New Britain herald., 1922-02-13
EMPLOYMENT BUREAU.

The failure by the city depart,
 ments, notably the board of pub.i,
 works, to make use of the municipal
 employment bureau. has come to |
 point where there may be no further
 avoidance of the subject
 The lack Of co-operation among
 men whose duty 1t should be to see
 that work is given out in accordance
 with mems needs and In accordance
 with the wishes of the people O. the city must be denounced in no unmis- ' takable terms.
 Practically ever since the municipal employment bureau was opened there i has been a failure by the board of public works, it Is said, to call upon the employment bureau when help was needed. The attitude of the board has been rather that 1t must manage it's work as it secs nt, giving employment bureau men work when 1t thought wise, and hiring men else where when 1t seemed best. The cry has come continually that "old hands must be kept at the work in many cases because they are familiar with 1t, and there must be scattering of old men among the new to maintain efficiency"
 In fairness to the board it must be said that this Is true to certain de- gree. It is not true to the extent it has been carried. There Is no excuse for having over half the men en- ployed by the day and paid by the city men who were not recommended by the employment bureau. This has been the case often, if information gained in city hall circles is correct.
 Possibly the whole board of pub lie works is not to blame actually for this situation If the board is to be considered as composed of individ- uals. But the action of the board should be the action of each indi- vidual of the board. Those members knowing of the situation and who object to it should make their po- sitions known to the end that the conditions would be lighted. If au- thority to hire men has been dele gated the board is responsible for the acts of the person to whom that au- thority has been given, unless law, charter or ordinance has taken the matter out of the hands of the board.
 There have been other rumors abroad, some of which have been founded on fact. Men employed by the city have been guilty of under hand practices to their own advant- age. Some of these matters have | come to the attention of the board or those under 1t, and measures have been taken to correct conditions
 There is no intention to impute anything wrong to the board of pub lie works. other than a failure to see to it that the cooperation between | the board and the employment bu- reau was real and not fictitious. Evi- dently the attempts that have been made to make this cooperation of real use to the unemployed, have failed. The latest news, that only ten out of 150 men employed to take care of the recent snow came from the bureau discloses situa- tion that calls for more than mild criticism.
 All city departments, the board of public works included, should go to the employment bureau for their men in the first instance. Men applying to the board or to anyone responsible to the board should be sent to the em- ployment bureau to wait their turn. The bureau is prepared to handle their cases and will have more work to give out if the departments of the city will consider it, first of all, be- cause by considering it the depart ments will be considering and treating with justice the people of this city for whose benefit the bureau was es- .ablished