The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-07-24

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 In the present case we shall seek, hunbly, as we have done with other matters upon re- quest from the same source, to justify such blame we have placed upon Mayor Wilson, with respect to the result of the consolidation matter.
 Let us assume the consolidation, of The Post and The Telegram under management, by virtue of corporate agreement between their respective companies,
 Let us assume that certain stockholders of these companies should protest that in some respect the consolidation was illegal.of course there is no such protest and the statement is merely for illustration--and ask the courts to set the matter aside.
 Suppose that inferior court should sus- tain the consolidation, and that the matter should be appealed to the court of last resort.
 Suppose that pending the decision, the managers of the consolidation should hire a large quantity of additional help under con- tract and should incur greatly increased ex- penditures, and should otherwise proceed as if the consolidation were legal. Suppose then, the court of last resort should forbid the whole transaction. Would our contemporaries then say their conduct had been that of prudent men?
 Mayor Wilson is lawyer. He must have known he was not "obeying mandate of the people, for he was present at hearings before the committee, where he was informed that the people could not give mandate in such case.
 The mayor, being lawyer, may be ezz- pected to know, better than most men, that no litigation is concluded in this, or any other state while an appeal to it is pending before any court of last resort.
 The mayor, as a lawyer, must have known that this litigation was supported by such law yers as John c. Chamberlain and Former City Attorney Thomas M. Cullinan, whose abilities were sufficient to make even laynnan con Hsider carefully his legal bona fides in such a case.
 Yet the mayor proceeded to increase his police force, to extend pavements and fire de- apartment and other city services into the dis puted territory, and as result has brought the city business to state of rare confusion. s
 We say that in taking these steps, under conditions as they existed the mayor was not acting with ordinary prudence. He was blum |dering And we say that, after absolute dis honesty, there is nothing city afford to show less patience with than blundering in inn portant offices.
 The criticism is fair upon another princi- pie. Just as The Post may forgive one blunder on the part of any employe. but will be dis inclined to overlook two, or three blunders, so with the city. This is not the first time the mayors disregard of the legal verities of a sit uation has been expensive for the taxpayers
 Less than four months have elapsed since in the face of repeated warnings, he called an ilegaI election, which he himself felt obliged to hold again, at considerable cost to the city
 He has plunged into the WaPrenite paw
 
 torney, and may succeed in the litigation which his conduct has procured and may not.
 But either way, the litigation, expense and scandal would have been spared had he pro- Eceeded in the accustomed manner of his prede- lcessors.
 We think The Post, in discussing matters like the present, ought to discuss the facts upon their merits. And it ought omeday to come to know that there are many other kinds of pre- judice affecting the minds of men, and the minds of newspaper men, other than political prejudice, The editor of The Post, having been very well treated by the present administra- ton, may eonceivably have bias in it's favor. The Farmer does not claim it, and merely re fers to the possibility of it, for the purpose of making it clearer that every criticism from every source must at the last, be judged by the values inherent in it. Partisan color too great anxiety to convict, will impair it's useful ness. But if one says another stole horse, the value of the statement will depend upon whether or not the horse was, in fact stolen by the other.
 If, however, The Post continues to believe that Mayor Wilson in the consolidation case has acted wisely, prudently, like good lawyer and good executive, The Farmer will give it credit for good faith, and remain amazed at it's Judgment