The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-05-04
Ry our staff Cores

! l. IOSI OOolS OOs
| By our Staff Corres)
| Hartford, May 4.-By a vote of ia
| to Ill the House today rejected the
| unfavorab1e report of the committee on
Judiciary upon the public utilities bill
and almost Immediately thereafter, by
practically unanimous vote, defeat
| ed a motion for a reconsideration of
the vote just taken, made by Mr.
Chandler of Rocky Hill, the leader of
those who favor a public utilities COM
| mission. Mr.. Chandler who made the
motion to reconsider had been grant
| ed the privilege of changing his vote
| in order that he might move a recon
Sideration of the question today, there
by avoiding any possible rallying OF.
| the forces of the special interests by
| tomorrow, when the good work done
today might be undone, in view OF the
| closeness of the vote Mr.. Chandler
asked the House to support him in
voting down his motion to reconsider.
| The motion to reconsider having been
defeated, Mr.. Chandler offered a reso-
| luton which was carried by practlc-
ally an unanimous vote. This reso-
| luton empowers Speaker Elmer s.
Banks to appoint a special committee
of nine members of the House who to-
day voted against the rejection on me
to hold public hearings and to report
| a public utilities measure to the House
| not later than June 1.
In support of his resolution Mr..
Chandler quoted numerous parliament
airy authorities all of whom upheld his
contention that only those known to
be in favor of the principal of a meas
ure should be trusted with the task of
preparing such a measure He said
that the Judiciary committee had had
| it's day in court and had originally
| objected to the matter coming before
them. The action of the House today
ms or that if a D.
lie utilities bill was to be passed in
this State the making of such a bill
must be entrusted to those who believe
in the principle.
House Leader Burnes of Greenwich,
raised the parliamentary question that
the bill being a joint bill the regular
course Of procedure was for 1T to go
from the House today to the Senate.
Representatives Bishop of New Haven
and Wilton Of New London argued
that the measure was a House bill and
that the House had it within it's power
to refer it to any special committee
or to a committee of the whole, and
that it would only be ready for trans
mission to the Senate when the House
had finally considered it as a body
House Leader BurneS questioned the
propriety of the motion referring the
matter to a special committee. Speak
er Banks ruled that the motion was
in order.
Representative Chandler then intro
duced resolution empowering the
special committee to engage such ex-
perts and legal talent as it might re
quire to draft the proposed bill He
said he believed that the present bill
could easily be worked into shape to
meet the objections of those who did
not favor it in its entirety with COM
paratively little effort. After obJec-
ton had been made to the expense
carried by the resolution, by Burnes of
Greenwich and Scott of Plymouth,
BurneS renarking that this was eX-
with public service commissions in
general, Chandler did not then press
the motion, because he said the matter
could come up later and was not of
pressing moment
He remarked, however. that he did
not believe the State of Connecticut
was so niggard1y that it would not pro-
vide reasonable expense for the en-
ployment of those who are necessary
to aid in the making of a bill that is
designed to safeguard the interests of
the people. Referring to the fact that
the special interests in this State will
no doubt be represented by the most
astute legal talent attainab BILE, he re-
minded those who were opposed to the
measure that such expense would have
to be entailed to protect the States
interest.
In Fairfield county. Bridgeport's two
Representatives, Frederic A. Bartlett
and Favette c. Clarke. voted against
the Judiciary committees report and
in favor of the Chandler resolution; so
also did Judge Charles H. Peck of
Stratford and County Commissioner
Simeon E. Pease of Fairfield The
vote in Fairfield county was 10 in ia
vor of a public utilities measure and
IL against.
Speaker Banks said that he would
take a couple of hours in order to pre-
pare his committee.
Never in the history of the state has
a larger lobby been gathered in cor
ridors of the Capitol. They had come
in from all quarters of the state. There
were men representing railroads, wa
ter companies, gas companies electric
light companies, and every other form,
kind and degree of special interest.
They were SO enthusiastic in the cause
that they were proclaiming even while
the vote was in progress, that the
plan for a public utilities bill would
be turned down two to one. They had
evidently received promises that were
not kept. Three members of the ju-
dietary committee, Malone of Bristol
Democratic Leader Higgins and Bart
lett of Bridgeport voted against the
report of their own committee. Mayor
Dunn of Willimantic, a Democrat was