The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-04-05

I be overwhelmed with 8 flood of the protest coupons. Gentlemen do you know what the real facts are? I nev- CT received a single coupon. Think l of that.
 | "Yet you are asked to believe that the great sentiment of the people of | Bridgeport is back of the Taxpayers league, and their movement to tinker with our charter. These amendments which you are asked to inflict upon the people of Bridgeport without | their say or approval, made their ap
 a short few weeks ago. But they twere there long enough for the -coun-- cil to have favorably considered them if they were deemed worthy. The presence here today of myself and my colleagues, Aldermen DeForest and Paddock, on the vote of the com mon council to oppose these amend ments, indicated clearly the opinion of that body.
 "Gentlemen, Bridgeport is one of the best financed cities in New Eng | land and our bonded indebtedness is perhaps less than any city of our class. Now, you have been told that the Business Mems association and Manufacturers association and the Board of Trade have approved these so. l was present at a meeting of | the Business Mems association of l which I am a member. It had been | heralded for days in the press that this momentous question was to be discussed and the membership of that | body and the public at large was urged to attend in order that the, as- j'sociation might properly. sense the | sentiment of our people, We'll, gen tlemen, there was a meeting, and will you believe it, the large and enthusi- astic audience of fl stalwarts showed l up. Yes, gentlemen, there were fully as many as IA and the discussion be-
 gan. First one side would give them a kick. then the other would kick them back. They proved the most unwilling child I ever knew. Finally a vote was taken and the large and enthusiastic audience of IA voted, for approval and against, and our Iise and s;da discreet side doGg breaking the tie. = Then they were passed up to the Board of Trade. l Some one stepped on their corns up | there. At the meeting called to con kick and finally referred to a special committee in order to prepare for their peaceful interment. And so it has been gentlemen that at home mo- body outside of the few who have had a personal interest in their pass Business Mems association composed l of 250 of our foremost men of af- | fairs refused as a body to take action upon them. It was only by adopting a helter skelter device and to save | their face entirely that they were able to obtain a sort of quasi en- dorsement of some of them Why, I even the Business Mems association, through their directors. recorded 1 themselves as in opposition to any 1 decrease in the pay of the f1remen.
 "Gentlemen, there. is no corruption in Bridgeport. Our government is cleanly conducted. We have our lit tie ways of exchanging compliments with one another. Even at the pres ent time there is going iOn in our l has not been fruitful of result. I contend that the time is not ripe to consider radical departures in our 1 form of government. There has been introduced in the Board of Aldermen | by myself a resolution providing for a representative committee which would include mbership of the various civic bodies of our town for ! the purpose of ascertaining what we ought to do with respect to change in our organic laws but we don't want anything showed on us like this. When we do come here, we want to | come knowingly. We want to have every one in Bridgeport united and not divided into opposing groups and factions as they are today. We want to get the Jumps out of the sieve in | other words.
 "These amendments look to me like a can of soup on the back of the stove into which the housewife throws anything handy that comes along, hoping some day to get some l thing out of it. You notice that these amendments have considerable to say about the police and fire department. And how the employees of these de- partments should be regulated. But | "a see no mention, of the other boards equally as important. How about the Board of Education? Why no men, l ton of that? And our Park board? I suppose that is too pure to be dis 1 turbed. And our Library board Ah gentlemen, there you have the real Royal Baking powder absolutely pure
 "As a representative duly elected | by the people of Bridgeport to the Board of Aldermen I dislike to have that body regarded as a pin cushion into which every group with coneeit ed notions of superior forms of gov ernment shall jab pin, and when l they come to tell you of the number of tax payers they represent I ask you what about the great army of rent payers-who represents them i Are they not also tax payers? I want | to mention at this time what DeVer H. Warner, the head of one of our largest if not the largest manufac-
 
 of our aldermen who voted for an | increase in the fremen's wages, this alderman occupying, by the way re- sponsible position in MT. Warmers concern. MT. Warner said that AL derman Patrick Brady was not as well off as he, but he was just as honest. You know it doesn't do these | days for a. few men to arrogate to I themselves the idea that they possess all of the intelligence and intellectual | honesty of the community. You re- member the career of the late Cover nor John A. Johnson of Minnesota. You know they tried to kill him off | by saying that he was born and raised l in the poor house, but the great merican people answered that by making him their governor again and again and had he lived there is very l little question but that higher hon ors awaited him.
 'In closing I desire to thank you | for your patience and reiterate that representing the city of Bridgeport I am unalterably and teetotally oppos- ed to the adoption of these amend ments. You should say to us, go 1 back to your city, gentlemen ana set | tie your domestic differences there and don't like the fish woman in the legend, be bringing your domestic quarrels to your neighbor for settle | ment.'
 Representative w.. W. Bent in ad- dressing the committee informed them l that the gentlemen who were advo- eating the amendments represented no political organization nor did they ever put up a ticket at an election