New Britain herald., 1922-07-22

| fublle Interest has suddenly beer
 switched te the municipal garage al
 though there were probably few peo
 pie with the exception of city em
 ployss who realized that there va,
 such an establishment. Criticism o,
 the manner In which the garage ha,
 been conducted was freely voiced a,
 the meeting of the common counci
 this week and the management wa,
 just as stoutly defended Thursday
 night in the course of the garage
 committee meeting.
 | Investigation of the policy of those In charge of tho garage will cause
 little harm, and 1t may do some good
 That there has been dissatisfac ctio on
 with the manner In which 1t has been
 conducted cannot be doubted, but
 whether this dissatisfaction was
 caused by the acts of an individual
 or whether the entire policy was at fault remains to he determined
 Champions of the garage manager
 say that 1t would he impossible for a single individual to give satisfaction
 with the work of two men to do. It was suggested at the common
 council tha: special committee of the council be appointed to have com
 plete control Of the garage. This may
 be a good course for the present, but it would establish a bad precedent. The common council Is the legislative branch of the government. It was established for the purpose of passing laws for the welfare of society within the boundaries of New Britain. Grad ually, 1t has assumed authority in many things outside its own province reeded in enlarging its powers. It should hesitate, however before launching in the business of running garage which is the duty of a com mission, the equivalent of . man. agerial board. A committee of the council would not have the same per manency as commission and there would always be the temptation to allow politics to color its judgment.
 Experience has shown that when the legislative branch of government goes into business, either on large or small scale, the result is disaster ous. We have had examples right in New Britain which should suffice to emphasize that point. A municipal potato farm and a municipal ice house were pleasant resting places along the road to Utopia. but they paid no dividends and cost considerable money. The municipal garage would differ from these other projects In that it would not cater to or have dealings of any kind with the public, but 1t would be deviation from good judgment. The question needs fur ther study. From what has been learned of the situation up to date, the appointment of permanent com mission. created by charter amend nent, to have charge of the garage would be the wiser course
 Long after the shouting and tumult have died we are beginning to learn that wages during the war were not as high as was popularly supposed. In other words, war wages was a myth, to some extent. The revela- ton comes from the United States Chamber of Commerce in its protest dkdlHSl tHt duOplOH oI d pOllub by congress. In its report the senate Anance committee referred to the fact that civilian wages during the war in- ,reased 200 to 300 per cent. The Chamber of Commerce contradicts his assertion-such wage scales did | not exist during the war and not un-' il months after the war. While the struggle was In progress there were exceptions, such as men employed in ! shipyards.
 The Chamber claims that
 Tt is recognized that in ship-build ng yards and in few very special rades calling as a rule for older men, highly skilled in precision work, there were unusual total monthly wages be- .ause of working overtime and be- ause of piecework. An extensive ex imitation of statistics for the period hows no such average gain as the 100 to 300 referred to-
 Furthermore, the chamber says that Department of Labor statistics prove hat the average wage increase rarely xceeded 50 per cent. Wasn't it Lu- retius who said Someone is all ways taking the joy out of life" or omething to that affect? For four ears the workingman has been piod ing along happy at the delusion that uring the war his weekly pay en- elope had scaled the Everest of wages and now he learns for the first ime that the statisticians were only pooling him. Next.