New Britain herald., 1916-04-15
Town Topics

1 the final passing of the 1916-1917 es- ] inmates and the laying of a definite tax ] rate will be held in Turner hall With
 the memory of the last city meeting, 1 when Mayor Quigley 'railroaded" the
 municipal ice house proposition l through, still fresh in their minds, 1t l is hoped that the public will attend ] and take an active part. City meet 1 ings are the one true link connecting
 citizens with self-government. While
 elected officials make and devise plans for government it is at city meetings ] that the people themselves have the 1 absolute right to accept or reject, wholly or partly, some ideas of thc-r l officials. The meeting on Tuesday
 night is most important. From the l records of the board of finance and 1 taxation the estimated income for the i coming year is SS55, ,926.61 from the 1 first district and $216,4 470 from the l second district, provided the first dis ] trict is taxed fifteen mills and the sec l ond four mills. With this estimated
 income of $1.072, ,396.61, the following expenditures are advised as necessary
 schools, $3O760O; board of public l works including the street depart ] ment, street lighting, sprinl1ling, pave 1 mentS parks, sewer, catch basins and
 state highway accounts s131.SS9 in 1 the first district and S53, ,000 in the | second, or a total of $1S4,SS9 police 1 department with ten additional police 1 men, 5000; the same amount is 1 asked for by the fire department and l includes four new permanent men; 1 charities seek s5S,OOO health depart
 ment including $500 for the con- e.t1- j01, nI iy1fo Nf
 nicipal slaughter house, asks for 1 S1S,020; special appropriations
 amount to s120,OOO in the two dis 1 tricts; interests and discounts total $S7, ,4S6.25: payments on principal will | need S95, 100 and incidentals, $51,- 323. Recapitulatior of appropriations show $1,O72,31S.25 needed, entailing a debit of but s7S.36. In addition to the above it was estimated that the 1 water commissioners would have 1 balance of 5000 at the beginning of the fiscal year and the income would be S137,O0O.
 Considering all of these figures it will be necessary to lay a tax of 19
 mills and an additional tax of 6 mills for. a state tax and the previously levied municipal ice tax.
 Having digested these figures the C1ClHC)l ndS u o1lllEelN within ms power to pass them and accept the high tax-rate without a grumble, or to slash the estimates in several places and thus lower the tax somewhat.
 Mayor Quigley made a big issue of
 this privilege in his campaign and loudly told the people that the high
 tax could not be laid solely to him;
 that if they did not like it they could
 come before city meeting and vote
 it down. Therefore, 1t is for the peO-
 pie to accept or reject, but in mak-
 ing their decision it will be we'll to
 carefully consider whether or not they
 are getting value received for the ex-
 penditures; whether the costs will en-
 hance their city and their homes In a commensurate manner; whether or not some of the benefits could be cur
 tailed without seriously impairing the
 city's welfare and lastly, whether or not they truly believe all needed
 things have been interspersed. It is
 now plainly up to the people, but
 judging from records of past years the city meeting will last only a few minutes and everything will be passed as printed without serious opposition
 And in this very connection one of the fallacies of the human being is clearly cxemplified. While it is not true individually. it is general fact that the public will grumble, argue and rave to themselves or among themselves about what they do not consider right, yet given public op- portunity to voice their protests they look dumbly at each other, say noth- ing and the issue which they oppose iS he h
 lie seems to have an inherent fear of standing before his fellow men to publicly voice his Gisapproval and the reasons therefore. Instead, he says nothing, but eternal1y protests and takes great delight in telling what should have been done and what he would do if he had a chance At a city meeting a man has the greatest chance in the world to tell what he thinks is the logical solution Of civic questions, but the majority of the people are afraid. Yet they criticize the man who, unafraid to speak his thoughts, rises and argues opposite to their belief. Education is the greatest thing in the world and it is by education that the individual man l will feel able to stand before his fel- | lows and state his views. The rising Seherd'oil Will ueNelop more men Of | this type for in New Brtain's public l schools the children are being so edu- 1 cated. They are taught self reliance l and the value of having a mind of ! their own. Likewise they are taught | the art for it is nothing else, of stand | ing on their feet and expressing them l selves in an intelligent manner This l is but one of the steps along the road | of civilization and it is a most inn pOrtant one; and when the masses l