The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-07-20
Politics
 -m Passing

uSSLUy
 With State Democratic leaders stlll in somewhat of quandry over the makeup of the Fall ticket there is much casting this way and that for good candidates for the top of the ticket. Elsewhere the Demo- crats are pretty well fortified, for they have men of good calibre now In commanding positions in the State government as well as in Congress. Some mention has been made of Supreme Court Justice William o. Douglas as a possible candidate for the U. s. Senate, thus leaving the door open for Lieuten- Governor Wilbert Snow as the gubernatorial choice, an advance ment which Republicans once fol- lowed religiously when the Roraback machine was in full control of the State. However Justice is regarded too highly by national leaders and may be figure in the l948 coun- kJllll4 olIlI d ONCLliClIl as this, too, would have the tend ency of squeezing Chester Bowles right out of the picture which is just what some state leaders ap- parently would like to do
 The Roraback accession pro-
 gram only backfired few times
 during the long period that this
 powerful machine was in control of state politics and Connecticut's Washington delegation. Clifford
 B. Wilson failed to succeed Mar
 GUS H. Holcomb after the latter's
 three terms ended in 1921. The
 Bridgeport COP. leader made
 several attempts later on to get
 back into the picture as a guber-
 material candidate, but never sue
 ceeded. Charles A. Templeton of
 this city was Everett Lakes lieu
 tenant-governor for two years
 then succeeded to the governor ship in 1893 with Hiram A. Bing-
 ham as his deputy. It was plan ned to have MT. Bingham succeed MT. Templeton and he actually was elected governor, but held office for only a day, which is a story in itself worth repeating right now.
 It was the fall of 1924. The Rora- back machine had decided to ditch Gov. Templeton and proceeded to nominate Hiram A. Bingham. He was duly elected in November, but before that-October l4, to be exact Senator Frank E, Brandegee of New London had died. December 18th was set as the date for special senatorial election and Republicans proceeded to nominate Lieutenant governor and Governor-e -elect Hiram A. Bingham; The Democrats put up Professor Hamilton Holt, who was defeated by the entrenched Repub- lican office-holder. On January l, 1925, MT Bingham succeeded to the governorship, held 1t for one day, resigned, and went to Washington where he served out the unfinished term Of Senator Brandegee and was reelected to a full one, being de- feated by Augustine Longergane of Hartford in 1882. Bingham's lieu tenant-governor, John H. Trumbull of Plainville, succeeded him and served three terms. When he re- tired no COP. deputy succeeded as Dr. Wilbur L. Cross came into his own.
 That was the end of the Rora-
 back regime, too, so the system of passing the crown along to the
 next in line has since gone by
 the boards. Not that some sort of
 succession isn't liked by political
 parties, but control of the state
 and national offices in Connecti-
 cut hasn't been constant enough
 since pr. Cross upset the ruling
 Republican forces to allow such a
 Set-up to succeed. Democrats have
 hoped for such a system and Re-
 publicans have tried to get back
 to it. This year the Democrats
 do have a chance to move their
 lieutenant governor up, but re-
 ports are that Prof. Snow would
 much rather go to Washington
 than take on the executive duties
 on Capitol Hill, Hartford.
 Waterbury fiscal authorities are the 1946 budget with anxious eyes these days. The last six months of of the year will tell pretty truly just what to expect in the next two three years. They aren't concerned with revenues for the moment, as those are holding up very nicely. But expenditures are another thing. The war years are over and tax payers are expecting Wornout and obsolete buildings, streets, etc, to be replaced. Services and supplies come high these days; salary schedules are subject to revision almost from day to day, not by individuals, but by departments. involving as they do thousands of dollars. The warn ing signals are definitely out in many items and probably can be reflected from now on by transfers. There may be a Hull in the same until Sept. l, but after that date watch for them, as the Waterbury city charter permits inter-depart- mental transfers from then on.
 This situation is not confined
 to Waterbury As matter of fact
 this municipality may be some
 what better off than a great many
 others, where during the war
 years income was high and outgo
 restricted, because Waterbury has
 been piling up reserves to meet extraordinary expense items of a
 capital nature; has maintained a
 fairly constant tax rate; has com
 pleted 8 revealuation program,