The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-10-31
NKSKERS MYTH
 AS APPLIED TO
 CHAS. E. HUGHES
; Opinion That Former Cover nor Was a Great Execu-
 tive is Contradicted.
REFORMS ADVOCATED
 NEVER BECAME LAWS
Direct Primary Bill He Fathered Mocked By
 Party Bosses.

Party Bosses.
 Whishkers have always possessed 1 peculiar appeal to the American peo pie. In some qdeer way they hav come to be associated in the publi mind with honesty, simplicity, fore and high purpose. The patent medi cine fakers were first to grasp tn possibilities of this childlike belief and in their advertising it was alway bearded men who told of marvelou cures and miraculous escapes iron death.
 Only on the score of this blind. tra ditional faith in whiskers is 1t possible to explain the legend that has growl up around Charles E. Hughes Ever among those disappointed and alien ated by his campaign speeches, tn "'great Governor" ~/ r'
 As a matter of fact, he was a yer! poor Governor, futile to the last de gree. His failures were many. hi victories few, and when he quit Al bany for Washington he left behind him a disorganized public service, tri umphant bossism and financial dem ordination. Without executive ability without the gift of leadership, withou vision and resource, he blundered from first to last
 The reform to which he first ad. dressed himself was the Direct Pri. mary In every regular session of the Legislature, and throughout two ex. tradordinary sessions specifically con- vened to pass the law, Governor Hughes was <mocked and defeated by the petty party bosses and forced te quit the fight.
 This was failure No. 1.
 The Short Ballot was another re- form that he advocated in his first and second annual messages. Again the little bosses f1outed and beat him
 This was failure No. 2.
 The regulation of Wall street specu- lation in securities was specific Hughes promise. The bill embodyine his recommendation was defeated in his first term. and again in the second although the report of the Citizens Commission showed grave abuses.
 This was failure No. 3.
 Throughout his campaign, MT
  ton as advanced as that of Mir. Pin chot. Aside from ,the purchase o1 Saratoga Springs, no conservation measure of any kind was passed. Not only this: but he signed an amendment to the Long Sault charter that pre- sented water power corporation with grants of inestimable value. The steal was so obvious that subsequent Leg islaturet was forced to repeal the Hughes law.
 If ever prison reform needed a friend, 1t was during the Hughes ad- ministration. Sing Sing, with two men in each horrible little cell, was a place. of cruelty and madness, and the State shook to the demand that the disgrace be ended. In response to this clamor, a new prison site was selected ct Bear Mountain, but, after $268,- 3S9 had been expended, the land was turned over to a park proposition.
 Four years later the Sing Sing agi- tation was renewed, and this time a site was bought at Wingdale in Dutch ess county. A Republican architect received a contract. and a Republican quarryman in St. Lawrence county got the order for stone, but, after thous- ands had been squandered, it came to light that the proposed prison site was bog and quicksand.
 Four long years during which dis ease and insanity ravaged Sing Sing, yet not one Helpful law, not a Step towards prison reform, and the only effort for new Sing Sing made fruit less and aimlessness and graft.
 This was failure No. 5.
 Spurred to action by the increasing number of railroad disasters, dub to inadequate crews. the Legislature passed Full Crew Bill. Governor Hughes vetoed it.
 This was failure No. G.
 For years the people of the city of New York had been making a fight for a five cent fare to Coney Island. The happiness of thousands hung up- on the victory, for nickles are of prime importance in the lives of those tenement dwellers to whom Coney Is- land appeals. By some amazing trick of fortune, the bill managed to get through the gantlet of the bosses, and went to Governor Hughes for his sig nature. He vetoed it.
 This was failure No. z.
 All through the West, states were forcing two-cent passenger fare bills through their legislatures. New York awakened. A two-cents-a-mile passen- ger rate measure was introduced at Albany, public sentiment jammer it through, and again Governor Hughes came to the rescue of the corpora tions. He vetoed it.
 This was failure No. S.
 One of the best and most satisfac- tory laws on the statute books of New York today is the Equal Pay for Equal Work measure, expressing, as it does, the obvious truth that when women dc the same labor as men, they shall receive the same wage. This bill was first pressed to successful passage during the administration of Governor Hughes. It went to him for his sig and he returned it with this 
 "It is proposed by legislative enact ment to establish the proposition that for the work of given position wo- men shall receive equal pay with men. It is for this principle that the SUD- porters of the bill contend, and not for mere increased pay. I cannot approve this bill.''
 And because the principle offended him, he vetoed it.
 This was failure No. g.
 The Income Tax Law is now in suc- cessful operation under President Will son, and not a man in public life to- day dares quarrel with it. At the time