New Britain herald., 1916-12-16
z0A,n Topics

Just suppose: That the Boston ex- press jumped the track at the Stanley Works curve, hurling half fdozen passenger coaches into a tangled mess Of junk, killing and wounding scores: that the Hartford trolley car crashed through the trestle just below Market street, killing and injuring a carload; that great boiler in one of our local factories exploded, reducing a part of the factory to a mass of wreckage. maiming and killing many workmen; that one of the crowded theaters sud- denly collapsed; that a public build ing burned with scores of people in- side; that any one of a, hundred catas- trophies that might as readily occur in New Britain as elsewhere in the country did take place. Then how would New Britain handle the situa- tlon with reference to getting the vic- tims to the hospital? The answer Is obvious. Ii could not cope with the situation except by communicating private vehicles and then the injured ones would be subject to added in JNIleS due to the rough passage to the hospital. Last Saturdays terri hle accident told more eloquently than by words just how deporably made quate our ambulance service really is This is the age of prepa redness, yet this~city of over 5O,OOO is little better prepared to cope with any big emer- gency requiring ambulance service than it was ten years ago. It's in
 preparedness is appalling, for when an ambulance is needed it is needed quickly and lives may be saved by getting the victims to the hospital in the quickest and most comfOrta ble manner In the first place the New Britain General hospital should have a modern motor ambulance, then it would not have to rely almost entirely on the police patrol-ambulance. That vehicle is now greatly overworked. It has to rush to do police duty; it has to rush to aCcidentS; and it has to do duty for private patients who wish to be removed to and from the hospi- tal As likely as not when 1t is out on some lengthy private job an emer- gency call may come, the result being that the victim will suffer from lack of prompt attention. Of course the patrol ambulance should be retained, but in addition another ambulance should be purchased in place of the auxiliary patrol which, according to the opinion of many prominent citl ,zens is a joke. It is used frequently in place of the patrol in making ar rests; it is used to transport patients to various institutions when com mitted there by the court; and it is used to distribute the red lanterns at the traffic posts each evening, It is not needed One-quarter as much as a new ambulance and those in charge might do we'll to consider having it replaced by a motor car that would be a genuine service. Ambulance pre- paredness is what the city needs.
 According to the records in the of flee of the board of assessors there are now about 1,2O0 automobiles owned in this city. Figuring the es- timated population of the city at 52,- 900 it would appear that there is one automobile owned for every 4,333 resi- dents. In figures 1900 autom obiles seem many and to have that num- Der in a parade would be a great many but when 1t Is considered that in this city this number averages only one for every 4,O00 residents it does not seem quite as large Tn fact it would appear that New Britain Is considerably behind some of the small Ter towns in the number of automo- piles per capita There are many towns of 4,0OO and less where there are a comparatively larger number of cars owned However. the records show that the autom obile salesman's business in this city is increasing and
 during the past year there were 300 machines sold to people who never before owned cars. This, in addition
 to the large number of car owners who bought new machines. Of the
 1,2OO odd cars in the city, about 1000 are pleasure cars and 200 are com mercial cars. An analysis of these
 figures would indicate that New Brit ain has been enjoying a period of prosperity, else 300 motor car en- thusiasts would not have been able to join the ranks during the year. The
 200 commercial cars is also an in
 crease over last year and plainly shows that the trend of the times is
 for speed and efficiency in business It foreshadows the almost certain dis oA--- of the faithful old horse for bus