New Britain herald., 1923-03-17

Mayor Paoncssa has not been at al
 difident during the past week abou
 letting the people of New Britail
 know who is boss. In fact, not sine
 his administration opened. has h.
 shown greater activity in asserting hi
 authority as head of the city govern
 ment. His mind has been occupie,
 with many pressing subjects and fl
 nearly cvercy instance, he has takel
 n hand publicly and. in response {,
 the evcr-present newspaperman, ha
 expressed his thoughts on the matte
 which has engaging his attention a
 the moment.
 The mayor appeared as the leadel
 of the group which favors the adop
 ton of the charter amendments in tn,
 form in which they were presented ts
 the legislative committee on citiei
 and boroughs. He spoke in favor O
 adopting the amendments en masse
 despite strenuous objection on tn,
 part of q number of influential citi zens.
 On another item, that of the use ol
 "stool pigeons" by the police depart.
 ment for the purpose of securing cvi.
 dence of liquor sales, Mayor Paonessa
 has taken definite stand. He de-
 clares that he is opposed to the use of unofficial agents, despite the fact
 that the police insist they are nec- essary in the prosecution of 18th amendment violators The employ ment of stool pigeons' is repugnant. lnstinctively, the average man shrinks from other members of their race who make their living by laying traps for law violators, unless they are regularly employed for that pur- pose apd have official standing, such as policemen. No doubt, the mayor recognizes the fact, even though his hostility is based on the fact that the pay of "stool pigeons would hence- forth come from the public till and no provision was made in the budget for such expense.
 If any official spends nickel in excess of appropriations it will be over the mayors dead body. He makes that point clear when he says that he will swing the axe vigorously on the public personnel in order to keep within the limits of the budget.
 This statement has caused no little apprehension in the city hall circles. 1t was brought out by the knowledge that the legislature had increased the salary of the police court judge to S4,000 without consulting the wishes of the New Britain public. The salary at present is s3,50o. No one seems to know just where the extra $500 will be found, as it was not anticipat- ed when salary appropriations were adopted. It seems to be rather an un- usual procedure for representatives to saddle such an expense on the public of a city without discussing the sub- ject with those who must discover means of making the payment.
 Mayor Paonessa's most recent ap- pearance as skipper of the municipal ship is in connection with the issue of the school bonds on January 5. It will be recalled that the city meeting board authorized the issuance of bonds to the extent of $625,000 with which to carry out the expansion policy of the board of education Everyone, naturally, believed that that would end the debate. Apparent ly the mayor does not intend to allow the book to be closed until he has written another chapter.
 His call for special meeting of the city meeting board to reconsider the school bond issued was one of the of the week. He had given no intimation that he expected to ex- plode bomb under the school board. | He explains that he has learned that s625,OO0 is not necessary. It would be interesting to know what is passing in his mind, but we must have pa- tience and probably he will tell us all about it at the session of the city meeting board.
 The first ward is becoming the | stormy petrel of republican politics | Whenever a group of first ward men s seen in consultation. a nomination s almost certain to be forthcoming.
 The desire of first ward residents to win political nominations is strong because a nomination, for years, has 'een as good as a victory at the polls. The district is overwhelmingly repub- ican. The democrats of the ward | Ire just as enthusiastic as if they bought they could win. They never neglect their duties and go through he form of nominating candidates very year, but in numbers they are ew, and numbers decide the ques- ion on election day.
 This year three republicans are eeking the nomination for alderman. George H. Wells, who now occupies hat position, has decided to retire nd there is rush for his post. Councilman Mercy wants it; Council nan Rice wants it; Cornelius Dehm wants it; only one can have it. There -ou have the whole case summed np n seventeen words. It is the old tory of supply and demand. The upply has reached the irreducible minimum Of one, and the demand is rom three aspirants.
 The Wells faction is supporting the mbitions of Councilman Mercy, .gainst Rice. It is not known how hey regard the candidacy of Dehm, ecause he entered the lists yesterday, cseTdl udyS diICT WCliS ibuuV tHC l ,ublic announcement that he favored he nomination of Mercy. It is a merry little war with much yet to be written.
 Not to be outdone by the republic ans, the democrats throughout the ity arc divided on the question of rhether candidates for the common ouncil shall be named by primaries r at 8 convention. Some of them laim that the rules of the party have cen amended to provide for primaries Shile others insist that the old rules