Norwich bulletin., 1910-08-26
MAYOR THAYER
 ON PUBLIC UTILITIES.
Writes Lengthy Communication to the Central Labor Union of Hartford.

An Open Letter to the Hartford Cen
 tral Labor Union:
 Through the mail there has come to me a set of resolutions adopted by you August 3. 1910, together with a circular letter dated August 10. the lat ter addressed .To Organized Labor of Connecticut"
 The fact that the last of the resoiu- tions includes an instruction to your secretary "to communicate with can didates and request statement of their attitude" on certain bills men toned in the preamble. leads me to believe that you intend that I should respond, as a candidate.
 Ordinarily, as a lawyer. give ad- vice for a consideration. During the vacation period am also engaged as professor of democracy in the Thayer summer school of politics through correspondence. In the latter capacity I do not care whether I lay up a cent or not.
 Now. I have a genuine interest in organized labor, unorganiZed labor. cisorganized labor and labor of every kind under the sun The laborers con stitute the plain people whom Lincoln loved: and I love them, too, in spite of their apparent inclination to vote and act constantly against their own interests. Had they acted up to their protestations I should have been elect ed governor once upon a time-but that is another story which I was spared the reading. Because of my in terest I will, in your case, consolidate my professorships of law and democ- racy and without fee or hope of pe- cuniary reward. give you some good advice and a lesson in applied politics in short. give you something for nothing.
 Did I say I would give you some good advice? Well, you are at liberty to strike out the word good" after taking It will be worth all it costs you. at any rate.
 The State Business Mems associa- ton is following the teaching of our school. and to it's questions to candi- dates. the answers of those statesmen which have come under my notice thus far, appear to the uninstructed to be fairly open and straightforward and as favoring that associations pub lie utilities bill But that association will not be fooled so easily by the willy politician as the latter thinks; and I am going to put you wise to the game. also. The whole bunch are out to do the utilities bill Doesn't seem so. do you say? Well hear me.
 Do you find one of them that walks from it with relish, a s if he was right hungry for public utilities dough? Or does he just eye the feed and walk around the dish like those ducklings that the old hen matched used to do when their crops were full of rose bugs? Read their replies over, once more. See how they smooth the bus mess mems fur the right way for a while to get them into a purring. re- captive mood, and then how they show them that here is wrinkle that ought to be smoothed out and there tuck to be put into the bill. Of course, they all want a public utilities bill awfully-but they don't want it like the bill in sight An, they want to get the bill into one of those legislative committees that chew their cuds from Tan fr TraIx rhn crS.d lobbyist can put those tucks in and iron those wrinkles out to please the public service corporations. The busi- ness men are too old birds to be caught with the lobbyist chaff. if you are not; and don't you see that these wrinkles and tucks are being talked about thus early just to get you and the business men used to medicine, so it won't taste so bad when they force it down your throat at the end of the legislative session. Why, one would have a part of the commission elected by the people-thats catchy; organ ized labor is expected to jump at that bait like a pickerel at minnow. Great fear is expressed by another lest some para graph of the bill may infringe on the constitution-Oh horrors: and so it goes. and so it will continue to the end of the chapter unless you get busy. and the Business Mems association keep busy.
 You see it is this way: In spite of Uncle Abe's philosophy, all the people are being fooled pretty much all the time, and it is no wonder that insur- gency is in the air I expect they will be fooled again, the old, old way. at the coming election. although the in surgents give US a little hope.
 Because of this hope I now proceed to show you the way to obtain pub lie utilities bill, and incidentally to elect a United States senator who will do something in Washington besides fao m with postmasters, internal revenue collectors and machine politicians, to say nothing about rubber.
 You really want public utilities general assembly. Why don't you have what you want2 Are we not the people? Are the people to be denied the legislation they deS-e? Who is legislation for, the people at large, or for a few corporations?
 Now don't pay too much attention to the wrinkles and the tucks- If any paragraph of the bill is unconstitution- a let the courts say so when some one attacks it in the proper way, in the courts. Take the bill as the Business Mems association will pre- sent it to the legislature. Isn't that simple? Let us proceed. Upon the nomination of each candidate for either branch of the legislature. be he. democratic. republican prohfbitionfst, socialist, or what not call upon him to answer in writing over his own sig nature, Yes or No, these three ques tions:
 l. Will you vote in favor of the bill for public act known as the public utilities bill prepared by the State Business Mems association. if intro duced in the legislature?
 2. Will you vote to suspend the rules of the house or senate tas the case may bel and put the bill upon it's pas sage immediately upon its presentation to the legislature, without reference to any committed
 3. Will you vote to pass it notwith- standing the governors veto. should he