Now, Mr. Chairman, my friends on the other side may say, — my
friend, Mr. Goulding, did say it last year, — " If you have a claim
for damages in suits at law, why not bring your suits at law? Why
not bring your Bill in Equity? Why not get an indictment? Why
not involve the city of Worcester in a great litigation?" That may
be the result, Mr. Chairman. The people on the Blackstone River
below the city of Worcester must protect their rights ; but they have
not thought it the part of good neighbors, in view of the fact that the
evil has come gradually, and, I am bound to concede, almost imper-
ceptibly, to the apprehension of everybody on that stream, at once to
go to law about it. They have had an inclination, and have shown
it year after year, to avoid litigation ; and they will await the decision
of this Legislature, after it shall have been put in possession of all
the facts, as to whether or not a proper modification shall be made
of the Act of 1867.
I cannot state the views of the people who ask for legislation here
better than by adopting the language which our distinguished senator,
Mr. Hoar, addressed to his fellow-townsmen of Worcester on the eve
of the last election, and after this question of a remedy for the pollu-
tion caused by the sewage of the city of Worcester had become a
prominent issue in that election.
