Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-12-31
THE COMING SESSION.
All Eyes On the Legislature Which
 Comes in Next Week.

1 ! turning rapidly towards the forthcom- 1 ing session of the general assembly. It l will take up it's laborS on Wednesday | next amid the brilliant setting of the 1 inauguration of Lieutenant-Governor l Roberts as governor of Connecticut. On l the preceding evening the party cau- l cuses will be held, those of the demo. 1 cratic members. however, lacking the
 excitement which usually accompanies 1 that of the dominant party. The catt- | cuses transact the customary prelin- I mary business which includes each the i selection of it's own officers, notably
 that of speaker by the house members
 and a president by the senate. In the
 case of the house custom provides that
 the speaker of the preceding session
 shall call to order, ana accordingly l Michael Kenealy of Stamford will call ! to order ill caucus and In the house l chamber the body over which he pre-. ! sided last time, and of which now he l also is member. The selection Of ! Judge Marcus H. Holcomb of Southing- ] ton for speaker seems assured. The | senate will be called to order by the
 secretary of state and president pro temporary immediately will be named who will preside until formal organiza- ton is completed As the senate be- ! q humber of changes in rules govern ] ing the routine of it's proceedings will 1 be necessary. It is believed that the ! senate. will provide for increased rep 1 resentat1on on all joint committees At fthe outset the senate faces a contested
 electiop in the second district.
 1 The one thing of all others which 1 will make the session notable will be
 the election Of q United States senator ] to succeed Senator Hawley.
 In most quarters the impression pre- walls that the legislation will not be of
 any special distinctive character, and ] that apart from the senatorial fight
 the machinery will run with unusual
 smoothness 4 flood of bills of various
 kinds is already assured, put the num> i bePts not expected to be record break l ing. The most important measure anG ! the one which will appeal to the citi4 1 zens of the state, apparently, will be
 that which will come from savings
 banks interests for repeal of somuch i of section of 2, ,422 of the general stat i utes as imposes tax Of l per cent on 1 deposits in savings banks The tax
 at present amounts to nearly half q
 million dollars and the present pros l perity of the state in n financial way 1 is an argument which will be ad- l vanced by supporters of the bill. Leg ] islatlon to meet the legal situation
 which has been precip1tated by the suits of ID. Preston Atwood against de- l linquent administrators of estates, is likely to receive early attention, owing 1 to the opinion held by many lawyers 1 that, it is made immediately necessary l by reason, of the approach of the time l for trials of actions in the court of
 common pleas i'll Bridgeport. Petit 1 tons for franchises for new electric roads will come from nearly all parts
 of the state, the recent developments in the trolley situation having given an impetus to promotion of roads which might in the not distant future be needed as links to systems which have been made public, seems to indis
 cate desire on the part of promoters 1 to take up franchises on highways which are im territories offering some kinducement fn the way of suburban traffic. The Consolidated Railway Go. which has come into physical being at comparatively recent date, desires further extensions of it's lines in direc> tions which may bring it into a clash with the Connecticut Railway and Lighting Go, which has plans on foot to double track its own rights of way. The steam roads apparently will not
 make many requests for legislation, although the matter of car demurfage may come up, the assembly being asked to repeal the law fixing four days as the time in which consignees
 may unload goods without per diem tax. All the railroads in New England are in favor of limiting tho time to forty eight hours, as is the case in the west, and which would help out ire.
 quent car shortages by releasing cars which are side tracked at billing points. Some speculation is being made as to whether the New York Gen. tral road will take, steps towards se- curing a franchise for Il cut off linA along the survey which for some months has extended across the state from BreWsters, N. Y., to Springfield, 1 Mass. This does not seem probable. however. Tn town and city legislation there is expected to be some activity, and once again the Farmers associa- ton may rally to the support of the town. West Haven having n leaning towards the dignity of municipality. I would like to be separated from the town of Orange; some of tho good men l of Killingly would like Il division in
 that town; Waterbury wants a new i city charter, and Norwich has like de- 1 sires; the Oitizens' league of New ua-
 ven would like to have. the board of i police commissioners abolished and the 1 police department of that city recon structed., Hartford wants authority to
 pay an annuity to ex-Fire Chief Eaton. l X new law to provide for punishment l for theft of motor cycles and uutomo-
 piles is claimed to be necessary, as the present statute does nor mention these
 vehicles Manufacturers of automo-
 piles want more privileges on the high
 ways, while tie farmers want a fur
 ther restriction of the speed limit. The
 state prison commissioners will Sug- I>gest changes in the indetermin0te sen 1 tence law. the state board of health has
 several measures to offer, the nurses
 association wants compulsory regis. 1 tration and the liquor dealers would 1 like q few favors towards their busi- Iness, one of which is the proposition
 of the Hotel Mems association for Sun