 
 United States Coast Survey, for a thorough survey 
 of the ground in question, in order to show, by com- 
 
20 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 parison with the survey of Col. Graham, the character 
 and extent of the changes which thirty-two years had 
 effected. This survey was executed by Assistant 
 H. L. Whiting of the Coast Survey, and showed 
 conclusively that changes injurious to the Harbor had 
 occurred and were progressing. To prevent these 
 injuries it became necessary to close the Inlet of 
 East Harbor. 
 
 It should be noted that this Inlet was a powerful 
 tidal water-way more than a thousand feet in width, 
 through which the column of the tide of Massachu- 
 setts Bay, ranging from nine to sixteen feet in height, 
 rushed in and out, filling and emptying " East Har- 
 bor " — a lagoon containing an area of one thousand 
 acres at high tides. The material of the sides and 
 bottom of this Inlet was coarse, loose sand, affording 
 no foundation for any solid structure. Closing this 
 Inlet and stopping a water-way far more powerful 
 than that of either the Connecticut or Merrimack 
 Elvers, at Springfield or Lowell, was a problem of 
 great uncertainty, and the case a novel one in the 
 history of our coast or harbor improvement or river 
 damming. 
 
 The plan of the structure prepared by Mr. Francis 
 was the result of careful examination and profound 
 study, and involved an estimated expenditure of 
 
1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 21 
 
 $149,134.80. The act making this appropriation 
 was passed by the Legislature on the 19th of May, 
 and the plans of the Commissioners were at once 
 approved by the Governor and Council. As no con- 
 tracts or other definite arrangements could be made 
 until after the act of appropriation, a short working ' 
 season was left for the Commissioners to collect 
 material and concentrate forces at East Harbor. Ac- 
 tive operations were commenced there on the 26th of 
 June, and on the 4th of November the Inlet was 
 successfully and permanently closed. 
 
 The work which has produced this important result 
 is a timber dam of great strength and perfection. A 
 foundation for this structure had to be created. This 
 was done by double rows of sheet piling, driven from 
 twelve to fourteen feet into the sand, then cut off just 
 above the bottom surface of the channel and heavily 
 planked over, to prevent the water, in its pressure, 
 from bursting through the treacherous material be- 
 neath the structure and undermining it. Guard 
 winsrs were also built on either side of the Inlet, with 
 sheet-piling driven equally deep and carried far up 
 into the sandy shores above high water. 
 
 So complete have been all parts of this structure 
 that not an accident or an interruption has occurred 
 during its progress, nor a single fault, which, if al- 
 
22 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 lowed, might have involved the failure of the whole 
 work. When all was ready, on November 'Ith, the 
 main superstructure of the timber dam was shut down 
 — like an immense water-gate — during the period of 
 one tide. All that now remains to be done is to fill in 
 sand, in accordance with the original plan, covering 
 the whole wooden structure and forming a dike as 
 solid and permanent as the shore and beach on either 
 side of it. About one thousand cubic yards of sand 
 are now filling in per day, at which rate the embank- 
 ment will be completed in a few months. 
 
 The character and proportions of this work may 
 be better understood by stating that it contains about 
 one million feet of lumber ; that three thousand piles 
 have been driven in the sand, most of them to an 
 unusual depth in such material. Twenty tons of 
 iron have been used, and six thousand tons of 
 stone, — the latter as a guard to prevent the tear- 
 ing action of the water through the sand. A large 
 number of sand bags have also been used for the 
 same purpose, and many more held in reserve. This 
 structure, which has closed East Harbor Inlet,- is 
 altogether worthy of the reputation of Mr. Francis, 
 the engineer who planned it. Although somewhat 
 remote from his accustomed field of labor, every 
 condition of success, as well as every danger, was 
 
1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 23 
 
 anticipated. The estimates were made with such 
 precision as almost exactly to coincide with the 
 actual outlay. 
 
 Before any work was undertaken at East Harbor, 
 Mr. Francis resigned his connection with the Com- 
 mission, and Mr. Paul Hill was appointed in his 
 place. Great credit is due to the untiring zeal and 
 energy of this gentleman, under whose immediate 
 direction the work has been principally conducted. 
 By his rapid execution, and rare ability to meet every 
 emergency, he has prevented any waste of the money 
 of the State. The other members of the Board, 
 General R. A. Pierce, and Mr. James GifFord, have 
 shared in this spirit and action, and the labors of 
 this Commission have not only been prosecuted with 
 great energy and complete success, but with an econ- 
 omy quite unusual in works undertaken by the State. 
 And we may expect here the unusual gratification 
 of an important work costing less than its appropri- 
 ation by a margin of between twenty-five and thirty 
 thousand dollars — over sixteen per cent. 
 
 Important work has been done by the General 
 Government during the last six months, under the 
 able supervision of General J. G. Foster, of the U. S. 
 Engineers, in addition to works previously constructed 
 for the preservation of the Harbor. 
 
24 YALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 At Beach Point, an extensive bulkhead of brush 
 has been constructed, extending from the termina- 
 tion of the old wooden bulkhead to the extremity of 
 the bridge across East Harbor Inlet — a distance of 
 one thousand feet — having along its whole length 
 jetties fifty feet apart and fifty feet in length. The 
 construction of the bulkhead and jetties, being of 
 brush interlaced around and between rows of pickets 
 driven firmly into the sand and weighted with layers 
 of stone interspersed throughout the mass of brush, 
 has made the most admirable and efi"ective beach 
 protection that has ever been prdvided for these 
 wasting shores. Its adaptation to the case in ques- 
 tion is already manifest by the accumulation of sand 
 upon the shore of Beach Point. General Foster 
 intends to extend this bulkhead to the southward 
 over the site of the former wooden structure, and 
 also, if necessary, to extend it northward, and unite 
 it with the Commissioners' Dike. 
 
 As there appeared well-grounded apprehension 
 that the encroachment of the ocean upon the outer 
 beach opposite the head of the meadows would 
 result in the sea breaking through the narrow ridge 
 of sand in some great storm, it was decided by Gen- 
 eral Foster to construct a substantial dike across 
 the meadow at the " wading place " — opposite High 
 
1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 25 
 
 Head — so that even if a break should occur in the 
 outer beach, the sea would come no farther towards 
 the harbor. 
 
 Upon Long Point, near the light-house, about one 
 thousand tons of stone have been uniformly distrib- 
 uted along the beach, and, with the stone previously 
 placed there, serve as an efficient protection against 
 the abrasion of the waves and currents upon the 
 shore. 
 
 An excellent understanding exists between the 
 U. S. Engineer in charge — General Foster — and the 
 Engineers and Commissioners of the State, leading 
 to a cordial co-operation in all plans and works cal- 
 culated to improve and protect this important Harbor. 
 And I desire to express a public obligation to Profes- 
 sor Peirce, to his Assistant, Mr. Henry L. Whiting, 
 and to General Foster, for the prompt and efficient 
 assistance which they have constantly rendered. 
 
 I have thought it advisable to explain this work 
 somewhat in detail on account of its intrinsic impor- 
 tance, and especially in order that full information 
 as to the subject may be at hand in an official form 
 whenever the State shall call upon the federal gov- 
 ernment for re-imbursement, as contemplated in the 
 original act of appropriation passed in 1867. 
 
26 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS WAR CLAIM. 
 
 I have the honor to lay before you two communi- 
 cations, dated respectively November 25th and De- 
 cember 11th, from the State Agent at Washington, 
 Lieut. Col. Gardiner Tufts, setting forth succinctly 
 what has been accomplished since the close of the 
 war in settling our military claims against the United 
 States. Until the beginning of the year 1867 the 
 preparation and presentation of our accounts for these 
 claims was under charge of the Auditor of the Com- 
 monwealth. In February of that year I withdrew 
 this business from that office, and have caused it to 
 be conducted since under my own supervision. Dur- 
 ing the administration of my predecessor five different 
 accounts, for the aggregate sum of |3,501, 766.50, 
 had been presented against the United States. Of 
 this sum, when I came to the executive office, there 
 were suspended or disallowed items to the amount of 
 $946,006.76, and none of these suspensions or dis- 
 allowances had been revoked. My first measure was 
 to commit the accounts, with all the papers apper- 
 taining to them, to Colonel A. G. Browne, Jr., the 
 military secretary of my predecessor, to examine them 
 critically, and report what in his opinion could be 
 accompUshed towards removing the objections raised 
 by the United States, and the best mode for doing so ; 
 
1«69.] SENATE- No. 1. 2T 
 
 with instructions to consult with me personally from 
 time to time in the progress of his investigation. This 
 task occupied Colonel Browne for several months, and 
 in August, 1867, he made a report advising that all 
 but a comparatively inconsiderable portion of the 
 items suspended or disallowed could be reinforced by 
 such additional proofs and explanations, as, under the 
 amended rules of the accounting officers of the United 
 States, would procure the withdrawal of the objec- 
 tions. And he recommended that the business of 
 preparing these proofs and explanations, (many of 
 which, from his acquaintance with our military ad- 
 ministration during the war, he was himself able to 
 suggest,) should be intrusted to some special officer 
 who should be able to superintend it here and also to 
 present them personally at Washington. This rec- 
 ommendation concurring with my own judgment, I 
 selected and detailed for that duty, Lieut. Col. Tufts, 
 whose reports above referred to show the gratifying 
 result that out of the amount of $946,006.76 disal- 
 lowed or suspended on those five accounts, $932,113.77 
 (or more than 981 per cent.,) have been allowed and 
 collected during the year 1868 ; and also that, on a 
 sixth account for $33,498.29, prepared and presented 
 during the year, $31,502.79 have been allowed by the 
 third auditor. The success which these figures indi- 
 
28 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 cate is the best evidence of the intelligence, discretion 
 and fidelity with which the work has been executed. 
 And I may add with propriety that it confirms in 
 a most satisfactory manner not only the fact that our 
 military expenditures in behalf of the United States 
 during the war were made with scrupulous integrity 
 and, excellent judgment, but also the fact that our 
 accounts were kept with corresponding skill and ac- 
 curacy. The entire expense to the Commonwealth 
 of these protracted and voluminous proceedings has 
 been only about one-half of one per cent, of the amount 
 recovered. In this service, distinguished not more 
 by the result than by the industry and fidelity which 
 accomplished it, the labors of Col. Browne, Lieut. 
 Col. Tufts and Mr. Julius L. Clarke have been con- 
 spicuous. 
 
 BOUNTIES PAST AND FUTURE. 
 
 Under my order, the Bureau of the Paymaster was 
 closed in February last. From the passage of the 
 bounty laws to January 1st, 1869, the whole amount 
 of payments made may be stated as follows : — 
 
 Advance— Army, . . . |9,595,150 00 
 
 Navy, . . . 83,098 70 
 
 Monthly, 3,073,217 04. 
 
 112,751,465 74 
 
1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 29 
 
 There is a considerable amount of unpaid bounties 
 and claims which should for the most part be treated 
 as doubtful or fraudulent, and classified as follows : — ■ 
 1st. Bounties apparently due — the soldier's record 
 being clear, but no application for the amount having 
 been made by him or by his heirs. The amount of this 
 class is small. 2d. Doubtful claims — in which cases 
 the evidence of enlistment or service is incomplete, 
 and, if the missing evidence be supplied, the bounty 
 would become due. 3d. Improper and fraudulent 
 claims. This class would include men Avho enlisted, 
 and, being incapable of performing service, were dis- 
 charged without United States pay, but who claim the 
 State bounty ; and bounties of deserters, claimed by 
 agents holding orders from the soldiers, and Avho 
 advanced, or profess to have advanced the bounty 
 before desertion. 
 
 It is estimated that these amount altogether to a 
 total of about |3 70,000. 
 
 Although the amount of bounties really due, or 
 which will become due in the future by the required 
 evidence being supplied, will not probably exceed 
 125,000 or 130,000, the State might be made liable 
 for a large part of the foregoing estimate by relaxing 
 its watchfulness, or by unwise legislation opening the 
 
30 YALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 door for the payment of any of these improper or 
 fraudulent claims. 
 
 To guard the Treasury against such exposure, at 
 the close of the past year I issued an order directing 
 that bounty claims shall first be submitted to a com- 
 mission appointed by the Governor for investigation, 
 and that, if found to be justly due, they shall, upon 
 the approval of a majority of the Commissioners, be 
 allowed and paid upon new rolls vouched and ap- 
 proved according to the orders heretofore issued by 
 the Executive. I beg leave to remind the General 
 Court that so well preserved, classified and understood 
 are the records of this department, that rarely can a 
 just claim come to the Legislature on appeal from 
 rejection by the Executive. The danger of inconsid- 
 erate liberality towards this class of cases will increase 
 as time shall elapse. 
 
 I transmit a communication from that excellent 
 officer, the late Paymaster, Mr. William H. Porter, 
 relative to the condition of the records of his depart- 
 ment. The names of all the soldiers appearing upon 
 pay-rolls are now registered, forty-two thousand in 
 number, so arranged that for the purpose of reference 
 the index is now complete. When the work shall be 
 finished, the books will be indispensable, not only for 
 reference to the original vouchers, but as ledgers giv- 
 
1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 31 
 
 ing the bounty account of each soldier. Completed, 
 they will exhibit a system as nearly perfect as that of 
 any government ; and, for the amount of bounties paid 
 and for the manner of their payment to the soldiers 
 of Massachusetts, they cannot fail to warrant the 
 patriotic pride of every citizen. 
 
 THE INLAND FISHERIES. 
 
 There is one feature of the official transactions of 
 the last three years which relates to the development 
 of a branch of industry allied to agriculture, of special 
 value in point of view both of science and practical 
 use. I refer to the labors of the Commissioners who 
 have had in charge the re-establishment and protec- 
 tion of inland fisheries. Although the deep-sea 
 fisheries have always been regarded as a productive 
 source of wealth and power, encouraged by bounties 
 and protected by treaties, yet, until within a very 
 recent period, the profit and advantage of stocking 
 our own streams had never been realized or even 
 estimated. In 1856 Commissioners were appointed 
 by the Legislature to investigate the subject of arti- 
 ficially propagating fish ; but their labors ended in a 
 few experiments and a report. Nearly ten years 
 passed before attention was again attracted to the 
 subject by the complaints of New Hampshire and 
 
32 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 Vermont of the damage we had done to their fisheries 
 by artificial dams on the Merrimack and the Connecti- 
 cut. In our efi"orts to encourage manufactures, we 
 had thoughtlessly barricaded those great rivers against 
 the ascent offish. The propriety and justice of these 
 complaints was recognized at once ; and, in April 
 1865, the appointment of commissioners, Mr. Theo- 
 dore Lyman and Mr. A. A. Eeed, was authorized to 
 investigate them, whose report, rendered in December 
 1865, created an interest in the subjects which it 
 treated as universal as had been the previous igno- 
 rance or indifference. It set forth clearly the quantity 
 of fish formerly taken in those rivers, the diminution 
 of it through obstructions and pollutions of the water, 
 the method of constructing fishways, and the natural 
 history of the salmon, the shad and other valuable 
 fishes, which once abounded in our streams ; and 
 explained how the work of re-stocking must be of 
 gradual progress, from which few results popularly 
 appreciable could be counted on in less than five 
 years. 
 
 In May 1866, the appointment of the present 
 board of commissioners (Mr. Lyman and Mr. A. R. 
 Field,) was authorized by the General Court, and a 
 small appropriation made for river improvements, to 
 be expended under their direction. Before the begin 
 
1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 33 
 
 ning of the next year, through the cordial co-operation 
 of the mill-owners of Lawrence and Lowell, the 
 Merrimack was opened by fishways ; and (what was 
 more important,) general attention was drawn to, and 
 public interest excited in, the methods for re-stocking 
 not only that river, but all our streams and ponds. 
 By the laws of 1867, the general powers of the 
 Commissioners were enlarged, authority was given 
 to them to cause fishways to be built over all dams, 
 and to re-stock ponds as well as rivers, and the 
 fishing for shad or salmon in the Merrimack was 
 prohibited for five years. During the remainder of 
 that year they gave special attention to the artificial 
 propagation of fish, and the report which they 
 rendered a year ago stimulated in a most gratifying 
 manner the interest of the community in that branch 
 of the general subject. On the Connecticut the breed- 
 hig of shad, by the processes described, was under- 
 taken on a large scale. On the Merrimack large 
 numbers of shad were taken into the waters above 
 the dams, and left to breed there naturally. But, in 
 regard to the building of fishways during the year, 
 the mill-owners of Holyoke, on the Connecticut, 
 being called upon to follow the example of those of 
 Lowell and Lawrence on the Merrimack, showed 
 themselves not moved by the same public spirit, and 
 
84 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 even threw obstructions in the way of the Commis- 
 sioners, to which I asked the attention of the Legis- 
 lature of 1868, who voted an appropriation to make 
 a fishway over the dam at Hadley's Falls, in case 
 the water-power company should not be liable to 
 build it. The Commissioners' report for 1868, which 
 I have the honor herewith to lay before you, sets 
 forth fully their present relations with that company. 
 The fishway has not been built, for reasons which 
 are there stated, and to which I ask your especial 
 attention, since we owe to New Hampshire and 
 Vermont an explanation of the causes of delay. 
 
 I beg, also, your consideration of all the lesser 
 points on which the Commissioners suggest the 
 expediency of legislation, among which they men- 
 tion the need of protecting the white perch in the 
 same manner as the smelt, and of amending all 
 statutes which now protect pickerel, so as on the 
 contrary to hold out inducements to destroy them; 
 and particularly the need of co-operative legislation 
 with Connecticut to check the indiscriminate slaughter 
 of young shad by the pound-fisheries. That State 
 has already passed a statute on the subject, limited 
 to take effect on the passage of a similar act by 
 Massachusetts. And to the further recommendations 
 of the Commissioners for a general levisal of all our 
 
1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 35 
 
 statutes on the subject of inland fisheries, for the 
 withdrawal, so far as the Legislature may have power 
 to do so, of the public privilege of free fishing in 
 the rivers and great ponds, and for the enactment 
 of laws giving to the raisers of fish some measure 
 of the security of their rights of property which 
 Ave afi'ord to the raisers of other live stock, I beg 
 your earnest and favorable attention. The need of 
 all this is so fully and simply expressed by the 
 Commissioners themselves, that I have only occasion 
 to add that I am personally convinced of the wisdom, 
 policy and expediency of all the measures which 
 they urge, as demanded for the advancement of a 
 branch of industry which promises a great and certain 
 increase of domestic comfort, private wealth and 
 public revenue. 
 
 I cannot leave this topic without adding what will 
 meet from no one with more cordial concurrence than 
 from his fellow commissioners, that what lias been 
 accomplished in this new and important field is due 
 chiefly to Mr. Lyman, who, working with a rare 
 combination of enthusiasm and persistency, has already 
 gained results which are no less gratifying to the 
 political economist than to the natural philosopher,.. 
 
36 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 THE DEPARTMENT OF CHARITIES. 
 
 The work of the Department of the Charities, Ke- 
 forms and Corrections, in the extent and variety of its 
 details, exceeds that of any other Bureau of the State 
 government. Official duty and personal interest have 
 combined to lead me to a close examination of the sys- 
 tem which controls them, both as originally adopted and 
 as modified by successive Legislatures, and to a contin- 
 uous observation of its workings. As the result, I 
 have assured myself that this system was well adapted 
 to the needs of the Commonwealth at the time of its 
 establishment, and that the alterations necessitated by 
 exigencies then unforeseen have been devised in a 
 spirit of judicious liberality. I find, of course, defects, 
 some of which are inherent and inevitable in any sys- 
 tem, and cannot be entirely obviated by excellence of 
 administration ; and others which doubtless are but 
 temporary, and for which future legislators will un- 
 questionably provide, whenever they are persuaded 
 that the remedies suggested are sound and feasible. 
 It is too much to expect that any code of law, or any 
 organization under the law, designed to remedy hu- 
 man imperfections, will itself be perfect. But when 
 faith in humanity is combined, in its advisory and ex- 
 ecutive officers, with intelligence and high culture, 
 with a matured judgment, strong will, and resolute 
 
1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 87 
 
 fidelity of performance, we can confidently look for an 
 abatement of some immediate evils, and for a future 
 solution of many difficult problems in the treatment of 
 the pauper, the lunatic, and the criminal. 
 
 Such a supervision I am convinced that we enjoy, 
 and that the State has been peculiarly fortunate in 
 the wisdom of the Legislature of 1863, which, after 
 thorough investigation and discussion, created the 
 Board of State Charities. In the high character and 
 ability of its successive chairmen, Otis Norcross and 
 Dr. Samuel G. Howe, in the industry, energy and great 
 ability of its secretary and general agent, whose retire- 
 ment from office is a most serious loss to the Common- 
 wealth and to humanity, and in the working capacity 
 and the honesty of its subordinate officers, has been 
 •found an example of that combination above alluded 
 to, which has wrought remarkable results. Though 
 subjected to harsh criticism and unreasonable opposi- 
 tion, proceeding mainly from those unfamiliar with 
 its specialty, or from interested parties aff'ected by its 
 measures of reform ; and though hampered by delay 
 in obtaining much-needed legislation, it has advanced 
 quietly in its work till it has remodelled the whole 
 arrangement of our charities. Retaining whatever 
 experience had proved to be good under the former 
 supervision, it has abated many existing evils, cut off" 
 
38 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 excrescences, introduced a successful classification, 
 and, replacing jealousies between institutions with cor- 
 diality and willingness of co-operation, has greatly 
 promoted their internal discipline, as well as the econ- 
 omy of their management. On referring to its record, 
 I find among many other measures of utility the fol- 
 lowing which I deem it fitting to mention. 
 
 It has brought about the closing of the needless 
 and expensive hospital at Rainsford Island, and inau- 
 gurated a system of providing for the sick poor of the 
 State in their respective localities, with partial or com- 
 plete re-imbursement to the cities and towns from the 
 Treasury of the Commonwealth, — a policy dictated 
 alike by justice and humanity. 
 
 It has effected an extension of the laws of settle- 
 ment, thereby preventing hundreds of surviving sol- 
 diers and of the widows and orphans of the dead from 
 being driven to the State Almshouses, and so has 
 probably rendered needless for years to come the 
 creation of any more large public institutions. 
 
 It has provided agents to visit the thousands of 
 children apprenticed from our Almshouses and 
 Reformatories, many of whom had formerly been 
 grossly defrauded and abused without remedy or 
 protection. It has carried through the establishment 
 of the State Workhouse at Bridgewater for the 
 
1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 39 
 
 restraint and employment of the vicious and vagrant 
 poor, thereby nearly superseding the almshouse on 
 the same premises. Under the able and judicious 
 management of the superintendent, Mr. Goodspeed, 
 this experiment is proving a complete success, not 
 only in controlling but in preventing voluntary pau- 
 perism, in preserving infant life, and compelling some 
 pecuniary return to the Commonwealth for the bur- 
 den thrown upon its Treasury by idleness and vice. 
 
 It has put in operation the State Primary School 
 at Monson, by which agency hundreds of children 
 are relieved of the disabilities of pauperism, removed 
 from the exceptional classes, and restored to society 
 as profitable producers instead of dependent con- 
 sumers. 
 
 It has secured the establishment of the Lunatic 
 Asylum on the premises of the State at Tewksbury, 
 for the reception of the chronic insane, thus reliev- 
 ing the Commonwealth from the erection and main- 
 tenance of a new Lunatic Hospital, and providing 
 remunerative employment for large numbers of the 
 insane. 
 
 It has collected and collated a vast amount of 
 statistical information, undervalued perhaps by too 
 many at home, but eagerly sought for and made the 
 basis of legislative action by other communities. 
 
40 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 In the five years of its existence, its officers have 
 examined more than 50,000 immigrants and 20,000 
 paupers ; have removed from the State or otherwise 
 provided for 10,000 paupers, including 550 lunatics, 
 (or enough to fill two additional hospitals,) most of 
 whom would have been permanently chargeable, and 
 has paid into the Treasury more than $131,000. 
 
 While effecting these wholesome reforms, the 
 Board has done nothing to increase the number of 
 public dependents, for the average in our institu- 
 tions has decreased 13 per cent, within the five years 
 of its existence ; neither has it made any undue draft 
 upon the Treasury, for its collections have covered 
 its expenses, leaving a large surplus ; while the total 
 expenditure of the State for the past year, in the 
 department of pauperism and lunacy, will not reach 
 $300,000, and, reducing currency to gold, does not 
 exceed the annual outlay of twelve years ago. 
 
 In my annual message for 1867, I had the honor to 
 recommend that provision be made within our own 
 limits for the education of the deaf-mutes of the Com- 
 monwealth. Regarding this suggestion with favor, the 
 Legislature of that year incorporated the Clarke Institu- 
 tion for Deaf-mutes, located at Northampton. Through 
 the munificence of the patron and constant friend 
 whose name it bears, and with but moderate assist- 
 
1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 41 
 
 ance from the State, it was put in operation in Octo- 
 ber of the same year, under the charge of an enthusi- 
 astic and self-sacrificing lady, whom I mention for the 
 sake of honor, — Miss Harriet B. Rogers. Several 
 visits, induced at first by a sense of personal respon- 
 sibility, have awakened my deepest interest in its wel- 
 fare. The method of articulation, which is there used 
 to the exclusion of all others, was not regarded by 
 experts with unanimous favor, but its practical suc- 
 cess surpasses what I had deemed to be possible. In 
 fact one hardly knows which most to admire, the in- 
 genuity and the philanthropic zeal of the teacher, or 
 the wonderful progress and attainments of the pupils. 
 Already from distant States is heard the voice of 
 inquiry and approval ; and I trust that our own suc- 
 cessive Legislatures will continue to cherish with the 
 kindest care this latest of the benevolent institutions 
 of Massachusetts, which is opening a new world to 
 the fettered mind and is literally teaching the dumb 
 to speak. 
 
 I cannot close this statement of the official action 
 of this Board, without adverting again to the high 
 order of talent which has been so freely bestowed for 
 the public service in one of its departments, and 
 which should be generously remembered by the people 
 of the Commonwealth. The Secretary, Mr. Frank B. 
 
42 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 Sanborn, at the call of my predecessor, brought to his 
 arduous task great native ability, and the resources of 
 a mind well stored with varied learning and controlled 
 by the instincts and training of a scholar. To his 
 industry and research we owe much invaluable statis- 
 tical information, and facts and suggestions of the 
 utmost importance touching the moral and economical 
 management of our Prisons and Jails, which will 
 doubtless form the basis of future legislation ; and it 
 is to his extensive acquaintance and correspondence 
 that w^e are largely indebted for that publicity of the 
 proceedings of his Board in other States and foreign 
 lands, which has so materially enhanced the reputa- 
 tion and the influence of Massachusetts. My regret 
 at his retirement will be shared by all who believe 
 in judicious progress and who love humanity. 
 
 Nor can I permit the retirement of the general 
 agent of the Board, Dr. H. B. Wheelwright, to pass 
 without an expression of obligation. It does not 
 easily occur that for the period of eleven years a 
 State receives from one of its officers the benefit of so 
 great executive ability, coupled with so philosophic 
 comprehension of the subjects of investigation. With 
 uncommon quickness to detect the meritorious from 
 the undeserving, the rightful claim from the fraudu- 
 lent pretext, with a knowledge of classes and cases 
 
1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 43 
 
 derived from assiduous inquiry and quickened by sa- 
 gacious perception, he has long been a master of his 
 department arid a conservator to the treasury. To 
 him we are indebted for organizing at once the new 
 system out of the old, and for demonstrating by pro- 
 duced results that economy and humanity may be 
 united in the performance of this most delicate and 
 difficult duty of administration. The files of the Au- 
 ditor and Treasurer are evidence that no accounting 
 officer has been more punctilious. Ketiring from a 
 broad field of labor in which he has, by untiring 
 industry, kept the exceptional classes from vicious 
 overgrowth, saving to the Commonwealth each year 
 an amount which, under an administrator less faith- 
 ful or intelligent, would have proved a heavy pecuni- 
 ary burden, he has left on the records of the Board 
 enduring proofs of his efficiency and integrity. 
 
 THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES LOUIS AGASSIZ. 
 
 I regret to have to communicate to you the resigna- 
 tion by Mr. William Gray of the position of a trustee 
 of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. The act 
 incorporating the trustees, (chapter two hundred and 
 eight of the acts of 1859,) provides that " the places 
 of Louis Agassiz 'and William Gray, whenever the 
 same or either of them shall become vacant, shall be 
 
44 YALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 filled by a concurrent vote of the Senate and House of 
 Representatives." The rethement of Mr. Gray from 
 a place in which for nine years he has rendered such 
 eminent services to the cause of education marks a 
 point in the history of this institution, at which it may 
 be neither unprofitable nor uninteresting briefly to 
 review what hav^e been its means and opportunities 
 of usefulness, and what its improvement of them. 
 
 Since a period so recent as to be within the remem- 
 brance of all of us, the line of distinction between 
 what were called the learned professions and the other 
 avocations of society has been in great measure efi'aced ; 
 or, perhaps I should rather say, various other avoca- 
 tions have come to share with these professions a 
 degree of responsibility for the common welfare such 
 as was not formerly recognized. With the develop- 
 ment of manufactures and mines, of commerce, of rail- 
 roads and telegraphs, a higher capacity for command, 
 a clearer discretion in its exercise and a more exten- 
 sive education for its duties, have become necessary. 
 The various establishments of instruction in the natu- 
 ral sciences (of which the Museum of Comparative 
 Zoology is the most conspicuous) owe their develop- 
 ment to this cause ; and, in turn, they themselves 
 foster and promote the very cause in which they had 
 their origin. To conduct successfully almost any great 
 
1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 45 
 
 manufacturing establishment to-day requires from 
 young men the practical application of a degree of 
 scientific knowledge which fifty years ago was pos- 
 sessed only by a few and was acquired by them only 
 as the result of long lives of study. And the same 
 may be said concerning many other employments of 
 our time. The Institute of Technology, at Boston, to 
 . whose funds the State has largely contributed, the 
 Lawrence Scientific School at Cambridge, and the 
 Worcester School of Industrial Science, founded on a 
 liberal scale by private munificence, are landmarks in 
 the same line of progress. Although the first of these 
 has been in operation less than three years, its influ- 
 ence is already felt by the whole community. The 
 last, though not yet fully developed, is rapidly ap- 
 proaching a position of general importance, adding in 
 its system of instruction a department for the practical 
 application of the mechanic arts, — ^a purpose which it 
 is interesting to note was contemplated by Congress in 
 its grant of public lands which we have applied to 
 endow the Agricultural College at Amherst. It would 
 be pleasing in this connection to set forth details of 
 the progress and condition of all these various institu- 
 tions ; but that would lead me into a dissertation 
 beyond my purpose in speaking of the Museum at 
 Cambridge. 
 
46 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 When Professor Agassiz came to this country 
 twenty-two years ago, he at once began to form a col- 
 lection to illustrate the history of the animal kingdom, 
 and on this expended all his private means and put 
 himself under large pecuniary obligations beyond 
 them. He accepted and held the office of a professor 
 in the Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard College, 
 but the pecuniary aid which the college could afford . 
 him was very little ; and the only store-house for all 
 his collections, including those gathered from his expe- 
 ditions to Florida and to the great northern lakes, was 
 a small and ill-built wooden structure, part of which 
 he was obliged to devote to rooms for his students, 
 artists and assistants. This in 1856 was the condition 
 of the nucleus of the present Museum. 
 
 But in that year the magnificent private subscrip- 
 tion of twenty-five hundred names for the publication 
 of his work on Natural History was made; and in 
 1857 the first volume was issued. The Museum was 
 greatly increased by the specimens needed to illustrate 
 this work ; and at last public attention was attracted 
 to its importance, and a private subscription which 
 yielded over $72,000 was made in aid of it, the Legis- 
 lature at the same time voting an appropriation of 
 $100,000 to be paid from sales of the Back Bay Lands. 
 This appropriation was in singular conformity with 
 
1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 47 
 
 that provision of the constitution (part 2, chapter 5, 
 section 2,) which made it " the duty of legislatures 
 and magistrates " " to cherish the interests of literature 
 and the sciences and all seminaries of them," and " to 
 encourage private societies and public institutions " 
 " for the promotion," among other things enumerated, 
 " of a Natural Histoiy of the country." On the death 
 of Mr. Francis C. Gray, which occurred about this 
 time, the Museum received the munificent legacy of 
 $50,000, and in accordance with his request took its 
 present name of the Museum of Comparative Zoology ; 
 and the act of incorporation was passed, from which I 
 have already quoted. In 1861, the Legislature voted 
 an additional appropriation of $20,000 ; in 1863, the 
 sum of $10,000 was voted for the publication of illus- 
 trated catalogues ; in 1867, $10,000 for the arrange- 
 ment of the great Brazilian collections ; and in 1868 
 a further appropriation of $75,000, to be paid in three 
 annual instalments of $25,000 each, conditional upon 
 the raising of the same annual amount by private sub- 
 scription. I had the pleasure of signing the warrant 
 for the payment of the first instalment on the last day 
 of the year which has just expired. 
 
 Excluding from consideration this last grant, the 
 whole sum which the State has contributed to the 
 Museum during the last ten years is $140,000 ; and 
 
48 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 during the same time it has derived from legacies and 
 private gifts about $175,000 ; to all which must be 
 added, what is hardly capable of being definitely com- 
 puted, the sum spent meanwhile by Professor Agassiz 
 from his own earnings and the tuition fees of his stu- 
 dents, (which last, however, he has almost always re- 
 mitted to them.) The investment of this total sum of 
 about $315,000 has been substantially as follows: in 
 a permanent fund, $150,000; in the building, $75,000 ; 
 in the scientific expedition to the Amazon, more than 
 $30,000, the whole of which was given for that special 
 purpose by one individual, Mr. Nathaniel Thayer, of 
 widely known liberality and public spirit ; for the 
 purchase of collections, of glass, alcohol and other 
 material, upwards of $60,000. During the same time 
 there have been received as income of invested funds 
 upwards of $70,000, which have been expended in 
 increasing and arranging the collections. 
 
 If, now, in behalf of the State and the community 
 we should undertake to strike a balance sheet, as a 
 merchant would do in his business, and compute what 
 has been gained to the public from this pecuniary 
 investment, some of our gains might be enumerated 
 as follows. 
 
 First. It has secured in Massachusetts larger and 
 more complete collections in several grand depart- 
 
1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 49 
 
 ments of natural history than the British Museum or 
 the Jardin des Plantes have acquired from a century 
 of liberal government patronage. 
 
 Second. In the arrangement of these collections, 
 eve'ii to the limited extent to which the pecuniary 
 resources of the Museum have enabled it to be car- 
 ried, it has presented to the scientific world a plan of 
 classification and exhibition more* admirable than was 
 ever before attempted or even designed, its grand out- 
 line being to illustrate the plan of creation so far as 
 it lies within the comprehension of the human mind. 
 
 Third. It has educated gratuitously a large part 
 of the younger class of naturalists in this country, who 
 now in turn are teaching in the schools and colleges 
 of almost every State, and some of whom have already 
 attained a reputation not limited to America ; and in 
 educating them it has afforded greater facilities for the 
 comprehension of their special subjects of study than 
 they could have obtained anywhere else in the world. 
 
 Fourth. It has supplied free of charge to every 
 trustworthy scientific man in America or Europe, who 
 chose to apply, all the specimens in its possession for 
 his free investigation, — a purpose never before carried 
 out on such a scale by any Museum. 
 
 Fifth. It has given courses of lectures every year, 
 free of charge, on the higher branches of Natural His- 
 
50 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 tory, to all teachers of either private or public schools 
 who should choose to attend them. 
 
 Siccth. It has published a series of valuable scien- 
 tific works and supplied material for many more. 
 
 And lastly, it has secured to the United States one 
 who without contest is conceded to be not second to 
 any philosophic zoologist now living ; who during 
 his residence of twenty years with us has given to 
 scientific pursuits in this country a new and previ- 
 ously unknown impulse ; has made the scientific at- 
 tainments and achievements of Americans known and 
 respected abroad ; and has concentrated in Massachu- 
 setts unequalled facilities and incitements for this 
 class of studies. 
 
 All which has been accomplished at a cost less than 
 that of a small cotton mill. 
 
 I have deemed it proper to invite attention to this 
 recent feature of our system of education. It has 
 been the most agreeable of my official duties to give 
 frequent attendance at the schools, to become familiar 
 with their wants, and to encourage the adoption of all 
 unquestionable methods of advancing their influence. 
 And, in retiring from that relation of duty to the insti- 
 tutions of learning which the Constitution imposes 
 upon the Executive, I take special pleasure in com- 
 mending to public respect the example of the men and 
 
1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 51 
 
 the seminaries that have been pioneers in adapting our 
 system to our necessity. The five classical colleges of 
 the Commonwealth are secure upon permanent 
 endowments and certain patronage. The discipline 
 and culture of their rich and varied instruction is 
 imparted to constantly increasing numbers within 
 their walls, and diffuses its beneficence over all classes. 
 But, for the intense life of our time, for an age of 
 commerce, mechanism and all the arts, yet other and 
 specific policies and adaptations of education are 
 needed. The work of supplying them has begun, 
 and no degree of public or private favor in carrying 
 on the work can exceed the demand. 
 
 HOOSAC TUNNEL CONTRACT. 
 
 The Legislature of 1868, by chapter 333 of its acts, 
 authorized the Governor and Council to contract for 
 the whole work of constructing the Hoosac Tunnel, 
 limiting the price to five millions of dollars and the 
 time to seven years, with satisfactory guarantees, and 
 further providing that one million of dollars should 
 be withheld from payment until the work should be 
 finished and accepted. A supplemental act, chapter 
 350, modified the former by authorizing the expendi- 
 ture of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, (taken 
 from the five millions,) upon the continued prosecution 
 
52 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 of the enterprise under existing contracts and in pay- 
 ing off present liabilities, and by further providing 
 that under any contract for the completion of the 
 Tunnel twenty per centum should be reserved in the 
 payment by instalments. This action of the legisla- 
 ture was on the eleventh of June, and, immediately 
 after the prorogation of that body, the Governor 
 and Council adopted measures for advertising for pro- 
 posals. The bids were opened on the first of Sep- 
 tember. It will be seen by an examination of the 
 statement which I have the honor herewith to trans- 
 mit to the General Court that these were twelve in 
 number, of which five only came within the amount 
 remaining at the disposal of the Governor and 
 Council, (four million seven hundred and fifty thou- 
 sand dollars,) the others exceeding that sum. 
 
 In considering these proposals for the contract, the 
 first question which arose, was, what should be 
 deemed " satisfactory guarantees." Several parties 
 were ready to offer a bond with sureties ; but, for 
 various reasons, too obvious to need repeating, and 
 especially in consideration of the long period which 
 any bond must cover, I deemed it my duty to decline 
 every such offer. It only remained to require an 
 actual deposit of approved public securities of satisfac- 
 tory amount. To establish this amount involved the 
 
1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 53 
 
 exercise of individual discretion, and to some extent 
 the adoption of an apparently arbitrary standard. 
 After mucli reflection and consultation with the Coun- 
 cil, I settled in the conclusion that the amount to be 
 deposited should be five hundred thousand dollars. 
 It seemed to me that such a sum in hand, together 
 with the retention of twenty per centum in making 
 payments, ought to be accepted as satisfactory guar- 
 antees against the risk of an abandonment of the work 
 by contractors, which would probably be more immi- 
 nent in its early than in its later stages. Another and 
 important element in the estimate of guarantees, and 
 primary to every other, was to be found in the char- 
 acter and fitness of the men who should be admitted 
 to the contract. In my judgment the requirement of 
 so large a deposit would quite certainly exclude all 
 persons who could not command public confidence, 
 and would keep the undertaking from the hands of 
 mere adventurers and speculators. I believe that such 
 a result has been attained. Nor was it in my mind 
 any objection to the demand of a positive and large 
 security that it might involve the declinature of the 
 lower bids and an approach to the highest ; for the 
 economy of a State, as of an individual, may lie in the 
 acceptance of the larger price coupled with the greater 
 certainty of fulfilment. The contract finally made was 
 
54 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 "with the third in the order of the bidders, and was in 
 accordance with the guarantees required, which, modi- 
 fied only in form, have been substantially obtained. 
 
 The contract for the construction of the Hoosac 
 Tunnel was executed on the twenty-fourth of Decem- 
 ber by the Governor and Council, with Walter Shanly, 
 of Montreal, and Francis Shanly, of Toronto, Canada, 
 for the sum of four million five hundred and ninety- 
 four thousand two hundred and sixty-eight dollars, 
 (14,594,268,) to be paid in United States Treasury 
 notes or other current funds. I herewith communicate 
 to the legislature a copy of this contract. Before com- 
 mitting the Commonwealth to the agreement, its terms 
 were examined and discussed by the Governor and 
 Council, from day to day, for the greater part of a 
 month, and with every aid which could be derived 
 from experience and testimony. The contractors 
 bring to this enterprise the advantages of large expe- 
 rience in railroad construction and mining, of dis- 
 tinguished reputation in the community where they 
 reside, and of command of financial resources, them- 
 selves stimulated by confident expectations of profit. 
 They have already commenced the preparation ; and 
 one of them at least will transfer his residence to the 
 iield of oper^itions. 
 
 JFor the details of the contract, I refer to the instru- 
 
1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 55 
 
 ment itself, but a few of its provisions demand specific 
 mention. It is agreed that no sum whatever shall 
 become due to the contractors until after work to the 
 amount of five hundred thousand dollars shall have 
 been performed by them and approved by the Gov- 
 ernor and Council. It will be readily perceived that 
 for the period of two-thirds of a year, more or less, and 
 through that stage which will probably be decisive of 
 the result, they are to work without cost or recourse 
 to the Commonwealth. Again, the reserve of a half 
 million is equivalent to tw^enty per centum of two and 
 a half millions, or almost five-ninths of the entire price, 
 which by the provision for reservation under the law 
 alone would not be attained in a less period than two 
 years and a half. The first of the two acts referred 
 to required the withholding of a million dollars until 
 after the completion of the Tunnel ; the second required 
 only the reservation of twenty per centum, which 
 under the present contract would amount at the end 
 to only about nine hundred thousand dollars ; and the 
 second act changed and so far repealed the first. But 
 the contract is in careful conformity to the intention 
 of both acts, specifically withholding the twenty per 
 centum on each of the instalments, and further pro- 
 viding that the full sum of one million dollars shall 
 be kept back until the completion of the whole work. 
 
56 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 The statute extended the time for the cnth'e construc- 
 tion to June, 1875 ; but the contract limits it to March, 
 1874, within the discretion of the Governor and Coun- 
 cil to grant a further extension of six months. It is 
 also made a part of the agreement that at any time, 
 with three months' notice, the Governor and Council 
 may terminate the entire contract. AVithout other 
 statement of the details, I invite the attention of the 
 legislature to the whole document, which is the result 
 of the utmost care and deliberation of the Governor 
 and Council to whom the legislature assigned this 
 grave and responsible trust. 
 
 I regard the completion of this enterprise as already 
 assured within the terms of the contract. It is proper 
 then to state what in that event will be the total cost 
 of the Railroad and Tunnel. Excluding interest, the 
 whole amount that will have been expended on the 
 Railroad from Greenfield to North Adams, including 
 also the purchase of the Southern Vermont Railroad, 
 according to the tables herewith sent to the Legisla- 
 ture, will be one million six hundred and sixty-six 
 thousand two hundred and fifty dollars ($1,666,250). 
 The amount already laid out upon the Tunnel itself 
 and exterior works properly chargeable to it, including 
 the payment for some work now approachmg comple- 
 tion under existing contracts, is three million two 
 
1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 5T 
 
 thousand one hundred and seventy-six dollars 
 (13,002,176). The amount to be paid the Messrs. 
 Shanly under the contract upon the final construction 
 of the Tunnel is four million five hundred and ninety- 
 four thousand two hundred and sixty-eight dollars 
 ($4,594,268). The result therefore may be stated as 
 follows : 
 
 Total cost of Tunnel including track, $7,596,444 00 
 
 Total cost of Railway, . . . 1,666,250 00 
 
 Total cost of Tunnel, and Railway, 
 
 fifty miles in length, . . . $9,262,694 00 
 
 If now there be added the cost of the other railroads 
 connecting with this, and together vvith it constituting 
 the through line from Boston to Troy, one hundred 
 and eighty-nine miles in length, the result will show a 
 united capital of not far from sixteen millions of dol- 
 lars ($16,000,000). In this statement I make only a 
 reasonable discount for that portion of the Vermont 
 and Massachusetts Railroad diverging from Greenfield 
 to Brattleborough. This line has already nearly sixty 
 miles of double track, the most favorable gradients, 
 ample facilities at deep water, a large real estate, a 
 profitable local business, and a command, so soon as 
 the mountain shall be pierced, of the far-reaching con- 
 nections which ally the manufactures and commerce of 
 
58 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. 
 
 the East to the granaries of the West. I never have 
 doubted, and I do not now doubt, that this whole line 
 will be worth all it will have cost, — worth it directly, 
 and for business, — worth it twice over indirectly, by 
 developing now latent capacities and resources of this 
 progressive community of more than a million and a 
 quarter of souls, and by adding rapidly to the tax- 
 able property of the Commonwealth. I confidently 
 look forward to the day, now not distant, when the 
 four raihvays connecting Troy with Boston, the lakes 
 by nearest transit with the sea, shall be consolidated 
 in the interest of commerce, under one seal and one 
 control. The three corporations which, by the con- 
 tract made in 1868, must pay to the State the tribute 
 of twenty per centum of all revenue received from 
 traffic passing through the Tunnel or over any part 
 of the Troy and Greenfield Railway, will then have 
 a strong inducement for such an arrangement ; the 
 interest of the Commonwealth will favor it ; the 
 irresistible laws of trade and transport will demand 
 it. In the negotiations and adjustments of that 
 future day I can readily foresee that the Common- 
 wealth need not be largely, if at all, the loser on 
 its costly enterprise, regarded only as a pecuniary 
 investment. And even if the treasury shall not 
 then recover the whole of its disbursement, more 
 
1869.] SENATE— No. 1. 59 
 
 than an equivalent will be received by the people 
 in the economy of their commerce and the increase of 
 their wealth. As I had the honor to say in my 
 annual message to the Legislature in 1867, the value 
 of great public works, conceived in the necessities of 
 States, looking not to the specific returns of remuner- 
 ative interest for a single year or a limited number 
 of years, but rather to the compensation of internal 
 commerce through successive generations, cannot be 
 computed by the rules that govern private investment 
 based on the promise of immediate profit. The finance 
 of individuals comes within the limitations of present 
 and personal interest; the investment of Common- 
 wealths looks for a return in their complete develop- 
 ment and in their enduring destiny. So have judged 
 the great commercial and manufacturing States of 
 New York and Pennsylvania ; and so they have 
 builded their material success on partial forgetfulness 
 of immediate profit and on confidence in the longer 
 and grander future. Massachusetts cannot afford to 
 cherish a policy less broad than that which has con- 
 ducted them to prosperity and greatness. 
 
 Senators and Representatives : 
 
 In administering the office of Chief Magistrate I 
 have been filled with constantly increasing respect 
 
60 VALEDICTORY ADDRESS. [Jan. '69. 
 
 for the institutions of the Commonwealth which for 
 a period of three years it has been my high privilege 
 to guard with executive care. Not any citizen, so 
 well as they who from this post of observation have 
 been called to keep constant watch of the whole 
 field, can grasp in thought and affection the history, 
 the growth, the felicity of the people of Massachu- 
 setts. In the discharge of my duty to be diligent in 
 aid of their material wealth and power, of their 
 schools and charities, and from the fountain of mercy 
 to temper justice, it has been my opportunity to learn 
 how strong, intelligent, just and humane is the com- 
 munity in which we live. To have been permitted 
 to serve in official station a State so organized under 
 forms of the highest culture and humanity, may 
 justly be regarded as honor; but in private station 
 there is honor also in every well meant exertion of 
 the citizen to contribute to the welfare of all. In 
 passing from one of these relations to the other, I 
 unite with you in commending our Commonwealth 
 to the continued favor of the God of our Fathers. 
 
 ALEXANDER II. BULLOCK.