Norwich bulletin., 1918-10-12
Cspeclal to The Bulletir,l

New London Oct. n.-Elias Frank Morgan is now mayor of the city of New London and by virtue of his of flee under the charter. is also the chief of police. He was elected mayor over John F. Murray, democrat, by ma
 jority of 100 and an added 13 for good measure. It so happens that the ma-
 tority he received in the entire city was exactly the same as accorded him in the first, his home ward. With this ward out it would have been tie vote for the mayoralty. This first ward has often been carried by the democrats, and perhaps that's a reason why the defeated candidate ayers that he was defeated by alleged democrats in that ward, who are of the Miner faction of the democratic party and carried their political venom beyond the par ty caucus.
 There are so-called Miner factions in every ward in the oity and it seems bit queer that all democrats voted straight in all the other wards and vot- ed crooked in the First.
 There always has been and always
 probably will be these little "nisun-
 derstandings' in the game of poll
 tics, and Mir. Morgan has been elected
 
 three years and starts off with a sub- stantial republican majority in the
 court of common council. He also
 happens to be the first mayor who will receive a salary worth while, an in
 crease in the pay having. been made from $500 to $2000 year Not a very
 bad salary for Mayor Morgan. He can
 afford to give all his time to the ser
 vice of the city.
 One of Mayor Morqan's first acts,
 officially, was the appointment of Former Mayor M. Wilson Dart as his
 private secretary, at an increased sal ary of 5000; pretty good pay for the
 service rendered, even for an eX-nlay- or who could afford to retire from ac- tive business. Still the salary rais- ing, is quite general in the city offices and there is no valid reason why the l mayor and his secretary should not get theirs. They are surely entitled an increased salary even more than some of the chair warming city office holders, who give
 a few weeks of actual work in a year and receive full years pay.
 Mayor Mordan's second official act
 was conference with the captain and the lieutenant of police, indfcat- | ing that he was to assume the full authority of chief of police and give l the department affairs his personal supervision. In the years that have gone it has beenthe by-p1ay of mayors l to mix up police matters and to take
 a whack at police work whenever the 1 notion struck them and with the re- l suit of decreasing the efficiency and | discipline of the force by their unnec- | essary interference.
 l Soon the mayor will appoint commit l tees to manage the several city de- | partments, including the police, and l these committees will in all probabih- | ty be permitted to perform the com mittee duties without interference, al- I though the mayor is ex-officio chair man of all committees. There will un- | doubtedly be exception, however, in | solar as goes the police committee | This seems to be the channel through 1 which the mayor gains the favor ot l those who are always ready to knock | the police, right or wrong. The may Tors remind of a notice stuck up in the news department of a local newspaper
 office some years ago that bore these | significant words: When local news | is scarce; get after the police; knock 1 them at, will but keep within the libe | lines. Speak encoura gingly of the fire
 men. for there are lots of them" That 1 notice was not signed. was not offieia
 but it was generally observed.
 l The city election was clear repub | liean victory even if the democrats die
 elect aldermen in the Third and Fourtl wards That's all they did get except
 minority representation on the boards l of seTectmen and school visitors ant
 water board No, there was no excep- tion, a usual and yet unusual excep- tion. Thomas R. Murray, democrat | was reelected a member of the boart | of assessors, defeating A1marin T Hale, the republican candidate Mur. 1 ray has repeated this trick on seiera | occasions, even when his party ha. l been beaten to frazzle. This is due tt l the personal efforts of Mr Murray l who starts out to win with a persisten
 cy that excites the admiration of hi, political opponents and they vote fo
 him in preference. to the republican
 party candidate. So long as Murray i
 a candidate for assessor it would say, humiliation were the republicans t,
 make no nomination for assessor -lza-.5a.s |