For Boston, Hynes

Someone must replace James M. Curley as mayor of Boston. Not only has Boston lost much of its prestige by having a mayor who spent five months of his previous term in a federal penitentiary, but also it has suffered an enormous loss in dollars and cents from Curley's corrupt administration. Curley practices the philosophy of government that measures its own success by the quantity, never the quality, of the people it employs; disregarding cost, Curley has filled the city's departments with incompetents, sometimes vagrants, merely to keep his employment record high when the election comes around.

As mayor, Curley accomplished a number of worthwhile projects--the building of playgrounds, repairing of roads, and the general improvement of recreational facilities. But he did so at an extravagant cost to the city; this year, for instance, he has already borrowed on next year's taxes.

Worse than this for the city's finances, some property owners pay lower taxes by having their assessed valuation lowered; the tax officials who do this lowering charge the land owners exorbitant fees. Such practices have discouraged many industries from remaining in Boston and have repulsed capable administrators from City Hall.

To take Curley's place, the CRIMSON supports the present city clerk, John B. Hynes. He is not a strong candidate, promising neither sweeping reforms nor offering a positive program to eliminate bossism, but he is an experienced public servant. He can probably untangle better than any of the other candidates the mess in which Curley has left the city's finances. Hynes was the acting mayor of Boston for the five months that Curley was in jail at Danbury. During that time, though he did not clean the Curley appointees out of office, he opened to the public all bidding for city contracts.

In his campaign, Hynes has made no spectacular commitments. He knows that he cannot reduce the excessive tax rate at present because it is but an indication of a municipal disease that has roots far deeper than the Curley inefficiencies. But he has estimated, nor promised, that he can save the city $1,500,000 yearly; this figure implies a city payroll deduction and the end of the abatements racket.

The mayors who follow Curley have a history of being overwhelmed by the task of reconstruction. In two instances, the executives that came after him left City Hall in near disgrace as Curley re-merged. With his training in municipal accounting while City Clerk and with his experience as acting mayor, Hynes has the equipment to reform the city's administration so that bossism cannot return.