ADMINISTRATION, :\ UNICIPAL. ACTIVITIES. The government is vested in a mayor, elected every two years, a bicameral city council composed of 13 aldermen and 75 councilmen, and sub ordinate administrative officials, of whom the street commissioners are elmsen by popular vote, the city clerk. the city messenger and clerk of com elected by the council. the police board appointed by the State Governor and council. and all others appointed by the mayor, a number of the appointments, however. being made subject to the consent of the upper house of the munici pal council. A prominent feature of the mu nicipal government is the large number of pub lic-spirited citizens who administer, without rennon•ration, important departments; among these may be mentioned the trustees of the Public Library, trustees of the City Hospital, overseers of the poor, Pa'•k Commission, hoards governing the institutions for paupers, children, and insane; also the Board of Alunicipal Sta tistics, which published weekly, mntIl 1900, the City Record, an official gazette.
There has been of recent years a great in crease in the activities undertaki.n by the muni cipality, which is one of the most progressive in the United States. These now extend to a muni cipal printing plant, work in the repair and construction of city buildings, watering of the streets, municipal bath-houses, lectures and con certs, free excursions for children, a camp for boYo, etc. Besides these, and the greatest of mu nicipal enterprises, the new subway, there are the combined municipal works comprised in the metropolitan systems of parks (already men tioned), of sewerage, and of water supply. The metropolitan districts are not, however, co extensive. The sewerage system comprises a network of mains (530 miles in Boston) which diseharge into deep water in Boston Bay. The water-supply is obtained from the Nashua River, each municipality controlling its distributing sys tem; and the plan is arranged to include other sources in case the demand exceeds the capacity of the present source. The first water-works of the present system were completed in IS4S. The entire system, including 715 miles of mains, has cost about $2:3,000,000.
The new subway, constructed in 1893-98 at a cost of $-1,350,000, was the first example in the United States of municipal enterprise in this field—a notable work of engineering undertaken for the relief of the congested tratlie in the business district and to afford rapid communi cation with the suburbs of the south and west. It was partly opened for traffic in 1897, when it was leased for operation to a private com pany for a term of 20 years. The subway is substantially constructed, is well lighted and ventilated, and is attractively finished at the stations with glazed white brick. Its imme diate success has led to an extension of the sys tem to the suburban districts on the east. With the facilities afforded by the subway, the Boston transit system has attained a high degree of efficiency; the elevated and electric roads sup plement each other, and connect also with the steam-railway terminals. The elevated road system, opened in 1901, extends through the city. from Roxbury to Charlestown, and is connected with each end of the subway. The structure is of steel and the trains are operated by elec tricity.
The annual expenditures of the city for main tenance and operation amount. to about $20. 000,000 (including $1.500,000 by the county), the main items of expense hieing about $3,000, 000 for schools, $2,000,000 for interest on debt, 81,750.000 for the police department, $1,500,000 for street expenditures (other than street clean. ing and sprinkling. which amount to $500.000), $1,250.000 for the water-works, $1,250.000 for the fire department. $1,200.000 for charitable insti• lotions. $730.000 for municipal lighting, over $600.000 for garbage removal, and about $500• 000 for parks and gardens. The assessed valua tion of property, real and personal (the basis of assessment tieing 100 per cent.). is about 81.130.000,000: the bonded debt is, approxi mately, $8.2,000.000, including $3,500,000 county • bonds. The legal borrowing limit is fixed at per cent. of the average assessed valuation for three years.