The morning journal-courier., 1908-10-13
PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION.

tic of the pre-Lilley campaign than the manner in which his supporters treat his consideration of this import ant subject in his Merlden speech. It was entirely unnecessary for him 10 make statements which were not true to commend himself to the voters as an advocate of the creation of a pub- lie utilities commission to take the place of the railroad commission : That he dld make statements that could not be squared with the truth should be enough to establish in him that lack of poiso which in nn im- portayt public official is positively dangerous
 The Waterbury American has been able to find in it nothing more serious than premature discussion of the action of the commission and 1t would appear that the Hartford Times is of the same mind in that respect II Is certainly something moro than pre- mature for man to not only abuse the confidence of the commission. which permits him for his personal reflection to look over It's notes and memoranda, but to assert positively that a bill has been drawn and is ready for presontation' and that t meets his fullest approval IL is rdic- Nulous to thus excuse a man who Is guilty of such conduct. He must have known when the matter was placed in his hands that 4 was not tho final draft of the proposed bill, though 1t was not until his error of speech had been pointed out in the public press that he stated "The document I had reference to in my speech was q draft of bill. The same oquivocation and inaccuracy under oath in the inquiry at Washington were what led tho committee to make its harsa report.
 One of two things is true with ref erence to the Meriden speech made by Mir. Lilley Either he knew that he was stating the situation falsely when he said what he did about the action of the commission. thereby taking a twenty to one shot. az the gamblers know 1t, or his mind is so untrained to thoughtful processes in matters of policy that he is not to be z trusted with responsibilities which re late to the welfare of the general public. It is inconcevabe that man of his business experience and poltl- cal Indulgence should treat important subjects with the recklessness of a baby. It being ineonceiyable, 1t Is an act of Injustice on the part of news papers to attempt to gloss over the Meriden slip of the tongue especially as 1t fits in with a dozen other things he has done, all showing uncertainty in thought and rckessness in action MT. Lllley never in the world would have gotten into the Washington muss had he sat down in advance of the making of charges and thought the enterprise out.
 It looks nightly as,i Mir, Lilley ir his Meriden speech deliberately rar the risk of the exposure which finally came On account of Judge Robert. sons corporate connecti3ns he wanted to get on to public utilities platform as soon as possible, and the most .ef fective way was to give the impression that he was in the confidence of tht commission, knew it's mental opera tlons and was tower Of strength {, the movement in general. He hal never been connected with the move ment, and the platform upon whici he was nominated Is silent upon thu subject Of a public utilities commis sion, which further goes to show tha in his haste to get a political advant age of an opponent he took a lier '. There is nothing premature about 1t |, An uglier word would be demanded t were 1t necessary for us at thls time \ to more explicitely dedno his con duct.