New Britain herald., 1917-02-10
T0wn 1opics'

Il ment of New Britain men to e,the 1 1912; the spirik that sent hundreds of l New Britain min to civil war.in 1s61- 65; the spirit$ $that sent three com Spanish Ann erican war; and the same | indomitable spirit that sent two com panies of young soldiers out last June l to do daty on thY Mexican, border when war with thaf turbulent country 1 seemed but matter of hours will cer- 1 tainly not be lacking should the ten- sion between this country. and Ger many be strained to the breaking point New Britain has always done her share for her country. New Britain boYf have always responded ] bravely to 'the, call to rally around the flag and New Britain boys will espntinue to do so. While devout Hrayer is breathed from sthousands of men, wonien and children In this otty that war will not come. still they will not hesitate if 1t Is forced upon us. Then there should be no pro- Germans dn New Britain; there should be no pro- British. there should be. no pro- French or pro-Italian; they should all be pro-American. Sons of native Germans will enlist with sons of na- tive Britons and sons of native Italians will become camp and tent mates of native Frenchmen. Racial lines will be wiped out when America Is Tn tho balance. The men who were at the border last summer are better qual- flied for active service than the militia has ever been before and while the ranks of the two companies arc not up to full war strength 1t would be van easy matter to recruit them should the call come. Men recently dis charged, veterans of others years, men disqualified last summer at Mantle and Nogales, announce their intention of rejoining their old commands in case of eventuaHties. New Britain's past record is safe in the hands of the present generation.
 And while the youths of the city arc responding to the call to arms, the factories here would be no less back ward in offering their services to the government. The machine shops and boundaries would all do their share toward helping Uncle Sam.
 Let up pray for peace, but peace being impossible. let us be prepared and let Us not be found wanting.
 
 Governor Holcomb's suggestion for military census of the state would show between 5000 and 1000 men eligible for duty in this city. The military enrolment recently complet- ed gave the number of men between the ages of IS and 45 years, not other wise disqualified, as 6,794. This en- rollment however gives only the name of the men. It does not give his ad- dress his age, his nationality or his occupation and 1t is such an enroll ment that the governor so wisely rec ommends All of which suggests a proposed change in the law so that ! when the military enrolment is taken l in other years these things will be l included and will be obtainable in- l stantly. At present the only real ! worth of the enrolment is to show 1 how much of a tax the city owes the | state and, in case of war, the names
 of what individuals are eligible.
 | l The appointment of pr. Frank 1 Zwick as 8 health and sanitary in- l speetor of the public schools, to be
 more or less closely associated with Superintendent Holmes, is rather queer. It shows that all members of 1 the school board do not share the 1 opinion of the doctor that the super
 tntendent has been credited with hay ing. It will be remem bered last fall Dr. Zwick was discharged as High | school coach by order of Principal 1 Slade who, at a council meeting, ad- mitted he was voicing the sentiments
 of the school superintendent. Now to have the doctor appointed so that he will officially act in the very territory l over which the superintendent re1gns l supreme is amusing.
 1 The growth of New Britain has ever l been steady and healthy, not spas- ] modjc and unnatural like that of
 Bridzeport and New Haven during the past two years. This steady growth, 1 wear in and year out is best shown by g. comparison, of building records l for the mast four years during which 1 time the building operations here have l avera ped about the same each year. Tn 1e13 this city ranked sixth in the state in the number of building per l noits jssued In 1914 and 1915 1t
 ranked fifth and again in 1916 ii
 ranked fifth thus maintaining it's l s+o,dv averages The same holds
 true of the value of new buildings. Tn
 1913 this city ranked fifth in valuation 1 of Hnew structures, the figures being
 s1.o71,s25. The following year ii
 dropped back to seventh place, the 1 operations costing only s1,21S, $40 In l 1915 and 1916 however, 1t ran true I to average, the cost of new buildings having been $1,48o,7s5 and $1,565,425
 respectively. Today Connecticut's five 1 big cities rank in size as follows: l Bridgeport, New, Haven, Hartford
 Waterbury and New Britain.
 ~~.
 Chief Rawlings plan to bring the
 supervision of theaters under the de-
 tective bureau is a good one. There
 is no doubt that some of the loca