The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-03-09
By THOMAS II. DICKINSON


 In the light of world events the present session of the Legislature iS the most important in the entire history of the state. Today our ifl- StitutionS are being tested by fires of war. Connecticut boys are fight- ing and dying oti every seq and on batIleAeldS on every continent.
 In times like these the people of Connecticut are likely to be very clear In their minds and forthrtght in their Judgments. They are going to demand of their legislators qualities no less high minded, no less unSelASh, than they demand of their soldiers in the armies, their sailors on the seq, their laborerS !n the factories.
 Friendly Atmosphere
 The Connecticut Legislature B now eight weeks old. No adminiStra. ton ever entered office In c more friendly atmosphere. From the pub. !lic expressions of the leaders of tho victorious party 1t had been gathered that the gluttony of party appetite was to be constrained. Patriotism was to be permitted to hold sway over the more rampant outbreaks of party passion. Major. fly and minority alike pledged themselves to c truce on politics ill the face of oVermaSteFing danger, to c supreme dedication to public Serv. leo in critical times. This pledge the minority party has kept to the let" ter
 How hos the majority party of the Connecticut Legislature Of i043 met the responsibilities laid upon 1t by the times in which we live9 The answer B q melancholy one. Faction and diSunity in the halls Of government the fostering Of party privilege nt the expense Of na in- potent minority, the undermining of the safeguards Of labor, Judiciary, governmental order itself, the erec- ton, in the midst of war for na. tionai survival of q political machine more impiaeable than any known in the political middle ages of Connecticut's past.
 It may well Do that in time to come each member of the Connec. ticut Legislature of i043 will have to answer some pointed and terrible questions:
 "Where were you In that fateful sosSi9n of ie43 when our country was fighting for It's life? Where were you when our judiariy was being. proStituted7 Where were you when our legislative processes were being undermined7 Where were you when the char;.s Of more than fifty million dollars worth of public i works was placed in the hands Of an accountant? Where were you when the safeguards Of labor, Of social advancement, of state econ. omy, were being frittered away"
 Arrogance Rampant
 Two generations ago . great Frenchman who wrote while yet France was free, but struggling with inner dangers not unlike those which trouble America today, wrote hls public testament; l AccuBe
 Today there b no man h Con. necticut with power enough to lift Zola's pen. But the humbleSt mai, in the state can ask the questions Zola would have asked. And when the charge comes to Do made t viii not come from the pen of one man alone but from the outraged sense Of the people aS q whole.
 We the People Of Connecticut
 charge the dominant party Of the Connecticut Legislature of 1893 with using the war emergency for
 the setting up of an arrogant
 politiaal machine, bonding the energies Of . peoples war to Che
 service of Q faction and class.
 We the People of Connecticut charge the dominant party Of the
 Connecticut Legislature of i043
 with employing the extraordinary
 powers placed in their hands by . loyal pe0DIe, for the destruction of the peoDle's safeguards and che
 un6eFmlndlng of the order Of Che
 state.
 The people of Connecticut set up a Department of Public Works as the product of the labors of men of good w4li of oil parties. The De. partment of Public Works was Q monument to their good sense, their patriotism, their devotion to modern principles Of public admin. istration. Now the Department of Public Works is Q memory. its tech. nScal staff disbanded. its specialized duties handed over Co the care ot elected officials whose duties the Constitution indicates to Do chiefly