Norwich bulletin., 1909-05-01
PUBLIC UTILITIES BILL
A VERY LIVELY SORT OF CORPSE
Than Had Been Supposed-State
Capital Opinion.
(special to M Bulletin.l }


Especial to The Bulletin)
Hartford, April 30.-Somehow the
public utilities commission bill is q
very lively sort of corpse. Just what
| had been done betwene Wednesday
and Thursday of this week to revive
| interest in the matter it isn't so easy
to tell, but it is plain that something
| had happened, and that there isn't the
| lack of interest in the matter that had
/ been imagined or the lack of support
| for a commission to regulate and con-
troll pubic service corporations. In
other words, the house is very loath
to allow a proposition in which there
is SO much rhat appeals to so many as
good die without first having made
some determined effort to save its life
by amputating certain of its limbs.
While the motion to adjourn on Thurs
day afternoon was made by Chandler
OF Rocky Hill with the idea of sparr-
ing for wind and delaying final ac-
ton at a time when Chairman Burnes
OF the judiciary committee had befog-
)ged the issue and confused the minds
of members less skilled in parliament
ary law and the rules of the Connect
cut house than he. It helped the op-
Qcnents of the bill fully as much as it
did its friends.
This is largely due to the tactics
uSCu ny DuIutS. 4uIOuBlOul the QG-
bate he had been careful to permit
the friends of the measure every
chance to air their views and had
held to the understanding that the pre-
vious question should not be moved
until everyone who wished to talk had
had his chance to do So but in the end
he moved and secured the previous
question on the question Of the pas
sage of the measure, after the report
of flaa f4r.o En1 =
on the separation into two parts of the
motion made by Burnes last week that
the report be accepted and the bill
rejected. Having secured the previ-
GUS question, Burnes then proceeded
to confuse the minds of members still
further as to the futility and impro-
priety of voting for the bill in the sit
uation which prevailed and this dis
gusted considerable number who
haven't intended to vote for the bill
and have given up hope of its being
amended or whipped into such shape
that they would favor its passage.
There were those who believed, and
possibly some of the friends Of the
measure are still sanguine enough to
think that the bill would have passed
if it had been pressed to a vote, but
that is very doubtful. | don't believe
i would have. II it had any chance
Immediately after Chambers speech,
which was much better than that made
by him last week, and did carry con-
viction to the minds Of some because
of his presentation of the possibilities
in this state under the charter now
held by the New York. New Haven &
Hartford railroad for instance. if Har-
riman or Standard OIL should secure
control of the road, as may be the case
l1f or. On-0n6 inst bnVy- Int an
no one can say II there was a psy-
Geological moment during the discus
sion, that was it. When it came to
the parliamentary entanglements.
however, members didn't feel suff1-
GENTLY sure of themselves to vote
against the committee and for the bill.
At the same time, they didn't like
the look of things. They didn't like
BurneS' motion for the previous ques-
tion and they didn't like the open, way
liz which Speaker Banks aided and
abetted the opponents of the bill. It
is a silly practice which permits the
chairman of a committee to close the
debate. There is nothing in the rules
OF the house which permits this Of
that justifies the speaker in permit
ting it. It is simply a custom which
has become a part of the practice Of
the house and which some courageous
member of the house ought to tear
apart. 1t is a part of the practice by
which the committee report has come
to be fetch and which brings about
a double motion on the part of COM
mittee chairman and the putting Of
that motion that the report of the COM
mittee be accepted or rejected, as the
case may be, and the bill passed or re-
jected, as the case may be.
The whole thing is wrong The
question before any parliamentary
body must be an affirmative one, un-
der fundamental parliamentary law,
and in the case of the Connecticut
legislature should be- Shall the bill be
passed, the recommendation of the
committee being that it ought" or
ought not, as the case might be- The
committee report Is not sacred; very
far from it, indeed, though it has come
to be regarded so. 1t ought to be Civ
On all weight. but certainly ought not
to be in any sense a controlling fac
tor in the situation. And it is only a
few sessions since speakers put the
motion as to the disposal of bill In
the form here given, or practically
that and not as is the practice in
both houses now.
To return TO our muttons, Il ruffied
the members to realize that Burnes
had the floor, that nothing could stop
him or give another member the right
to speak when he had finished and that
he could say what he pleased about
tie measure, which he proceeded to
do, and it Is very doubtful if the mo-
tion TO reject the bill could have been
carried then. Though the house gen.
orally had no knowledge that his right
to close the debate doesn't exist and
the privilege is no privilege at ALL as
is stated above
What will be done next week, how
ever, Is another matter. Both sides
have an opportunity to straighten out
their lines. 1t mHst not be assumed