The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-01-12
SHOULD VOTE ON
 COMMISSION CHARTER, SAYS
 BARTLETT, SENATE PRESIDENT
Hearing on Commission Attracts Many to Common
 Gouncil.-Iseal Question Is Whether Matter 9 Shall Be Submitted

[ -.
 Charles D. Davis said: When enough citizens of Bridgeport want commission form of government, we shall have it.
 George E. Crawford said: ssIt seems to me that this question has been so. well advertised in the news papers and magazines that almost ev- cry one has made up his mind whether he fayors 1t or not z
 stAs I understand it.a said Attorney Robert G. DeForest the question as to whether or not Bridgeport is to have commission form Of government is not to be decided here tonight but rather whether or not this matter shall be presented to the people to see if they want it. don't know whether am in favor of commission form of government or noS.''
 IF w. Bo1ande: "My Friend De- Forest said he didn't know whether or not he is in favor of commission form of government and then he rather cleverly presented arguments against 1t.
 zone or two of his suggestions are that the people wouldn't have so much to say under the commission form of government. As remem- Der it. it was the custom to hold con- venti ons and make nominations. The people had little to say about these | to vote for either the Republican or Democratic or other party nominee.
 sunder the coxnmission form of government anybody may be a cam didate. All that is necessary to be a, candidate is to get 100 taxpayers then the people may vote for wE1 om they please In certain city, that | recall, there were 90 candidates for the five con1missionerships Ey- erybody was interested and every body talked about the candidates A preferentfaI election reduced the number Of candidates to ten. Later the five who had the highest num- Der Of votes were elected. It seems to me the people have more to say under that system.
 Now it is practically impossible to fix responsi bility. With each com missioner having two or three de- partments under his charge it will be easy to fix the blame. Under the re- call system the commissioner is apt to be very careful. To my knovvl- edge there have been only two or three cases where recall has been ex- ercised As has been said, it is a good deal Of burglar alarm. II #centralizes responsibility and gives the city a chance to be run on sbusi- kness principles.
 q don't see why we should elect a clerk, a. town clerk ana others every few years. The banks and business houses don't change their clerks ev- cry few. years They remain and un- der the civil service rules and the merit system they are advanced ac- cording to their capabilities. z
 Attorney Bartlett said he thought the purpose of the committee and was to present the matter to the al dermen to see if enough people were interested to bring about a referen- dunn vote on the matter He said he desired to see 1t presented to the peo- pie for, an expression of opinion. E. L. Graves, Neil M. Muirhead and At torney T. E. Steiber also favored this plan.
 Stephen Boucher who was the last speaker then launched into a denun- citation of the press. He said no mat ter of public interest received a fair nrasentatinn in tfa press..