OSBORNE HOWES.
He was a descendant of David O’Killia, who settled on Cape Cod, Mass., as early as 1657. Osborne Howes was born in Boston in 1846 and was educated in private and public schools of the city. Soon after his graduation he entered the service of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company on the steamers of that line running between Panama, San Francisco and Hongkong. After three years thus spent on the Pacific coast, he went to New York City and there began a connection with newspaper work which continued almost up to the time of his death. Beginning in the office of the New York Tribune, he was afterward employed by the New York Times, serving on that paper during its exposé of the “Tweed ring.” In 1873 he accepted the position of secretary of the Boston board of fire underwriters, and was always thereafter identified with that body. Having resumed his residence in Boston, he was appointed from time to time to various public offices. As representative of the board of underwriters he was instrumental in having that board take action upon several important public questions. The resolution committing the associated board of trade to the principle that all future subways in Boston should be built under such conditions that they would ultimately revert to the city, was drawn up, presented and urged by him, and as a result of its adoption the Boston Associated Board of Trade was the foremost opponent on this question of excessive corporate demands. As a member of the Boston Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Howes was chairman of its committee on the Isthmian canal, and vice-chairman of its committee on reciprocal trade relations with Canada. In this latter connection he addressed the boards of trade and chambers of commerce, not only of a number of the cities of New England, but those of New York, Philadelphia, Buffalo, Indianapolis and other cities of the West. In 1891, feeling convinced that it was desirable that public action should be taken toward educating young men to become competent seamen, he prepared, introduced and succeeded in having the legislature adopt a bill creating the Nautical Training School, which the commonwealth now maintains on board the U. S. S. Enterprise. From 1875 to 1877, inclusive, Mr. Howes was a member of the common council of Boston, representing the South End ward, in which he then resided. In 1886 he moved his residence to the town of Brookline, and besides serving on various town committees, became a member of the rapid transit commission, to which he was appointed by Governor Russell; also a member of the metropolitan district (Greater Boston) commission, to which he was appointed by Governor Greenhalge. In 1884 Mr. Howes was a member of the special committee of fifteen which prepared the new Boston city charter; he also served as one of the trustees of the public library. Mr. Howes in 1901, and again in 1902, was nominated as the Democratic candidate for the state senate in the second Norfolk district, but was defeated on both occasions. On the first occasion, in his letter of acceptance, he described the state platform of the Democratic party as “an attempt to bring back the government machinery of the commonwealth to something approaching the simplicity of its earlier days.” On the second he championed “more liberal and advantageous trade relations between New England and Canada.” In 1904 Mayor Collins appointed him to an unsalaried position as member of the board of building inspection. The following year Mr. Howes took a leading part as chairman of the committee on resolutions in preparing the platform of the Democratic party in the state contest. Mr. Howes was Japanese consul in Boston at the time of his death, which sad event took place April 9.