New Britain herald., 1916-09-23
Town Topics

l How is enthusiasm to be stimulated? l Past campaigns have been mild ones
 compared to those of a decade and
 more ago. Go back twenty years and
 recall the halycon days of the torch light parade, gilt uniforms and spiked l felmets. In the fall of 1896, which
 was two decades ago, was the Sound 1 Money Campaign" Mckinley and
 Hobart were the republican candi- Gates that fall and William Jennings l Bryan first came into the limelight as l the democratic nominee for president. l It was the famous "16 to r issue | silver against gold,' and it was 1 Bryan's idea to have silver the mone- 1 tary standard at the ratio of 6 to 1, l rather than the existing gold standard
 AS the campaign feature there were 1 many "sound money" parades. The east was especially strong for the re- l nub1icans and different emblems were used to signify what various parties stood for. For instance the famous l ''gold buzz pins and badges were featured here. Factories had political parades and P &, F. Corbin had a gold bug" parade. The Sound Money Battery" composed of a num- Der of live young men, was a feature. They marched around the streets l nights, shooting the cannon, and with disastrous results in some instances. One night it was fired on Church street and a number of windows in the old Congregational church were shattered. The practice of shooting this cannon had to be stopped eventu- ally because of the countless panes of glass broken by the concussions.
 There were several big campaign parades that fall, especially in re- publican ranks. Notable was the one following the election of Mckinley in which employees of all the large fac tories turned out and marched. Again in 1900 1t was Mckinley versus
 Bryan, when Theodore Roosevelt broke into the big political game as vice president. The same scenes were enacted Big torch light processions featured the campaign and gala scenes were enacted. At that time the famous slogan: Bryan is a dump cart Stevenson the horse, Roosevelt the driver and Mckinley the boss'' was daily chanted by the younger clement The "Sloper Guards were prominent here that fall.
 But those days seem, to belong to a dead past. Present day confpaigns consist of hurricane tours of the country by the candidates, numerous speeches by the political spellbinders and little else.
 Mayor Quigley showed by his atti- tude at the meeting of the board of finance and taxation this week that he does not entirely approve Of the methods employed by the school board and took them to task on several issues. One was that their expenses are far too heavy and must be cur tailed unless the city tax rate is to be alarmingly boosted. Another was regarding the building of an addition to the Osgood Hill school without au- thority from the board of finance. The mayor made it evident that he is thoroughly aroused over the increased expenditure and urged economy, pointing to the fact that the bonded indebtedness of the schools is about $9OO,000 now, with this years ex- penses running upwards of $376,0OO. Superintendent Holmes of the school board leaped to the defense of his commission and said that New Britain cannot fall behind other cities educa- tionally and Improvements cost money He denied the mayors statement that New Britain schools are more ex- pensive than Hartford's. Dr. J. E.
  saying the increased cost of construc ton was due to past negligence. He i. said overcrowded conditions have ] heretofore been permitted and now when it is impossible to continue them l more additions than would otherwise be necessary are demanded. When 1 his honor asked by what right the
 school board went ahead and built ] an addition to the Osgood Hill school Judge Gaffney reminded him that
 t.ley had the money and the statutes l give them the right to provide school
 room, although the charter does not l give the right to repair buildings 1 without recourse to the finance board.
 As a closing ultimatum his honor re-
 minded the board that hereafter he l would expect them to consult the 1 finance board and himself before ex-
 pending more money for additions
 Regarding all of which there is
 much to be said on both sides. Ad-
 ulittedly, the educational side of the
 city cannot be permitted to falter one l bit, but if in various ways such as the construction of perfect buildings
 that will not have to be immediately l repaired because of faulty work at an 1 imm ense cost, economy can be prac- | tised it should be. Likewise, it is ad- l mitted that another school is a neces- ] s5ty in the northern district The 1 Bartlett is already overcrowded and
 the Burritt school ought so be con- l demned. From location and con- l struction it is not a fit place to send
 children for schooling. It is now a
 ramshackle building, antiquated and
 should be relegated into the discard. Tn this connection it is apparent l that the mayor is still advocating the l keeping of this school building by the l c,ty for use as a police building. He