The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-10-04

have already announced that If elected they will sweep out of the city's administrative offices every man and woman now em- ployed and fill their places with Republicans. Of all the reasons advanced against the reelection of Mayor Hayes and the Demo- cratic ticket, the patronage one seems to me to be the most senseless. Another worthless ar gument Is that the Democratic administration has done nothing for the city while 1t has been in office. The Republican can didates who harp on 1t go on the theory that saying a thing is so, and repeating the statement often enough necessarily makes 1t fact. Nothing could be more fallacious. Mere repetition of statement adds nothing to it's truth. If the repetition is continued without any evidence to support it. the logical infer ence is that 1t is untrue. Mayor Hayes says that his administra- ton has reduced taxes and les sened the city's indebtedness.
 Produces Proof
 You know and I know that he has. His Republican opponents deny both statements. The diff ference between the two is in the fact that Mayor Hayes has not only submitted to the public fig ures which prove his contention but he has also showed by the tax bills of the leading candi- dates on the Republican ticket, and their sponsor, that the re- duction has benefited the very persons who assert that no re- duction has taken place. Mayor Hayes has proved his point. His opponents have only repeated an accusation to whose untruthful- ness they themselves bear wit ness. They remind me of the man who saw for the first time q rhinoceros in circus men, agerie. After prolonged inspec- ton he turned away with the re- mark, There ain't no such animal"
 Poor Argument
 I have studied the Republi- can platform and read the speeches of the candidates run ming on the ticket. A final analysis and q summing up of the contents of both makes one conclusion seem inevitable. You are being asked to vote against the reelection of the Demo- cratic administration because 1t has been too long in office. A good many years ago there was an election in Greece. The question being voted on was whether a man called Aristides the Just should be banished in keeping with the demand of jealous leader of a rival faction. One of the voters was asked why he voted that Aristides should be banished. T am tired of hearing him called the Just" was the only answer. The words of that ancient Greek are differ ent from the words of the Re- publican nominees but the idea back of both Is identical. Get the Democratic administration out because 1t has been in too long. Such an argument can in- terest no one who thinks seri- ously on public questions.
 Let me apply 1t in personal sense. The mastery of the de- tails of public office is slow process no matter how insignif- icant the office and no matter how brainy the individual. I was not as well informed as to the proper workings of the tax collectors office the day I went into 1t as I was the day my term of office ended. I'm sure I made mistakes as a green hand that 1 did not make after I bad be- come seasoned. What is true of the tax collectors office is even more true of the office of May or. When I was Mayor, the city was not as large as it is now; the duties of the office were less burdensome; less cxacting and less intricate than they are now. The responsibilities, the diff cultics, and the work of the Mayors office has increased since my day until it Is now job which demands every atom of experience and capability it's occupant can supply. was a better Mayor because was more experienced Mayor the day I went out of office than l was when I went in, And I was better Mayor, better >~2lified, and better equipped to carry on the work of the office, at the end of my second term than l was at the end of the first. May or Hayes by reason of his three terms in office is trebly qualified in com parison with any new aspirant for the position.
 Inexperiencc
 The candidates on the Rcpub- lican ticket advance as their claim to election the faet that they have never been in public
 
 office. They believe that terms of service mean nothing, that they are a liability instead of an asset. They ask you to turn out of office the men who have filled their respective positions, ably and honestly for sig years, be- cause they have occupied them too long. They say. "Get rid of the experienced and take on the inexperienced" l cannot con- ceive of an argument more fu- tile, Let us apply it to other fields besides politics. What family would change doctors be- cause the physician who has cared for it devotedly and capa- bly, had done so for six years? What business man would dis