Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-12-18
LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE
A Correspondents Who Holds That the
 Action Taken by BoIsterous Town Meet

"A OOEEGspOnoent :" no hotQS InAI the
 Action Taken by BoIsterous Town Meet
 ings Is Generally Right in Principle.
 Editor of the DEMOCRAT:
 The article on ''The Referendum" in the American on Wednesday was evidently written by man who had not taken mo- tice of passing events. In 1887 the gen. eral assembly passed law authorizing certain number of the legal voters present at any school meeting to request the moderator to adjourn the decision of the question pending at any such meeting to the polls where those only might vote who were registered voters. Another section provided that any twenty voters might re- quest the district committee to call a meeting of the legal voters of the district for the purpose of voting on any measure.
 This law which was amended in 1880 and again in 1881, remained in force all through Connecticut until 1888. l never heard of single question ever being re- ferred to the polls under that law during that period of eleven years. Once at meeting here in Waterbury. I remember that one of the legal voters, think it was l.. I. Munson, proposed that a certain question about which there was a heated | debate should be so referred but the l moderator was not learned in the law and | the proposition produced so much confu- | sion and the majority there present were so manifestly opposed to going to the polls that the proposition was voted down and the moderator refused to so adjourn. do not remember that anything ever came of this proceeding. After the meeting was all over interest in what took place was lost and what was intended by the statute | was not accomplished.
 Twelve or fifteen years ago the demo- cratic party in Waterbury nominated all of | it's officers in open caucus. There was so much confusion and, it was said, so much demagogism. that some of the leaders | thought it wise that the nomination for all officers should go to the referendum, and since that decision this has been the method for all officers to be voted for at | elections.
 | Now, I would like to ask in the presence of twelve or fourteen years of experience | whether the method of nominating candi- dates for office by means of the check list and ballot box is one bit better, or for that matter as good as was the open caucus. | These open town meetings, it is said, are noisy. There is too much boisterousness; | drunken men attend them; every man present cannot express his opinion. either because he would be howled down, or, if all talked, too much time would be occu- pied. It is quite noticeable that, notwith- l standing the noise, boisterousness, drink, if you please, and bowling down, that the votes passed at those meetings, every one l of them, were right in principle. There | was, to be sure, much indignation at the | conduct of the selectmen. There were, on the other side, strong partisans of the | selectmen present at every meeting, and the one side and the other were quite earnest in what they had to say and to do. At the meeting at which the Sl0,OO0 was | appropriated for work on the highways, il | is evident that there was strong disposition not to let the selectmen have anything to do with it, even though this appropriation were voted down and il | is believed that little concerted action on the part of those opposed to the selec men | would have defeated that appropriation. Again, the meeting can hardly be blamed for all the confusion that took place. Ii there were strong. positive, firm character in the chair that night the meeting would have been as smooth as glass, for it was evident that no matter what the elements | there was no disposition to defeat an ap- | propriation for the poor. There certainly was d manifest opinion that the selectmen ought not to be permitted to have any. thing whatever to do with it; this was be cause there was large element present that had lost confidence in the selectmen. Of course the very fact that there is n large number present at a meeting makes it ob. jectionable, especially in the times of ex. | citement. Greater numbers 6e ire to talk many who think they know how to talk will insist on being heard It is safe tc say. however-at least in looking over a period of from twenty-five to thirty years | my experience tells me that you will al. | ways find present at these meetings a ma. jority who are on the right side of any question presented to the meeting Can as much as this be said of other meetings | where delegated power only is expressed! At the meetings of the stockholders of some of our own corporations, although perhaps not so boisterous as the town meeting, the language sometimes has not been more choice and just much feeling has been displayed. Indeed, when ever such a man as A. $. Chase or c. NJ. Weyland has been turned down-and this has been done-it was not done without some excitement.
 Take, for instance, our general court | For years it is notorious that each session of the general assembly spends material part of its time repeating the laws made al | a previous session. In recent years it is well understood that the Consolidated rail. road Is the absolute master of the state oi Connecticut. It is reported that Henry C. | Robinson is for constitutional reform iu the election of representatives. on the sole ground that each session of the general assembly costs to his company for legal expenses a quarter of a million of dollars. The recent Hartford bridge scandal is another incident showing as certain as anything can show that small bodies of men, exercising delegated powers, are altogether too susceptible to undue influ- ences. And for one l do not hesitate to say that have more faith in the voice of the people than have in the delegates of the people. Indeed, almost every law passed is more or less special legislation, intended to protect in a special manner the interests of some one man or set of men. In conclusion, I am decidedly ot the opinion that the referendum, as pro- posed, although all right in theory, yet in actual practice, so far we have had any experience, is dead failure.
 | PRACTICAL.