Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-12-29
THE poSTMASTERSHIP
Mr Guernsey's Friends May
 Have Something 10 Say.

The article in yesterdays issue of the Democrat relative to tho appoint ment of ]. H. Filling as postmaster to succeed J. H. Guernsey, created con- siderable surprise in some quarters, but others took 1t as matter of course and stated that they knew of tt Thursday night.
 MT Filling was born in Westerly, R. l., A years ago. but removed to Waterbury in 1878, and with the ex- ception of year spent in the post office at New Britain he has resided here continuously since. He was a clerk in the Waterbury postoffice un- der J. w. Hill and c. c. Commer- ford. At present and for many years past he has been in the employ of the Scovill Manufacturing Go. where he holds the position of paymaster. He is regarded as one of the leaders of the republican party and has been in offlce for years. He was town treas urer. town auditor, member of the department of charities, member of the town committee. a councilman. and Is now president of the board of aldermen, commissioner of the board of finance and member of the bureau of assessment.
 When the pOstmastership question was mentioned to Congressman-at- Large George l.. Lilley by Democrat reporter few days ago he said that committee was going over the field and that he expected them to report the name of a suitable man fin very short time. The committee has agreed upon MT Filling and Mir Lil- ley will recommend that he be given the berth, and it is understood that this will go.
 Other names mentioned in connec- tion with the place before reaching a decision include Henry 0. Wood, Benjamin R. Kelsey, Captain H. B. Carter, Charles D. Nye, Frank Adams foreman for Holmes. Booth X Haydens), Gordon Russei., Colonel John B. Doherty. J. Olin Howe, Charles P. Kellogg and Charles M. Truman.
 
 can be charged against MT Filling, but Mir Guernsey's friends don't like how he has been used and declare that the end is not yet. T have noth- ing to say against Jim Filling" said a prominent g, o. D. man this mOrn- ing, but don't like the idea of this town being run by twenty-eight men. This matter was turned over to q committee of that number, every one of whom, so far as 1 have been able to learn, has an axe to grind with Guernsey Do you think we're going to submit to this sort of thing? Not on your life. If Liliey thinks he can gauge public sentiment regarding the conduct of any man by interviewing his enemies, his ideas of fairness are all out of true. There is something back of this whole thing that doesn't appear on the surface and unless l miss my guess the whole thing will be laid bare and the fight carried to higher authority than the congress- man-at-large.
 What the gentleman said was re- peated to another nabob of the same party and he laughed at it until he took pain in his side. For the lands sake" he inquired, as soon as he could catch his breath, "who said that, anyway? Whoever he is, he must be a veritable Rip Van Wrinkle else he would know better than to talk in that strain. If he had his eyes open he would know that this town is ruled by less than half a dozen persons. and here he is kick ing because the number was in- creased to twenty-eight."
 Others viewed the situation wholly from political standpoint and claimed that they wondered how Guernsey held it so long. It has been charged that he was not pliable enough to suit certain elements who hold him and his kind in the hollow of their hands and that when he should have his head bowed in recog- nition of favors received he kept 1t high in the air and acted as though he had nothing to do but discharge the duties of his office well in order to merit the approval of all. Mir Guernsey, it appears. has a raft of personal enemies. and it is safe to state that if they didn't put straws fin his way, they remove none. The office has been paying handsomely, and yet the powers that be were very stingy about the supply oI help neces.- sary to meet the demands of the town. consequently hundreds have been complaining of a meagre service which the postmaster was not in a position to improve. Those who know something about the facts inti- mate that Guernsey was handicapped for lack of help and that the outcome is no surprise to them. Demands were made upon him which he had no funds to meet. and where such a
 n. 10