The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-03-19
No Free Railroad Transportation for Members of the General AS-
 sembIy This Session
GOyERNOR'S VETO LONGEST ON RECORD
Representative MuTay Disputes Governors Right 10 Pass on COnstfutOnaity of the Matter nVOIVed--VOte Is 154
 to 39 to Sustain the Attitude of Governor

Hartford, March 19-There will be no free railroad transportation for mem berS of the General Assembly, this session. Today Gov. Baldwin vetoed the Peck free pass bill and the House by an overwhelming vote refused to pass the bill over the veto. The veto message went into the House and inn mediately after the prayer of Chaplain Parsons, the clerk began the reading of the document which was of con siderable length. 'The veto message was probably the longest ever sent to General Assem- bly, by any Cover nor of Connecticut. The Governors s objection to the bill was that it was unconstitutional As soon as the mes sage was received Representative Healy moved that the House recon sider it's previous action in passing the bill. On a viva voce vote the matter was reconsidered, a very few members voting either way.
 Representative Wilson's motion that the matter lie upon the table until 1t was printed, was voted down by the Republican side of the House. MT. Wilson doubted the vote and the Speaker was requested to consider the doubt. Representative Huntingdon of Wilmington said that 25 good members of the legislative committees, lawyers, had passed upon the constitutionality of the present statute and he thought his opinion as good the Governor g. Representative Mc9durray of Bridge port believed the bill should pass in spite of the Governors vetoa He thought the courts ought to pass on the legality of the matter.
 Represen Iandon of Old Say brook called the attention of the House to the fact that Gov. Baldwin was not a good judge of the constitutionaIity of the New London women's college bill, and said he thought he was wrong now.
 MT. Kirchberger of Morris said he needed the money as badly as anyone but he believed the veto ought to be sustained. This ended the debate and in compliance with the constitution the House proceeded to a roll call on the question of the passage of the bill the veto notwithstanding.
 The vote was 39 to pass and 154 against.
 GOVERNORS VETO.
 The Governors message. said in part:
 ""The constitution of this state pro- vides and has always provided that the compensations of the Governor, Lieut.-Governor, Senators and Repre- sentatives shall be established by law l and shall not be varied as to take effect until after. the election which shall next succeed the passage of the
 
 ''It was obviously thus intended to prevent the possibility of a vote by any Senator or Representative to in crease his own compensat tion. Re peated propositions to remove the linn itation of the power of members of the General Assembly to increase their own compensations, have been made but they have always been de- feated The bill which now returns is unconstitutiona1 because it is a | mode although an indirect one, of in creasing the compensation of mem bers of the present General Assembly.
 Now they each receive three hun dred dollars and a fixed mileage. Should this bill become a law it's purpose and it's only purpose would be to give them the same compensa- ton and also in addition, free trans portation daily to and from the scene Of their official duties. Such trans portation they must now secure at their own expenses
 '"This bill is designed to give it to them at the expense of others. What ever sum each member of the assem- bly, would thus be relieved from pay ing is equivalent to an addition of just that amount to his official com pensations.
 This bill, even if it were so drawn as not to take effect until after the next election would seem to me un- constitutional as obvious attempt to evade the force of the constitu- tionaI amendment of 1884. What the constitution prohibits cannot be done either directly or indirectly. Every dollar which it now costs a mem Der of the General Assembly to trav- el to and from the Capitol he would save if the bill became a law and all that he thus saved would be vir- tuaI addition to the compensations distinctly prescribed by the coneti- tuition for his official services and ex- penses.
 Several attempts to increase these compensations by a constitutional amendment have been made but they constantly met a strong public sen timent in opposition and have always failed of success.
 This bill appears to me to be in conflict with several of the more inn portant constitutional guarantees of Individual rights. One of these con- | tained in article first, section il, of the constitution of this state is that .'tthe property of no person shall be | taken for public use without just 1 compensation therefore,