Norwich bulletin., 1921-07-02


 kins Gilman, and begin to take stock l of Main Street" to find out just how | the home town measures up to the | standards of a really fit place in which i to live. Writing under the title of ! Making Towns Fit To Live In'' in | The Century Magazine, Mrs. Gilman | ssys:
 From the innocent pride with, which l we all regard our home town to the civic megalomania of See Naples and Die, human beings boast of their cities yet hardly one among the boosters (now spelled tboosters) knows the real grounds for his pride. What are the points of cities ? How shall we compare one with an- other, and, allowing for geogra phie climatic, and the economic limitations describe the curve of possible ascent for the one we love best? Here is where we must establish standards.
 Tt should not be difficult, with our present equipment in practical science to make studies of a sufficiently large number of towns uS der similar condi- tions that would enable us to say what constitutes type for the various kinds of towns.
 Vaguely we recognize these types in our common reference to factory town a mining town, or a county N town or any other kind that we want to know about and improve, how does 1t compare with others? Which is the hest. and why? These are the aues- ti0ns We must ask. To answer them, wee Aeed standards, and before we can esta blish standards we must agree up- on what makes a good town. We need little book on What is a City ? It should be a cheap little hook that everyone can buy and un- dcFstand. sort of civic primer.
 Suppose we live as so many of us dc, in an ordinary, medium sized town Our city beed should inform us that 3, normal town, with the number of habitaRts cur town has, should have
 sueh and such functions, adding to the simple requirements of the small Vil-
 lage those other and more varied func- tlens which the larger population of l eur town requires and can support. 1 Such list, for eur ordinary medium sl4ed town, might run somewhat as | follows:
 1-smithy; 2-Store; 3-Post -office 4-School; 5-Church; 6-Dressmak-
 or; 7-Ailliner; s-Barber; s-Drug-
 store; 1e-Mevihg pictures; 11-Court- | house; 12-Jail; 13-Fire Company: 14-Hetel; 15-Hall.
 "A pattern town should be described
 suggesting the income that should be
 derived fFem legitimate taxation of it's
 number of citizens, and showing just
 what advantages a town with such g
 lReaMe deserves and requires With such information at hand, we could knowing our owR towns income, de- ! teFmine whether or not we were secur-
 lnE all the advantages which our in. come should provide. It we were not
 We should want to know why.
 VArtain banner towns should b,
 listed in the back, and attention call
 ed to this or that point in which u
 several towns excel Particular atten.
 ton, should of course, be given to tn, II one town that, point by point, stoot supreme ameng the towns studied t,
 date, Now, what are the points upol which Ee should hase such judgmen etstewns? Just as a starter, we migh suggest these:
 } 1-Health; 2-Beauty; s+Virtue; A. Public spirit; 5-Educational facili ties; c. Administrative efficiency; g. ] Administrative honesty; 9-Minimu1
 prosperity.
 The health and beauty listed woul . net mean the health and beauty due t natural advantages, but the effort made by the town to improve in thes . matters.
 t Civic virtue and public spirit migh ' perhaps, go under one head, measurin the proportion of citizens actively in }. teFested in the affairs of the commun r ity, and the quality of their servic ', For instance, any one working in an f store, shop, school, mill, or other ferl r ef Public service, and not doing hone! s work, lacks civic virtue just as muo t as if he were in an official positio s We live and die by the services # our fellows, whether elected or not. V man who builds dark tenements . who owns and rents dark tenement n lacks civic virtue. So does the pack, r who sells bad meat, the worker WI does poor work, or the selfish and ign, 7 rant who robs the public by stealth : flowers in the parks.
 We can keep tabs on administr;
 tive efficiency as soon as there is con mon knowledge of what we have g right to expect. As the administrat ti, l- honesty think what healthy thing 's would be when we can learn from oI le city book which town has the wor n record and which the best, and whe
 we stand at home Think of the eag ss committee on improvement sending e. the competent civic examiner and ha .t lie knowledge in clear and simp F. ing their town records exposed to pu
 terms. How proud the town with t . unblemiShed record, if there is on = How deserYedly shamed the citize r of the worst town.
 is Minimum prosperity means the o &s pOsite of our present system of bas la ing of first citizens it means boas 1k ing of the last ones, of the poorest. ' ar now exult in millionaire more or le ne and pass over without notice the ma so of poor. What a town should be pro lp of is not the heigth of it's maximu ek in wealth, but of it's minimum; n ar We have three millionaires in u ad tsWR, but There is not a family 'et this town with an income below VI thousand dollars A thousand dolls us IS only twenty dollars a week, with St. feTtHight's vacation. Little enough UT any family tiday.
 UT When we have studied our exi ,e- lhg towns, generalizing from numb, fs ana showing the best we have done Ie- faFi when we have taken hold with b. will to make such improvements as .r can in cur stubborn, old-esta blist Ie. towns, 2 great new social service C '. be done by developing sample tow s. That should net be a difficult thj fes In our country, for we start new tov '"- year by year; the only trouble is ii
 the new aRes are no Improvement ef the old. This sample town shol ,Y- appear to~be a perfectly ordinary mt dustrlal town, some new faetery " he It's employees, placed where it co i've have land or water communication v, the FASf Nf e3aA,,I5 v