New Britain herald., 1927-12-10

financial depressionin New Britain, banking institutions, at least, from the outside, belle the fact.
 Witness, within a period of one
 month, completion of two new bank
 ing houses and purchase by a third
 Of the building in which it had
 carried on it's affairs as a tenant
 for the past 40 years. And, within
 year, another banking house or
 ganized and began business.
 Opening the period of apparent
 promising financial business was the
 establishment Of the City National
 Bank of New Britain. founded by
 manufacturing and business inter
 ests and housed in the former Beg
 ley block opposite East Main street.
 Next comes the Commercial Trust Co. with what is admitted to be one
 of the finest and most complete
 banking houses in the country,
 whose doors were thrown open two
 weeks ago.
 1 Then comes announcement that
 the New Britain Trust Co. is ready
 to buy, when legal fornalities are met, the Booth block at the corner
 of Main and Church streets-a
 proposition involving almost $1,0O0,- 1 GOO.
 Meanwhile the Fidelity Finance
 bank completes work on it's new building on West Main street, and New Britain's youngest bank begins business under it's own roof
 l With these favorable omens con- slider also the remodeling of the New Britain National bank, com- ! pleted within q year to provide much more space through acquisi- ton of a part of the second floor; and, too, the bid by the Savings :, Bank of New Britain on an issue of s100,oOo in city bonds is a signifi- i cant stroke. indicative not only of financial condition but also of i; faith in the city and It's resources. The advance of banks is logically | a criterion by which the financial | standing of q community may be ! judged. With that established fact in mind, one cannot but view con- ditions in New Britain with feel ing of satisfaction and optimism that even though depressed times may come. New Britain is in a healthy position to await the clouds passing.
 New Britain is typical American city insofar as its type of enter tainment is concerned. With it's five theaters, four of them feature movies exclusively and the fifth also gives movies prominent place on it's program.
 With this as a background and multiplied many, many times to { represent the peoples of the world, someone with a statistical com pley" has figured that the peoples of the world have invested an average of s1.50 each in the motion picture industry, giving it capital of more than s2,715, 5,o00,00o and they pat ronize movie theaters to the extent l of spending about a billion dollars a l year for admissions. i
 The 52,O00 theaters now showing l movies have total seating capacity { of 1,150,000. or slightly more than I 10 seats for each 1000 persons. While the activities of the movie II business now encircle the globe, I; America still leads in investments, , in the number of theaters and in at tendance. The 207 million people { of North and South America attend f a total of 25,000 theaters having ! seating capacity of eleven million. which averages down to 53 seats per :, thousand. Thus. these people have , invested about $S.20 each, although / in the United States the average per :, capita share is SIS. The total ln- n vestment is about one billion, seven :, hundred thousand.
 Europe's 451, ,000900O people have :, o2 900 theaters with a total capacity of nine million or 20 per thousand. <, They have invested s2.20 per capita with an investment of about a :, billion. England ranks highest l. abroad with a per capita contribu ton of s5.7o. Germany is next with ! s4, and France has s250. |
 Australia has 1,20O theaters for [ her eight million people, an average I of A seats per thousand. Her per J capita investment Is s1.20, for a l capital of ten million. (
 The standing room only sign is { seen more frequently in Asia and i Africa than elsewhere. Afrca's ( 32,000,00o people have only 500 f theaters, seating only 100000, or more than one seat per thousand. The per capita invest I ment is about one cent and the total i is about two million. (
 Asia has 2,o0O theaters, seating i 60o,ooo but has 995,0o0,0o0 people I to seat, which averages far less than ( one seat per 1000. While Asa's in C Vestment is about three mills per r person, her total investment is lhree million. 4
 The trained traffic policeman c standing on the congested street cor i. Ter with his hand raised is still the f pest regulator of street traffic, ac- r 'ordng to many observing citizens. a While all will admit that the tow- ng system of traffic lights to con- Q rol traffic are efficient and certain 4 y useful where if is not convenient f o have man stationed, the fact VI emains that a mechanical auto- ,, naton cannot equal human brains a n directing traffic.
 Reading of reports and surveys =, hows that London, Brussels and 'aris, after Investigating American raffic light systems, have declined
 c,