CONNECTICUT. 



who caused their construction. This of ours no less 



land* aa a representative of our people and of our 



times huviti,' for it-t prinmry object tlio increase of 



: ;1 r< "iiveiiiencd and comfort, yet, whether <:'>ii- 



1 in it- aivhittvunv c>r in construction, nrtis- 



ti.'.il in all. ('"uimcmorutive of liberty and civilizu- 



i cultivation uiul refinement, and of prosperity 



uti I li:ii>]>iue>-, it MiadowK forth thut proper State. 



I'ri.l-, that liiicli a.-piraii.ia of thought, which will ever 



nerve to elevate and ennoble the people of this good 



old Commonwealth. 



Senators, in all our acts let us bear in mind the 

 honor of the State, and the upholding of the best gov- 

 ernment that the world ever beheld. Armed in all 

 the stronirt.il of justice, may it stand to the latest day 

 to bless mankind ! 



In his address to the House of Representa- 

 tives, before occupying the Speaker's chair, Mr. 

 Wright referred favorably and at some length 

 to the resumption of specie payments, upon 

 which subject the following joint resolution 

 was passed, and concurred in by the Senate : 



Ktsolved, by this Assembly, that we cordially unite 

 with our people and Government in their congratula- 

 tions over the successful resumption of specie pay- 

 ments, together with the signs of returning prosperity 

 which everywhere accompany it ; and we request our 

 Senators and Representatives in Congress to continue 

 to stand firm in their elForts to resist all attempts to 

 debase our currency. 



On the first day of the session Governor 

 Hubbard, having been officially notified by a 

 joint committee that the two Houses were or- 

 ganized and ready for business, sent them a 

 written communication dated January 8th, in- 

 forming them of the appointments to office 

 which, under resolutions passed by the last 

 General Assembly, he had made since its ad- 

 journment, and of the action he had taken to 

 fix the weekly race to be paid in the hospitals 

 of Hartford and New Haven for the admission, 

 medical treatment, and support of invalid sol- 

 diers and sailors who served on the quota of 

 tin Stute in the late civil war. 



A joint convention was held by the two 

 Houses on January 9th for the purpose of 

 elocting a Governor and the other executive 

 State officers, as none of the candidates at the 

 general election in November, 1878, had been 

 elected. The joint committee appointed to 

 canvass the votes cast at the said election re- 

 ported the two competing candidates who had 

 received the greatest number of votes for the 

 respective offices : For Governor, Charles B. 

 Andrews of Litchfield and Richard D. Hub- 

 bard of Hartford ; for Lieutenant-Governor, 

 David Gallup of Plainfield and Charles Dnrand 

 of Derby ; for Secretary of State, David Tor- 

 ranee of Derby and D wight Morris of Bridge- 

 port ; for State Treasurer, Talmadge Baker ot 

 Norwalk and Edwin A. Buck of Windham ; 

 for State Comptroller, Channcey Howard of 

 Coventry and Charles C. Hubbard of Middle- 

 town. These competitors were also balloted 

 for by the joint Assembly, with the result that 

 the first-named one for each office received a 

 majority of votes, and was declared by the 

 President as duly elected " for the term of two 

 years ending on the Wednesday after the first 



Monday of January, 1881.*' The proportional 

 number of votes cast for Republican ami Dem- 

 ocratic candidates at the said ballots wax nearly 

 uniform in all about 150 to 100. Alter the 

 joint Assembly hud been dissolved, separate 

 resolutions declaring each of the Republican 

 candidates duly elected to bis respective office 



Were pa-s.-<l by tin; llnilx- of Kr|.iv- ntati.. -. 



and concurred in by the Senate. Later on the 

 same day the two Houses met again in joint 

 Assembly, and the new Governor was inaugu- 

 rated. 



The Hall of Representatives in the new Cap- 

 itol is much complained of by members of the 

 Legislature, as being seriously detective on sev- 

 eral accounts. Within the first week of the 

 session the following resolution was introduced 

 and adopted : 



Resolved, That a committee, consisting of eight 

 members of the House, be appointed to consider and 

 report to the House what changes and alterations are 

 required in the Representatives' Hall to render the hall 

 more convenient and comfortable both to the members 

 of the House and to the citizens of the State who may 

 desire to witness its proceedings. 



The author of the resolution pointed out 

 several detects, especially with reference to 

 the acoustic properties, in which respect he 

 characterized the hall as " a complete failure." 

 These defects he laid to the charge of the ar- 

 chitect, and also of the Commissioners on the 

 Capitol Building, " whose duty it was to see 

 that the architect constructed a building that 

 would answer all the purposes for which it 

 was intended to be used ; but they had, he 

 thought, failed to attend to their duty in the 

 particular named." After the resolution had 

 been passed, other members spoke against the 

 acoustic defect of the new hall, which some 

 said is " not so good " as the Representatives' 

 Hall in the old State House. 



The official term of William H. Barnum, a 

 United States Senator from Conn -nicut, ex- 

 pired on March 3, 1879. The Republican mem- 

 bers held a caucus on January 16th, to se- 

 lect their candidates. Out of the 149 votes 

 cast on the thirty -eighth ballot, Orville H. 

 Platt received 76, Joseph R. Hawley 72, and 

 Marshall Jewell 1. The nomination of Mr. 

 Platt was then, on motion, made unanimous. 

 On January 21st Mr. Barnum, the previous in- 

 cumbent, and Mr. Platt were voted for by the 

 two Houses separately, and the votes stood 18 

 to 6 in the Senate, and 139 to 91 in the Lower 

 House; so Mr. Platt was elected. 



The short experiment of winter sessions 

 seems to have made on the members of the 

 Legislature a decidedly adverse impression. 

 The subject of changing the time from Janu- 

 ary to May was proposed in the House on 

 January 22d, when several members advocated 

 the change as advantageous and preferable on 

 many accounts, including a saving to the State 

 of some two hundred dollars a day. which she 

 must now expend for heating and matters re- 

 lating to it. A joint resolution was then of- 



