The Newtown bee., 1903-11-27

| The special town meeJlng, SaUurudy afternoon, at the Town hall, brought out 2 company of 250 voters. Every man in the 'Ville end of the town was present, the chief question to be voted on being the purchase of chemical tire engine to be stationed at Hotch- kissville. The meeting opened at about 2.4O p. m., Town Clerk Mitchell reading the call. Edward Cowles nominated William J. Clark as chair man. When the question of his selec tion was put before the meeting there was unanimous shout of "Aye," fol- lowed by two or three loud "Nos" from J.. G.. Dowd and others. MI Clark showed himself to be an ideal presiding officer and pushed the busi- ness along.
 The first question considered on the recommendation of the selectmen was the closing of two small sections o1 highway near Edson Warner's.
 Michael SkellY said he would like to know if the abutters made any objec tion to the closing of the road.
 | Henry Dawson asked if the roads in question had been any expense to the town of Woodbury.
 Selectman o. $. Curtis replied that they had caused expense.
 Henry Dawson said he knew parties who were interested and it would be a great inconvenience to them to have the roads closed.
 J. G. Dowd inquired if you could legally close road on which there was a, dwelling house.
 Selectman Alfred Johnson said the section of road in question was hard to work and keep in repair. It washed and gullied out.
 It was voted to carry out the recon mendations of the selectmen and close the roads in question.
 H. S. Dormitzer, treasurer of the American Shear & Knife Co.,, was called on to speak concerning the position of the chemical fire engine for the protection of Hotchkissville. He said:
 There is . we'll known philosophic statement that there is no such thing as stand still in life. Either there must bs progress or retrogression. Our appeal to you to to-day is one for pro- gress. Good citizenship often demands selfishness and cannot be linked with narrowness. The man that re- fuses to be lightly taxed for the benefit of the community at large because he can see no direct and personal return from such taxation is an obstruction in the path of our upward striving. Tc appease such one, should there be . any here to day, we wish to impress upon him that fire protection to the
 Vile indirectly bears upon each in dividual taxpayer wherever he may live in the town, in so far that it safe guards him from the heavier burden ot taking care of the homeless should g fire devastate the 'Ville through lack of protection. Can you deny for 8 moment that if there was a consider able confl agration in Hotchkissville you would have to put your hands deep into your pocket to take care of those who would have lost their all: I believe this must be clear to every thinking member of this community. As to the economic side of the question it is easily show that the small initia investment of $65O and an almost in finitesimal annual burden of less thar $50 are better than the lowest rated fire insurance. There is another side to the subject and that is the one o1 moral obligation towards our fellow townsmen. Is it a. Christian or hu mane spirit to refuse ito our fellows protection against disaster? Or talk ing 1t again from the purely selfish standpoint, does not the town gain direct benefits from the prosperity of the 'V!lle? Some will say that the American Shear & Knife Go. will be the greatest benettter from the pro. posed improvement. True! And the company is willing to more than offset this by supplying the building and by organizing a fire department among it force. Furthermore, and feel con- vinced that l am not promising this without authority, the engine shall be on call for conflagaJions in any part of the town. Al to the efficacy of the engine wish to state that we have had four occasions to test the small cylinders in our shop, and only week ago we conquered considerable fire in the woods east of the shop, the details of which will in a moment call upon Edward Cowles to give you. Revert ing to the economic value of this pro- position I wish to call your attention to the growth of the 'Ville within the last few years. We have grown so big that virtually all houses are full and there is need of more good homes. What capitalist will care to risk an investment without adequate fire pro- tectioni Will you stunt our growth or will you hy the small outlay of s650 aid Us in our progress7
 Truman Minor wanted to know what good a chemical engine stationed at Hotchkissville would do for the farmers in Minortown.
 Michael Skelly then took the floor and made witty speech, which was warmly applauded. He said in part: II rise to face an audience which con- tains some people who do not want to be taxed for anything, not even cof- fin. l thank God money don't vote in free America; it's men. When money votes God save the country. You have 1 been told the village of HOtchk iSSYille