The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-04-23
NEW HAVEN'S CHARTER.

| Testimony of Congressman Sperry Before
 the Committee of Cities and I3oroughs-
 Favors Popular Government.
 MT. Sperry:- Gentlemen of the Com
 mittee: My knowledge Tn the affairs of
 New Haven is general, I have been a member of both branches of ,the city
 government and a selectman of the
 town, and have gained some little ac-
 tual information concerning the work ings of our city government in this
 way. This charter matter, gentlemen,
 has just two sides. I want to speak
 plain and yet I want to be as fair as a
 man can possibly be. I am not in fla for of the new charter presented by the commission of the democratic legisla- ture here a few years ago. am one Of those who believe we had better let well enough alone, unless there is some
 good to be obtained. There is one mat ter in relation to the new charter with
 which I heartily accord. But l want to
 say the whole ''nub" of this business
 lies right here. It is one man power
 against the power of the people. You
 may strip it of all it's verbiage, all it's
 phraseology, and it is right here, one
 man power, or the power of the people.
 Now, gentlemen we do not want to leg
 islate backwards. have been under a
 one man power In our city government,
 and I know what it means, We have
 been under a non-partisan board and 1
 kEow what that means. I know the op-
 eration of both. I want to impress ,o hax harp
 one party in New Haven wanting gov
 ernment by one man power, and the
 other wanting the people to govern by commissioners elected by the people.
 I have known under the one man pow
 CT, when the mayor appointed the po-
 lice or was responsible for their ap-
 pointment, of ballot boxes when they
 contained a republican majority
 burned. and an officer of the police called upon to protect them paid no more attention to them than if they had
 not been there, and when attention was called to it they replied with wink and that facial expression which might mean What are you going to do about it?" I do not want to see that again. I believe we have made progress since
 that time, and I am willing to stand by it.
 know it is said that a man has no right to live over fifty years, because when he has lived that long he becomes old fashioned and opposed to progress, etc. But there is certain amount of wisdom which you get from eXperi- ence, and all my experience goes against the mayor being the source of no o,,1Ir i,, o cit eeA1y ernment. When he has the power to appoint certain officers the police, knowing that they are responsible to that power, pay little heed to any one else who is not of the same party as the man in power. remember one case in particular. Gentlemen, you all know how it is at elections. We have a line of teams and if any man is sick or a cripple we send a team for him. I re- member one instance of reputable cit fzen being sent after man, a republi can, to bring him to the polls, and it was known he would vote a republican ticket. He returned with his man, and the man had a republican ticket in his hand. This man was pulled from the and dragged in the mud. The republican ballot was taken from his hand and democratic one substituted He was worked up to the polls and told to vote it, and he did it. When we pro- tested, the police smiled that kind of a smile which produces both hate and fear. If any of you have been under the one man power, you know that pro- tests do not amount to much on election day with some people.
 Our friends have referred to Mayor Fitch. Everybody who knew him loved l him, everybody respected him. no one was less disposed to littleness or parti- | Well, it so happened that he | was mayor at the time when the judge | and assistant judge of the city court | were elected by the common council. | Mayor Fitch felt that the matter was | wrong and that there should 1 0e some remedy. He said "I will risk 1 ny reputation, and will go to the | egislature and ask that the appoint ng power be taken from the common council and given to the legislature. When he presented bill of that kind | before the court of common council they opposed going to the legislature to elect | ! judge and assistant judge. It opera ed in this way: If a judge who was to De elected by the common council had imprisoned a man or fined a man, the nen in those wards got together and | vent into the primaries and elected | certain councilmen and aldermen who turned out that judge or those judges, IT tried to, simply because he had fined hem. When men who had been de- ,rived of the right of suffrage through heir crime came up to vote the police were called upon to suppress it, yet here was no step taken. Mayor Fitch vas very anxious for these bipartisan measures in order to rid the city of hese abuses. He said a mayor could erpetuate himself if he pleased. peak of Mayor Fitch because he was
 representative man. You all know is honesty, you know his character, ou know him to have been man of ruth and intelligence. Yet this was he position he took in regard to the ne man power while in the mayors hair. These things spoken of were all one under the one man power. have | ever known of offences like these un- CT the bipartisan or non-partisan lection. The mayor has the right to ast a vote in relation to certain mat ers. but not in relation to elections or ismissal from office. It has operated } ell. And, gentlemen, it is not because