New Britain herald., 1916-06-03

ing in the road. A motorlst never knows just when one will dart in front of his car and many children should be severely spanked for their irritat- ing habit of seeing how near they can stand to a passing auto Other children will start as if to run in front of a car and then, as soon as the oper- ator had applied the brakes, stop and laugh with glee Parents of some of these children, for it is they who are at fault for permitting it, should also be hailed into court and taught a les son of how to bring up their child ren. Of all pests of the highway, these children who play by the road side or purposely try to annoy mo- torist are by far the most dangerous. The practise of hopping on and off teams should also be stopped for al- ready several youngsters have been struck by automobiles coming from behind. One little fellow has been killed in trying to hop onto moving automobile and another little tot lost her life in blindly running across the street and not looking in both direc- tions. Parents cannot be too careful in impressing on their children the nec- essity of carefulness in crossing a street A little sensible cooperation on the part of everybody would go a long way towards eliminating many of the unfortunate accidents
 New Britain's glaring need of public hall of sufficient dimensions to accommodate any large crowd such as might come here to attend a big con- vention is plainly set forth in the cominc visit of the Swedish Singers on June s, 9 and 10. Not only Is Turner hall where the convention will have to be held, too small to hold all the guests but it is also too small to seat all the guests at the banquet. It will be impossible to seat more than 600. and then the gallery and stage must be converted into a part of the dining hall, yet there are fully a hun dred more who would like accOmmo- datiOns In this same connection the need of more first class hotel accom- modation is plainly seen when it will be necessary for the Swedish people to house scores of the guests in their private homes for lack of hotel room.
 Newspapers, public officials and the police in particular are almost daily recipients of anonymous letters, but if the writers only realized how little attention is paid to an unsigned letter they would either sign them or spare themselves the trouble of writ ing. Some anonymous letters are written in good faith, but many others are written either as a practi- cal joke or in an attempt to get someone in trouble. Newspapers pay no attention to unsigned cOmmunl- cations unless there is an easy meth cd of verifying that which is written. If a person writes a communication to a paper signs it and requests that his name be kept confidential, this re- quest will always be respected. The name is wanted only as sign ot good faith. A person would De sur prised to see the large number of let ters received in newspaper office In the course of a year which are un- signed. Their contents range from alleged practical jokes telling of the marriage of some people, who in fact were not married, to preferring sen- sational charges against various citi- zens or officials Public officials like wise pay but little attention to anon vmOus letters and they are generally consigned to the waste basket. Chief w. J. Rawlings of the police department states that he re- ceives many anonymous letters each month, some concerning petty things and others purpOrting to deal with more serious things. But the police department can place no credence Tn an unsigned letter and if a person de- sires to make a complaint or furnish the police with any information that is truthful and legitimate they can do so in their own name and request that the transaction be held strictly confi- dential will be respected. Chlef Rawlings character as man IS well known and he has yet to break falth when ne gives his word. All written complaints sent him and properly signed as a seal of good faith on the part of the complaint will be regarded as strictly confidential, if such re- quest is made. But it is absolutely contrary to public policy, business ethics or good judgment to pay any attention to unsigned communica- tiOnS
 Within the next week, probably, the civil service board will meet to exam inc regular patrolmen who are candi- dates for promotion to the recently created office of street sergeant. Such candidates do not have to pass the rigid physical test of those seeking regular appointment, but their men, tai test will be more stringent. Head quarters gossip credits ten or a doz- en regular officers with seeking ad- vancement and they are said to be William c. Hart, A. c. Malone, A. J. Richardson, Theodore Johnson, Will liam O'Mara, William Murphy Frank Moore, Charles Johnson, Herbert