The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-12-30
WHEN BALDWIN
BECOMES GOVERNOR
Some of the Important Measures
Which He Will be Called
Upon to Deal With
Speculation as to His Inaugural
Message - What Are the
Chances of a Real Public
Utilities Bill? Looks Like
Good Year For The Lobby

/
fantastic conditions face the next leg
! stature of this state, which meets on
| the first Wednesday, of next month
says a special dispatch from this city
to the New York Post. For the first
time in sixteen years there will be a
, Democratic governor in the executive
chair. For the first time in twenty
five years there will be a Democratic
governor with both houses of the leg
islature controlled by the opposing
party, with power of turning down h S
appointments, and, under an anti
quated constitution, passing bills over
his veto by simple majority vote.
Before the legislature will come
some of the most important measures
in the states annals of law-making.
There is the question of employer
mission with larger powers and erect
ed on a firmer base of law; of redis-
tricting the state for congress; and of
erecting United States Senator after
canvass of two candidates who, If
J George L. Fox is to be believed, have
each left behind them in the little
! towns of the state broad trails of the
/ dollar.
| In such a vista the personality of
! Judge Baldwin stands in the fore
ground, depicted alike by its own
! qualities and by contrast with it's en-
! vironments. There is sense in which
! he Is an independent rather than a
Democratic governor; for he was
! elected by Republ can votes. But he
! has higher credentials of independence
| than that, for he carries no burden
, of obligation. He raised no finger
| to secure the nomination. No dele
1 gate from a packed caucus. no dele
n n fhsA col
! citizenship gave him vote at the
| state convention. No party worker
| or big subscriber to campaign funds
has claim on him to foreclose. He
realizes these conditions of freedom of
action. But their out-working il.
| practice is another matter, and raises
! interesting questions.
! What will be his policy on the veX-
! ed question of public utilities? What
! his bearing toward the corporation
j What his standard for appointments
! party or non-party. pure merit, or
merit diluted by expediency? And
how will his moral courage and old
! fashioned ideals meet the impacts of
! up-to-date politics? A clue to the ans
Wer of one of these queries is deScrib-
| ed already in the appointment of 4
Republican and an independent to his
Z military staff. The others may be
answered in his message. Generally
/ the message is moribund On the day
after delivery and dead the day after
| that. Judge Bafdwins will be a diff
| ferent missive. AS an expression of
concrete policies from a governor who
will not recede from them, and who
can be trusted, to WELD the veto, his
utterance is looked for with an inter-
/ est hardly second to that in his adj
| ministration itself.
| Not likely to emerge from commit
tee until moderately late in the legis-
| lative session. but sure then to domin
the question of supplanting the pres
| emit weak railroad comm ssion by a
| larger body, Of more intensified pow
tionsers. higher salaried and with q
/ reach to all the public utility corpora
lions in the state. For four years, the
matter has been popular issue. In
! the last legislature, though it was de-
feated in the lower house by a single
vote, it practically fell between the
/ two houses and now it is to come be-
! fore a new legislature in a contest
which, in Intensity, promises to sur
pass all previous conflicts. The in
| tell1gence and good citizenship of the
! state, Disguised with the lapses of the
old railroad commission and it's sub
serviency to the corporations, favors a
| strong commission-strong in the law
as well as in personnel-but at pres
ent is not so much the res stance of
| the corporations as the uncertain dis
| position and moral standards of a leg
| fslature chosen less on the conflicting
| claims Of Buckley and Mclean, the
| rival candidates for the United States
senatorship. If the new commission
measure fails, the result can be charg-
/ ed directly to that senatorial diversion
projected into the last campaign.
The position, or at least the an
| nounced position, of the New Haven
Railroad company on the measure is
peculiar. 1t does not oppose a new
| commission per Sc, but a commission
| with powers over steam railroad cap
ltallzation. 1t wants also a state court
| OF commerce to pass on such matters
| as rates--a tribunal of very doubtful
c0nstitutionality and doubtful wisdom
also, so long as appeals lie to the
| regular courts.
Significant Of a coming back-ffre
| against the new commission is an Of
| hc1al circular of the railroad unions
| opposing it and favoring the court of
| commerce. On the whole the out
| look is more favorable for lobby fees
| than for a bill with bones and teeth
and commission with brains and
| courage.
| A fund of Republican party dis
cord is sure to be the redistricting of
| the state for congress, just as it was
| 10 years ago. Then the proposed re-
| districting led to much party ill-feel-
| ing, coupled with fears of party loss
| So, in the end, manifest duty was
| spurred, and the Republ can leaders
practically gerrymandered the state
| by leaving the districts as they were,
and providing for a congressman-at-
| large. This, under the census of 1910
| leaves the districts with such marked
| disparities that they can no longer
| be blinked. The First district-Hart-
| ford and Tolland counties-has a pop
ulation of 276,631; the Second d district
New Haven and Middlesex Counties
3S2, 919, said to be the second most
populous congressional district in the
whole country; the Third district
| New London and Windham counties,
| only 1858, and the Fourth district
Fairfield and Litchffeld counties
| 315.5S2. A voter in New Haven has
| about one-th:rd the personal represen-
tation in the lower house of congress
| of a voter in the Third district, who
| is equal to about two voters in the
First district, and two and a quarter
| in the Fourth.
| The present congressional divisions.
| which have existed almost beyond
memory, are deeply embedded In the
| pol teal tradition of the state, and
have the merit of geographical sym-
| metry, with their two counties i'm
| each district, and their eastern, west
ern, north central and south central
| districts. The readjustment of them
is knotty problem, sure to cause To-
| cal rancor. A line drawn north and
1 SOnth thrOu0h almost the fon,r oo,,,