The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-10-05
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Iowns Elect Town ufiic,als-The License
 Vote Win Excite special Interest.
 Next Monday, october ', elections will be held in ls4 of the 16S towns in Con- necticut,
 The towns in which elections win be omitted are New Haven, whose joint town and city election will be held on the first Tuesday of December; Bridge, port, whose joint election occurs on the first Monday in April; Ansonla. whose joint election is fixed by its char5er for Tuesday after the first Monday of No vember, and Derby, whose joint town and city election comes on the first Mon day of December.
 City elections will be held In four cities. Waterbury's election will be her first biennial, under the revised charter granted by the general assembly of 1895. A mayor, city clerk, treasurer, comptroller and city sheriff, and three aldermen for each ward, are to be ehes- en. Under the new charter t;,e town collector serves as city collector. New London will elect some minor city ofli- cials. In 1894, the democrats won an unexpected victory when they secured the election of Mayor Johnston by 1,051 to 1,o2S for MT. Bentley, the republican candidate. In South Norwalk, the may or and other officials will be chosen. Last fall, Lee, republican, was elected mayor by 130. Norwalk will elect a mayor, treasurer, collector, six council men, etc. A year ago, Hubbell demo- crat, defeated Adams, republican, for mayor by A. Putnam, the new city created by the last general assembly Charter accepted by the people on June ID continues under town government until the first city election on the first Monday of December.
 The election next Monday will be the last regular town election in Hartford, and as the consolidation of the town and city governments goes into effect in June next, the selectmen chosen next NJ nday will hold office only five months. The town collector chosen next Monday does not enter upon his office until May of next year, and under the consolida- tion plan will serve only until June 1, when the tax collector chosen in April election will take office. School visi- tors, constables and other town off, cials are tA chosen next Monday.
 The license vote will be an interest ing feature of the town elections throughout the state. Of the 16S towns, 66 are at present license towns, and Jy, A vote on the license question, and in il of these license prevailed by previ- ous votes, and no-license in 6S. Of the S9 in which vote on license was talk en last fall, 55 voted license, and S4 mo- license. Through the efforts of the prohibition element the passage of a law was, secured in the last session of the general assembly, requiring that the license vote shall hereafter be secret, the ballot on license to be placed in separate envelope The effect of the applicat ton of the secret ballot system to voting on the license question will be watched with inter- est in view of conflicting opinions as to whether the saloon interest or the prohibitionists will be most benefited by the change. ssrt
 The drift of the state on the liquor question has been quite steady for several years past in the direction of local prohibition, chiefly in the rural communities. In 1892, there were only 90 noFlicense towns but the number rose in 1893 to 97 and in 1894 to 102. However, these 102 towns represent only small part of the population as compared with that of the license towns. Taking the population as shown by the census of 1890, the figures are as follows:
 Total population C6S towns).. TAG ,258 License towns (66), population. ,551, ,4s9 No-license towns G02), popula-
 tion .,...........,..s....... .194 f69
 Of the 168 towns, 50 per cent. are no- license, but of the population of the state, the license towns, on the basis of the census of 1890, represent "A per cent. and the no-license towns only 26 per cent.
 The corrupt practices act, passed by the general assembly in the closing days of the last session, places various restrictions upon candidates in the elections of next Tuesday. Under this law it is illegal for candidate to con tribute funds, excepting to a ''congres- sional, state, town, city, ward or borough committee,'' or to a political agent" In town elections every can didate having political agent to man. age his election work must file the agents name, in writing, at the town clerks office. He may, however, act as his own agent The law prohibits the influencing of voters, by money or otherwise, to vote or to refrain from voting, and every candidate must, within ten days after election. file with the town clerk an itemized and sworn statement of his disbursements, ex- penses and contributions for the cam paign and election in which he was candidate. The penalty for ne- glect to do this Is a fine not exceeding $1, ,000. Treasurefs of political commit tees of a city, town or school district will also be subject to a similar penal ty, if they neglect to file with the sec retary of state, within ten days after the election, an itemized statement, showing from whom funds were re- ceived and to whom paid, specifying the amount in all cases. The political agent of a candidate is not required to file an account. That of the principal