The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-04-26
WHY THE FARMER' IS OPPOSED
 TO TENTATIVE" UTILITIES BILL
 FAVORED BY MANWAR AND VINCENT
 

The Farmer is accused of lacking civic pride. The accusation is made in the Bridgeport Standard of Satur- day afternoon, and is attributed to M H. Manwar1ng. Senator from the 23d Senatorial district.
 The evidence which Senator Man waring offers to sustain his charge is that the Farmer has been Knocking and kicking against the public utilf- ties bill. noninally prepared by MT. Vincent and himself and offered for the endorsement of the business men of the city. The Farmer. owing per- haps to lack of original opportunity, was not the first friend of honest public utilities bill who felt obliged to knock and kick, as he puts it, the bill for which Senator Manwaring stands sponsor. Messrs. Judson, Chan d1er and Whiton led in this duty and they. since the death of Governor Lil- ley, have been champions of a meas ure under which the public service cor porations of the State may be con trolled and regulated.
 They raised against Senator Man waring's tentative bill the same ob- Farmer. as follows:
 
 is unconstitutional and will probably destroy the whole bill and that this clause is certain in any event to de- stroy the effectiveness of the bill.
 g. That the bill is fatally defective because it omits to stop stock water ing.
 8. That 1t is unsatisfactory because it contains no provision for the audit or publicity of accounts of public ser- vice corporations.
 To these objections the Farmer add ed another, which is that the bil seems to have been born in the mind of some lawyer. who desired to prevent and not to accomplish the objects for which the measure is ostensibly drawn.
 As to the origin of the bill in the mind of some lawyer there can be ab- sol1tely no doubt. If Senator Man waring will take each separate letter in the bill, write each letter on a bit of cardboard. n1ngle the bits together. and count the number of times he throws them into the air, before they fall to the floor arranged again pre- cise1y as they are in the law he will have 8 pretty good idea of the per centaee Of chance in favor of the theory that the baN is of non-lega1 origin.
 Making due allowance for the fact that Senator Manwaring and his col league regard the bill as a. tentative" bill. to which things will be added and from which things will be taken away. yet the so-called appeal clause is one of the things that they defend as good. and which they evidently do not ex- pect will be taken away.
 Yet they have been informed by Senator Judson that the presence of this clause will probably destroy the bill. And they have heard Represen- tative Chandler and Representative Wlhiton give many conclusive reasons why it should be eliminated
 Senator Manwaring's defense of the appeal clause is ''that it is a good and will make the members Of the ders.''
 Let us see what the appeal clause is. It provides that whenever the public service commission orders a cor poration to do anything. that the cor poration need not do the thing if it is financially unable to do it.
 Such provision at the end of any law is not good, but very bad indeed. It's universal application would destroy justice as it is practiced by English speaking people, because any system that makes the financial ability of each individual the test of his obligation to obey the law will Immediately destroy law, by making men unequal before it.
 Senator Manwaring is a master plumber. He is engaged in a business as necessary and as honorable as the Ho1Vuf fva rF way, a. water company, a gas or an electric light company. He is subject to certain regulations made by the Common Council and by the Building Commissioners. He must obey, as a master plumber, the orders that these a.uthoritieS<fnake, unless such orders are unlawful. He cannot plead hnan- cial inability to escape his duty.
 Again, the law says that Senator Manwaring in his capacity as a mas ter plumber. must maintain accurate scales and keep honest weights. An inspector may at any time inspect his scales and his weights. order them made right if they are wrong and charge him fee for the service. But he cannot avoid the order by pleading that he cannot afford to buy accurate scales, or to keep just weights. He must obey the order unless it is un- lawful.
 The ordinary rule for men in busi- ness is that they must do all things according to the rules made by the city, or the State for the health safety and protection of the public, or they must get out of business. No man is obliged to obey any unlawful rule. But he must obey every lawful rule.
 Perhaps these few Illustrations will enable Senator Manwaring to under stand what force lies behind the state ment of Mir. Judson, that the public service corporations should be allowed no appeal except from an order claim ed to be unlawful