New Britain herald., 1917-09-01
70u,n Topics

| Where are the Pilgrim Fathers or, 1 to be more exact, their progeny? A
 glance through the list of those in
 cluded in the new National Army, as 1 well as the muster roll of the Ma
 tional Guard, will show that there
 are very few in whose veins course
 the pure blood of the Pilgrims. And
 not because of any lack of courage, l but rather because of lack of num-
 bers. The tremendous influx of
 peoples from foreign countries dur
 ing the last half century has so
 changed the population that the de-
 scendents of the original English
 speaking settlers are few and far be-
 tween. They are vastly outnumbered
 by the new Americans. That this
 has occurred during the last half
 century can De easily seen by glance
 at the long list of names inscribed
 on the Soldiers monument. This list,
 comprising practically every man
 who went out from New Britain to the Civil war, has but few foreign
 names. They are mostly English, or 1 of English descent, Irish, and Ger man, with few names of other races 1 thrown in. How different will be ! the muster roll to be inscribed fifty i years hence OI some mOnum0nt which our posterity will raise to con- memorate the boys and men who will
 have marched away to the present
 war The foreign names will predono- 1 mate and the old-fashioned family
 names, names that were borne bv 1 the early settlers of this new great
 nation, will be in minority. All Of
 which goes to prove that the selective 1 draft act is the great anna lgamatioh l of Americans. It is the melting pot 1 in which all races go. only to come l out pure Americans. And it is going
 to be the National Army which does
 it, an army every bit, as honorable l as the regulars. In the National
 Army will appear men who stayed
 calmly at their daily tasks until the 1 great call came, the first real call to i the colors that this nation has ever 1 seen. And then they responded. All 1 praise to the National Army as we'll l as those in other branches of the
 service.
 1 The recent suggestion that be-
 cause the city rents her farmland the
 taxes on Mrs. Mary A. Tracy's prop erty in Stanley Quarter be abated Is | one of the most absurd and unfair, not to say possibly illegal, plans that 1 have come to light in City hall in some time And it Is all the more astonishing since Mayor Quigley him. self has stepped forth as the cham pion of the property owner and ex- pressed belief that the taxes should 1 be abated. On what grounds? The | reason is just preposterous as the i plan. The mayor has said that be- 1 elo~ !, ] triotism and doing her bit'' by rent | ing the land to the city and that the taxes should be abated as part con- sideration. Without going into the legality of such a procedure, it ap- pears most unfair on the fact of it.
 The general system of taxation is founded essentially on basis of euuible assessment. MT. Brown pays his taxes willingly because MT. Smith also has to pay in proportion and
 MT. Doe pays his taxes because his neighbor does likewise, the principle of taxation being that it is no re- specter of persons. If Mrs. Tracy's taxes are to be abated because she is "doing her bit' by renting her land to the city. for which. incidentally, she received s430 in advance, then why should not the taxes of all the men who have enlisted in the army or navy also be abated? These men are "doing their bit which Is. as a mat ter of fact, considerably more than the property owners bit, and they certainly are entitled to any conces- sions coming. The mayor has set forth in argument that Mrs. Tracy is actually losing money by letting the city rent her 43 acres at $1O per acre, and that she could have rented it for SIP per acre only she wnted to help the city At the last council meeting Mayor Quigley made some surprising statements. Speaking of this farmland he said the taxes cost the owner s3 per acre. and then, quoting some figures of uncertain Orf- gin, he concluded with the astounding statement that by permitting the city to use this land the owner Is actually losing several dollars an acre. Such a statement needs no comment and
 is amply answered by the fact that at the time the owner gave the city another option on the same land at
 tho same price. Not only would it
 be establishing a dangerous prece-
 dent: not only would it be unfair to
 the other taxpayers: not only might
 1t be illegal; but also it would be
 absurd and farcica1 for the mayor
 and aldermen, representing the city
 and it's taxpayers, to abate taxes or
 property which 1t rents and pays for
 The most important factor in vacation is not where 1t is spent, but rather, how it is spent. A good va cation is one which results in some healthful benefit to the vacatlonlst; one in which we return to our work . feeling better, stronger and more capable of performing our daily tasks. Some of us have enjoyed our vaca- tions while others have yet to have