The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-08-29

the cIty, the city auditor ana other functionaries. about to con- sign to the fire more than two millions of cancelled bonds. This picture appearing upon the eve of an election. ought to be thoughtfully considered by the voters. It is said that voters have short memories. that they do not recol1ect from one election to another what has happened to them; that they come to period of vexation, make some pressing changes. and forget.
 
 For years another picture would have been appropriate if it had been printed in the news papers, on the eve of an election. It never was, for no such picture was taken. It would have been a picture in which the mayor and the politicians stood in front of a furnace, burning money. The money was burnt; not in the city hall furnace, but in the budgets which were made in city hall.
 What Is the difference between burning money in furnace and throwing it away on a little bridge, designed to cost $200,0O0. and which does cost almost a mill lion dollars? Or in putting 1t into pavements, for which more money is paid by a million or so than ought to be paid?
 The mayor who presides over the cancelled bond burning is the same mayor elected last fall in an uprising of citizens. In the five years that preceded his ap- pearance in city hall bond issues increases from a million to two millions a year. Some difference in method. In other times under sIIdSyoG oCpL J0AAAPS& wv millions. Under this mayor. two millions are cancelled and burn ed.
 The very name bond" is sug- gestive. It means primarily, a tie, a fetter. anything which re- strains freedom, prevents action, and keeps men and cities in one spot. When a city owes a great debt, its freedom is limited. They cannot have, they cannot enjoy many things which aforetime were theirs. The money that once went into comforts and luxuries, goes into rent. and into an in creased cost of everything that is purchased for the individual. or for the home.
 Two sets of primaries are ina- .oediately scheduled. Both Of them have a bearing upon the matter of bond burning and free dom, In the Republican conven- tion, the Voters League attempts to destroy the political machine. which made the Republican party, a curse to the city, instead of a. blessing.
 The Democratic party has It's insurgents. some of whom are sincere persons. who merely wish to make changes. in method Of managing their party. Others a side show to the same Republican machine, which honest. thought full and sincere Republicans are trying to destroy.
 It follows that an intelligent and conscious electorate will try to clean up in both primaries. It will do nothing to destroy the prestige, or impair the usefulness of a mayor who is saving millions for the people, who literally IS setting the city free. It will do nothing to maintain in power in either party, the remnants of that mechanism, which so disastrously contrived that every man pays higher rent, or higher taxes; null titudes of people endure new hardships; and industry is stifled and unemployment is increased.
 Whether the citizen knows 1t or not, when he votes in the primar- ies this week, he will cast his vote for one of two propositions.
 He will vote for a condition in which the city's money would be burned, or he will vote for a con- dition in which the debt will be burned In either primary there are two sides.
 One side, broadly, is that which proposes government by office holders, which is to say a govern ment of spenders. The other side is the side which wants govern ment for the city, government of efficiency and economy, the side which wants honest politics