New Britain herald., 1914-07-27
DEMOCRATIC MACHINE IS PLAYED BY FISHER

gaDlzduOl S fIgl[l0g h|m.
 GIVES MONDAY TALK HERE Says He and Gunshanan Will Smoke
 Out'' Tuberculosis Commission and
 Warns Against Allowing Teeth to Be
 Drawn From Compensation Act.
 Professor Willard c. Fisher, the former Wesleyan university instruc- tor who is seeking the gubernatorial nomination on the democratic ticket, made the charge at a noon talk at the corner of High and Myrtle streets today that the powers that be in the democratic party, the leaders the machine. are opposing him at every point and doing everything in their power to discourage his aspirations.
 1T find passive or active opposition at every point" he told the crowd. They're trying to pull the same old game. The organization is trying to block me. What do they care for the people? But believe me, Pm go- ing to get the nomination Paste that where you can see it." x "On what party?" asked one of his auditors. "On the democratic party" was the reply. "It has been said in the. press ~that am an independent democrat. That is not so. There is not more regular democrat in North America than I am. My greatest trouble is that those who profess to be dem- ocrats are not democrats"
 Will Smoke Out Commission.
 Professor Fisher lauded John Gun shanan, former tuberculosis commis- v sioner who failed to be reappointed by Governor Baldwin.
 But John Gunshanan has some : thing up his sleeve and I've got some thing up my sleeve, too, and we're going to smoke out the tuberculosis commission. John Gunshanan has made charges of dereliction against the commission but they have re- mained unanswered
 s Professor Fisher knocked the con- vention method of choosing candi- dates.
 What do you see at a convention ?'' he asked. "A mob of delegates who don't know who is going to be nom mated until the leaders get together and frame up a slate Then the : delegates give the slate a perfume tory O.-aK.'' -~-~
 The speaker said he also stood for a law which will call for the nom- ination of state officers by petition. Make the number of names nec- essary to each petition large enough to keep the faddists off the ballot 2 he said.
 Workmen's Compensation. The greater part of Professor Fishers speech was devoted to the workmen's compensation act of which he claims to be the father. He charged that certain interests are planning to pull the teeth from the act To his way of thinking the act has not enough teeth and he would give it a new set of molars and sharp tusks.
 Professor Fishers speech on the act .follows:
 Workmen's Compensation.
 My position as to workmen's com pensation and the compensa tion law | can need no great amount of explana- ( ton. Before there was any compen- sation law in America I had a fair : Knowledge of the experience of other countries; and I became convinced that this new method of giving solace : --it is not properly compensation for industrial injuries was one of the most benefcent developments in mod ern life. In this belief I was one of the first, perhaps quite the first pointedly to urge such a law for Con- necticut At any rate, in tbe sum- z ner of 1910, at a meeting of the Hart ford Central Labor union, I asked those present to cease working for mere changes in the conditions of em- ployers' liability and to direct their every. effort toward compensation law.
 "As fuller knowledge of the worlds experience has deepened my ~convictions, and as new experience has rendered ever better results, I have become more and more devoted to the advancement of this particular measure, both in Connecticut and else where. In the legislative session of 1911, as authorized representative of the Hartford Central Labor union, drafted and supported a bill which was made the basis of unanimous favorable report and was passed in the senate, only to meet defeat is1 the house. In the session of 1913, under the directions of the joint labor and Judiciary committees, drafted the present law.
 My own conviction of the great merit of such law has never wav cred. And as nation after nation abroad. and state after state in America have enacted compensation laws. and as experience has thus ac- .cum mulated under the most varied con- ditions. the superiority of this mod err 1uau nf giving Solace for industrial