The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-10-10
WHAT CONNECTICUT EDITORS
 THINK OF JUDGE BALDWIN'S OPENING SPEECH OF CAMPAIGN

made upon the electorate of the coun- try, have introduced unusual type of political leadership. Both of these gentlemen are scholars in the finest men of affairs in the broadest sense of the word. Thus far they seem to possess all of the desirable qualities of the conventional nominee and some thing in addition.
 We cannot help but wonder what the significance is of their entrance in the hurly-burly of public life, and what will be the significance of their admin istrations if they afe elected as they should be. All observing men are fla miliar with the results and conse- ventiona1 candidate in office. They vary in their outlook and in their methods. In some instances they give notable administrations, but a rule their work is more or less influenced, if not dictated. by other considerations than those proceeding from a strict interpretation of their paths of office In most instances, too, they have sought the nomination, often at a huge expenditure Of money, and the election with & like expenditure of money. The connection between them in office and the partisan powers is close and inti- mate. Their enterprises more often concern the interests of that partner ship than the interests of the entire people. Then follows dissatisfaction, misuse and abuse of power, nisappro- priation of revenues and the other ills a tered is heir
 To the average mind, one not obscur- ed by partisan bias, the candidates of Baldwin and Wilson presented as whatever of their intellectual and moral fitness for the office of Cover nor. There is no question whatever of their understanding of the problems that press for settlement There is no question of the nomination having. sought them, not them the nomination. +I1iT 10G that when they come to sean the leg islation presented to them for the1r approval or disapproval, they will be guided but by one motive in dlSpos1ng of it. namely the soundness of the leg islation itself and it's relation to the public welfare. No matter how a spe- cified bill gets through the halls of legislation, it will not get by either Of these two men, if elected Governor, without the closest and braVest scru- tiny. When it comes to appoint mentS to office. it goes without saying that those men will alone be consld- cred who are best fitted to perform the particular work required. If any men in the world can be trusted. for ex- ample, to nominate an efficient and in corruptible public service commission, they are the ones.
 All these considerations being inn possible of dispute, the question arises, what are the voters going to do about it. the voters who want, before they want anything else, the honest ana
  If the men. best fitted to serve them are ignored for men less fitted, be- cause of the partisan tag they wear, upon what theory can they justly com plain when they are badly SerVedE / What do the citizens of Connecticut and New Jersey want, anyway! DO they want to gratify a partisan emo tion when they go to the polls; content with having lived down to about the poorest ideal a man can have, or do they want to select as their servants y, taken in from taxation, forbid the nourishment of special interests ana protect the honor qf the state? i4fo 10 the expenditure of money to control the halls of legislatioP. or men who are out of sympathy with that method of running the State and who Will not stand for it? Do they want for their servants men who will honor the state wherever they go in their ofhclal ca pacity or do they want men Who cannot to the same extent represent them?
 These are practical questions for men to ask themselves this year. esPe- ciaIIy in the eases of Baldwin and Wll5 son. It ought never to be oVerlookeo that a Governor is an instrument or government The great mass of peo- nIe have no more to do with him than they have with the President Of the limited States What they want ana all that they ought to want IS an efficient man playing the role or lh- strunnent The reason the party bosses are so interested in the man they want in the executive chair is that they Wa,t +o either control him or at least influence him at a critical moment. It then becomes their professional busl- ness to impress his usefulness, or al Ieged usefulness. on the electorate, The nomination of such men as Judge Baldwin and pr. Woodrow Wilson IS significant. We hope to live to see the significance of their SteWafoShlP emphasized. The people will not be the losers.