The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-04-12

legislation, generally in secret, and asking in the name of Bridgeport for it's passage. The result is crazy quilt government and hodge podge char ter which is not the same three years in succession.
 A conviction in the mind of some office holder that a change in the charter would work a benefit does not warrant an act of the legislature ernment justify an office holder, or two or three office holders, in seek ing to embody novel ideas, and freak measures into law to the exclusion ly represents the voters, and even to the exclusion of the voters them selves.
 The latest offenders against the of Education and the Permanent Paw ing Commission
 Without apparently the least con- sciousness that by their act they have humiliated the city and its people, the Board of Education has invited uo this city the finance committee of the General Assembly, to view the Bridge port High School.
 | correct view of the situation when he said, to the other members of the | board, that what Bridgeport chooses to do in connection with a high school is none of the business of any | committee of the legislature. It IS for Bridgeport to determine whether or not it will build school, and if so, what kind of school and when and where it shall be built. It is true that Bridgeport cannot is- sue bonds to build school, or for any purpose, without the authorization Of the General Assembly, because Bridgeport, like the other cities, is in bondage to the legislature. | But even so, the function of the leg | islature is simply to determine 1T Bridgeport is financially able to car- | ry debt such as the bonds would represent and this determination should be made under general rules applicable to all cities. It is indeed | none of the business of the finance committee what Bridgeport does rela- tive to building a school. The invi- tation to the General Assembly to ln- terfere with this purely local matter | is an error of judgment, and estab- fishes precedent under which other and less welcome meddling may take | place hereafter.
 | And what could be in worse taste than the secret attempt of the Paw ing Commission to increase it's own power, absolutely without consulta- tion with the Common Council, to which board it is answera ble, as are all other appointive boards, and ap- | parently without any intention of con- | sulting the voters, for the measure does not include a referendum. | It may be that the paving commis-
 sion should have additional powers.
 but certainly not control of the struc- lures of public service corporations in the streets.
 But in no case should this or any
 other subordinate city board, obtain additional powers entirely upon it's
 own initiative. If a board believes
 it should have more power it might
 be proper for it to frame a suitable
 measure, for submission to the Con-
 posal will receive publicity and dis cussion.
 If the Council approves the meas
 ure it might then be sent to Hartford
 with referendum attached, for the
 principle is established in the minds of the people of this city that there
 must be no debts created, and no
 changes in the fundamental law, with
 given to the voters.
 The principle is laid down in the
 platform of the Democratic party, and
 is approved by the large body of Re- publican rank and file. Only those
 are against the referendum who have
 some private ambition, or pet scheme
 which they desire to impose upon
 their fellow citizens, vii or nil Bridgeport demands that the Gen.
 eral Assembly take its prying fingers
 out of the city's purely domestic af fairs. The demand of Bridgeport is
 for home rule. Official persons who get in the way of these fundamental
 demands will find their hold upon of
 flee most insecure and their partici- patton in municipal government like
 the passing shadow of cloud
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