The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1901-10-14
Political Committees Throughout
the State Do Not Think Situa-
ton Warrants Expense of
Holding Rallies
MUNICIPAL CAMPAIGN
STIRS BOSTON MEN
Outside the Capital There is No
Interest in Getting Out the Vote
For the Sake of Making a Fore
gone Conclusion More Certain
Political Gossip

-F0llllCdl OOSSlp
Especial Political Correspondence
Boston, Oct 13-The conventions
have nearly all been held, and the
| certificates Of nomination for all i'm
portant offices are already on file in
the office, of the secretary of the COM
monwealth, although the time for
filing does not expire until Thursday
/ and Friday. The principal matter of
, speculation now is concerning the size
of the Republican majority; and upon
! this point, of course, Candidate Quincy
is working, hoping to cut it down,
while the effort Of the Republican can
! didates and leaders will be to prevent
this. The fact that in many large
i cities the political committees do not
think the situation warrants the ex-
pense of holding sallies is not reassur-
ing. 1t is an "off year." nobody is in
4 terested in getting out the vote for the
/ sake of making foregone conclusion
more certain-and there you are.
But from this class of reflections,
Boston must be excepted. A municipal
/ campaign is on, and the work of reg
/ istering voters is briskly proceeding.
/ The interest in this work Is rather
more intense that Is good for the city.
For instance when the election board
| turns down man who applies for
registration on the ground that he is
unable to read the constitution, GER
| tain jealous officials discover that he
mas already passed muster, but that
! his name has been dropped. So advan-
| tage is taken Of the laM~which per-
! mltG rp-rapict ~ fioY, writ
ton, and the name goes on again.
Then the eagle eye Of Chairman Saun-
ders spots the name, 1t is dropped
again, and certain officials get their
/ walking ticket. There is good author
lty for the statement that many in
fants of IS or 10 are getting on the
voting lists all the time, but unfortu-
nat61y, Notwithstanding all the election
machinery in Boston, nobody has yet
provided funds to meet the expense of
ferreting out and furnishing this class
OF crimes against the ballot; so that
the work Of detection and prosecution
is of desultory character.
The special committee on the consol-
ldatlng and arranging of the public
statutes has nearly completed it's work
II met Friday and adjourned until
Wednesday. On that day It will ap-
prove few remaining chapters, and
then adjourn subject to the call of the
chair, President Soule Then the state
printers will put in a month trying to
get the 1000 page report ready for sub
mission at the meeting of the Legisla-
ture Nov. 49, There seems to be a pop
ular feeling that this committee has
done more work than 1t needed to do
but this impression is founded upon a
Misunderstanding of what the work u.s.
twenty years ago the statutes were not
rewritten. and, therefore, the only task
or the special committee was to see
that the new legislation was inserted
at the right points. The present COM
mission has rewritten the statutes, and
that the supervision Of the committee
was needed may be shown by quoting
single amendment, recommended by
the committee on the very last chapter,
outside of those for putting the revis-
lon in force. and repeating useless
chapters. This committee on chapter
225 recommended that practically all of
section 30 be stricken out and these
words substituted:
They 1.-THE warden of the state pris-
on, and the superintendent of the
Massachusetts reformatory and the re-
formatory prison for women, etc. / shall
once at least in each week, cause the
shirt of each prisoner to be washed,
each male prisoner to be shaved, and
each prisoner to have bath of cold or
tepid water applied to the whole sur
face of the body If such bath would
not, by reason of illness, be hurtful or
dangerous"
1t is serious thing to rewrite
statute and no three men can be ex-
pected to know every involved point
concerning the law, or the effect of
each sentence. This is doubtless the
reason that the overworked commits
sion drafted the above provisions orig
inany in form that seemed to indi-
cate that the inmates of the women's
reformatory were candidates for places
in dime shows, where bearded women
are more popular than elsewhere
The warden of the state prison, the
superintendent of the Massachusetts,
reformatory and of the reformatory
prison for women, respectively, the
keepers and masters of jails and houses
of correction shall see that strict at
tentiofNIs constantly given to the per-
sonal cleanliness of all prisoners in
their custody, and, once at least in
each week, shall cause each prisoner
to be shaved and have a weekly bath
of cold or tepid water applied to the
whole surface Of the body, unless by
reason of Illness, such bath would be
hurtful or dangerous, and his shirt to
be washed" etc.
There are the usual number of dis
appointments, politically. w. S. Wat
son of Lowell was at the adjourned
convention in the sixth councillor dis
trict defeated by Councillor Howe. but
thereby a number of serious political
complications were avoided. Walt
hams interests lay in the direction of
supporting the Marlboro candidate:
and after voting for Mr. Watson on
five ballots, the delegation went over
to Howe. thus giving him the nomina-
ton. The II Everett delegates, though
pledged to Howe after the first formal
ballot, voted for e. c. Mead all through
thus effectually eliminating him from
next years contest. The situation
| might have been different for him had