Connecticut western news., 1911-09-14
CARLET0N'S LETTER
Democrats About Capitol Discuss
 Baldwin for Vice-President.


 Baldwin for vice-President.
 Hartford, September 12-The General Assembly is started in on what the leg. islators hope will be the last week of the session of 1911-the longest one in the history of the state. Some of the more optimistic members hope that. adjourn ment, sine die, will be reached by next Friday at the latest There are numer- ous tangles to unravel in mighty short space of time if that is accomplished.
 Wherever crowd of Baldwin demo- crats is seen toget her around the Capi- tol these days, Baldwin as vice presi- dential candidate is heard. His friends understand that he is not at all adverse to running on the national ticket, and are pushing him to the front in that light. y
 If Governor Baldwin should retire from the state ticket next fall, it leaves open a chance for all good democrats to offer themselves as gubernatorial candi- dates, and Senate Bryan F. Mahan is usually the first one considered ill this connection. Senator Mahan is one of the original Baldwin boomers, and some believe that his zeal for the present chief executive of the state is not without an ulterior motive.
 While Thursdays session of the Senate was not long one, but 1t lasted long en- ough to let the democrats and Senator Peck of Danbury win their fight against the state tax. The committee on finance, of which Senator Hammond of Putnam is the chairman, reported favorably on a bill levying half mill state tax each town. Senator Hammond gave a few figures when the matter was first before the Senate two weeks ago, which indi- cated that the half mill tax was an abso- lute necessity, and that was before the soldiers pension bill had been passed over Governor Baldwin's veto. Senator Peck introduced other figures, just as convincing, that no state tax was neces- say, and with the support of the demo- crats of the body, succeeded in convinc- ing a majority that it was the state's duty to relieve the small towns, espec- tally, of this burden, in a year when crops had been a failure, and money would be scarce. The House, when the measure got there. passed the bill with 8 hurrah. Evidently the small town members were not so much concerned over their towns finances as their breth- ren of the larger cities were. Then the measure got back into the Senate on disagreeing action, and Senator Peck made the motion that the Senate adhere to it's former action, and this motion prevailed, % to ,. This effeotually kills the bill, and leaves the state without a tax for the next two years.
 Senator Bryan F. Mahan of New Lon. don scored another personal victory last Wednesday night, when he persuaded the members of the Senate to forget ali their differences, their politics, and everything else of a discordant nature, and get together as his guests. It might have been merely a social club for all the politics there were in the Allyn House that night. The session has been the foundation for series of victories for New London's fighting little senator, who was elected on the democratic ticket in the Eighteenth district. His big fight was winning the $1,000,000 bond issue for the improvement of New London Harbor, which is expected, in a few years hence, to make that city one of the important steamship centers of the At lantic coast, and bring Connecticut into the foreground as 8 commercial center, even more prominently than she is now.
 It was in a spirit of thanksgiving that Senator Mahan gave his dinner, which goes down into the history of the state as the first of the kind eyer given in Hartford or the state.
 CARLETON.