The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-03-10
LIBRARY TRUSTEES
 FIGHT FOR RIGHT
 TO NAME THEMSELVES
Former Mayor Lee and Tax Collector Donn:y With Others Ap pear Against City's Bill to Destroy Self Per-
 petuating Principle
Representative w. w. Bent Declares Method Of Self Appoint Tnent ljnAmerCanGiiy Attorney Thomas M Culfnan Asks Committee on Education to Make
 Favorable Report

Both of these boards were thus constituted virtually sovereign in their l own domain, with unlimited power to l draw upon the public purse and con- | tract charges against the city. When Public Sentiment Awoke. But public sentiment remained dormant until the self perpetuating | board of library trustees took steps to set aside the Pettengill trust by instituting a suit in the superior court to see if they had the power: the General Assem- mbly, in granting these great and unusual powers, did not know, and did not inquire if he ton of this trust, and it provided for
 a determination by the court
 When this suit was brought the
 Common Council decided that the time had come to terminate these two
 boards as they are now constituted,
 and it instructed the city attorney to
 draw two bills, one restoring the lib- rary trustees to their former status
 under the General Law the other,
 restoring the Park Board substantial
 prior to 1907, so far as the manner
 of it's creation is concerned. /'
 These bills are now before the Gen.
 eral Assembly. The bill relating to the library trustees before the Com
 mittee on Education and the bill re-
 Iating to the Park Board before the committee on cities and boroughs.
 It is the city of Bridgeport that asks for the change in both instances. The city of Bridgeport is constituted
 islative assembly is the Common Council whose members are chosen
 by the electors.
 The city of Bridgeport is the second in Connecticut, and among the first
 50 in the United States. It contains of nf o Commonwealth, or more than 100. 900 people. It is as capable of managing
 it's internal affairs as any other 100,-
 900 people, and more capable than the other soO.0oo people of Connecti- cut are to manage it's internal affairs for it.
 The budget of Bridgeport. its civil list, amounts to one-third of the civil list of the state. Within its borders is one-tenth of the taxable wealth of the state.
 The library board of which we are speaking has control of property valued at $249,00o, and it expends an annual revenue of $1S,437.
 property valued at ss50,ooo, and ex- bends an annual revenue of $23, LILO.
 Jointly these self perpetuating bod
 ies with their almost sovereign pow
 CTS control property of the people of Bridgeport valued at $1,09s,000 and
  Control More Property Than Towns. That is to say Jointly these extra ordinary bodies control more prop erty than was represented by any grand list prepared by any of S2 towns in Connecticut in 1909.
 The Park Board controls more
 property than was represented in 1903 by any grand list in 72 towns of Con- ] necticut, and the Library board more
 than any grand list in 12 towns.
 Few indeed were the towns of Con-
 necticut that expended so great a For the sake of illustration I have compiled a little table comparing the property, the expenditures and the patrons of these boards, with the population of the communities repre- sented upon the Committee on Educa- tion by the members thereof. The figures show the grand lists for 1909 and the expenditures are for
 town purposes only. exclusive of of 1910. The table is annexed hereto. Yhe combined population of these 1 nine towns is 33.632, which is slight | ly more than the number of persons who hold library cards in Bridgeport to wit, 31,115.
 l Only one town, Wallingford, had as great revenue of these boards and five of the nine expended a less | revenue than the Library Board. The value of all property in one town is less than the value of the property contr rolled by the library | board and the value in four towns is l less than the value controlled by the Park Board.
 ] How Would Salem Like It? | I inquire of the gentleman from l Salem if the people of his town would | be satisfied if the control of the s233,- l 900 shown by the Salem grand list | was, placed ;n the control of a board | constituted as this library board is l constituted in Bridgeport, with the right to expend annually five times | the revenue of his town?
 l I ask the gentlemen from Filing | ton, Washington, Simsbury, Newing- | ton and Bozrah, how they would like such a board in control of their prop l erty and revenues, and how they would like such a board as the park board with it's unlimited powers to contract bills for parkways and boulevards, and | its right to name its own members in such a way that they can remain
 mem bers for periods ranging from 10 | to 15 years.
 Surely it will not be claimed that because these properties and these expenditures are only a portion of the | property of Bridgeport, they are there l fore not entitled to be controlled af- l ter the customary plan in this coun- l try by boards proceeding directly from | the people, or from the directly re- sponsible officers of the people?
 If this sort of government would