The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-10-04
BEDDING
DEMOCRATIC VICTORY WAS COM PLETE WITH ONE EXCEP-
 TION.
Town Meeting Passes on the Annual Budget-Ring Republicans Beat
 Pinkney.

| Town Meeting Passes on the Annual Budget-Ring Republicans Beat Pinkney.
 | Bedding, Oct. Ion less than two l thirds full vote the Democrats elected their entire ticket on Monday with the exception of assessor. Albert A. Cor ham defeating Hugh c. McCollam for l that office by a narrow margin. Those elected include Walter Luttgen. the | millionaire nominee for town treas | urer, and E. M. Bradley for tax col | lector The latter tried his best to secure the election of J. H. Duncan, the opposing candidate, and might have Succeeded but for the. fact of being in the hospital and therefore out of the days activities. If he per- sists in his determination not to serve as collector the seleetmeu will prob l ably fill the vacancy by appointing MT. Duncan, the present incumbent, to the place as he has proved an efficient official and the proceedings at the Democratic caucus, indicated that no Democrat desires the job. The board l of selectnen remains the same as last year-Charles Sanford, Walter F. Rowland and Ebert M. Sanford. The latter had 93 votes to 85 for E. A. Pinkney, his associate nominee. This | is the second time MT Pinkney has been rejected by his party for the same office despite his uncommon l qualifications for the position and the valuable public service he rendered as a selectman two years ago. The l enmity felt towards him by certain Republicans evidently springs from two causes. One is that he was large Tyr instrumental in starting the. local investigation which disclosed so many Irregularities and the other is that he upset the Republican applicant last fall by making known a converse ton which he overheard on the telephone between John T. King and B. B. Banks, in which conversation King arranged for the nomination as rep reSentatives of MT Banks and some one else who should fit Kings descrip- | tion of the kind of man to be elect ed. Mr. Pinkneys exposure helped to swamp the Republican ticket and increased the number of his enemies. The largest majority received by any candidate at Mondays election was that given Charles Sanford for first selectman. The counters threw out twelve ballots which were not marked in any manner. At the business meeting in the af- ternOon tax Of ten mills was laid,
 
 gave warning that the revenue pro- duced by it would be hardly sufficient to meet the coming years needs. This statement seemed to surprise l.. O.. Peck, who said thats since he became a resident the towns annual income had increased about $6,0O0, and while the expenditures had increased ae- cordingly, the larger outlay did not show in permanent improvements. For keeping in repair the town roads and bridges $3.50O was appropriated. and for schools $5,00O. It was stated that the repair of the towns six miles of State road cost last year upwards of $500. The State paid three-fourths of this, making the towns share about $40.
 That disgrace to the town, the town house, is to be- left as it. is except for some minor improvements consisting of new floor and windows, and the purchase, of 90 chairs, for which the meeting appropriated .$300. Almost everyone admits the crying need of some radical change for the better, but appear to be tongue tied when the subject is brought up in town meeting, as it has been for several years. At Mondays meeting the committee appointed year ago to consider the matter submitted a re- port. In this they set forth the fact
 
 and nnsanitary as to conditions, and recommended that an effort be made to secure additional land on the north for the purpose of erecting ain addl- ton twenty feet long to provide two offices. If this land could not be ob- tained they favored the acquisition of another site on which the building might be moved preliminary to its en- largement.
 MT. Peck Occasioned some surprise by strongly opposing these recommen- dations. HeN said it appeared from statements which had. been made that the town could ill afford the outlay of from $2,0e0 to s4,000 which they would involve. and that as the build ing was not much used it should be made to answer for a while longer. As substitute he offered a resoIu- tion providing for double windows and other changes designed to afford bet ter warmth, and this was finally adopted. the maximum outlay being fixed at $500.
 The question of how the roads should be cared for provoked consid- erable debate. The real spoint at is- sue was whether the selectmen should do or arrange for the work in detail or let it out by contract under com petitive bids The discussion, how ever, turned on the word supervision with, it's implication that a superin- tendent be hired to boss the entire job. Such a plan MT. Peck strongly disapproved of. He said that road re pairs was the, main duty of the se- lectmen and if some one else was to be placed over the work the select men might as well be abolished The present system might have it's de- fleets, but it worked fairly we'll and to employ an expert road maker would mean a diversion of a large part of the appropriation. He said he ardently favored good roads, but in the local problem the question of means overshadoWed that of ways.
 D. s. Sanford spoke in favor of employing a skilled road maker He said the era of good roads had dawn- ed, that the movement was not going backward and that with the best of intentions on the part of the select men they did not effect the results they should for the money expended. There was need of expert knowledge and methods to meet the situation and such change would prove economical in the long, run by giving a more adequate and satisfactory re- turn for the outlay. Other towns were acting on this principle and Bedding would eventually come to 1t. The hearty applause which followed MT. SanfOrd'S remarks showed that many of the aSsemblage were of the speakers way of thinking. Never theless the meeting voted to leave the care of the roads to the select men without instructions