The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-10-17
Especial to The Farmer ]

dCIlOHdEy
 Especial to The Farmer.)
 Waterbury, Oct. 17.-One of the most
 remarkable political gatherings in the history of Connecticut took place at the Auditorium here last evening, when Congressman E. J. Hill of NorwaI&
 undertook to discuss the issues of the campaign with Congressman Oscar W. iDnderwood- Mayor Francis B. Reeves
 presided There were present notables
 in politics from many parts of the state and an audience of large proportions that did not diminish perceptibly for the more than two and one-haIf hours of the interesting controversy.
 Congressman Hill opened with a talk Of enc hour; Congressman Underwood followed with a talk of an hour and a quarter, and Congressman Hill closed the discussion with another quarter hour. Congressman Under wood did not have rebuttal. He 4ss1red s ed the s;,.n committee of arrangements satisfied to give F1ill the first and last chances at an audience. Though EiII was handicapped to a certain ex- originally been planned as a Demo cratic rally, nevertheless he had a large following in his audience.
 The gentleman from Connecticut speech of the customary fIill type. | bristling with figures, teen1ing with the world He accused the Demo- cratic house of destroying Capnonism 1 to upbiild an oIigarchss of {Jn6e wood ism far worse. He said he stood for Connecticut absolutely when any question of common veal came up in which Connecticut was arrayed the Democratic party of standing ab- soluteIy for free trade and called to witness the act of the state of South Carolina back in 1882 when she refused to stand for tariff an incontroverti- ble proof of this fact
 Congressman Hill and his secretary had a, pile of books, papers. speeches, and memoranda from which ever and anon the N'orwalk statesman dug a torrent of figures. Congr essn1an Un- derwood sat imperturbable during the Hill address. With G1Ss strong, youth fu1 face relaxing occasionally into a smile when Hill took a. particularly vicious l1Inge at the Democrats, he calmly awaited his turn. He made not a, single note during the whole debate He had not a note for reference. Yet when he took the center of the stage he proceeded to scholarly arraign- ment of Hill and his policies.
 There was no question about it. The gentleman from Alabama speedily got the goat of the Norwak representa- tive He conmiserated with Hills friends that Hill-sincere, honest, able should be unable to keep abreast of
 the times; that he should cling to the old standpat principles that are going so rapidly into the discard; and pro ceeded in this manner to get the Nor walk gentleman so highly wrought up that at times his wrath was almost pitiable.
 The charge of ''stand pat'' did not settle well with Congressman Hill When he got a. chance to respond. he took up so much time trying to de- fend himself from the charge that he was unable to read a, second edition 41. fr11 6n bod begun to unbosom during his first hour. Hill tore up and down, shook his fists, tried to restrain himself, and gave an exhibition Of -1mpOtent rage that was a source of keen delight to the humorously inclined of the biz audience.
 give any display of losing the deadly coolness that is his striking charac- teristic in heated controversy. That was when Hill accused the Southern Democrats-of sectional legislation.
 Underwood ably defended himself, and for a brief moment, gave a display or some feeling as he did so.
 The Alabama Congressman rid1culed
 President Taft's tariff board-a set Of
 clerks he termed them responsible to
 no one, representative of one. He
 said HiM's attitude was an admission
 that he couldn't write tariff bill,
 that he didn't know how. and had
 Baseba1lically speaking, 1t was
 case Of Hill out. Underwood, unas-
 sisted. But it was good natured.
 splendid audience, giving respectful
 attention to both speakers, interrup-
 tions coming only with manifestations
 of well scored points. Unexpected in-
 terruption came for Congressman Hill
 when he mentioned the name of Gov
 ernor Wilson in passing Tumultuous
 applause broke loose, and Hill, pettish-
 ly asked his audience if they would
 applaud the same way a, year from
 now if they elected Wilson
 Congressman Hill opened his ad
 dress by attacking the methods of the
 members of the Democratic House in
 caucus. It is now the first time in
 history, he believed, in any event the
 first time in IS years that party
 caucus has been supreme. He review
 ed the organization of the House in
 April 1911, with 227 Democrats and 164
 Republicans, a majority of 63 for the
 Democrats, and then he said that half
 the Democrats-or two-thirds, the re
 quisite proportion for binding action
 directed the destiny of the House of
 Representatives. Making use of his
 famalia1- methods of calculation, MT.
 Hill went on to claim that through
 this way of doing business 31 per cent
 of the population directed the other
 S9. He regarded the statement that
 a minority eventually had control of
 the ma jorLty, in fact that under
 present conditions there is minority
 government, as a startling declaration.
 Sectional control means sectional
 leRiSla atiO0.' concluded Congressman