The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-02-26
Mayor Lees Declaration of the Basis upon
 Which Fractional Squabble Rests.
What the Organization" Wants is Backbone Of Argu= men for Foster Wilder Slate Before Judiciary Com= nlittee -= "Youngs" Claim to Represent Republican Rank and File==Mr Beard Turned Down by Commit= tee.

I Wilder was a clean, honest and
 straightforward young man, deserving
 of the place for which he was being | urged.
 Judge Nicholson told the committee | that Fred Erros, president of the Board l of Trade, and collector of the port, had authorized him to say that he favored | the selection of Judge Foster and l Frank L. Wilder.
 Mayor Lee told the committee that if l it desired to carry out the wishes of the Republican organization in Bridgeport it would not hesitate to ap- prove Judge Foster and Attorney Wild CT. He said that the same reasons which were urged in behalf of the candidacy of Judge Burnes of Green Wich, one of the committee who sat at the hearing, were now urged, and he
 hoped with the same effect as in the
 case of Burnes, namely that the polit ical organization asked for Foster. and
 Wilder.
 Attorney J. B. Klein, introduced as
 president of the Bar of this city. said he differed with Mayor Lee in that he did not hold the view entertained by
 the mayor that the office of judge of
 the city court was a political one. He said he was not a Republican; he be- longed, he said, to the great order of hs s-beens, once the Democratic party. All of the gentlemen whose names were before the committee were per- sonal friends of his. He was there to favor Judge Foster, because he beliey- ed that he was entitled to go up from deputy judge to judge. He paid a
 high compliment to the ability of Judge Foster and said that MT. Wilder was well equipped. He said he did not regard it as any breach of faith to say that in event of Judge Fosters selection. the best prosecuting attorney the city of Bridgeport ever had, Alex
 ander Delaney, would be reappointed.
 This I know something about" he
 said, esfor have been prosecutor of
 the court myself
 Senator Judson told the committee
 that the burden of proof rested upon
 the opponents of Foster and Wilder
 He said the principal asset of the op- posing consideration was nothing more
 than a desire to get into office. In
 the good old days, he said, Brother
 Bartlett drank at the fountain of City
 court suStenance for eight long years,
 that Brother Hull was suckled upon
 the same patronage for a. number of
 years; and that Attorney John c. Chamberlain held the position of prose- cutor in that court for 16 long years. The office of States attorney of Fair field county would be, said he, robbed of a great deal of it's efficiency if De- Laney was not retained as proSecu- tor.
 Attorney Chamberlain opened the flight for the Hull slate. He said that Judge Foster was a friend he es- teemed highly. MT. Hull, he said. was his partner. Personally he would pre- fer that MT. Hull would not accept the 1 place, for it meant a great deal of time away from their business. 1t is true that I once held office in the l 1nf 10,1o friend said, but much longer than | some would like to have had me hold | 1t. l was anxious to round out my | term in that court as judge. I too
 got out a petition signed by a major ity of the lawyers and I went before 1 the county caucus with that petition | and with my claim for promotion, and | then and there I ceased to have any connection with the court.
 My brothers Klein here and Cid 1 dings, at home, also spent some years | of service in that court, but the theory of promotion was never applied to 1 them. There is no rule of promotion | in the exception. I was astonished at the remarks of Mayor Lee in opposing 1 the nomination of MT. Hull, for he i knows that in doing so he is opposing | the gentleman who made his nomina- tion as Mayor, and his election, which | IO1IOWcu, pOoSpDlG. 1ndL gentleman (meaning MT. Bartlett) was tied with Mayor Lee for the nomination for Mayor and against the wishes of his supporters he broke that tie in favor of the man who now appears here as Mayor of Bridgeport against his own interests. That is the reward which | he Bartlett) receives for that mag unanimous act which was heraIded all over Bridgeport as the most remark able of its kind in the history of the city.
 MT. Hull did not get out a petition. L said MT. Chamberlain. because he did not become candidate until after the other petition had been circulated, al- though he is the choice of many mem ToerS of the bar It is not at all odd that the Business Mems Association should favor the man who has been officially connected with it for years, MT. Chamberlain, who con cluded by saying that in favor of the Hull and Gould candidates there were many substantial citizens, goodly sprinkling of whom were on hand
 Senator Thomas Arnold spoke in the highest terms of the character and ability of Attorneys E. O. Hull and R. H. Gould, both of whom he had known for many years. He said that the Republican Towr committee had no more efficient member than Mr. Hull. | who was the district chairman of the most representative Republican dis trict in the city. Senator Arnold took a fling at the '97 per cent" statement of Mayor Lee when he reminded the committee that in the last Republican primary fight in this city the Young Mems faction were defeated by only a. slender margin in the total number Of votes cast. r
 Then he explained how Hull and , Bartlett were both dumped out of the City court some years ago without any due regard for the theory of promo ton. Senator Arnold then said that , he had talked with part of the Re publican Town committee in Bridge port who signed the petition favorfng | Foster and Wilder, and they told him ( hey could not very well refuse to sign ( vIleE approa ched by the Town chair I nan, or others of equal influence, { because they were afraid ( hey would get theirs later. Then ]