New Britain herald., 1924-01-17
THE COMMON COUNCIL

THE COMMON COUNCIL
 On the walls of many assembly
 chambers, courts of justice and great
 halls where men meet in solemn con-
 clave to transact the business of cities.
 states and nations, old pictures of
 great men hang to lend to the at-
 mosphere of the dignifed place the in
 fiuence of their wise thought, their
 honored lives. Even in private offices
 of great concerns there are often those
 old portraits, reminders of the splen-
 didlysHise men who have directed the
 destinies of the institution in the early,
 struggling days of its existence. To
 such pictures thoughtful men turn,
 in their perplexity, and try to imagine
 how they, those strong men of former
 days, would have met the problems
 that come up constantly. And from
 those portraits these present day in-
 cumbents of offices held years ago by
 men whose names became well known
 because of the broadness of their vie sion, receive often an inspiration that impels them to view modern matters with that same wisdom, understanding and freedom from pettiness charac- teristie of the big men Of the past
 The imaginative may picture the
 portraits of some Of New Britain's pioneers looking down from the walls
 Of the council chamber last evening when the council was in session. But one who attended that session can not
 well imagine many Of the members as feeling the influence of any of them. A few there were, certainly, who felt uncomfortable. Perhaps they did not know exactly why they realized that there was something Fundamentally wrong some of them expressed themselves. scarcely able to put into words the objections they had to the actions that were taken, to the smallness that seemed to rule king in the chamber where were gathered the representatives of the people Of this city.
 But had the spirit Of one or those founders of New Britain spoken from !. out of the past, that spirit may be imagined as saying something like this:
 Il am proud Of you boys repre- sentatives of the city which has grown 1 big far beyond the dreams of it I had when | lived here decades ago. l can | not understand all your problems, of course. for ours were simple in my | day simple they would seem to you. but great they were to us. All we had l to do was to break the way through | obstacles we knew nothing of. There ! was nothing complex about that you see. We just had to fight, remember . ing always that there must be noth- | ing small about the way we handled things. for we were very humble in . our ignorance. Today yon all repre- sent a tremendous number of people ' "a multitude it would have seemed . to us They trust you and l know you . do your best to justify their conf- . dence. You are good boys and you want to do right You speak in terms I can not understand. and the sums . Of money you mention are so large . that they appall me. But as well as I can understand it you have a certain man whom you have chosen to protect [ you. having under him great many others who go about seeing that order is kept. property is safe and that no criminal is allowed to take the lives of the helpless: you have another certain man who spends prsc- tically all Of his time keeping your city. and those who support # by taxes out Of trouble fn the law courts. and settling quietly, when possible. dis 1 putcs which arise: you have another [ man and a helper for him, both Of whom seek to have the guilty punish sd for the Rrongs they have done i Fou; and you have others who give all [ Iheir time 10 saving your property [ rom the flames and saving threatened | 4xes. You have ali these msn pho d .hink of nothing but serving you.
 And fl seems to me. you boys aho [ Ire trying SO hard 10 manage well the l lffsirs Of your city that is my city. Q %. that you have Belittled tonight all hese who are serving you. or eour- Q
 can not well understand many Of 2 our problems. but. were alive to- [ ay. I would try very hard to un- [ erstand and. unless am quite wrong. ! should make you see that faithful [ .rvice to you pho have all the benefit [ [ the devotion Of these people is of ! value and should be g I should try to have you n