The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-04-03

lL IS tue province or lllS COullllllSe
 to come and tell a city what it shall do
 in improving its streets, The people | of New Haven, or those promoting the | expenditure of $2, ,OO0 in few years, say they know just what kinds of streets should be bailr, We should not be told to build asphaltum pavements We desire to say what kind of pave ments We shall Jay from year to year,
 and I come here to protest against committing the city to bonding itself
 for pavements. Even the granite block pavement does not last in New York. The asphaltum pavement is in some cities unpopular. In ten or fifteen years there may be a better system of pave ments.
 q am told that there is a desire in
 New Haven to place a big asphaltum contract that will prove of more bene- fit to the contractors than to the city.
 I am told that in Columbus, O., and
 in Kansas City, the brick pavements
 are turning out very bad. We have not
 the per capita wealth of either Hart
 ford or Bridgeport. There are but few
 wealthy men in New Haven The col
 lege people live on their salaries, but save very little. Our tax is higher than
 in New York. We have assessors-all
 honest and intelligent men-but the complaint is that there is not money enough for Improvements, Our land Is not valuable, although it may prove
 valuable when our population is be- tween 100000 and 3O0,0O0.
 MT. Sargent was also examined by Corporation Counsel Ely.
 q admit the possibility of building up a political machine with patronage ap- pointed by the mayor, but it is not prob able. When you concentrate the power of one man the people hold the mayor up for the responsibility. have never asked the board of public works to ap- point a man because he was a good worker for myself, and I have been mayor four years, too"
 Ely-Well, then wait for the letter.
 "There is no good in the system of having to appoint policemen by a com mission because no one seeks to uphold the good of the department. No one man Is held up before the people as. the responsible man."
 MT. Henry O. White--I am one of the charter commissioners If we could get together on the matter of the mayors powers, I believe we would settle the rest easily. The proposed charter is found- ed on experience. We first made an ex- animation of the legislation of New Haven from the beginning. Our char ter granted in 17S4, had nothing charac- teristic in it; the town was then of only 5000 people. The police department was established in 1861, and elected on the bipartisan plan. In 1864 it was provid- ed that a police commission should be appointed, one member from each of the six wards. In 1874 came a change. It is in regard to the experience of New Haven over these years that there is the most controverysy. In 1881 came the charter under which We are now lfy- | ing.
 In 1871 twenty-two policemen were be- l fore the board on charges. Tn 1873 | there was an improvement in the police | force. There were complaints in 1876 against sixteen policemen, and in 1877 Mayor Shelton said the department was in bad shape because the commission CTS used the men for political purposes. |
 MT. White quoted from the year books to q considerable extent, and continued:
 "Mayor Bigelow spoke highly of the police force during his term. As to the | form of government we ask for Con- | necticut has not had very much experi- ence. A similar kind of charter was givento the city of Derby. would like to quote from ex-Mayor Hewitt of New | York and from St. Louis, endorsing the | of powers of the mayor; from | Brooklyn, which is of the same tenor, and Philadelphia.
 MT. White filed these letters with the The hearing will be con tinu2d tomorrow.
 Among those present were L. Wheeler Beecher, Henry c. White. C. T. Dris- coll, J. D. Dewell, Selectman Luzerne President Corey of the New Haven Street railway, Registrar Carr, Police Commissioner Doolittle, William 5. Pardee, w. J. Atwater, Alderman George D. Watrous, Herbert D. Benton Talcott H. Russell, Ed. L. Llndsley, Eli Whitney, jr., F. H. Wal Iron, Captain James Townsend, S liar rison Wagner, Senator Johnson, Grove |