New Britain herald., 1915-11-09
Little Dinners" (Bridgeport Telegram. ]

Some interesting political history in the Connecticut Legislature, with special reference to the Senate as a bulwark of railroad interests in the | old days, is being disclosed by the letters made public in New York at the trial of former directors of the 1 New Haven railroad for criminal vio- l lat1on of the antitrust laws. The disclosures deal with the great battle which the late John M. Hall, 1 then President of the New Haven system, waged against the extention of the trolley in Connecticut, bat tie in which the railroad and one part of the lobby was badly defeated. Reference is made to little din- l ncrs' for the Railroad Committee
 and for Senators. In that session, as in almost all others until 1915, when a remarkable departure was ! made. the railroad attorneys set up the Railroad Committee and that body carried the same load of sus- l p1cion and discredit that has been attached to every Railroad Committee within the memory of the oldest Capitol visitor around Legislative times. Also as in other years the House took intense delight in swat l ting that Committee, while the senate | generally backed it up. In this year, however, the trolley extension was
 so strongly demanded by the people,
 a'Ld It was so easy to offer induce
 n'ents, that even the Senate left its
 railroad moorings to be on the slde
 cf general public desire.
 1 Those who recall the session of
 1897 and 1899, when the fight be- tween the railroad and the trolley
 interests was at it's height, will re-
 member the many interesting battles
 which took place over trolley charters
 which in any way approached rail- road territory.
 1 It was in these battles that the late | State Senator Allan w. Paige gained 1 his influence, at that time leading 1 the trolley companies in the effort 1 to acquire foothold. He was on the popular side then and almost invari- ably won.
 Of the effectiveness of those little l dinners there was no doubt among certain Senators, and with the Rail- l road Committee. But when it came l to do battle in open the memory of the dinners was not strong enough to overcome the public demand for ] trolley development.
 There is one strikingly interesting
 disclosure in letter written by Presi- dent Hall to no less a distinguished 1 person that the late States Attorney Samuel FesSenden. The particular fight involved at that time was over l the Montvile electric road which was 1 to parallel the New London and | Northern and Norwich and Worcester branch Of the New Haven road. True to it's record the subservient Railroad Committee, of which the l late State Senator Kendall was chair | man, voted unfavorably upon the proposed charter. When the report , was made to the senate the chairmas
 moved to indefinitely postpone, but | was defeated. An effort was to be
 F? ade to reconsider after the bill was
 Lassed. and here it was that influence 1 vas bagged right and left.
 The late Governor George E. Lounsbury was in the Senate at that
 time and he supported generally troll
 ley development. This fact was noted
 by the railroad men and they wanted
 MT. Fessenden's influence to get a
 change of heart It does not appear l that MT. Fessenden was successful 1 if he tried. George E. LOunSbury was
 man who did his own thinking. He
 was one of the best Legislators anc | Governors Connecticut ever had. There is one very interesting pas | sage in the Hall letter to MT. Fes- senden relative to the position o1 1 Representative Robert Colt of New
 London, then in the House. The
 letter said Colt had livery foolishly' pledged himself for the charter. be-
 cause he wanted to go to the Legis-
 lature, "but was at heart against it.
 There was a fear that if the bill
 passed the Senate and went to the
 House, Colt would lead the fight and
 win, which would settle the matter
 hence the desire for a reconsideration 1 in the Senate.
 1 It is a pretty bit of Legislative his- l tory, all well known to those who
 were present during the session. How l the railroad was defeated is a mat
 ter of record and it all but broke l President Halls heart.