Norwich bulletin., 1910-11-16
BUILD UP EASTERN CONNECTICUT
Attitude of Board of Trade which Votes Cooperate with New London-Reports Womans College and Charities Ouestion-Vauable Discussion on the Pro- posed Charter.

I posed new charter and do not wish to be understood as in any way hostile to l that plan, so far as they understand 1 it.
 Whether or not that shall eventual | ly operate within city limits. it would l still leave the selectmen almonerS of !. the poor, outside those limits.
 | If the proposed new charter should 1 be sanctioned and become law we shall | then have before us a valuable means l of comparison of methods of outside 1 poor relief by the city and by the town, as would be shown by results. l We would suggest that the board of ! trade recommend to the next town ! meeting the passage of resolution | inStructing the Selectmen to keep a l careful record of all appropriations for | town aid, and of all circumstances f connected with each case; and that I this record be always kept in the of | flee of the selectmen, and open to the | inspection of the public at all proper 1 times.
 The report of the committee was | accepted and the resolution adopted. i Speaking regarding the work of the 1 committed Rev. P c. Wright referred l to the help the selectmen had given during the conferences and he referred | to the law which puts the care Of the i poor in the hands of the selectmen- | He thought the law should be changed as it has been shown that the officials | are influenced by the dealers from | whom the goods are bought. It would
 be uuwise. to do this now, he thought, l in view of the new city charter | MT. Peck also spoke in regard to the 1 matter and said it was found that | there should be a detailed list of those | tainable for the past years, but start | on it should be made and it should be | permanently kept, as it will be help | to the selectnen in years to come. | President Tracy called attention to | the national rivers and harbors con- 1 vention in Washington in December, l but did not think it advisable to re- peat the expense of sending delegates this year.
 Committee to Go to New London. A letter received from the New Lon- | don business mems association was re- ferred to by President Tracy, asking | if Norwich would send a committee | to New London for the purpose of a conference regarding cooperating to boom eastern Connecticut. Upon mo- tion of Mayor Fhayer, it was voted l that the subcommittee on woman's college be instructed to confer with
 the New London association commit ] tee
 Proposed Charter Discussed. When the matter of the proposed l charter was reached President Tracy l called upon Chairman TirreH of the l charter commission to make a state 1 ment in regard to it. which he did in a | clear and comprehensive manner. He | said a lawyer had spoken to him about 1 the old town government being the l ideal form and he considers it about as | good as ever existed for towns of mod
 crate size, but when they grow to the size of city 1t becomes necessary to l change and have representatives do the work for them. The city form of | government develops a weakness. how ever, as the people cannot go into a | meeting and say: Did this man do his duty this year2" You cannot place the responsibility. There should be a com- 1 bination of the freedom, democracy and educative debate of the town form with the efficiency of the city govern ment The best form now in exist | ence is the commission form. This ! features the responsibility of the indt- vidual men for certain kinds of work. | giving the citizens control over the officials after election The citizens also have the power to propose new | ordinances and it removes from the city business partisan feeling. There is no occasion for party caucus in city affairs and this checks such.
 In reply to Rev. E. $. Worcester's s question regarding primaries MT. Tir- rell said that anyone could bring in a petition nominating anyone provided there are 25 signatures to the petition lThere could be 100 nominees for mayor or any other office. There would then be a primary election. conducted by ballot the same as other elections through the day, and the voters would cast their ballots for the ticket they 1 wanted nominated. The two persons
 getting the largest number of votes
 would be made the nominees for the election. To J. J. CorkeFy MT. Tirren lsaid he thought that there was a weak
 ness in the charter that it did not spe-
 eify whether man could sign more
 than one petition of candidate for
 one office. Personally he did not think
 he ought to.
 John M Lee asked about Section (
 and that portion of it which requires
 a man to be a taxpayer in order to be- l come an officeholder and moved thai it be the sense of the meeting this be changed so that any legal voter car hold office, and it was carried unani- 1 mously. Mir. TfrreH explained that 1 this was so written that ofnceholders could be holden for redress in case
 they exceeded appropriations, but ia
 vorad the change if a bond would an- tswer the same purpose Mayor Thayel 1 thought a bond would be better.
 John Donovan asked if the comrnis-
 sion realized that there was a statute
 covering that point with fine of $10( and a years imprisonment for exceed ing appropriations, to which c. H
 Haskell said that it had not been over looked and they did not overlook the Lfact that it is a dead issue, as it has I never been put to use.
 MT Tirrell pointed out that by 2
 bond the city would be reimbursed
 but not by the statute
 The Charity Clause
 $. B. Palmer asked about the radica
 change made by the charity section
 to which MT. TirreIl said that it was
 found A. s. Spalding gave the best administration in regard to the out
 side poor in the town but was turned
 out of office not by those who suffered but by those who didn't receive the
 public dole If he had been under tho commission form he would have beer retained, There is now chance q the officeholder being turned out if h.
 is not generous. The preventing of poV- erty is the most important work o charity and by the new form poIitica 1 pressure is removed and it would mear a less appropriation on the towns par
 for outside poor.
 P. w. Cary stated that q study of the
 charities had been made in other cities
 In New. Britain it was very bad un- der the town form but it was changed 1 to commission and is working very 1 satisfactorily. there being no grounds
 for piaint- John Donovan though
 that if skilled labor instead of foreig1 paGper heip was hired fhe cbarif5