The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1913-09-16

| He wears no factions collar
| Untarnished his renown
| And his name is f. G. Mullins,
| And he's going to sweep the town.
Mr.. Chairman and Gentlemen:
It affords me much pleasure I as
sure you gentlemen to be privileged
| to say a few words to the citizens of
| the Twelfth district who are gathered
| in this hall tonight
| And it becomes a double pleasure
| when in exercising that privilege
am afforded an opportunity to urge
! upon your attention the ACCESSIBILITY
of nominating that sterling citizen and
staunch democrat Frederick c. Null
| Inns for the office of chief magistrate
| of our commonwealth.
There are many men in this hall
| tonight who can tell you of the po-
| 1iticaI life and political service of Fred
| Mullins far better than I, men who
| can tell you of his years of service,
of the time and thought and labor and
| love, that he has given in furthering
| the interest of the Democratic party
| and exemplifyfng the principles of
good government as that party applied
them to the management of our city.
There are men here tonight who
can tell you the story of the days
when as the clerk of our city he estab-
1ished a record that has never been
surpassed, a record so pre-eminent,
that even to this day when we sdesire
to compliment public official, we
can think of no greater tribute to
pay him, than to say, his admins
tration of the office remind us Of the
days when Fred Mullins filled the
chair.
There are, I repeat, men here to
night who can tell you the story of
those days far better than I, men
who stood by him through the dark
days of democracy, shoulder to shout
der, and however dubious might seem
the issue, and however forlorn the
chance fought stea dfaStly on, cheered
by his faith in ultimate victory, and
his statements often reiterated, and to
which he chung as a cardinal princi-
Gle in his political creed, that a dem
ocrat was more apt to be right even
when he seemed to be wrong, than a
republican was even when he seemed
to be right.
To those men gentlemen, I am go
ing to leave the story of those days,
and be@it mine, with such poor power
as may command to speak of him
in the character in which I have
known him best that of a personal
friend.
For I esteem it one of my privileges
to call Fred Mullins my personal
friend and value that privilege none
the less because I share it with prac-
ticaIly every man, woman and child in
our city for where will you go that you
will not meet the friends of Fred
Mullins? You will find them among
the leaders and representative men of
our city, you will find them in the Of
fees of our stores and factories, you
will find them among our business
and professional men, among our
clergy and Iaity, all of whom are glad
to take Fred Mullins by the hand and
hkr ad nf
comparatively few short years ago,
was an humble mechanic, toiIng be-
fore a, press in one of our large man
ufacturing plants, winning in that po-
sitton the p1audits of his superiors, do
ing all things that came to his hand
as well as he knew how, which meant
he was doing them as well as it was
possible to have them done.
But it is not among the rich and
powerful alone that Fred numbers his
friends, many poor devil who was
down and out has known the lift of his
whom fate had dealt buffet after buff
fet, and blow, after blow, until dis
couraged he was about to give up the
fight, has felt his kindly clasp, heard
his encouraging word, and with re-
newed hope has been started once
more along the road of happiness,
many an orphaned child, many a wild
owed mother, has been enabled to |
keep the gaunt wolf of poverty from |
their door because of the help secur- |
ed from. kindly Fred Mullins. I know
that many may urge in answer to my
statements that after all the posses |
sion of a kind heart in itself is no |
qualification that fits a man to be |
mayor of our city and I would grant |
they were right were those the only |
qualifications that our candidate pos
sessed, but gentlemen you know Fred |
Mullins well I, you know that |
along with kind and generous i'm
pulses he unites ability that made
his record as city clerk a model for
others to follow, an ability that as a
business man places him second to
none, and an integrity that places his
name so high in our city that all who
run may read the story of his life and
the record of his doings.
would not have anything that
say here tonight be constrained as re-
our party, or as an Endorsement of any
political faction. political factions of
recent birth have too often been con-
ceived in the womb of hate and folly
to have any self-respecting Democrat
desire to father the offspring and I
believe I echo a, sentiment that finds a
place in the breast of every person in
this hall who places the good of our
city above petty quarrelS and person.
al ambitions when say that in in the
Democratic vocabulary we have no
such word as Organization and know
not the meaning of purity league
but regard them merely as empty
sounds and cunning phrases, coined by
an INSCRIPTIONS enemy, who, knowing
that a house divided against itself can
not stand, hope by provoking faction-i