New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1916-11-23

were they given the conditions that
exist in New York to handle, their
departments would become swamped.
No Trained Experts.
I'm this country there is a supersti-
ton of democracy with the result that
at the frequent elections there is the
tendency to sweep out the rascals and
put in honest men. This means that
the public officials of this country do
not serve as long as the men in cor
responding positions in the foreign
countries. A new mayor comes in and
at once makes changes in the depart
ment heads which is part Of the game.
AS result of this system there are
no trained municipal experts. The
men appointed know little of the de-
partment business. Men just start to
gain a little knowledge when their
successor comes to take their place.
A fine example. of this is the New
York street cleaning departm ent,
where they had at one time five heads
in many years The streets were in
poor condition from the fact that five
different sets of ideas were used in
five years and no one of them had
real chance to be worked out
mot only in the street department
partment was the same condition pre-
valent and in the latter there were
| nine heads to the department in as
| many years. In London there has
been just five commissioners of police
in the last eighty five years Men ap-
pointed to such an office in this coun-
try are not trained for the position
and perhaps for anything but police
service. The same in the municipal
business where men from all walks
| of life hold sway. Heads of depart
ments should be left to their business
and not interfered with. New York
| has had five mayors since 1898 and
/ they have come from various walks
| of life.
"None Of these men has had any
! experience in municipal business. A
| city should get the best men possible
/ to run it's affairs and not put them
! out Of Office because of issues for the
! departments are going concerns and
| should be looked after as any go
| ing concern should. Today the best
municipal government in the United
i States is that of New York City for
there is trained man at the head
of it's affairs who knows his bust
ness. I think that there is no man
shat knows any more about such af-
fairs than John Purroy Mitchell and
for this reason everything possible
| will be done to keep him.
I'm cities abroad police executives
are called from city to city as they
| make good. In other words they are
given a chance to work up to a high
er post Here local pride will not
permit such a thing and there, are
even laws that say that a man shall
be resident for SO many years be-
core he can hold a certain office.
Even Roosevelt Quit.
I'm this country there are laws that
govern the moral standing of the
! community and are passed by the leg
islature. An example is the excise
laws such as those in New York
which say that no saloon shall open
on Sunday. This does not suit the
city with it's large foreign popula-
| ton and therefore is not adapted to
the conditions. This law is not en-
forced and in fact it is not possible
20 enforce it for there are not
enough police to go around. New
| York has 1000 officers but there are
| more saloons than that in the city
and thus it is shown that 1t would
| he impossible to cover all the terri
! tory. Theodore Roosevelt the
| only police commissioner that ever
| enforced them and that was for two
| weeks when he gave it up.
"Peope of the community should
! have the say of the moral laws Of
the community as they best know the
| conditions. Many of the laws IN
| force in certain states could not be
! enforced if an attempt were MADE ana
an attempt to repeal would only meet
with defeat for they ike 10 BOAST
that there is such and such a law IN
| that state. Goodness is not imposed