The Evolution of a Cambridge Idea
[September 2006]
Cambridge was settled as a town in 1630 and incorporated as a city in 1846. The Plan E charter of today is basically the same as that adopted in the 1940 election. Civic activists today tend to focus on downzoning, commercial and university encroachment, affordable housing, and open space, but during the span from 1969 to 1994, the defining issue was rent control, and it determined the us-against-them lines that dominated Cambridge politics for 25 years.
A hundred years earlier, another defining issue dominated, namely the “no license” law prohibiting saloons and the sale of alcoholic beverages in Cambridge. This was one facet of what was at the time known as “The Cambridge Idea,” a socio-political movement with roots going back to the 1880s that found its name in the early 1890s. Other facets of “The Cambridge Idea” were non-partisanship in local government and a focus on local, rather than national, issues. An excellent exposition by one of its greatest proponents, Rev. David Nelson Beach, may be found in “The Cambridge of Eighteen Hundred Ninety-Six,” a must-have for anyone with a serious interest in Cambridge history. A companion volume “Cambridge – Fifty Years a City,” also published in 1896, contains the text of many speeches that shed light on the thinking of the day.
John Fiske, speaking at the Sanders Theater on June 2, 1896, had this to say:
“Our city government has from the outset been upright, intelligent, and helpful. We are satisfied with it. We do not wish to change it.”....“Now to what cause or causes are we to ascribe the contrast between Cambridge and the cities that are so wretchedly governed? The answer is, that in Cambridge we keep city government clear of politics, we do not mix up municipal questions with national questions. If I may repeat what I have said elsewhere, ‘since the object of a municipal election is simply to secure an upright and efficient municipal government, to elect a city magistrate because he is a Republican or a Democrat is about as sensible as to elect him because he believes in homeopathy or has a taste for chrysanthemums.’”
George W. Bicknell, in a sermon at the First Universalist Church on May 31, 1896, had this to say:
“Morally, Cambridge stands high. We are free from saloons, gambling hells, and brothels. In the main, one must go outside our limits to find striking immorality. You seldom see an intoxicated person. There may be some kitchen bar-rooms, but they are hidden. Thefts are rare; property comparatively safe.”....“We have as clean a government as one could ask for. Look into our city hall. There is not an official there who is not a gentleman. Partisan politics does not enter into our city affairs. A Republican can vote for a Democrat for mayor if the candidate is a decent man, and vice versa, but not lose caste with his party. Match it if you can.”
The “No License” campaign in Cambridge was, in a sense, the rent control of its day. The question was on the ballot every year and helped to define the political lines. Beginning in 1881, Cambridge voters each year cast their ballots on the issue. The saloons prevailed from 1881 to 1885 before the tide turned for good in 1886 after the campaign paper “Frozen Truth” was mailed to all Cambridge voters. Cambridge remained dry until the end of Prohibition.
As the century turned, Cambridge continued to grow movements for “good government” to compete with growing partisanship and patronage in municipal government. A 1911 proposal for a “commission” form of government was defeated but introduced Cantabrigians to several concepts which would win their place another day, namely non-partisanship (removing party labels from local races), consolidation of legislative and administrative authority, and “preferential voting” – the core idea of the proportional representation elections we use today.
In 1915, with the support of the Citizens Municipal League and the Republican-dominated Public School Association, Cambridge adopted the Plan B charter with a city council of 11 district and 4 at-large councillors and a separately elected mayor who chaired the 7-member school committee. The dominant factor for the next 25 years under the Plan B charter was political patronage – with the Democrats largely lining up on the pro-patronage side and Republicans dominating the “good government” side. The 75th anniversary of Cambridge as a city (1921) produced the following observation by Professor William Thayer:
“At the celebration of the semi-centennial of Cambridge in 1896, the various speakers emphasized particularly the glories of Cambridge; they noted with satisfaction and hope the transformation into an industrial centre, and they evidently felt proud of the vogue which the so-called “Cambridge Idea” already enjoyed. It seemed to them evidence that the city, while growing materially, still promoted ideals. Local option in the sale of liquors, which was part of the “Cambridge Idea” resulted in no license here, but I suspect it would not have been so popular had not all the saloons of Boston remained wide open to welcome thirsty visitors from Cambridge. The fare on the street cars, which were then replacing horse cars by electricity, was only five cents. ‘Wet goods’ could be delivered in Cambridge at a very low charge by the express companies. Now the 18th amendment for good or for ill has made no license obsolete. The second part of the “Cambridge Idea” – non-partisan local politics – which we believed would be permanent, has also disappeared during the past quarter of a century, but let us hope that, like the seventeen-year locust, it will return so that its disappearance may not mean its extinction.”
By 1937-1938, the “good government” Cambridge Taxpayers Association established the Committee for Plan E. This new charter option, which features a city manager form of government with proportional representation elections, was passed by the state legislature, and the local option was put to Cambridge voters in the 1938 election. It failed in its first attempt, but in the midst of municipal financial mismanagement in 1940, it passed by a comfortable margin on its second attempt. The first Plan E elections took place in 1941 and we’ve continued under that charter since.
In 1945, the Cambridge Committee for Plan E, the Cambridge Taxpayers’ Association, and the Cambridge Citizens’ Committee merged to form the Cambridge Civic Association (CCA). The political lines of the CCA as the “good government” entity in opposition with what later came to be called the “Independents” defined Cambridge politics for the next 60 years and, with various shades of grey, continues today even as the CCA has faded into history.
Perhaps the most curious aspect of the whole tale is the possibility that Cambridge’s “progressive” politics may, arguably, have its roots in the temperance movement of the 19th century.
Robert Winters – September 20, 2006