Norwich bulletin., 1909-03-13
CONNECTICUT LEGISLATURE,
 INDICATIONS OF sLoWNEss
Best Judges Put Adjournment Early in Aueust-How Time is Taken Up to Exclusion of Real Business.
Special to The Bulletin )

 f Hartford, March 12-The unfavor- able reports, by means of which meas ures which either have no support back of them that the legislature is bound to pay attention to or are sufficiently freakish to be considered of little or no merit, and therefore warranting the spending Of little time upon them, are Come in, especially from the judiciary committee, which is a sign that the session IS getting under way. but that is about the only indication that there is any thought of. the fact that there must come a final adjournment of the legislature some time this year. On the other hand. the fact that the judi ciary committee hasn't got through with the minor court judgeships yet, to say nothing of their having had their days in the house, is decidedly significant of the slothfulness which characterizes the work of this legis- lature.
 Adjournment Gossip.
 The best judges now doubt if final adjournment will come a day earlier than it did two years ago, the first day of August, and there are shakes of the head as to whether it will come by that date or not. The committee on joint rules reported unfavorably this week on the rule proposed by Quintard or Norwalk that committee chairmen be obliged to make all their reports by the first of May, and the house re- jected the resolution, 1t being declared that it would be impossible for all the committees to complete their hearings by that time, to say nothing of getting their reports in, which is a very true statement.
 Local Judseships.
 The local iudgeships will by no means be finished this month, even so far as tke house is concerned, though the judiciary committee is getting to the end of the list The committee has pretty generally followed the policy of giving the local representatives and the senators from the district in which the town was included what they de- sired in these matters, though in one or two instances 1t hasn't been cOnsid- cred feasible to do this. The situa- tions which have arisen in connection with these local judgeships have illus wrong 1t is that the appointments should be made in the way that they are.
 They take up the time of the judl- ciary committee and of the house-far more than of the sepate--to the exclu- sion of the businsss for which the leg islature is really sent to Hartford to
 
 an effect, and in many cases an over whelming 'effect on all of the other legislation which is in progress until after they are gotten out of the way and many times their effects are felt clear to the end of the session. For these appointments have become pure ly political and men gain their points practically so, by political log rolling and trading, and in cases where there is a sharp conflict the real merits of the case are usually buried beneath a mass of personalities and other inter ests to the utter exclusion of the claims of merit and ability.
 The present method is doubtless better than that of appointment of minor judges by the old method of county caucus nominations, as is done now in the cases of county commits sioners, though in most particulars it isn't so far different from that in the state to which 1t has degenerated. Though, to be sure, there is gone through with the form of a hearing before a committee of lawyers who ought to be able to sift the situation to the bottom. The state of affairs fin this regard is being deprecated more and more openly and if somebody would suggest really good substitute method of choosing these officers it would stand fair chance of. being adopted The great trouble is that nobody has up to date. Certainly ap- pointment by the governor or popular. election have little to recommend them.
 The Best Legislative Souvenir.
 II is readily apparent, by reading the newspapers about the state, that there is little conception of the value of Taylors Legislative Souvenir. A talk with State Librarian Goddard might open the minds of some of the editors 10 facts that hadn't occurred to them. It is a fact, for instance, that this is the best legislative souve- mir issued by any legislature in the country, as is enr state register and