Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1883-04-19

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TEE MAssAcHusErTs ScAxDAEA--
his Excellency, Gov Butler may
be q great rascal, and We a.aru
really afraid, hs~ ~ something of q
blackguard. But both rascals and
blackeuards have their uses in thiu
world To set rascal to catch q
rascal has grOwu into proverb, and
a blackgna1d il sometimes valuable
for giving vigorous and expressive
namss.to dark or questionable trans.
aetious. However this may be, the
Governor Of Massachusetts, has per.
formed an eminent public services in
exposing what Is known as the Tewks.
bsary Scandal, and th6 reader win
lAAfa whAt fIsa Temkhlsrv Roanial /.
and the service Gov. Butler has rem.
dered the public and the cause Of hu-
manity by the following from the Bal.
timore SaR:
In the inaugural address of Gov.
Butler, delivered before the Massa-
chusetts Legislature in January last.
fault was found with the laws of the
State which. passed in the interests OF
few families, and Of the political par
ty of which they were members,
placed substantially every commission
and their officers, agents and en-
ployes, having to do with the expen-
diture of the money of the Common
wealth, beyond the power of the exc
cutive branch of the government.
Political boards, entrenched under a
tenuTe-of-office law, administered ev-
erything, and the employees of these
boards were put out Of the reach of
the Governor and Council, not only
while they behaved themselves we'll
in their offices, but also even eff they
~cted improvidently. carelessly or cor
ruptly. The board of health, luna
cy and charity, for exam le, consist
ing of nine persons, holding Office for
five years, and having charge of the
expenditure Of hundreds of thousands
of dollars, is, during its tenure of of
fee, Independent Of the supreme exc
ecutive department, so that neither
its members nor their agents, officers,
employees, nor their acts, do:ngs or Of
fetal integrity, can be investigated by
that department. The consequence
of this responsibility, Gov, Butler al
legged, was shameless nepotism, extra
vagance, and mismanagement of the
asylums and charitable institutions of
the State, "In one of our pauper es-
adjustments" said the Governor,
there hare been employed for many
years from four % sepe1s peys0ss t,s-tke
same family IN the higher, most respOn-
sibLe end best paid places, drasciing as
salaries from one to Sir thousand dol
lars, besides the expenses Of the GUinq
Of all of them; all sons, lCiUes and
daughters, By blood and marriage, 10
the superintendent" OF the infants
born in, or sent to, that institution
more than 90 per CT, it was charged,
died in it.
The Governor charged that $50 in
fant corpses were annually sold from
it TO a single medical institution, be-
sides large numbers of bodies Of adult
paupers. In this institution, which
was the Tewksbury almshouse, 800
600 was paid for salaries out of a to-
tai expenditure of S93,000. Charges
of this character made by the Cover
nor Of the State could not be over
looked, and an investigation of the
Tewksbury institution was ordered.
The revelations made were of the
most horrible character, exceeding in
their details of cruelty, neglect and
mistreatment all that Gov. Butler
had charged. 1t W IS found that the
persons entrusted with the care of
the insane and idiotic were of the
hardest and most unfeeling character,
and absolutely unsnited 10 the duties
with which they were charged. The
scandalous treatment accorded to in
fants explained fully The high rate Of
mortality that prevailed. Such a
condition of things existing in State
less favored with wealth, education
and culture than Massachusetts, would
be pronounced discreditable in the
extreme to the humanity Of its people,
but in State so aggressively philan-
thropic and virtuous it will, Of course,
be regarded as beyond expression dis
graceful. Similar horrors have been
brought to light in other places, nota-
bly, in New York and Philadelphia,
but nowhere have they equaled those
Of Tewksbury in degree. These facts
would, however. hardly deserve for
NAL mention but for the moral they
illustrate. Il is an old story that
politics degrades everything it touches.
Most of all does it pervert State char
tiles, for the proper administration
Of which the politician is peculiarly