The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-06-07
pERPnruAr1Ne Ax EkRok.

policy of the state of Connecticut in the matter of granting charters to public service corporations 1t will have to be inaugurated at the polls The people exercising the rights conferred upon them by the constitution will have to give explicit orders to candi- dates for the general assembly to eith- CT submit themselves in advance of an election to a policy which can be squared with the welfare of the many las opposed to the advantage of the few or remain at home, That is ex- actly the situation which has been shaped by this legislature and that is exactly the condition which can only be met by determined and intelligent resistance on the part of the public.
 Governor Woodruff has exhausted his official resources in undertaking to induce the general assembly to depart from legislative. grants of power to public service corporations which are nothing short of scandalous in their disregard of the well being of the peo- pie of the state. It Is possible that he has asked too much in approving q scheme of capitalization by which cap ital stock shall represent either so much cash, or so much property which the corporation has received, or Is to receive, but even so hls argument should have been met by some more convincing argument than that that has not been the rule in the past and should not be applied to new under takngs. The logic of the position, which is the position the general as- sembly has taken in both branches, is that having once made an error of judgment 1t should he persisted in for the sake of consistency; having given one group of men fayors and privileges which should never have been given to anybody. Connecticut should continue to give away popular rights as they are asked for. Outside of the halls of leg islation this position is nowhere fav- 'ored; inside an influence is at work to defeat the establishment of busi- ness principles in constructing addI- tional public service corporations. Had we not been so responslbly assured to the contrary by the leaders of the ma jority party in control at Hartford, we should be forced to take literally Governor Woodruff's charge that he and his recommendations are stoutly resisted by lobby,
 A more remarkable debate than that which occurred in the state senate Wednesday upon the governors trolley vetoes could not have been planned had the idea been that of some comedy | playwright to make an audience laugh at the oddities of American legislative habits. The charters to which the governor objected upon business grounds were passed over his veto, without regard to the exploitation of trolley charters in tho past for the benefit of the few and at the expense of the many. No reason or logic was used in the senate to defend it's posi- ton; it simply acted just as other senates have acted under like circum- stances. Senator Chase of Water bury sought by simple amendment of the charters to lessen the right of eminent domain demanded by the peti- tloners In the place of the words that the corporation be allowed "to take and hold, as hereinbefore provided lands and easements he sought to substi- tute the term acquire" Ills object was obviously to give the property owner a chance of protection in event of his possessions being taken from him in an arbitrary manner. The senate rejected tho amendment. sena- tor Chase then sought, in the case of the charter for the Bridgeport and Danbury trolley, to reduce the propos- ed capital stock one-half in the inter- est of honest construction. Senator 1 Thompson, the chairman of the rail-
 road committee, said he doubted if the iincorporators would object, but Sena- tor Walsh, the senate leader, with a
 natural taste for compromise, suggest.
 ed that the reduction be one-quarter ot
 the capital stock asked for Thai lsuggestion triumphed. Senator Chase lundaunted then proposed that tht
 capital stock shall not be Issued un. til at least 20 per cent. shall be paid ir leash as 0 reasonable guarantee oi good faith on the part of the promot.
 CTS This, too, failed to receive the support of the senator, though voted for, we are glad to note, by Senator. Butterworth and Shanley of this city.
 To meet this condition with othel . than impatience is a moral and intel lectual impossibllty, When the peo pie of the state realize that all of tn, stock in the trolleys of the past wa!
 water, that no trolley is merely loca
 but becomes ultimately a part of bil