Norwich bulletin., 1913-03-22
NEW LONDON HARBOR MEASURE
Believed That House Will Be Unfavorable Repea-Local Side of John Gordon = Napoleon Story Sidewalk to Be Resumed-Od-time Newspaper Days in This City.

Representative Henry Hall. of Wil'- 1 ington, the self appointed leader in 1 the house in advocacy of the McNeiil ] repeal bill concerning the million dol i lars appropriation for steamship ter i nlinalS at New London and the es- tablishment of state port. will re- i cede from his position if he pays due regard to consistency. as he is q 1 st1cker when it comes to vote for anything that is crudely drawn. He 1 announced his position in that respect
 when he declared in the house on i Thursday of the present week, when debate was on relative to the speed l of automobiles when in the vicinity Of i schoolhouses, that while in favor of 1 some such measure he could not vote 1 for that bill because it was crudeiy drawn MT Hall is an experienced l legislator and according to his own | ga wing he knows all the methods of legislative procedure and, as he says. with half an eye he can sse what is going on in the lobby. There fore he can readily see the crud deness of the McNeiI repeal bill with the two amendments attached. both of which were attached to estrange from the main question that was first un- der consideration.
 In the Perry amendment which re-
 quires the city or some of it's citizens
 to cough up $15o,oo as bid for the
 appropriation, and without any re-
 turn for the gift, which if the termin-
 als are built the state is. to get the
 revenue from the investment, is just
 trif1e crude and the crudeness is in
 creasced when the amendment does
 not permit the city to issue bonds to
 raise the large amount of money, were
 legislators who he probably thinks he
 controls, will readily see the crude
 ness and the unfairness of the propo-
 sition. The other amendment stipu-
 jcfi f1fut r-ip y~u
 spend the million dollars in addition
 to the two hundred and fifty thousand
 dollars. even if the whole sum is net
 required. But some smart chap wrote
 i'll the long ago that none are so blind
 a those that can and will not see.
 The vote on the repeal bill as
 annsnded was surprise to everybody
 and was not popular move. The ad-
 vocates of repeal did not expect to
 get over eleven votes for the measure,
 while those against the repeal fixe1
 the number of senators who would
 vote for repeal at eight So there was
 surprise on both sides. but the mos surprised senator of all was Archibald
 McNeill, Jr.. of Bridgeport, who fram- cd the repeal bill and used it as p,- litical club against parties of his own political faith and purely for person. the bill a thorough hearing maoe an unfayorable report on the repeal bill and eleven of the twelve members of the committee agreed to the report
 The other member. Senator Peck. who did not attend the hearing, presented the minority report and 1t is the Peck report rather than the commit tee report that the majority of the honorable senators favored.
 This important matter to the state of Connecticut will be given consd- eraticn in the house at noon next Wed nesday having been made the order oH the day and it will probably then be practically decided whether the pres ent legislature will undo what WAS done at the previous legislature and after a long, thorough and exhaustive consideration, undo, also the work planned by the commissioners com posed of conservative men, perhans too much so for the ~ood of the state, and who in their report recently is sued tell of the careful investigation made before authorizing the com- nlencement of the work and in which they recommend continuance GJv- ernor Baldwin, too. made tnvestiga tion with the commissioners and gave his approval of carrying the work to com pletion.
 The governor gave the whole mat ter careful consideration before he signed the original bill. and he will 1 probably think a couple of times be- fore he approves the repeal of q bill l that he previously approved. should l the repeal bill be carried by both the 1 houses of the general assembly, Just 1 at the present time the indications aro l that the repeal bill will not be sane l toned by majority of the house of 1 and that the Bridge 1 port bill will die the death it deserves. l The representatives thoroughly un l derstand the underlying motive of t'se ] -epeal bill and they also understood 1 |, 4 i- 3Ir tIai state port is not 8 gift but an invest nent that will bring the state a rev. 1 anua that will more than pay ths i regular rate of interest on the 1 mount. They also knew that tha whole state will be benefited by hav- l ng an ocean steamship terminal l within it's borders that can be cor structed and maintained for less mon ay at New London than any othef place in the state or in New Eng and.
 That John Gordon Napoleon story with which every New Leadoner oS laif century ago was familiar and which has recently been revived anu 'evised without regard to the facts,
 eems te be still on the grand rounds tnd becomes exceedingly kaleidoseo- 1 )ieai as it travels Some fellow once l rain until the end of time. that IS nen grow old they become reminiscent md forgetfui Of the truth This is
 pplicable locally iR the recent re- ival of the Gordon- Napoleon story. has been said that AIT. G Gofdon was possessed Of much literary merit IS fa.s shown in his newspaper fight for aaRing New London the great navy ard Of the future during the period ffleu the contest was as to Wheth- 1 [ New London on League Island was , be selected as navy yard loca ion, and the latter won. That was { bso4utely false as MT. Gordon neIe. -rotc line for newspaper on tlee 1 ubjecf or any other for that mar