New Britain herald., 1917-07-14
Town Topics


 ] disclosures made of late would indi- l cate both a lack of observance of 1 section ? of the army bill by some l saloon dealers their employees, as l well as an unpatrotc disregard for | the welfare of the men in khaki by l their friends. No secret has been 1 made of the fact that the soldiers in l New Britain, well as those else l where, are being fairly well supplied with drink from the back door and in the back rooms of certain saloons. | One man has even made the state 1 ment that he saw a soldier refused a | d1lnk in saloon, but at the same tune the bartender filled a glass of beer, left it at the end of the bar, and calmly walked away. The infer 1 ence was obvious. But even more | serious than are alleged violations of the law by saloon men themselves, TOT a majority of them observe this | law strictly, is the practice of civilian friends of soldiers of keeping them supplied with "bottle.' Here in New Britain it has been common thing for civilian to purchase a l bottle Of whisl<ey and then visit his l soldier friends and turn it over to them in most cases the friend be- lleves he Is doing the man in khaki a great favor, but in reality he is do- Ing nm great harm for, it is said, the practice of "bottle drinking" is even worse than that of being served across the bar. Tn many cases where a man would be content with one or two glasses of beer if he could be served across the bar, he becomes drunk when treated by his friends who nave bottle of whiskey. As soon as a bottle is brought into camp 1t is doomed for the men will stick to 1t until it is empty. It Is thought here In this city that a more rigid observation of the liquor traffic to | soldiers, both on the part of the civil | authorities as well as the military
 authorities, would be fruitful of betters 1 morale among the men.
 Never have vacations been so little | discussed, particularly among the younger male element, as this sum-
 mer. There's a reason.
 Considerable comment has been heard and much dissatisfa ction ex- l pressed about the city during the past week relative to the coming draft,
 
 phases of the law has been further increased by the radically unfair es- timate which has placed New Bri- l tain's estimated population, upon which the draft is to be figured, at 76,942. There is hardly a sane person in the city who can be convinced that there are more than 60.OOO persons here, and the government estimate that there are more than 15OOO in excess of that number has caused loud vail of protest. With the se- lective draft law itself however, the greatest complaint heard is regarding the part which will exempt all aliens This provision will affect New Britain just as hard as it will any city in the United States, and much harder than the majority, for it is here that many of the original emigrants come, while their children, who, when born here are Americans. move elsewhere The extent that this phase of the draft law will effect New Britain can be comprehended when it is understood that of the 7,500 odd registrants who enrolled on June 5, bout $500 are es timated IS aliens, and therefore are exempt. Thus, it is being argued men who live with citizens and share all their profits and privileges accept none of the responsibilities and have to make no sacrifices. It is further more currently complained that as the male citizens are called away by the draft their places will be taken by others, and 1t may be the aliens who will step in to fill them Thus. it would appear that the aliens with out any personal sacrifice, without accepting any of the responsibilities. get the cream of the country, while the natives and naturalized citizens make the sacrifices. As this is be- coming more generally understood, there has grown up a large class here, including many prominent men, who feel that the alien should be com pelled to take his chances and do his bit with the rest, or else go back to the country from whence he came where he will be compelled to do so.
 Attention of the mayor and the police board is respectfully called to the clipping from the Rockville Leader published in this paper on Wednesday. For those who failed to notice it. the article dealt with a scathing condemnation of star cham Der sessions. It also comments the Herald on it's stand for open meetings, thus showing that the Herald is not alone in it's views on this matter. A word to the wise etc.
 The new automobile law is causing no little trouble to both civil authori- ties and individuals. On the part of some motorists there is a mista ken idea that the law, effective July l. l curtailing the use of dazzling lights 1 gives them some leeway in order to ] shift the lights on their machines. i This is not so and authorities have l been ordered to prosecute all vio- | latOrs. The first offense means fine 1