New Britain herald., 1922-04-01

wards because the fifth is apt to giv,
 MT. Paonessa margin which
 coupled with the testimonial from tn,
 sixth, may be surprising.
 In view of the cordial relations ex
 ist,ng between MT. Paonessa and Mir
 Halloran during their contest for tn,
 nomination, it is expected that hotl
 factions will harmonize with tn,
 single object in view of electing
 democrat to the mayors office.
 one Of the surprises of the siXtl
 ward caucus was the strength o
 Frank l.. Conlon, successful candi
 date for aldermanic nomination. MT Conlon ran far ahead of his rivals ir spite of the fact that he did not de. eide to become candidate until last
 Monday. He is a live young man with plenty of experience in govern ment affairs and should be heard from when he assumes his place as alderman.
 Members of the city meeting board who voted to reduce salaries of pub lie employees must be convinced by now that their action was ll-adviscd end nasty. Ear from falling over themselves to comply with the rec concentrations Of the board, public commissions have taken an opposite course and several of them have voted against bringing about reduc- ton in the wages of their employees
 Whatever the ultimate outcome the action of the city meeting board is certain to cause confusion and to create doubt in the minds of many citizens whether the law is so sacred as they have been led to believe. They have been told that. as individ- pals, they must not transgress against the laws of the city and state and vet this is practically what the city meet ing board did when 1t attemped to usurp the authority of the common council with respect to establishing salaries. Enthusiastic supporters of the boards action will no doubt scoff at the foregoing and say that it does not furnish a true comparison. But law is law. and what should be law for the masses should also be law for the classes. The charter is supposed to regulate the conduct of city off cials, to explain their obligations and their powers. It has been approved by the state legislature and therefore becomes a law for part of the state To seek convenient loophoes in it is just as dangerous as to break any of the statutes.
 If iC pIoip1u yxyviffon i,, ol,c ,{, that the common council shall have authority to fix salaries. By what in- depreciation of their powers do mem bers of the city meeting board seek to delegate to themselves authority to do this work? Only by the widest stretch of the imagination is it pos sible to conceive that the legislature ever intended to transfer from the common council to the city meeting board control over the salary ques- tion. To argue otherwise on the ground of a technicality is to strain at gnat.
 The expected has happened. Only those who were blind to the real sit uation and who did not include aii understanding of human nature in their reckonings ever believed that public commissions would meekly bend the knee in response to the ukase which issued from the session of the city meeting board.
 Thus far a number of commissions have seen fit to stand pat on the sal ary question. The board of educa- tion holds to the opinion that it would not be playing fair with the well as the parents to lower the standard of the teaching force. Sal aries for teaching have not been re- duced in other cities. There is not 8 surplus of experienced teachers. Therefore, if New Britain drives away the teachers around whom the educa- tional structure is built, if it dsrupts it's organization, it will suffer from less efficient instruction. The board of education is quite within it's rights in taking this view of the situation. It is morally obliged to provide the pest school system, within reason, | hat it can, and it's actions should not | De influenced by outside political con-
  
 The police board, water board, health board and board of public works have also decided to stand pat IS the members believe that their em- 'loyes are deserving of salaries which lave already been recommended. The common council committee on sal tries has likewise refused to be dic- ated to. It made a report on salaries o the parent body, a report based on information that had been laid before t. It would be hypocrisy for the to "about face" now just because it had been told to do so.
 Without questioning the sincerity of hose who fostered the lower salary rive, it must be said that the effect las been very disappointing, resulting 'nly in a tangle which seems to be 'ecoming more involved every week. hat is usually the case when one 'ranch of the government tries to lothe itself with authority that le- ally belongs to another branch of he government
 Even the most irritable driver Of utos or horses will admit that the uties of traffic officer are weari- ome, annoying and such as to try he patience of modern Job: but at he same time a traffic officer should e man well qualified, mentally and Automatically, to handle such task with all the tact that efficient public ervice requires. A grouchy traffic fficer, instead of being an asset to he city, is a liability. A traffic of cer is a public servant, paid by the public and dependent upon the pub ic, in a manner of speaking, for his livelihood. The duty of traffic of- nor is to l.o biy,,coIf q ;A