The resignation of President Dwight from Yale marks an event in the college world that brings to the mind, not only his wonderful career and services, but also that of his illustrious grandfather, Timothy Dwight, under whose administration was graduated Moses Stuart, Lyman Beecher, John C. Calhoun, Samuel F. B. Morse, Benjamin Silliman, Thomas H. Gallaudet, James A. Hillhouse, James G. Percival, Ethan A. Andrews and many others who became famous. Yale under the two Dwights has a history without a parallel. sponded, accepting the gun in behalf of the state. The exercises closed with an address by Senator Hawley and the singing of "America." The New York, New Haven & Hartford R. R. Co., once in a while do something worth commending, and their New Year's order to its employees, to the effect that "the public shall be given seats when traveling on any cars of the Company and that none shall be compelled to stand under any consideration," comes under this head, and if enforced, the Company will be entitled to additional commenda kick than it has heretofore. On December 29, 1898, the revolving tion and the public will have less cause to Hotchkiss gun, taken from the sunken wreck of the Spanish vessel Viscaya, by Capt. Caspar F. Goodrich of the Cruiser Newark, and presented by him to the State of Connecticut, was escorted from the State Arsenal, where it had been remounted, and placed in the Capitol building under the dome. The procession was composed of the Second Division Naval Reserves, naval and army veterans, Governor Cooke and military staff, and Capt. Goodrich. At the Capitol, Captain Goodrich presented the gun to the state, making a brief address, and Governor Cooke re At the meeting of the Connecticut. Historical society held on Dec. 6, 1898, the corresponding secretary, Rev. W. De Loss Love presented an interesting communication relating to the originality of the charter of the colony of Connecticut, giving indisputable proof from the Royal Historical Society of London that the charter hanging in the office of the secretary of the state is a duplicate, while the fragment of a charter in the keeping of the society is the original. * THE Lounsbury, delivered to the General Assembly upon his inauguration, Jan. 4, 1899, is a document that should be read by every one at all interested in our state government. The message is not one of high-sounding, meaningless phrases, but a dignified summary of present conditions, full of business common sense and good suggestions. If the high ideals here outlined are followed out by the officers and members of the various departments of our state government, the people will have no cause to complain of the baleful influences of the "the man with a barrel." True, it is trite to say that "influence," not merit, is what counts; that the eager self-interests of office-holders are very apt to overshadow their duty to the public; that the Diogenes of to-day would have as much difficulty in finding "an honest man" with an electric search light as the philosopher of old did with his lantern in broad day. We all know the necessity of eternal vigilance, of continually striving for political purity, of insisting upon a wise economy. We are glad to see the Governor as outspoken on these and kindred subjects as he is. We believe in his honest sincerity. Unless the people keep awake to these issues and are ever strenuous in their support, they will be saddled with a number of useless incum bents whose motto is "Public Office is for Private Plunder" They have had some experience in this sort of thing, not so long ago as to become ancient history. Some extravagant highway commission business; the squandering of $40,000, under the nonsensical (to use a mild term) tuberculosis law; money wasted in odious peach-yellow investiga tion. over Fortunate to escape from such abuses as easily as we have, in requires continual watchfulness to prevent their repetition. We want no Tammany methods here in Connecticut. The signs are hopeful. There seems to be, and there certainly should be no tendency to go to extravagance, because we have made a small financial gain under the administration of Governor Cooke. Concerning this gain of $173,159.29 Governor Lounsbury in his message says:— "This net gain is not large. It suggests no decrease or change in taxation, no increase in any line of expense, except so far as wise increase in one line is offset by wise retrenchment in another." Then he continues : "The last legislature appointed a committee, whose duty it should be, to investigate the whole matter of state expense and to report to this General Assembly. Those of you who have been members of past legislatures, and have investigated somewhat in this same line, know that if this committee has gone to the root of evils, it will report in favor of vigorous legislation which will result in large retrenchment. But this legislation depends upon you, perhaps not upon your honesty, but certainly upon your courage. For when this committee makes its report there will be at once a combination of selfish interests to render it of no effect. If you shall give to this report your careful consideration, and then in the courage of your convictions follow those conclusions which you deem to be sound and wise, you will save to the state for the next two years hundreds of thousands of dollars, and so be able to vote increased appropriations for objects that are worthy and urgent. "In voting appropriations it is well to bear in mind that object for which government was created. Society for its own protection ordained government, and then, of course, government must protect itself. Anything which tends to protect society and to strengthen government is in itself a legitimate object of appropriation. But the voting of money for any other purpose is extravagance and wrong. spent in needless printing is extravagance, voted in gratuities as extra pay for services for which the statute fixes compensation, it is a wrong to the taxpayers, and a cruelty to every one of your charitable institutions. For there is not one of these, which, in its pressing need, is not holding out its hand and asking you for more." Fifteen thousand dollars We shall look for the report of the investigation committee, and the action taken upon it, with interest. After going into further details regarding the finances, the Governor takes up the subjects of Education, Good Roads, Agriculture, Railroads, the various Institutions and State Boards, the Records, of which we will speak in another place, the National Guard and the Israel Putnam Memorial Park, making wise and judicious suggestions in each case. Concerning the unequal representation which now hampers and thwarts the choice of the majority of the people in certain sections, he makes the recommendation for a Constitutional Amendment as follows: "The constitution of this state and the constitution of the United States were largely framed along the lines of that Connecticut Constitution which was in existence a hundred years ago. In this state we have left undisturbed the prerogative of the town in the matter of representation. The constitution of the United States gives to each state the same prerogative of representation in the Senate. The perogativer of the town in the one case is the same as the prerogative of the state in the other. But the United States provides for congressional districts of equal population. The senatorial districts of this state should be arranged on the same basis. I therefore recommend that the initiatory step be taken in the passage of a constitutional amendment which shall provide for the division of the state into senatorial districts of equal population." His conclusion is also worthy of quotation; "Senators and Representatives—by the votes of your constituents and by the voice of a great people, the destinies of a state have been placed in your hands. It is high honor, it is deep responsibility. I am aware that no words of mine can add to the sacredness of the oath which you have taken. The memories of the past, like voices from afar, are calling you for lofty purpose and for honest work. And 128 the state, that it may endure, demands from every one of you an eye which is single to the public good, demands a hand which scorns the corrupt reward and is strong to guide and to shield, demands a soul which, true to itself, is true to the rights of all." There is no uncertain tone in the above about Governor Lounsbury's position toward "the man with a barrel" and the man with a "pull." He evidently will protect the rights of the people to the full extent of his power. This General Assembly has a chance to make a splendid record for itself, and we hope it will improve the opportunity. As we said at the beginning, the message is of high ideals. May they be fully realized. THE INSURANCE COMMISSIONER. To the citizen who reads the report of the insurance commissioner of Connecticut it is apparently only a statement of the condition of the different companies, and to a certain extent, a volume of advertisements. The publication of this report, however, important as it is to the public, is a minor part of the duty of the insurance commissioner. duty is to protect the people of the state. His principal An old saying is that corporations have neither body nor soul. It is undoubtedly true that the great majority of Connecticut corporations are managed with due regard to the interests of the stockholders, and without prejudice to those who do business with them. If this were the invariable rule there would be no reason for the state of Connecticut to appoint and maintain the office of insurance commissioner. The present commissioner has, in the conscientious performance of his duty, found it necessary to more than once criticise the policy of insurance companies. In one case he was obliged to bring a suit in the interest of policy holders. Any one who knows him knows how unpleasant this duty was. The fact that the company was obliged to disgorge nearly two million dollars was not the present commissioner's fault. Had his predecessors done their duty as honestly and fearlessly there would have been no trouble. There are no politics in insurance. but it will be a sad day for any political party when its opponent can point to the fact, if such a fact there be, that a political party having full control of the executive and legislative departments of the state government has supplanted a man whose We confess only fault is that he has performed his duty without fear or favor. to a hearty admiration of such a man, We regardless of his political faith. cannot have too many of that stamp and we should be very sorry to see so important an office as that of Insurance Commissioner placed upon any other basis than that of civil service reform. SAVE THE BIRDS. Under this title the Audobon Society has sent out notices to the various papers in the state, cautioning the people against the shooting of our song and insectivorous The warning is birds protected by law. needful and timely, as during the open season for game birds too many are apt to take it for granted that nothing that Such is far wears feathers is exempt. some from being the case, for all of our There is one exception, the English sparrow, but attention should be called to the fact that all little brown sparrows are The chipping, not English sparrows. field, swamp, Savannah, white-throated, white-crowned and some others have much the same appearance to the casual observer, and the distinction is too apt to be lost sight of, especially by the small boy with his air gun. A little attention to the teaching of ornithology in the schools might help to obviate this lack of discrimination. It is too important to be ignored or gone over lightly, not only from an aesthetic sense, but from an economic point of view. We remember a friend in the country who prided himself upon his fruit and vegetables. It was, he said, fairer and freer of destructive insects and grubs than most farmers' produce, and the reason he assigned was his extreme care to protect the birds on his farm. May the good work of the Audobon Society prosper, and we hope more attention will be paid in the future to having efficient game wardens. We believe the state law protects deer until 1903. There have been a few seen in various parts of the state recently, but so few that a protection until 1903 would be worse than useless, unless the object is to keep them exterminated. We hope that the legislature will extend the time. of protection. THE STATE'S VITAL STATISTICS. The Governor in his message in his induction into office suggested that measures be taken for the preservation of all records, which was very gratifying to those who are interested in the past history of our country. Are we keeping pace with our border states in the care and preservation of past records, and of those that are accumulating year by year? It is well known that Massachusetts has been much interested for years and that her records are carefully preserved. Rhode Island has had her church records printed making eleven or twelve large volumes. New York state has her town records all sent to the county seat, and then they have been carefully copied year by year for nearly twenty years and sent to the state board of health at the capitol in Albany, excepting New York city and Brooklyn, and can be consulted by any one who will take the trouble to go to Albany for that purpose. Connecticut's earlier town records many of them are on the fly leaves, or on marginal leaves of land records, which are getting loosened and worn, and liable to be lost at any time. Could not laws be made by which the records of each town should be copied and sent yearly to the state capitol, and could the past vital statistics be carefully copied and deposited there also? Both church and town records, from time to time are lost by the destructive agency of fire, which occasions an irreparable loss to investigators in the line. of ancestry. The time, between what is called present time, and the early history of our country, is always extending and increasing. Records are more or less history, therefore, should not Connecticut citizens do all they can to preserve that history for the coming generations? Is it not well for us to be on the advance line with other states in this work as well as in other work, that the state attends to? Cannot the nineteenth century mark a new order of things, in that our records are in the custody of the state, where they will be preserved for future use, in charge of a Commissioner of Records. |