The Newtown bee., 1901-02-01

within two weeks steps will be taken
in the General \ SSembly toward carry
ing ollt a great electric railway plan.
The same plan will be furthered in
New York statsk1 is said, the purpose
being to p'Se legislation in both
states for the prom Dton of the scheme,
which will sooner Or later connect New
York AMI Bostrn b. an electric line.
There arr several interesting ramitica-
tions connected with the project,
which, taken together, may precipi-
tate a great contest between the steam
road and the trolley road. Ostensibly.
the Connecticut Railway and Lighting
Company is the concern behind the
undertaking. but in truth it is said to
be the Elkins- Widtner-W Whitney syn
dictate that proposes to d. battle with
the great Consolidated road Another
bill that it is reported is to be present.
ed aims at even greater rivalry of the
New Haven road, which is the chief
competitor of the new syndicate in
controlling the trolley field of the
state. 1t will aimat the private con-
troll Of the three great watersheds Of
the state BY the New York syndicate,
the IIOusatOnic, Pennington and Maui
gatuck rivers, with the end in view of
building great dams in each system,
using the water power for tremendous
electric power plants and absorbing all
the electric light and power business
of the central and western parts of the
it is always Il popular thing to rail
against corporations. and especially a
railroad corporation. And asa matter
Of course COnnecticut'S great CONSOLE
| dated is no exception to this rule. But
it must be admitted, even by anti
railroad sympathizers, that wherever
the Consolidated has assumed control
of a railroad property, the passenger
and freight rates have been reduced
and the service improved This was
the case on the IIOusatonic, the
Shepaug and the New England roads.
And if it comes to tug of war in the
Legislature between Il state corpora
ton, like the Consolidated, and an
outside company of capitalists like the
Philadelphia crowd, we believe the
best interests Of the state will be
served by standing by the Consolidated,
which, has been tried and not found
wanting.
Last year an interesting series oflet-
tcrs on Cuba and the Cubans,' APP
peared in The BEE from the pen of
our friend. Hon Samuel Sherman of
| Brookfield. Many calls were made on
us for extra copies containing these
letters, till our entire supply was ex-
| hausted. To meet the call it was
| therefore decided to issue the letters
in pamphlet form, which has been done
from the press Of The Bee Publishing
Co. The pamphlet, us issued, isa hand
some book from a typographical stand
point, containing about 50 pages. Mr.
Sherman, always an original. vivacious
and attractive writer and speaker, has
done himself great credit, in this in
sting series, now compactIy
brought together. TO particularize a
little in regard to these letters it
Should be added that they~were writ
ten on the spot in Cuba. in the winter
and spring of 1899 and 1900, by Mr.
Sherman. and appeared in The NEW
TOWN BEE from time to time, under
the nome de plume of Sigma. Mr.
Sherman wls a ayyer in active prac-
tice for , years in the city of New
York, ju Ice of probate in his native
district of Bro )ktieId also compiler
and p lblisher of lIimnos y Canticos
for use in the Spanish Episcopal
church Of Santiago in New York in
$500 which he was for several years
the senior warden and clerk COM
pilation being adopted by the late
Bishop Young for the diocese of Flor
ida, and also introduced and used in
other Spanish speaking countries. He
was chairman Of the subcommittee