The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-08-13


 Anti Corporationists Are
 In Opposition.
 The primary registration will close tomorrow evening at o'clock. Reg istrars expect one of the largest en- rollments yet made under the act con- cerning political primaries and eau cuses that was approved in 1905. Ut is in fact expected that the number of new names inscribed upon the party lists will be greater than ever before. This result will be due to the presence of larger number of contests in both parties than usually exist The Republican primary list will be swell ed to anSiexceptional degree. it is said, because of the exceptional heat of the competition for the mayoralty nomina- tion that has been quietly in pro- gress for several weeks. Nevertheless there is only one avowed candidate for the nomination. He is Mayor Lee, who is said to be ready to withdraw if it is the opinion of thei party lead CTS that he will not run as we'll as somebody else.
 Whether he will share the fate of Mayor Reynolds, who was sacrificed two years ago by tn party leaders," Il he could not win, is a mooted ques- tion in political circles. Reynolds prin- cipa1 offenSe was that he signed the 20 year water contract His excuse was that he did it because the par ty leaders, wanted him to. His elim- ination was not the less, cold cruel and remorseless for all of that. He was not permitted to participate in or Lee to an honor which had nearly always been accorded the second time to a man who obtained it once and succeeded in being elected
 Lee is regarded as doubtful timber for much the same reason that Key holds was. There was no 20 year con- tract for him to sign, but he did sign the rharbor grab.
 He was further weakened when his signature was attached to the car-barn grab perhaps to greater extent than by the harbor grab, So far a the harbor was concerned his desire to have the railroad get the harbor line it desired was, never concealed. His efforts in this matter were of the ear Hest work of the first year of his ad- ministration. He addressed himself later to the same issue in two mess ages officially transmitted to the coun- cil, shaped a harbor committee to bring the thing about and otherwise left nobody in doubt as to his views.
 But his bearing toward the car barn brab has been of another color. He headed the opposition to the petition of the New Haven Railroad Company. He enlisted many of the leading men of his party in the crusade against it. He featured his campaign 'sto save the streets for the people" with all the skill in spectacular management of which he is easily more a master than any other man who has held the mayors office in Bridgeport. When the peti- Railroad Commissioner, he presented the case for the city with great adroitness, and in so skillfuI way as to confirm the belief that under sion give a decision against the city.
 Addressed by one of the officers of the railroad company, as to whether he would not be willing to permit the spur tracks from their car barns to come into Stratford avenue he replied in an epigrammatic utterance that was seized and featured by the news papers. 'If I ever do that I will have to leave town"
 Then came the period of delay. The plans for entrance and exit to the car barns, which the mayor had informed the railroad commissioners could be simply and easily perfected consumed the time of several leading men for several weeks. City Engineer Maurice F. McKenna prepared a plan not very different from one that had been out lined to the commissioners. It seemed to most experts simple and feasible, but it went to the waste basket. Came the spectacular appointment of a committee of five aldermen and cit izens. who sat night after night, and caused to be prepared plan after plan. It's report was sandbagged into the in nocuous desuetude of a municipal waste basket by an aldermanic vote composed very largely of gentlemen of a very courteous attitude toward the mayoral office, who had usually been willing to consult the mayoral mind, as to whether an action would .lIz Came strange postponements of the hearing before the railroad commits sioners at which the question of car barn entrances was to be finally settled. It was a meeting that never came. The long weeks went on a dreary way with no peep from anybody about car barns, until one evening, a resolution came into the council. In few par Railroad Company the hadbor line for which it had fought since Dec. 19O6 Alas it gave them the tracks on Strat- ford avenue and Congress street. And this was termed a compromise The compromise carried concessions The principal concession" was a promise to lay grooved rails on Main street, between East Washington avenue and Gilbert street. And so the matter lies. Main street remains a ditch. The concession" is still on the way.
 But Mayor Lee is not Mayor Key holds. The latter was drafted from chine Factory where his experience for many years had educated him in a direction not at all political
 Mayor Lee. on the other hand is the crafty political strategist of de- cades of experience. He knows every trick in the game. He cannot be easily deposed by leaders because they want a winner" Undoubtedly, so far as Mayor Lee is concerned, it is for him to say whether he will, or will not be a candidate.
 Yet his way will not be bed of roses If there are no other avowed candidates there are two whose friends desire them to be candidates. Thsuad- ccontinued on Second Page,l