The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-02-03

LABOR In that IL Went III Luz lHe Gull
sideration of political questions.
H. D. Sykes of Suffield. representing
the Grange, spoke elOQuently for the
patrons Of husbandry, and calling at
tention to conditions in Suffield pic
tured wildly the stringing of l70OO
high tension three base system Of
wiring over public school playground
despite the protests of the parents
and Of the Grange. to the County
Commissioners.
c. w. Pearson of Norwich recalled
numerous efforts of the citizens of his
city to secure what they deemed fair
concessions as to trolley service and
the regulation of rates. covering four
years. all without success. He told
of the congestion of the public square
through the trolley company',s utiliz-
ing the room for express business
Such things could not go on. said he,
if the public utilities commission as
outlined by the business mems meas
ure were a reality. Norwich business
| men heartily endorsed the measure, he
concluded.
w. c.. Norris of Willimantic. who
| has a chain Of stores in Massachu-
sets and Connecticut. told of the con-
trast he found in his stores in the
two States. in the way of service from
| showing where rates were cheaper and
service more efficient and more court
eous in Massachusetts, where the pub
| lc service corporations come under the
control Of such body as is pro-
posed. Pv appealing to the Massa-
chusetts commission he was able to
save in one store over 81 a month on
| his lighting.
| Former Senator Moses w. Manwar-
| ing of Bridgeport. said he had been
more or less familiar with the Busi-
ming through it's growth to the pre-
sentation to the committee. and he
| knew something of the care with
which it had been prepared in the in
| terest of the whole State.
zone of the strongest objections" said
| he. ''that is offered to this sort of leg
! islation. is that it is proposed to run
the business of corporations. It
seems to me that is a far fetched rea-
son and one not put forth with any
| degree of intelligence or fairness
Senator Manwaring reminded his
auditors that when these corporations
make contracts they very coOlly deslg-
nate what they will pay for. and they
name their own engineer to pass upon
any questions that may arise. They
provide that in case of doubt. their
| experts judgment must stand.
| These corporations prescribe what
manner of uniform their employees
must wear, and tell them that they
that take it," said he. sis not run
ming the domestic affairs of their en-
ployes. It is right A man who
| builds selects his own engineer or
architect. but he is not running the
| business of his contractor. This
take it is fair comparison. We wish
| to appoint in the State of Connecticut
agents to see that the contracts en-
| bodied in the charters of the public
| service corporations are carried out.
Rowland Dry Goods Co. of Bridge
port. brought the trolley situation Of
Bridgeport wildly before the commit
| tee He said: ''Under the G. r. & L.
Co. up to four and one-half years ago
we had fair service. Then the N.
this G. r. & L. Co. We have gone
from bad to worse. It got so bad that
a month or six weeks ago our Mayor
! appointed a committee of IL men. four
from the Board of Trade. four from
the Manufacturers Association. and
four from the Business Mems Associa-
ton to take up the question. We
made an appointment with Mr.. Mellen
and had a two hour session. I be-
lieve that about every man on that
committee including myself went into
| that meeting redheaded. but after two
hours Mr. Mellen restored our hair to
it's natural COLOR And Mr.. Cooper
got a laugh at the expense Of his au-
burn locks.
"But we don't feel" said he. ''that
we should have been obliged to go to
Mr.. Mellen. We want a public SER
vice commission to whom to report
our grievances for speedy adjustment
I believe we have in the Bridgeport
division which covers many of the
surrounding towns. ITO cars less con-
siderably than one to every thousand.
On Fairfield avenue. the principal
thoroughfare and the street that has
the distinction of being the only one
that comes from somewhere and goes
somewhere. we have 10 minute
schedule. I believe we ought to have
at least a five minute and possibly
three minute schedule. Bridgeport
has grown very rapidly. even more
rapidly than the railroad people ex-
| pected. but the growth of the city
has been retarded. I believe, because
we have not had better trolley service.
I hope you will recommend a bill that
will lead to our getting the service
we think we are entitled to.
"On Dec. IA. 1907. our trolley SER
vice went out of business. The result
was that our sales were cut in two.
That is figuring conservatively. In
fact they were 40 per cent. of what
they had been on any second Saturday
of December since 1903"
He concluded with an element an.