The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-10-31

1t was while MT. Hughes sat In the Governors chair that pensions for aged teachers came to the front as 8 decent progressive idea. A Teachers Pension bill was passed, but again ii was a principle that Governor Hughes could not approve, and he vetoed it.
 This was failure No. II.
 The State Highways Department was organized under Governor Hughes with a $50,oo0,000 bond issue behind it. Politicians were appointed, not roadbuflders, there was waste and scandal, and the average life of a highway was three and a half years instead of the fifty that had been promised.
 This was failure No. 12.
 He promised economy. His admin wiped out surplus of $16,00O, ,0OO The cost of operating state depart ments increased $10,OOO,O00, and the cost of conducting the Executive de- partment went up $2O,000,000, all without visible return to taxpayers.
 This was failure No. 13.
 He promised financial reform. His blunder with regard to the State Sink ing Fund locked up $30,000,000, a foolish and unnecessary hoarding that has worked loss, confusion and debt.
 This was failure No. IA.
 He promised Civil Service reform. During his four years he ordered 21S Civil Service exemptions, as against 182 in the four years of Governor Odell, and. not content with this, pro- cured 345 Special exemptions" that gave appointments to henchmen with out competitive examination +
 AS matter of fact, he named more mediocres and units and misfits than any, other Governor. Not single ap- pointee stood out except when called before the bar of public opinion to answer charges. Whipple, his Forest, Fish and Game Commissioner, and forced to resign as the result of news paper exposure.
 This was failure No. 15. .
 With regard to public utilities, all that Governor Hughes had to do was to copy the laws that passed in Mis- souri and Wisconsin, both accepted models. Instead of this, he stood for an act that excluded telegraph and telephone companies from the control of the Public Service Commission, and was forced to admit at a later date that the bill was Unsatisfactory" The men that he named to the New York city commission were notoriously identified with corporation interests, and 1t was under their administration that the plans were laid for the later subway scandal. +. t' GN~. r
 For chairman of the upstate Pub lie Service Commission he named Frank w. Stevens, railroad attorney, who served the corporations so we'll that he was given a $30,000 year position by the New York Central at the expiration of his term.
 This was failure Mo- 16. & ..at.. :, :. As a matter of fact, the one victory gained by Governor Hughes was in connection with the race track bill. It took another of his frequent extra ordinary sessions of the legislature, but he did manage to get the law.
 A victory, indeed! Nothing was done for the toHers of the state, among them thousands of women and little children; nothing was done to end the shame of Sing Sing; civil ser vice and financial reorganization went unnoticed; wasters and grafters were as rats in flour barrel; every cor poration retained its right to extort and exploit; not law relating to so- cial justice went upon the statute books; but Governor Hughes won the fight to stop horse races.
 It Is upon this record that he goes before the people as one who was a great Governor" and 1t is upon this record that his supporters put him forward as one who will make a great President"
 A leadership that cracked and crumbled under every strain; blum derer who became the laughing stock of petty bosses; recationary blind to human needs and only alert when special privileges were menaced; at every turn the results stamp him as a failure, only saved from humiliation by peoples faith in whiskers.
 If MT. Hughes, as Governor, fell an easy victim to Barnes and the little local bosses, how Is it possible to inn agine that he would fare better with veterans of such experience and pow CT as Shoot, DuPont, Warren, Gal finger, Penrose, Lodge and Curtis who will be, at the head of the important committees if the Re- publicans regain control.
 Even assuming his willingness to favor progressive legislation, what is there in his record to prove ability to cope with the giants of reaction who would control the Senate?
 Compare the Hughes record with the Wilson record. For only two years was Woodrow Wilson at the helm in New Jersey, and during this period he had to battle with a Re- publican Senate and all the Demo- cratic bosses of the state. There were no extraordinary sessions, heavy with expenses for the people, for in the three months that legislature sat Gov ernor Wilson drove through laws that every pledge made to the peo- pie. Mark the list:
 Direct primaries for all elective state, county and municipal offices.
 Direct primaries for United States Senators and delegates to national together with popular ex- oression of Presidential choice
 A clear-cut Corrupt Practices act.
 Non-partisan ballots in both pri- naries and elections.
 A real public utilities law.
 A workmen's compensation law.
 An act enabling cities to adopt the plan of government.
 A complete reorganization of the 'chool system, effecting the. elimina- ion of DO1tics