Litchfield enquirer., 1878-01-17
A Reform Governor.

A Reform Governor.
 On our first page will be found Gov Hub bard's message, in full It is a more interest ing story than we usually print there. It is not by any means the customary collection of dry statistics and drier platitudes, but is real message full of unwonted meaning burning with the earnestness of the man whoshas some thing of moment to say, and full of the strength of the writer who, having something to say, knows how to say it.
 The Governor opens with sharp and well deserved censure of the slovenly way in which our General Assembly conducts it's business of making laws. The usual legislative session reminds us or grand crescerdo by Thomas orchestra. Beginning pianissimo, 80 soft that one can scarcely detect the single thin note begun by dozen vioIins, there is great rush up to the fortissimo, ending with roar of drums and crash of brass that is not music but mere noise. This is the way all legislative bodies do their business, and 8 vast deal of dev- iltry goes on unnoticed in thcracket of the few last udyS Ol GIc SSSSUu pal tluI against the dangers of such practice, Gov. Hubbard proposes that the legislature should take few days recess before the final adjourn ment to give the expressing committee time to put bills in decent shape and to allow the executive some opportunity for consideration before signing them. He enforces his views with the remark, that, 'as this practice de- prives the Executive of his constitutional al- lowance of time for the consideration of bills, / sh0U hereGfter rega'd the custom asnao'e hon. ored in tue bl'each tham im tue obsefvG'ace." An item in last weeks papers illustrates the risks we run under the existing practice:
 The indictment of the Charter Oak gang at Hartford brings to light the interesting fact that there Is no statute i'll Connecticut fixing pen alty for false oath in support of the official statements of corporations The last Legisla-' ture was supposed to have passed an act which made such conduct perjury, but in some mys- terious manner-which would seem worthy of 1 careful investigation-th particular clause was scratched out before the bill became 1 law.
 1 Under the head of ''embe2Zlement by trus- | tees" the governor calls attention to the ab- sence of proper penal legislation punishing 1 their misconduct, and also to the failure of most of our Probate courts to call trustees, 1 guardians and cOnservators to yearly account. There is another weak point in our usual pro- 1 bal. arrangement of such matters. Guardians, trustees and conservators give bond on their appointment to secure the faithful performance of tllar trlsts but, often during the lapse of ten or twenty years of their management of the funds entrusted to them, these bonds be- come insufficient, or even valueless, through change of the circumstances of those who sign
 ed them IL is in such cases perhaps, that the most actual logs occurs through the incom- petence and negligence of our numerous pro-
 bate courts It is no easy n,at:eF for the judge
 of small country district to require of his
 townsmen holding guardianships and trustee
 ships, the yearly accountings and the addition
 al bonds which the law and the safety of their
 trusts demand.
 In advising the extension of the new proper ty iaw of married women tosuch estate as may
 hereafter accrue ta those of them who were
 married before the passage of last years act of
 emancipation, the governor only follows the
 precedents of the former great change in the
 property rights of married women begun in
 1s49
 To the governors demand for law reform
 we have elsewhere referred, and we have not
 space for further reference to the other matters
 he has so ably treated in detail. We cannot,
 however, pass by without special commenda-
 ton the following sentences from his brief
 comments on national affairs
 The efforts of the present administration in
 the direction of reform leave us not without hope that, in spite of all opposition, civil ad-
 ministFation may in the end be purged of some
 of it's abuses, wastes and venalities. Honest
 men of all parties are ready to thank any ruler
 for any genuine service in this dirGction. But may it not be doubted whether any permanen,
 reform is possible so long as we'll nigh 100, COG offices are made to shift from one side to the . other with every change of administration; anC , to serve as mere Soety for party conquest May it not, also, bepFoperly and pro6tably re- marked that, if the governing party nseds pro 5 lection against federal caucus-mongers st tn, primaries, the voters of all parties are entitled } to the same protection against like impertinen | interference in the elections? A party whicl depends aR the government for life ought t ] die forthwith.
 HARpER's contains: Along our Jersey Shore Gllustrated); The Fesehi Conspiracy (illus. ) A Return (poem); Punished Enough Gllus. ) ; The Dunnow Fitch, 1877 Gllus.); Josep ' Mallard William Turner dllus. Macleod c !; Dare LII; The Return of the Native, I-IV The Turkish Wars with the Hospitalers ; Glimpse at some of our Charities, I; Nobody : Business A Painter on Painting
 l. Harper X Brothers, New York, $4 a yea 'r See Enquirer Clubbing Rates.
 l. The town of Stamford has rare chance fc A the establishment of fine public library. Tn # will of the late John Day Ferguson, of thu o place, offers bequest of $10, 900 towards sue e library, provided the additional sum of $s5 ,e 900 is raised from other sources within tW d years. So public spirited an offer ought o call out public spirited response from the ci :. izens of that wealthy town. A building COS ing S5,OOO, with thirty thousand dallsra le :. for purchase of books, and endowment, woul
 give Stamford one ef the most valuable inst = tutions of the kind in the State. ..
 e Tilden's tax suit has been again postponed s We are little curious to see this long thfea