Waterbury Democrat., 1902-01-21
KELLY'S VIEWS.
The Well Known Baker Stands
 For Rights of Towns.
NO CONFERENCE COMMITTEES.

They Block the Business of the Legis-
 laturc, Says MT KcllyHe Believes
 Towns Should Not Be Asked to Bear
 Any of the Financial Burdens of tue
 Cities.
 Thomas Kelly, one of Connecticuts prominent bakers. also an extensive land owner in Waterbury and Middle bury, is giving some attention to the work which he believes should prop erly come before the constitutional convention and ill order that one or two things that he has in mind might not pass unnoticed by that body he-de- sires to call attention to them through the columns of the Democrat.
 Mir Kelly is very much opposed to the practice in vogue at the capitol In Hartford when the senate and the house fail to agree on q measure brought before them. that is referring il to a conference committee instead of acting on it in joint session. He claims and cites various cases in sup bort of his position that the conference
 
 iii bringing about the death of the measure CT gets it amended In such q way that it amounts to nothing When the house acts fayorably on q measure" said MT Kelly to a Democrat reporter today, ''and the senate fails to concur the measure goes to con- ference committee. Naturally the ! house will appoint representatives on ! that committee whom they know will stand for its views and in like man. her the senate will see to if that it's representative is man who will not I be won over by any argument put Tor ward by the men who represent the l house. This is exactly what the lob byists want. They immediately go to 1 work on this committee and their pur- pose is accumulated if they succeed 1 in inducing each member of that com 1 mittee to stand by the action taken by 1 the body he represents. and it IS Il matter of history that they seldom fail unless, perhaps. when they do even l better by talking majority of the 1 committee into making such report i as suits their pIans Of course the ] work of this committee is not final l It has to report back and then the l body that the committee decided I 1 or it has the right to adhere to it's I former action. so that i'll most FnseS I where matters are referred tc a con- \ ference committee the result proves l very unsatisfactory and might add 1 pernicious to the public gocd." "How was the much desired appli- l cotton for trolley rights to Woodbury | sidetracked? Was it not due tot the 1 fact that it went to conference com I mittee? It is much easier to handle l half a dozen men than larger num- l ber If the senate and honse should l meet in joint session to pass upon dis | nuted questions the tack of rorrallng ! fhnsn two bodies would br hazardous :; ard would not be undertaken with the l some assurancn of success that it iS 1 when the fate of a measure rests With a few I hone our representative, to ] the constitutional convention and oth- I CTS who have faith in the people will mass an amendnant doing away with the conference committee on matters 1 nf importance. if not altogether and l or-ain that ~~nch nnestions as arr not I referred to the committee shall ha acted unon by both houses iu joint ses- I e;0, Srlch sctiar w0n'd ha . severe blow to the lobbyists. who represent
 
 serve the public good. l earnestly I hone for a chanre which will do away 4 with the ccnferenca committee in our legislative assembly.
 "As q farmer continued NIr Kelly. 1 "Im opposed to ~ivine the laroa cities power to do anything that might work q hardshn to the smaller towns of our 1 state The time may come. and the teudnucv is in that direction new and has been for some tirle past to coercc residents of r,1ral d's4ricts to share fi- nnncial bnrdasss that tlley cannot profit by and which they had no voice. in
 creating It would be an ea sy mat l ter for d citv like Waterbury to set. up a claim that Watertown. Middle bury Prospect and Wolcott should
 contribute something towards the es- pense of certain large public improve
 ments contemplated here. It could say
 that these smaller towns have their
 market here and that while they do
 not contribute towards our expenses they live from the profits of the pro- t~duce of their farms which they dis
 pose of to good advantage among our
 citizens. not infreGuently to the detri-
 ment of our resident merchants who z help meet the running expenses of the
 town I'm not prepared to say at
 this time. but a day may come when
 there might be some justice in action
 of this kind. but if such condition ever confronts us l should not care
 to see the question decided ny the lar
 ger cities The point I wish to make
 clear is that in case such questions as these should come up in the future
 they shall be decided by vote of the
 representatives of every town in the
 state and that the law be so framed
 that not more than one member from
 any town shall have the right to vote or them This would throw some safeguards around the farmer who
 locks to the soil for his livelihood and
 looks to the soil for his lvelihood.
 Discussing this subject further NIr
 Kelly claimed that the act of conSolida- ton for Waterbury was good thing
 enough in many ways. but if noE handled judiciously by our board Of assessors. may prove disastrous to such farming interests as We have in , Waterbury, He hoped Mayor kil~ duff and others who introduced