The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-05-13
GAL. FED IN SENATE
 KING OF THE LOBBY Sketch of Career of Hon. Ed ward D. Robbins, Now in
 the Limelight.
ATTACK MAY REBOUND
Anti Tuberculosis Associa- tion Will be Heard by
 Committee Thursday.

Hratford, May 12-The Hon. Edward D. Robbins of this city, who has been called "The King of the Lobby" in unidgnified debate in the senate and charged with coercion" if not by something worse, by Senator Atwater of Meriden, is lawyer of high repute and distinction in the state. It is worth while to know the history of this man, ] who has been throust into the limelight by bitter trolley road discussion that took place in the senate last Wednes- day. Mir Robbins has been in public ! life the whole of the time since he graduated from Yale with the highest honors in 1874, being a classmate of the Hon. George M. Green, the present ! democratic leader of the house, He be- came a member of the general assem- bly, from Wethersheld while the ink on his diploma was still fresh and showed a knowledge of railroad legis- lation and interests that his elders in ! legislative halls could not match. From that time till now he has been the ex- ponent in this state of railroad law. President John M. Hall of the Consoli- dated road, who left the bench to be- l come an executive of that road, and his ' preleeessor, President Clark, felt the fullest confidence in the ability of Mir, Robbins. President Mellen has regard ed him for years as one of his aDiest and best equipped advisers. In the < whole of his career of counsel for the Consolidated he has possessed the con- fidence of the bar ana public In a high degree in Connecticut. MT. Robbins has been a member of the state board of education for years and has been re- appointed by the present general as senbly for term of four years from July l. He has not been a figurehead on that board. On the contrary he has been the originator of some of the best of educational legislation in the state. He is a man of high civic standards and everybody, who knows anything about him, is aware of the fact that his life is one of masterful ideals The bitterness of the attack on MT Rob- bins was without justification and a reaction has already set in in his favor The vote of the house last Friday ordering a reconsideration of the Mor- ris Cove trolley charter, indicated the turn in the tide. It was legislation of the Morris Cove type that MT. Robbins was opposed to and wlthstood. That led to the attack on his reputation, an attack that will prove to be a boomerang before the end is reached. The railroad committee in the senate was right in having the whole batch of trolley bills recommitted, the Morris Cove charter with the lot The house showed it's love of fair play in ordering reconsideration of project that has been of such a doubtful character for years
 One of the euriosities of the present session has been the presence of the state temperance association, except MT. Sponer, at the capitol as regularly as the days have come around, keep ing an eye on the excise legislation 1 whether this is in the nature of lobby work will be question for casulsts to decide. But 1t has looked awfully like it. The prohibition state control com mittee might give some light on the J metrod of influencing temperance legis- lation that has been in vogue here for months.
 The state central committees of the republican and democratic parties have not yet had regularly appointed agents at the capitol looking after bills af- fecting the interests of the public In that respect they may not have been as wise as the prohibitionists.
 The New Haven County Anti-Tuber- culosis association will be heard by the appropriations committee Thursday, May 16, in the interests of the work carried on by the Gaylord sanitorium in Wallingford This institution, which was founded by Dr Charles w. Gay- lord of Branford, has done an import ant work in New Haven county and is deserving of large considera tionsfrom the state. The title of "sanatorium" has not been given to institutions of this kind in Connecticut, and has been regarded as an oddity. But it is the regular thing in Pennsylvania, sani- torlum and sanitoria being correct form
 The contest over seven-inch trout in the legislature has reached the com- mittee of conference stage with the final result not yet in sight.
 The senate has appointed Senator D. Luther Briggs of Middletown as it's representative in the conference. com mittee, and 1t is safe to say that the senator from the Thirty-third district will not violate any of the rules of good sportsman in enforcing his views. The trout laws are more or less entangling and it requires a great I deal of hard-headed common sense to straighten them out
 The forestry work that has been taken up in Connecticut vii be favor ed by the conImpittee on agriculture. which will hear bills this week relating to appropriations for it's continuance. 1 Good forestry work has been done under the auspices of the Connecticut ' experiment station in New Haven. This station was the first of its kind in the United States and it's work has always been a credit to Connecticut. 
 Don't miss our sale of antiques. Y. M c. A. building.
 CLARK, BoWDITCH & EDGERLY.