New Britain herald., 1916-12-09

been made in New Britain, but dur l ing the war of 1912 to 1914 several small concerns were started in cutlery, l cheap jewelry, buckles and other
 small articles. The machines used were extremely crude and could hard
 ly be called machinery.
 About 1915 Alvin and Henry North
 began the manufacture of silver plat ed wire, and used 1t for making hooks
 and rings and cloak clasps for gentle
 mems cloaks. Narrow strips were cut from sheets of copper that had been hand plated. The strips were then
 drawn through dies by horsepower in- to solid tubing shape, which answered the purpose of wire.
 Spoons were first made from sheet
 metal in Meriden in 182O The press
 that cut the blanks out of the sheet
 metal was run by man-poWer and stead1ed by a heavy balance wheel. The first German silver made in Mer- 1den was in 1886. The Meriden Cut lery company's business was started
 Tn 1854 in a. very small way and the John Russell Cutlery company was started about the same time
 Meriden made wrought iron halls in the last century, but it's early manu- featuring life was mainly in pewter spoons and tinware.
 In 1887 there were forty-eight lit tie concerns manufacturing hard
 ware, etc., in Ney Britain, but only one Of them could have paid its debts
 if called upon The panic in 1887 was felt there severely, but most of the failures Were not till 1S40, two or three years after the beginning of the panic.
 A great variety of small Hardware and kindred articles were made about this time G837) in New Britain, but consolidation began the little con- cerns were absorbed or wiped out, and the business is now in the hands of ! fewer but mostly large concerns. New Britain has the largest cutlery factory in the world, the largest fac tory making carpenters tools, and holds more patents per capita than any city in the country.
 Meanwhile the west was being opened; buildings were going up all over the country, creating a demand for hardware and mechanics tools which was met by an ever increasing production of better and better goods. Perhaps there is no other public item in New Britain that has OCcu- pied the attention of the people more Illdl luG recent CIVIL SeTN1Ce eXpeTl- ments. The action which has result ed in both favora ble and adverse crit icism, but principally the latter, is too we'll known to be again rehearsed. Suffice it to state that a recent ap- pointment was made in which the candidate who stood lowest in civil service was appointed. Immediately there arose a great clamor of pull and politics. Be that as it may, Mayor Qu1gley has come out in favor of civil service and one of his arguments has 1 merit. He contends that civil service eliminates some of the undesirables Tn this connection he admits, however, that there is still a chance to play pol itics with those elegible, but the ben eft is in wedding out the ineligible. The mayor and other civil service advocates state that the idea of civil service is not to necessarily give the man with the highest average the job, but have it given to any one of the
 five highest. It is argued that man
 might stand highest in civil service
 and yet not have the qualities that
 would make him best suited for the
 position. But insofar as civil service
 applies to the fire and police depart
 ments it seems as though a plan
 might be devised so that the highest
 
 thereby doing away with any hint re-
 garding the integrity of those having
 the appointing power. If, as the may
 or says, any one of those who pass is
 efficient and capable, then what good
 reason Is there for positively cutting
 out the intimated political pull and
 giving it to the highest? If, on the
 other hand, it is thought that among
 those who pass and stand high there
 is one who would not make such a
 good appointee the obvious solution
 would be to rearrange the civil ser
 vice rules. Make rules so stringent
 that only those fitted positively and
 absolutely, in every way, mentally,
 physically and morally be entitled to
 take the examinations. Then there
 could be no claim that one man was
 better fitted for the position than an-
 other. Thus, the high man could re-
 ceive the appointment and all fur ther trouble resulting from the alleged playing of politics would be cur tailed. As the mayor has so aptly said, the civil service is not a cure all in its present state. Then why not make it so, at least as much as pos sible and it appears that there is yet room for improvement?
 Days of prosperity, the full dinner pail and the full envelope, contrary to the general opinion, has not proved 1 entirely beneficial to many New Brit ain families and in many instances has been the direct cause for the de- sertion and non-support of families, 1 according to observations made in the police court. The judge of the police court is now called upon to ar bitrate in more nOn-support cases | than he was during previous periods 1 of business depression. Real poverty 1