New Britain herald., 1921-07-23
THE OBSERVER RANDOM OBSERVATIONS
THE CITY AND ITS PEOPLE.

' to think. It is not unlikely that Mr. Ball has been misquoted, or misun- derstood. At any rate, conditions do not even approach the situation he is | said to have described New Britain is as tranquil today as ever and although unemployment caused some hardship and general worry, not a whisper of | impending disturbances has become public knowledge.
 New England has suffered from the 1 1eXaggeration of stories told by natives visiting in other parts of the country. l No doubt, in some parts of the United States the people think that New Eng land is a haven for long -whiskered foreigners who spend their days mak-
 ing bombs and their nights planting Ithem. Nothing is farther from the 1 truth. New England has a large for eign element in it's popula tion, but most of the so-called foreigners are
 law abiding and peaceful citizens who are doing their best to absorb the l American atmosphere and to under stand American traditions and cus- toms.
 l Whether Mr. Ball actually made the statements with which he is credited, | or was misunderstood by the news lpaperman who interviewed him, an in- justice has been done New Britain.
 Not only are the Spaniards not threat ening to overthrow the government but a great many of them, in fact are now in the tobacco growing sec- 1 tion of the state helping to harvest
 the weed that drives dull care away. Could their situation be more prosaic | more restful to themselves, more
 soothing to the nerves of those who smell dynamite fuses burning around every corner?
 l The writer inclines to the support
 of Mayor Curtis in the recent dispute concerning putting teeth" into an
 ordinance regulating pedestrian traf-
 fic. The chief fault to find with the Mayors attitude is that he is dis courteous at times and instead of dis. icussing city affairs in dignif1ed man iner he frequently uses abrupt Ian lguage. This was so in the case of Councilman Rice's ordinance which would impose a fine on any person who failed to cross streets between
 the white lines. When Mayor Curtis
 first heard about it he gave it very
 little consideration and said he would toss it into the wastebasket.' Such
 expressions are unbecoming to a man occupying the position as mayor and
 should be avoided in the future as they cause lack of respect for the exe-
 cut1ve uttering them and create i'll feeling on the part of persons at Whom they are aimed.
 l However, aside from his ill-chosen Language, Mayor Curtis was proba bly,
 right in his stand that the introduc- tion of MT. Rice's proposed ordinance would be poor judgment. Man is regulated in nearly everything he does
 nowadays, and if the legislators are
 unabe to find anything which must De forbidden they dig up something
 which he must be ordered to do. In lrecent years, our law makers have dis closed fenzy to rush more legislation onto the books despite the fact that those people who have the fewest laws are happiest. The attempt to re-
 strict the actions of pedestrians cross ing public streets met a Waterloo 1t deserved.
 It is pleasure to note that fel-
 lowship has not ceased to exist and
 to chronicle the fact that the trials
 of the past few years have not hard
 ened all mems hearts. This. observa. ton is made in connection with the news reaEhing the writer's ears thai the New Britain Military band has given its services free of charge fol lall military funerals. The band is
 composed of men who work for 8 living and when they attend the
 burial of a dead soldier they do so al
 the sacrifice of their days pay, as l wo11 fer escort at the obsequies. It nigh
 likewise be noted that horses to draw
 the caissions on which rest the vic
 tms of the World War have beer generously loaned by the Citizens Goa
 and Wood company and Charles . Bence without cost to the soldiers
 families.
 The Common Council must need
 be extremely cautious in approving
 he payment of bills for damage don,
 Q private automobiles. A number o
 petitions for reimbursement fo damage to cars was received by tn
 council Wednesday night but did no win approval although the claim
 ants ground was that the condition lof the public streets was responsi 1 ble for broken parts. General ad mission of such claims would opel , the way for interruptions persons t ? make a raid on the city treasury t which would not be in keeping wit v | the times.
 r Reports from different sections 9 E the country indicate that industria a conditiOns are not expected to be leone as bad as many, pessimist
 would have us believe. Although n iquietness reigns in some lines, busi ness prophets believe that the turl for the better will come with tn . harvesting of the nations grea crops: With conditions improved il