The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-04-06
SENATOR PECK
 FOR INITIATIVE
 AND REFERENDUM
Believes These With Recall Are True Complements of Repre- sentative Government '
President BOlande Reelected to Head Business Mems Asso- citation = Senator Judson At tends Annual Meeting


 Permeated by a spirit of good fel-
 lowship, the informal dinner of the
 Bridgeport Business Mems Association
 on the occasion of it's annual meeting,
 held in the Stratf1eld last evening, was
 the sort the progressive organization has held.
 Several excellent speakers were on hand, among them Senator Stiles Jud-
 son, chairman of the Judiciary com mittee, before which the Business
 Mens public utilities bill is pending,
 and Senator c. S. Peck of Danbury,
 who spoke at length on the commis- sion form of government.
 Senator Judson gave the merchants
 an informal talk in lighter vein, touch ing upon such timely topics as the an- nexation of Stratford. Tn passing, he told of his great respect for MT. Vim cent, who was once his teacher. His I respect for MT. Vincent was inspired from the early days when the teacher
 took it upon himself to administer a | trouncing to a boy who had put it all
 over young Judson. Speaking seri- ousIy he praised the merchants and i particularly MT. Vincent for their ac-
 tivities in the public utilities mat | ter
 Senator Peck, who presented to the l Legislature the bill aiming to give cit l ies a uniform charter, spoke at length | on municipal government The fault l of the administration of government in cities, he said, is not that Of the
 officials, but of the system. He de-
 clared the principles underlying the
 initiative and referendum and the re- >f -l Ocsny1- | tative form of government yet at
 tempted Then he spoke on the pri-
 mary election, and dwelt upon the ad- vantage of keeping down the Humber | of candidates to the minimum that
 the people may have a better oppor-
 tunity to judge them. His charter, | he said, left the decision of all things | to the majority of the people. The annual reports showed cash balance of s4OS.73; and IA new mem bers, bringing the total up to 197. | Mayor Buckingham, who spoke brief 1 ly, felicitated the business men upon l their interest in politics and express | ed his pleasure at feeling welcome to l the cooperation of the body in pro- iects of interest to the city as whole. The Bridgeport Business Mems Asso- | citation, he said, is establishing a rep
 utation, not alone for the association, but for the city itself.
 | The annual election resulted in the ratification of the report of the nomi- 1 mating committed All the former of l ficials were elected, by unanimous vote, as follows:
 | Frank w. Bolande, president; Char l les D. Davis, vice president, George
 R. Burnes, secretary; D. .Fairchiid
 Wheeler. treasurer.
 Directors: Andrew M. Cooper, Frank | D. Bell, George E. Crawford, Charles
 M. Cole, Russell T. Whiting, Robert | T. Rock, Edward l.. Graves, Robert | F. Hurley, Neil M. Muirhead, Angus H. Mackenzie, M. W. Manwarfng, Carl C. Beck. Charles L. Gaylord Jo-
 seph P. Frisbie. Isaac Moss, Charles F. Coe Samuel F. Vincent, James Roy, | James Feeley, John F. Keane. Carl Foster, attorney.
 | President Bolande reported as fol- lows:
 | .'I shall make my report for the past | year very brief. Each time that I | have been unfortunate enough to be | citation I have protested in a feeble
 way. Last year I remember stat 1 ing in my report quite emphatically l that I would not be able to serve
 again This year I expressed to the
 nominating committee my desire that
 someone else carry the responsibilities | of the office during the coming year. At one time the committee seemed quite human and sympathetic but it | soon recovered and I finally surren- l dered to it's magnetic influence.
 '"This cannot go on forever, and l | sincerely hope and pray that another
 year will find some one willing to take
 the office and carry on it's work. I l am confident there are many men within the association who would up
 hold it's interests and extend it's 1n-
 fuence far more efficiently than l l can.
 CT wish to express hearty thanks and appreciation for the solid sup | port and active cooperation I have
 received during the past year by the | board of directors. This body is par l ticularly effective and has shown much discrimination and .sagacity in hand 1 ling matters of more or less public
 nature. It is thought more to the as 1 sociation's interest to conduct the bulk
 of the business through the board of 1 directors leaving the monthly meet | ings of the association to be taken up | with matters of a general and enter l taining nature. It has been found in the past that the dry routine of busi- ness failed to attract very large attendance.
 "I wish to urge in this connection | a constant attendance on the part of | the members upon the monthly meet l ings. We often have speakers of some note who are not partlcularly l encouraged by empty chairs. I would also suggest that members who are concerned in any subject of interest | to business men or to the city gen. orally, should bring that subject read 1 ily before the association for discus | sion and action. It is desired that the association shall directly benefit busi- | ness men.
 .sThe matter of establishing a public | service commission in this State is | still pending in the Legislature. The 1 Bridgeport association has been one of | the most active of all the associations | to get this legislation passed, believing | it for the interests of all the people 1 in the State It will not retire from it's position, and whether the results 1 sought are gained or not the associa- | ton will have the satisfaction of hav- | ing fought a good fight, and be ready | to take up the battle again if neces-
 sary.
 '@The association is fortunate in hay l ing men interested in this movement 1 who are not easily discouraged, and the fact that no personal interest en- | ters into the situation, makes their | position all the more creditable. ',rhe association was called upon recently to discuss and approve cer. tain amendments to the city charter. ties and personal opinions, it was han dled carefully and with full caution. This was not the associations fight, and it is sometimes question how far it should go in a subject of this