Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-02-20

sacred precincts are likely to be invaded in the
interests of the street car service Of the city o.
Boston, Petitions that end are before the rapid
transit committee Of the legislature and thu
developments up to date show that the mem
bers are morally certain to report some bill
which touches this historic plat in some FORM
There are numberless schemes before them
plans for going over the Common BY an elevated
railway and under it by tunnel; plans to cross
1t by surface cars from almost every point OF
the compass; plans to traverse the Boylston and
| fremont street malls by electric cars at grade
| and in cuts OF various depths and directions
plans to take big slices from the sides to widen
the streets that bound it,; plans to do almost
everything except leave 1t intact. with Its
/ familiar boundaries undisturbed and the beauty
which the centuries have brought unmarried.
! Everybody has heard Of Boston Common.
! 1t is at once Boston's most historic spot and
its most beautiful attraction. 1t was set apart
for the ''benefitte'' of the people more than $50
years ago, and in March. 1910, the townsmen of
! Boston voted that there should ''bc no land
granted either for house plats or gardens out of
the open ground or Common field"
| ITS HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS.
| 1t was first used parade ground for the
military and pasture for cattle. The troops
that conquered Quebec were recruited here by
Armstrong. 1t was the mastering place for the
conflicts that ushered in the American revolu-
\ ton. From the foot of the Common the Brit
lsh troops embarked for Lexington to encounter
/ the patriot in shots heard round the world. "
| Here. too. the kings forces we're arrayed before
they crossed the river to meet defeat at the bat
| tie of Bunker Hill
All through the dreary winter OF 1775-76
1000 red coats waited behind their breastworks
! on the Common for Washington to attack the
town. On Flagstaff Hill was a square redoubt,
and near the frog pond powder house.
Here Gen. Gage received the delegation OF
| Boston school boys who successfully insisted
upon their right to coast on the Common.
| Here the repeal of the stamp act was cele-
brated, and, turning to the darker side, here
| the dreadful executions for witchcraft took
place. and Henry Phillips. nephew of Peter
Faneuil, killed Benjamin Woodbridge in duel
with rapiers because they both loved the same
! woman.
Its history doesn't belong to Boston alone.
! II is the heritage of the state and the nation.
| Massachusetts, early recognized this. for when
| Boston was Incorporated city in 1928 a
clause was inserted in its charter forbidding
| the city either TO sell or give away the Com
mon. Whatever was done with it could only
| be accomplished through the legislature. That
is WIZ the present session of the general cour:
is called upon to solve the knotty problem.
DIFFICULT PROBLEM.
And it is difficult question.
! 1t is'only a few years comparatively since
Boston extended its limits beyond the original
/ peninsula made by the Back bay and the Smith
/ bav. The addition of Roxbury. Dorchester
| Brighton, Jamaica Plain. ard the growth OF
] Brookline Milton and other towns which have
not come in. but are still az really part OF
Boston as any ward in it, have quite changed
| the situation.
Boston today works on the peninsula and
sleeps on the main land. This makes the travel
across the isthmus. Boston Neck" as il
used TO be called. something stupendous. True
| the neck has been widened by filling in the
flats and marshes, but as the made lands are
now built up by Boston's aristocratc Back
bay" residences little has been gained foI
| rapid transit
Right at the opening Of the isthmus, in the
| very neck OF the bottle and occupying nearly
half its space. is Boston Common. n natural
park of forty-eight acres. shaded by thousand
mammoth elms and surrounded by high
incorporating iron fence 1882 feet in length
The 300 900 people who enter Boston that wa,
find the Common a serious obstacle, DETECTING
| the current of travel from Brookline, Brighton
and Back bay out of its normal course ant
| thrusting it down upon the stream from til,
Highlands and Dorchester.
Co~oEsTED THoRoUGHFARE.
The result is that at certain times of day tn
street car schedule calls for 300 cars an hour o,
fremont street. The least hal and the blockade il
recommend TO take enough of the Common t
make fremont street 100 feet wide and add az
equal slice TO Boyleston street.
This aud other propositions are before tn.
! legislative committee ard they have given sew
erul hearings upon them.
All went well while the petitioners were being
| heard and tie committee seemed to think the,
had plain sailing But :he remonstrance (,
taking an inch Of the Common was revelation
Two thousand ladies. headed by Julia Ward
Howe, sent i'll remonstrance and the elite o.
the city attended the day and evening hearing
| at the state house.
An imposing array Of opinions can be mar
shaded on both sides of the question.
TIE WEST END RAILWAY
Foremost among those who want to see thu
Common utilized for rapid transit is the cor
poration which expects to gain most by it-th'
West End Street Railway Company The rela
tion OF this road to the Common is peculiar
In the act of 1887. which authorized the Yves
End TO consolidate all the street railways o
Boston. this clause was inserted by some far
seeing legislator: mo location shall be granted
upon and no tunnel shall be constructed undo
Boston Common under this act"
This section prohibits the city of Boston from
giving permission for tine road 20 use the Com
mon. however great the people of Boston maj
deem the necessity to be. The West End want
the offending section repealed.
As Mr.. Henry ID. Hyde, counsel and dlrecto
of the corporation, stated the case to the legis
l,tive committee: 1.-The simple suggestion i
that you authorize the city of Boston, by a sub
mission OF vote to the people at large Il
authorize. if in their Judgment it shall b.
proper the use of the Common for street rail-
way purposes. As it is now you have tied the
hands of Boston. In this most important ques.!
tion to her growth and as TO her business in
;erests You have taken away from her thu
authority for her to act upon it. Every Other
I..t a totx int 20 hx,
to the people. has the right, II they have any
commons or squares in their midst. TO act upor
it. You have taken 1t away here. We ask you
to restore it."
One of the most enthusiastic Of the petition
ers is Mr.. A. s. Wheeler one of the oldest anG
most conservative OF the lawyers of Boston
He states the issue this way
WAS Boston made for the Common, or wa
the Common made for Boston? If Boston wal
made for the Common then must not toucl
it. no matter what suffers, no matter what til,
annoyance or the inconvenience. But il the
Common was made for Boston, for the benef
of Boston, ms is given in the very first ordinanc,
in 164O or thereabouts then you can deal will
the question in q very different way. Person.
are now living who remember when the Com
mon was pasture. l know an old gentle
man who lived rs a boy in Sumner street anC
his father pastured his cows. as q large numbe
Of gentlemen did, on the Common He ha
told me that he used to go up with his father
man in the evening and drive down the COW
from the Common. Well those oeutleme,
were very much distressed when in the eyolu
ton Of Boston it became undesirable to pastur