The government of President Alonzo (elected in 1896) was overthrown in April, 1899, by a revolutionary movement conducted by General José Manuel Pando, who was elected President by the legislative chambers in the following October. BOMBAY: A. D. 1896-1901. The Bubonic Plague. See (in this volume) PLAGUE. BOMBAY: A. D. 1901. Census returns. Decrease of population. A telegram from Bombay, March 6, 1901, reports that "the census returns show the city of Bombay has 770,000 inhabitants, a decrease of over fifty thousand in ten years, mainly due to the exodus of the last two months on account of the plague. Partial returns from the rural districts show terrible decreases in population through famine." BORDA, President: Assassination. See (in this volume) URUGUAY: A. D. 1896-1899. BORIS, Prince: Conversion. See (in this volume) BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES (BULGARIA). {54} BOSTON: A. D. 1895-1899. The municipal experiments of Mayor Quincy. First elected Mayor of Boston in 1895, and reelected in 1897, the two terms of the administration of Mayor Josiah Quincy were made remarkable by the number, the originality and the boldness of the experiments which he introduced in extension of the functions of municipal government. They consisted on the one hand in the substitution, in certain branches of public work, of direct labor for the contract system, and on the other in the provision of new facilities for promoting popular health, recreation, and instruction. He established a municipal printing office, a municipal department of electrical construction, and another municipal department which conducts every kind of repairing work that the city requires; all of these to supersede the old system of contracts and jobs. He instituted a great number and variety of public baths,—floating baths, beach baths, river baths and swimming pools. He opened playgrounds and gymnasiums, both outdoor and indoor. He carried the city into the work of the fresh air missions for poor children. He reorganized the administration of public charities. He placed the artistic undertakings of the city under the supervision of a competent board. He instituted cheap concerts of a high order, as well as popular lectures. Boston at length took alarm at the extent of the ventures of Mayor Quincy, complained of the cost, and refused him reelection for a third term. But the Boston correspondent of a New York journal opposed in politics to Mayor Quincy, writing on the 15th of December, 1900, testifies that "most of the experiments are working well, and a study of them cannot fail to be beneficial to those who have the government of other cities in their hands. … The madness of Mayor Quincy had evidently a method. It seems to have made permanent a good many excellent institutions. Some good