New Britain herald., 1926-10-06
POLITICAL CONTROL IN CONNECTICUT


 the experimenter with local self government. It's town meetings, dating from early times, have been lauded in song and story. But what has become of this local self-government so far as Connec- ticut Is concerned?
 Has there ever been a state any where in which the towns and cities have been more firmly tied up with the Legislature. Connecti- cut has degenerated into a sort of county, with the towns and cities governed from Hartford, a sort of county seat. Whenever 1t Is neces- sary to get something important done the townsmen have to run to the Legislature, there doing obei- sance to the political generalissimo from New Canaan.
 This has resulted in a species of politician autocracy, a benevolent despotism, which Is not even any longer denied. With a shrug of the shoulders and twitch of the eye brow we are informed that 1t makes no difference so long as the government Is a good" one.
 It wouldn't be so bad, perhaps, If the Legislature as a body itself was not fully under control-not under control of the people, but under the thumb Of the boss. This is government of a sort, but 1t is not q democratic form of govern ment. The voting that is being done for the most part is merely a mat ter of form. as things now stand. There isn't enough argument in the air to stir up enthusiasm.
 Whether the people themselves are somewhat to blame Is a moot point. So long as things hobble along without injuring the corns of the general public there does not seem to be much likelihood of a change. Yet, there ought to be. A government that more and more centers in one. state boss is not American, it isn't democracy, and 1t isn't what the founders of the state originally expected to cventu- ate.
 The time has come for citizens to seriously consider the situation and decide whether they like what they are getting or whether they dislike 1t. Power need not forever rest in the state machine If the people of the state decide otherwise. But such action at the present moment seems destined to be slow. Connecticut Is small and compact: 1t Is more easily con- trolled than many another state for this reason. It is not confront ed by problems that are more se- rious than the average. Its public expenditures are not increased by the construction Of public works any more important than good roads. Everything seems oiled for an. easy control.
 Every liberal-mindcd individual will agree that 1t is a lamentable state Of affairs. But so peculiarly constituted are the liberal minds in Connecticut as a rule that they help to perpetuate the system when 1t comes to exercising the ballot. There Is much criticism heard and written between cleo tons, but when the time to vote comes around the libcral-minded gentry seem to have changed their minds.
 It is not right that the state po- Iitically should be under the domi- nation Of single individual; scarcely anyone thinks it advisable. Yet this Is what we have and the political revolt still seems far in the distance. The insurgents in Bridgeport have ceased to insurge; those in New Haven have signed truce; and those elsewhere are not apparently sufficient to make them selves heard distinctly.
 What the opposition to this sort Of thing in Connecticut needs is d leader of strength and power, a political Moses who will lead the state out of the wilderness. The caH Is loud and insistent. Where is he?
 The Middle West has been hay