Morning journal and courier., 1881-03-24
At the State Capitol.

-
 Business Being Rapidly Disposed OE- under Consfderatfon-The Arguments before the COmmittee-Other Matters of Interest.
 HARTFORD, March 23, 1881. Special to the JOURNAL CoURRR.l The work of legislation has proceeded in
 satisfactory manner to-day, quite large num- l Der of bills being disposed of. This afternoon the room occupied by the Committee on Cities and Boroughs was the center of attraction,
 the amendments to the city charter of New l Haven being under consideration. There l were a number of gentlemen from your city present interested either in the passage or
 defeat of the bill. Many members of the Legislature were also present to hear the arguments of the counsel on both sides. The case opened with the introduction of more l evidence on behalf of the remonstrants. The | first witness called was Alderman Dillon of | the Lamp committee, who corrected state ment made by ex-Fire Commissioner Baldwin regarding the combined cost of running the lamp and fire marshal's department. He said | that no change should be made in the care of
 the lamps, but that it should be left where it now is, in the hands of an Aldermanic com
 mittee. He said that the appropriation last year was $45,OOO and the expenses were some $2, ,50O less than the appropriation. l MT. Dillon was asked if he was in favor of | voting by ballot in the Common Council or by yeas and nays.
 He declined to answer.
 | George H. Watrous was called and said if 1 New Haven was so wicked that it could not | appoint it's governing boards, or if it was not competent to do so, then they should
 be appointed entire by the State government l He thought the proposition to appoint the | fifth members of commissions by outside ! parties was absurd His conviction was that | New Haven should not be deprived of self government until something was done to show that they were not able to govern them | selves. He believed in non-partisan boards so far as they could be made 50. If board ! was to consist of five he would have two Re- l publicans and two Democrats, the fifth to be selected by the party in power in the city l government He could not avoid the con- 1 viction that in cities largely Democratic or I largely Republican the dominant party should rule or have 8 majority on | all the boards. In regard to the ! Corporation Counsel holding his office for two years instead of one, he preferred to see ! it two years than one and would prefer | three years to either.
 | In reply to Mir Pickett. Mr. Watrous said | that if the Board of Aldermen should select the commissioners two and two. he should | hot Aho ho fbo ont ha | commissions with power to vote in case of | tie. In regard to disturbances at the voting precincts, he said he had never heard of any serious disturbances, and. he thought if there had been any he would have known it, as he | takes all the city papers.
 l Mir. Pickett submitted several affdavits of | United States deputy marshals regarding | disturbances at the late Presidential election | in New Haven. Among these were affidavits l from G. Truman Smith, Norton s. Bird, W. J. Atwater, William A. Lincoln anda Henry ! J. Kellogg. These affidavits were on file in \ the office of the Secretary of State
 George R. Bill testified that in the Third ward on election day everything was quiet | inside the voting place. but there was good \ deal of drunkenness outside all day. He said that at the time the votes were to be counted there was good deal of disturbance 1 inside the polling place. He said the police 1 tried to do their duty in clearing the room. The mob insisted that the deputy marshals
 should leave the room It was finally ruled by the moderator that the marshals should l stay.
 Representative Driscoll offered an amend
 ment to the codifcation providing that each party may designate to the moderator at each 1 voting district number of persons, not ex- l ceeding ten, to look after the interests of | their respective parties, and no persons ex- l cept those so designated and the persons provided for by the general election laws
 shall be allowed to loiter or remain in the l streets or on the sidewalks within five hun
 dred feet of the ballot boxes while the vote l is being taken and the ballots being counted {; 1 but no person shall be removed from such
 voting place until he has first been given a
 fair opportunity to vote. This was submit
 ted to the committee.
 Anthony Carroll was given ten minutes in 1 which to express bis views. He favored the
 election of commissioners by the people on a l non-partisan basis. He then paid his respects to the New Haven road department, going
 over the ground of his statement before the | committee last year.
 This concluded the evidence, and John s.
 Fowler opened the arguments on behalf of
 the petitioners. In opening MT. Fowler
 thanked the committee for the very patient
 hearing they had given the petitioners and 1 then proceeded to argue for the substitute | bill as presented. He said that so far as vot-
 ing by ballot instead of 0i00 Uoce was con- | cerned there was little or no difference of
 opinion. The present plan of appointing
 commissioners, he thought, should not be perpetuated He thought the plan proposed | H~x 4l,o I and many Democrats. The assumption made | by one of the counsel on the other side l (Alling) that in opposing this bill he repre-
 sented large portion of the Republicans of l New Haven could not be borne out by the | facts. He referred to the half and half Re: l publicans that appeared before the commit tee and said that they did not correctly repre-
 sent the Republican party. He referred to the objections made by Professor Platt and l others as inconsistent. In regard to the l County Commissioners appointing the fifth member on the commission, he argued that | it was perfectly fait.
 John W. A1ling replied. He said it was a
 matter of regret that any measure of policy should be put forward. The proposed bill l was strict party measure. So far it re- | lated to non- partisan boards, he had no ob- l lection to the measure. He thought also that | the provision that no liquor dealer should be 1 on the police board was correct. What
 he did object to particularly was that portion
 of the bill regarding the appointment of the 1 fifth commissioner and the legislating out of l the police force. He did not believe one-
 half of the Republican party were in favor of
 this bill. The bill says to the citizens of 1 New Haven that they are not capable of self
 government. Again there had been no claim
 of corruption on the part of the city officials, | and there had been no increase of the funded | debt. So far as the fire department is con- cerned there none better in the State
 There is certainly nothing that can be said | against the road department, and there is
 really no ground of complaint against the
 police department. It is said in behalf of
 this measure that the Democrats have not
 been polite to the Republicans as
 they ought. You cannot make anything
 else out of it. He then referred to the fact that Republicans had often been sent to the Legislature from New Haven, showing that
 the Democrats did not always stick to their
 party, but were ready to vote for good Re
 publican nominations in opposition to bad
 Democratic ones. It was preposterous to say
 that suohsmen as the Ingersolls and the Eng fishes and others I might name would oci- ot a al k1,