Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-09-20
uLLEY TALKS PROSPERITY
Was PsInllsnt x Ws!l x Tsnperay
 ChalIuaa oi tho Convention.

bQ0 toAuVOEaIy CuuNA A0A VI sAV WAL vention was well received and spoke in part as follows:
 Two thoughts must stimulate our memories as we assemble as republi- cans Ia this biennial convention. The drst is for the great man who led In the deliberations of the last simi- lar gathering. We may we'll pause to render silent tribute to him who brought to the commonwealth and to our party such distinction by his nobility of character and great achievements in the nations affairs. It Is with profound sense of my un- worthiness to occupy, even temporar- lily, postA that he graced with 80 much wisdom and charm, that ac- knowledge the great honor of suc- ceeding to the duty last committed to the distinguished Orville H. Platt.
 The second thought is that this is the golden jubilee year of the repub- lican party. It was in the summer of 1856; fifty years ago, that our party entered the arena of national af- fairs. During the first years of it's power, the statesmen in charge of the destiny of the party and of the nation were confronted with the greatest and most difficult problems that were ever forced upon politi- cal organization-the preservation of the Union, the abolition of the na- tional disgrace of slavery, the eradi- cation of the doctrine of secession, restoration of the eleven wayward confederate states to their places un- der the Stars and Stripes, the trans formation of the federal government from a precarious league into an i'm dissoluble and indestructible na- tion. How these grave problems were met and solved Is a matter of glo- rious history.
 Prosperous Connecticut.
 We do not need to go away from home for evidence of this prosperity. Take the manufacturers of Connecti- cut. The increase in the value of our manufactured products during the same period, 1900-1905, was 344- 000,000-nearly one-fourth of the total products of our factories as re- gently as the year 1880. The aver age number of our wage earners. salaried officials and clerks increased 26,000. The increase in salaries and wages was 21,000, ,000--a sum one- half as great as the total paid by all our factories in the year 1880. The increase In the capital invested in Connecticut manufactures was $74,- 000,00O-more than one-half the to- tai capital of our factories in the year 1880. And note this: While the capi- tai invested increased there was an increase In the wages paid of twenty DOT cent.
 During the year ending July 1. 1905. there was expended for new factory construction in Connecticut tho sum of @1,700,000, and the fin- ancial news of several Connecticut newspapers recently stated that there haa been within the past year, chiefly iIf'eur brass. hardware and ihshrance concerns, m increase of capital of the astonishing total of 37,S72.000. Of the outlook for the future the state labor commissioner says In his last annual report The extraordin- ary activity In all lines of manu- facturing promises to continue in nearly all the industrial centers, and in the larger cities plans for exten- sive operations in buildings for man. ufacturing purposes have been filed with the several municipal building departments"
 Labor Supply Short.
 A large contractor In my home city of Waterbury tells me that within the past year he has brought to that city more than 800 laborers who have left him to go into the factories of Waterbury, and that he. in common with most other employers, is hard pressed to secure the labor for his operations. Those of us who are fa- miliar with business affairs know that this is true: that the demand is not now as 1t was in the last years of democratic administration. from 1898 to 1896. from the laboring man seek ing work. but is from the employer seeking help.
 We can believe that there are some who would like a little less of this good thing, but 1t passes all concep- ton that the workingman in this heydey of the wage earner. could listen to any political claptrap or to any suggestion of a change by politi- cal opportunists, whose adoption in our economy might even for a mo- ment jeopardize the splendid existing conditions.
 Smashing" the Trusts.
 Howt deal with the crust ques- tion without doing harm to those corporations. largea nd small, that obey the laws is a difficult and per- picking problem. It requires in the man who directs the prosecutions, of the highest order and balance that will not be shaken by | impatient public clamor. If this work | should be undertaken by an execu- | tive lacking in these rare qualities | vast harm would be done to our entire industrial and business struct- ure. and the greatest sufferers from the disastrous consequences would be | the wage earners and the tradesmen of small means. There could be no surer way of throwing the country into a panic than by an indiscrimin- ate assault upon corporations. good and bad, and the American voter | should look to 1t carefully that such | powers of prosecution are not put | ip the hands of men who promise a