The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-03-28
NOTES FROM HARTFORD
UNIQUE PETITION PRESENTED
 FOR INCREASE IN PENSION.

Capitol-Senate Committees Doing
 Eating Committee to Report Soon
 Detailed List of Telephone Measures
 Other Notes.
 Hartford, March 26.-The petition of George L. Deming of Windsor for in- crease of pension will be heard by the committee on claims Senator Ralph M. Grant of South Windsor, chairman Friday, April D. The claim is unique in all respects, being without a paral- Tel in Connecticut. MT. Deming, the petitioner, was appointed at the state arsenal during the first year of the civ il war; being in the department. of General William A. Aiken, the son-in- law of Governor Buckingham. At the governors reelection, April z, 1863, a salute was fired on Bushnell Park in this city in honor of the event. The guns used in fixing the salute were from the state arsenal MT. Deming was at the muzzle of one of the guns, ramming home the charge, when pre- mature explosion took place. Both of his hands below the elbows were blown off, crippling him for life. He has been man of indomitable energy and has shown in a hundred ways how much man without hands can accomplish. He will be seventy-one years old on September IA. During the present win ter he has passed through a severe at tack of pneumonia. His pension from the state has been twenty dollars a month for some years. It is now felt that in his old age the amount should be made fifty dollars, Ex-Congress- man Lewis Sperry will act as MT. Deming's counsel at the hearing. Lieutenant-Governor Everett J. Lake and Senator McGovern of the second district will support the petition which is regarded in Hartford as one of in herent merit. House bill 743 concern ing the height of buildings in the neighborhood of the state capitol will be heard by the committee on capitol furniture and grounds. Senator Buell. of Colchester chairman, Tuesday, April g. This is a bill of considerable importance to the state, which has paid in the past two years upwards of $175,- 900 for the extermination of the old old railroad machine shops, occupying what was called the roundhouse site. If the proposed law had been enacted by the legislature of 1905 1t would have saved the grounds adjacent to the cap- itoI west of Broad street from objec- tionable features that have been in 4 stalled since the adjournment. two years ago. MT Hookers bill will conn mand increasing interest as the grounds are examined by members of the general assembly Senator D. Lu- ther Briggs of the Thirty-third dis trict, Middletown, has been doing ad mirable work through the session as chairman of the committee on fisheries and game. This is hardworked com mittee at every session of the general assembly, This year the duties have been unusually imperative. The com nittee work has been turned off ad- vantageously. The number of bills that remain to be considered is. large, but the systematic way in which Sen ator Briggs is handling them will whittle down the mass in a couple of weeks.
 Senator Charles w. Barnum, of the Thirty-fourth district, chairman of the committee on interpretations is also doing splendid service in the field cov- cred by his committee. He is a new man in the general assembly, the pres ent being his first term. But he pos sesses the aptitude of a long experi- enced legislator and is doing work of a high order. The committee appointed by the State Business Mems associa- tion to consider and report on the tel ephone legislation that is needed, if any, will hold session here on We'd nesday forenoon. At that time the sub committee of which Normand F. Allen of Hartford is chairman will report the results of the investigation that has been in progress for weeks. The judiciary committee, Senator James F. Walsh of Greenwich, chairman, began its three days hearing this afternoon in Representatives Hall concerning the telephone measures that have been in- troduced. The list of bills is of public interest In detail the measures to be heard by the committee are:
 S. B. 142 (Judson) Establishing a board of railroad and telephone com- missioners.
 H. B. 216 (Higgns). Providing that where there are two telephone districts in the same town the charge shall not exceed ten cents for each conversation.
 H. B. 56O (Homan). Limiting the charge for toll line conversations in the Putnam and Willimantic divisions so that it shall not exceed fifteen cents per conversation.
 s. B. 1SO (Donovan). Placing a tax of one per cent. on the stock, and one per cent on the par value of the fund ed and floating indebtedness of every telephone company.
 H. B. S56 (Hayes). Repeating Sec tions 391S and 3919 of the general stat utes concerning the organization of tel- ephone companies.
 H. B. 526 (Grif1n). Authorizing the creation of independent telephone com panies in territory east of the Connect icut river
 H. B. 394 (E. s. Banks), Forbidding the collection of any additional toll charge by telephone company where the subscriber asks for a particular person.
 H. B. 552 (Smith). Requiring the es- tablishment of uniform telephone rates.
 H. B. 5O9 (Coburn). Requiring that the wiring in public and private build ings for telephone service shall be done without cost to the subscriber
 H. B. 597 (Malone) Authorizing the organization of telephone companies under the corporation act of 1901 in towns of less than fifteen thousand population.