Now, from these figures which I give to you, I make the statement, without fear of contradiction, that this railroad company pays more in taxes every year than any other property in this State; far more in proportion than the manufactories in Bridgeport, Waterbury, Meriden, or Willimantic are paying, and far more than the property of any member of this General Assembly, I care not from where he comes, or what kind of business he is engaged in.

It would be a sorry day if this company should come here and ask that all these laws taxing railroads should be repealed, and that they should be allowed to have their property in the several towns through which their lines run assessed the same as your property and bear the same taxes, the same as the railroads in Rhode Island are taxed.

The Supreme Court, the highest tribunal of this State, in an elaborate opinion written by that eminent jurist, Elisha Carpenter, the greatest jurist and perhaps the greatest man that Windham County has produced in our day, and in an opinion concurred in by the Hon. Lafayette S. Foster and the Hon. James Phelps, has blazed the history of this State with the incontrovertible fact that this railroad has always been paying more than its just proportion of the taxes of the State. These are their words: "We think, therefore, it is safe to assume that taxation upon railroad property is

considerably above the average rate of taxation throughout the State." (40 Conn. 494.)

And

the Supreme Court of this State never writes anything in anger or in haste, but only after the most mature and careful investigation, for it knows full well that what it writes becomes a part of the recorded history of this State, and will stand there long after its present members and all of us sleep beneath the sod.

If the Meriden Britannia Company, the Russell and Erwin Manufacturing Company, and other prosperous manufacturing companies in this State were taxed the same as this railroad company is, on the market value of their stock, instead of on the value of their property, it would double, triple, and quadruple their present taxes.

It is a good Christian motto to "Do unto others as you would that they should do unto you ;" and let us be just to this railroad that comes here to-day and puts its case on its naked merits, and refuses to spend a dollar in the lobby, or in securing the vote of a single member of this Legislature. I cannot help thinking that the man who votes against this righteous bill is sinning against light. Let your judgment and conscience be your only guide, and I beg of you to follow the teachings of these illustrious judges, to sustain the unanimous report of the Judiciary Committee, and not to vote in prejudice or in ignorance. An enlightened public sentiment will approve of your action.

While I am here I shall try to do my duty to the State of Connecticut; but the longer I stay, I can say truthfully, the more I come to prefer the privacy of a life exempt from public cares and annoyance, and to think as Shakespeare has so aptly said,

"And this our life, exempt from public haunt,

Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything."

SPEECH

Delivered Fanuary 22, 1895, on presenting a Resolution appointing a Commission on the Revision of the Constitution.

MR. SPEAKER:

I

I AM not so crazy as to expect to obtain from this Legislature aught that will be of any value to the unfortunate party to which I belong. know how useless it is to hope for anything from a Legislature so overwhelmingly Republican and in a State giving such an enormous Republican majority.

We on this side of the House are like the holy nuns, who, when they join their sacred order, renounce all the pomp and glory of this world. We know that they are not for us.

But there are many amendments to the Constitution, upon which all good men are agreed, that would tend to protect the corporate interests of the State, to advance the interests of the laboring masses, to facilitate the administration of justice, and to promote the welfare and growth of the State we all love so well.

It is eighty years since this Constitution was adopted. At that time there were no railroads in

the State, no steamboats ploughing the waters of its rivers and bays, no life insurance companies, no savings-banks to speak of. Meriden was a mudhole, New Britain a sterile farm. The whole character of the State has changed in eighty years.

I sat down to read the Constitution the other day, and one-third is obsolete. We wish to make the Constitution in harmony with the Constitutions of our sister States and with the progressive ideas of the nineteenth century.

A majority of this committee are among the keenest and best men of the Republican party, and it would seem as if they could be trusted; but beyond all that, this commission must submit their views to this General Assembly, and every man here has a vote and can say "yes" or ""no "" any and every question submitted.

on

I appeal to the intelligent men of this General Assembly to vote for this resolution, and to vote for it now, so that this commission can proceed with their work, hear all parties in interest, and report to this General Assembly at an early date.

Let us do something in our day and generation, and not leave everything to posterity to ponder over and settle.