The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-02-04
BRIDGEPORT SHOULD HAVE CITY
 EXPOSITION HALL, SECRETARY
 OF COMMERCE CHAMBER AYERS
George Cove Makes Suggestions Ovet Church Meeting Stanley Says Some Policemen Here Are ShFers-Other Speakers Tell of Park Citys Needs They See Them.

Speakers on municipal affairs ap-
 peared before the Mems league of the | Olivet church last night to forecast /. thep rejects, needs and necessities of
 the city. About 100 persons partook . Of wealthy repast, listened to the speeches and later viewed steropticon l pictures of the war.
 l Compensation Commissioner E.. T. l Buckingham acted as toastmaster in place of Frank Cogill, who was una l voidab1y detained in New York. He
 introduced Secretary George Cove, | newly appointed secretary of the local l chamber of commerce, and President
 John C. Stanley of the police con1mis- sion. Regrets were expressed for the
 absence of both Henry Bishop of the l library board and Calhoun Latham,
 neither of whom could be present to
 tell what was being done towards es- tab1ishing branch library in the l North End. John Leonard, president ] of the fire commissioners, was not
 present. Many women, besides serv- l ing the dinner, remained in the gal leries to hear the speechmaking. The
 League G1ee club and a newly organ l ized mandolin and banjo club render ] ed selections during the evening. 1 Commissioner Stanley not only com 1 mended the present police force but 1 criticised a, portion of the department
 
 1 tenn of collections in Sunday moving l picture shows instituted by the pas 1 tors declaring that it threatened the l lives of citizens and in conclusion
 tacitly demanded that the local
 courts enforce the laws that are, on l the statute books.
 l Secretary Cove suggested traffic
 needs of Bridgeport that might be put
 through and told of the success of an
 exposition building at Milwaukee. He said some similar building is needed
 in Bridgeport to care for the thou
 sands who need Sunday and other
 amusements in Bridgeport
 | Speaker Stanley entered into his
 subject with directness and throug gh out 1 nincing words in saying that
 Bridgeport has a large proportion of 1 undesirab1es attracted here by the
 present boom.
 1 Speaking of the police department 1 he said:
 sAs a whole, I think the policemen 1 of Bridgeport are good men who need encourage honest and the ma
 jority are faithful and efficient. Some 1 there are, however, who are shirlzs. Bridgeport is having a substantial 1 growth The factories have brought l the desirable and the undesirable. The town today has 9 very undesirable i population and we have not enough
 policemen to cope with the situation 2 He then told of having only 13O pa l tro1rnen divided into three precincts and three p1atoons. He said that l there were 15O miles of streets to be
 patro1led and but 80 men to do it on
 a shift, when that full shift was not off
 duty or on vacation. He freely ad-
 I1ftted that under the present situa- ton the Black Rock district is not
 patroIled at all and that it will not be
 as long as the central portion of the city has, to be patrolled 50 closely on account of the foreign population who recognized authority when they saw 1t, but so seldom saw a uniform that they had become bold. He said that it was at his behest that an applica- tfon to the common council to ap-
 point 100 new men and one Heuten-
 ant, had been made. The lieutenant
 is to replace any now on duty who
 might be absent so that a sergeant
 would not have to be taken from his
 squad of police. ''The squads on duty
 on the street need a boss, or they