New Britain herald., 1917-02-03

$2.s6 per day. and to get that he
 must have served a two years ap-
 premiership. Is 1t any wonder that
 men hesitate to accept. these jobs
 when a common 1aborer in the street
 can get more than that? Now the
 flremen ask a fifteen per cent. in
 crease, which would bring his pay up
 to about $3.29 per day. Bremen are
 a necessity, of that there is no doubt,
 and if they can be obtained only by
 the paying of higher wages the city
 will either have to "come across" or
 be "up against M-''
 The recent Town home probe has proved of value in more ways than eXhonoraung the management from criminal responsibility. It has brought foroibly to the attention of ths mayor and the charity commits sioners the need of instant improve ments at the institution and the hiring of competent attendants. Locks for the bathroom doors are needed to pre- vent inmates from going into the bathroom alone and suffering a fate like the one of Charles Seaberg. Irn- proved types of water faucets are needed to prevent any feeble patient from turning on the water and being unable to turn 1t off. And more neces- sary than either is the need of paid orderly to care for those unable to care for themselves. These are things that arc up to the charity board and not up to the resident managers. And care should be taken to secure an orderly who is humane as we'll as efficient. With eighty-two inmates the matron and the nurse have their hands full and the managers atten- tion Is needed outside, so details of in terior management should be left to \ somebody. There are at least five male inmates at the farm utterly un- able to care for themselves. It Is un- fair to compel the woman nurse to do this, and it is also impossible for her to find time to do it in addition to her other duties. As the commissioners learned, the reoccurrence of another tragedy like the recent one would make the criminal responsibility that of the city rather than of the man agement.
 Also some rules should be enacted to prevent the police department from sending to the Town home certain cases for '.observation. A man be- lieved to be insane is sent to the Town farm by the police because they have no other place to send him. The management must accept the patient because no one else will. But 1t is crowding work onto tho in- stitution that does not belong there.
 Tn order that ono half may see how the other half lives, in order that 1t may be impressed upon them that charity begins at home" in order that any one with a home health and friends may realize how extremely lucky they are, it would be good idea if more of the public visited the Town home. Individual visits would prove interesting and group visits by various societies or clubs who devote time to charitable purposes would open to their vista a new field for activities The average person has but vague idea of the Town home. To many this institution is the last resort of those who have wasted their lives To nanny the e-nrnates are these who are gefking< <ef. --ae. they deserve. or course this class is there but so h another class. A class which is forced to become paupers and to live at the expense of their more forum ate brethern through circumstances over which they may have had no 1 control Both MT. nd Mrs. Kibbe are willing to show visitors over the in l stitution and they are willing and able l to tell the story of each individual case. wonderful opportunities to 1 bring sunshine into the darkened lives of others will be presented to the eyes of any visitors. They will learn of an old man who has been completely paralyzed for seventeen years. They will learn of an old man ninety years of age paralyzed in his bed. They will learn the story of . l kindly faced old man several years ago vigorous and self supporting and who now, through an accident Is also l paralyzed and doomed to 8 living death in the pauper's home They 1 will learn the story of an old woman who was once one of the city's most I fashionable dressrna kers And if they l go soon they will see an old woman l who was possibly somebody's mother who once had home and happiness l of her own lying on her death bed, ! her life slipping away, while there are none to administer to her except others l whose past was once strewn with
 roses. They will also see the other side 1 They will see men who wasted their 1 youth They will see women who ] might have been better had their younger lives been better. Then they l will see that the work of the charity 1 department is anything but easy and l they will learn that right in their own city is an opportunity to do untold good, to bring untold happiness to these poor mortals who physically are demned man sitting in the death l but little better off than the con- l house awaiting execution. Both know l there can be no release other than 1 that brought about by death. In the 1 one however, there may be thoughts