The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-03-04


OF interest to Bridgeporters follow
ing the Legislative activities at Hart
lord Is the following letter to the
Hartford Times from its New Haven
correspondent:
Senator Ernest L. Isbel1 leader Of
the majority in the upper branch OF
the state legislature, is very much in
the linnelight at this moment both IN
this city and IN the state. gu md
some Republicans in this locality pre-
dieting his downfall or his utter elm
ination as a political factor mere
abouts after the adjournment OF the
legislature, and you can put your M.
ger on & number of ether Republicans
who are confident that the senator has
made himself very strong and very
popular with the state machine that IS
at this time regulating the affairs OF
EConnecticut Republicans
From external appearances the sen
ator himself doesn't ppear to be in
the least disturbed over whether he IS
faVorab1y or otherwise in the lime
light That he Is annoyed at some OF
the dings that find their way into print
is true but it is understood that he
dismisses these criticisms with the re-
mark that when a person is more or
less in the public eye he must Aexpect
a. certain amount OF attention, even Il
it isn't always OF such a nature as Q
be agreeable.
q
Those of his friends who discuss
the stormy situation in which the sens
ator Is in the very center do not hes
itate to say that Mr.. Isben wasn't al
together alone in the creation of the
political disturbances which have
stirred the state the past few weeks,
and that the program. which he fol-
lowed IN the senate, and in which he
was a hearty believer, had been thor
oug'hly gone over and decided upon be-
fore it was ever presented to the SEN
ate. And it is claimed, too, that the
blame for the civil service law which.
finally went to the executive depart
ment for the governors signature
should be parceIed out among = nurn-
Der of the state leaders of the Repub-
| lican party, with a good share of it go
ing to the New Haven statesman who
took such an important part in push
ing It through the senate at least.
Senator Isbell, so his friends de-
clared today, is not Sinking any of
the responsibility for his share in the
work he put in to secure its approval
by the senate and the house. It is un-s
derstood that the chairman of the Re
publican state central committee and
some othe4 members of the committee
who are evry close to him in directing
the state machine had a. hand in the
game. Trying to place it all at the
door Of the Republican leader from
this city in the senate is laughed at
by those who are in the confidence Of
Senator IsbelL
Big Fight in New Haven.
And that those same powerful state
leaders Will stand by the New Haven
senator in the future when politics
has the stage in this city is taken
for granted by those who are stII
numbered in tbs column of IsbelI adj
nIrers. Those who are sitting on the
lower branches of the tree and watch
ing the political procession pass these
days, do. not hesitate to say that in
time he will need all the political as
sistance that is coming to him from
state leaders of the party, for if the
signs are at all dependable the New
Haven senator will be the target one
of these fine afternoons for the keen
est kind of Political shar pshooting
that has been witnessed in this part
of the state for some time. Still that
does not worry the senator so much
as it does some of the republicans
| who have trained with him for a num-
Der of years and who like to see him
on top as often as possible and the
other fellow underneath.
That Police Court Judgeship
1t hasn't passed out of mind that
Senator Isbe1l was the handspring in
carrying to a successful finish the
selection of Major George E. Hall for
one of the judges of the police court
Of New Haven. without Isben Hall
wouldn't have had much of show
to win. He bore the brunt of the
fight and he, being senate chairman
OF the Judiciary committee, occupied
a place of advantage that certainly
could not be regarded as harmful to
Hall. Here in New Haven all the
contestants, for and against, in that
big. memorable legislative battle, are
still discussing the why's and where
fores that marked the defeat of ex-
Judge Hoyt, said to be the machine
selection, and the victory of Major
Hall, who was the choice of what has
come to be known these days as the
IsbeIl faction of the local republican
camp. There are charges and coun-
] ter charges of political ingratitude
on the one side or the other and all
the talk finally gets down to this sig
nif1cant conversation:
wait till the next municipal cleo
ton comes around and there won't be
enough left to the political element
that espoused the cause of Major
Hall to make a respectable showing
at the republican caucuses.
/ Meaning, Of course, that what is
known as the U1lrnan machine in this
city, one of the most powerful polit-
/ ica1 organizations in the town, will be
turned loose to crush the deve1op-
l ment and the progressive disposition