Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-04-15
BRIDGEPORT MAY HAVE STRIKE.

 Where has the pressure been brought from?
 How long will the people of Water bury and of the state stand the imposi- tions of corporation greed? We have seen our till of it here i'll Waterbury since the strike, but we were given further example in Hartford yesterday A bill was before the committee where by cities could impose taxes upon trol- ley companies who occupied their streets. And does it seem possible to believe? From, the state at large only two people appeared in favor of the bill sThey were Mayor Kilduf and Attorney Kellogg of this city. They didn't say a word, however. They soon discovered that would have been futile. Why? Because in the com mittee room, arrayed against them, they found a score or so of the bralnlest lawyers in the state. They were cor poration counsels. The bill to tax the trolley companies is on it's death-bed.
 We have seen nothing in any of the papers about shooting gallery in the central office of the trolley company. Perhaps there isn't any. Neither have we seen anything about Superintendent Wales shooting portion of his hand of last evening. The affair seems shrouded with mystery, although it is known that doctor was showing a portion of his knuckle about town last last night. The detectives are said to be working on the case, but so far no charges have been presented against any of the patrolmen as result of the shooting.
 We. cannot but feel that it must be the company that is circulating fake stories about our men riding on the cars, going to work in pairs, etc, etc. There is about as much truth in any of those rumors as that Superintendent Wales applied for admission into our union. By ;4I< }fay, some of the men under MT Wales at the present time are more than anxious to join our ranks. The occupations are repulsive to many of them, but we have so far not admitted any of them into our local.
 By the time we issue our next state ment we may be able to give out some information concerning the situation in Bridgeport. fN
 "'Buses will be on hand tonight to take visitors to Father Traynor's fair. 7 1 Is it true that the bosses in some of the shops have informed their hands I that they will be discharged if they continue to ride in buses or automo- l piles? This is what is being said on the streets, but 1t will have to be well substantiated before the public will be 1 lieve it. This is going a step farther than the trolley company itself has gone. Why, if it be true, we'll have to have another injunction. Why not? l The globe of the arcs lamp on North square was broken some time this | morning and everyone is asking who did it. The matter has become of such moment that two detectives have been ! assigned to clearing up the mystery l Detectives Kennaugh and O'Gorman l Early this morning when people were l going to work in the factories it is be l lieved the lamp was all right. It was not reported broken until the trimmer got around to it this forenoon. A num- Der of men who were in the neighbor hood say that when he touched it part of the glass fell to the ground and they are of the opinion that it was not bro
 ken until then.
 l Over-enthusiastfc advocates of tht trolley company appear to have carried l too far to suit some people, with tn, l result that many who took no notice
 of the strike at the beginning have nov T made up their minds that the striker
 are all right and want to see them win They claim that if boycotting is un
 American on the part of the strikers
 they cannot see how it can be Ameri Ecan when resorted to by others, ant | Io 4a f1on f 1la
 neither party is observing the rules o
 war and feel that they cannot talk
 sides one way or the other. It is cer tain that there is no appreciable in crease in the number of people ridin
 on the cars and conservative citizen
 claim that there will not be until it i , settled in some way satisfactory to tn people, if not to the strikers. But sci
 tie or no settle; it will be a long da before the company has the patronag , it enjoyed before the strike, for larg numbers of people have now becom
 accustomed to doing business on tn
 old plan and find that riding was mor
 of a habit than necessit-- and as nc
 body has much money to spare, all wi
 find other and more profitable inves
 ments for their nickels than turnin them over for something which tn : can afford to go without. A girl wh
 works in a store in the center says sh y. can pay the premium on a $1.000 il ! surance policy on her mother for wbs :. she has been paying for fares on- th E trolley cars. although she doesn't liv Il over fifteen minutes walk from he r work. She got into the habit of ridin | and thought she couldn't get there o 5 foot. but since the strike started sf e has footed it and finds that if pays. e MRS MARTHA BREAZELA-. pE