New Britain herald., 1928-03-10


 literature is one referring to "a Ii
 lle group of politicians in a smoL
 filled room' assembling for the pul
 pose Of selecting a party candidat
 Inc reference was to a small gathe, Ing Ill a hotel room at which it wa
 decided that the late Warren (
 Harding would be the republica
 candidate for president. What han i pened Is a matter of history. { History is reported to have TO peated itself on smaller scale i,
 thls city Thursday night when tn
 leaders of the republican party ar said to have met in room at th Burritt hotel to discuss the comin, munlclpal campaign but nor specifically to affirm their allegianc, 10 Councilman Donald l.. Bartlett Who, rumor hath it, wants to carr, the party standard and lead tn, party parade on election day. Re. porters who attempted to obtain de, tails Of what occurred at the meet. Ing ran up against q blank wall i here were general denials that there was gathering of any sor, but clrcumstantial evidence to the contrary is strong. The presence of two political leaders in the hotel lobby at the same time would be a mere coincidence that would be dis missed without further thought hut when several who hold the party relns are seen strolling in and re- lnalhlng there, reporters are skepti- cal If told that there was no meet ing.
 Thus far Mr. Bartlett has the sun- port of the machine. There never was much doubt about the organiza- 'lon giving him it's aid from the mo- hleft hls name was first mentioned Ill connection with the mayoralty nomination. There are no other cam dldates of outstanding strength and IL has generally been agreed that with private bees would keen them Tn their respective hives be- cause the powers want Bartlett. They know that he shares their viewpoint on important public oues- llons and have faith in his ability to eafrN out their policies if he can be nominated and elected.
 Independent republicans, however VIII resent the methods said to have 'een followed by the bosses. The
 
 smoke filled room' may become 2art of New Britain, as well as Chi. ago, history
 Former Mayor A. M. Paonessa,s hehuon of a municipal fund out of shlch money might be taken to nance street work and thereby pro- 'lae work for the unemployed brings ID memories of the 1g2O-l921 post- var reconstruction period when ms city worked out such a plan.
 IL was during the administration T orson F. Curtis as mayor. Thou- 1 ahds Of men were out of emplov- ] 1enf and the demands matie on tha 1 harlty department Were so numar- us and so urgent that it appeared ef'ah that hundreds would be ooklhg to the city for support for lany months to come, while hun- reds Of others would need a "tid- lg over"
 Irrespective of how the city was Lake care of the situation it meant nat a large outlay of money was ecessary. If it was 10 be given in falght charity, there would be no lhslble return, but if employment as to be furnished and the way 10" 10 hundreds of mon by which ley might support their families lthout becoming paupers, it woul1 possible to have the city benefit the outlay in more ways than 1e. This plan was favored.
 During the winter of 1921. the of. 1e ot Mayor Curtis received appli- Ltlon after application for work thy kind of work at all that will lable me to support my wife and llidren.' is the way nearly every ae put the plea. f Discussing the situation with the | mmon council, Mayor Curtis had @ following to say: { 'Buslness depression has been ; e cause of a large number of our ople being out of work during the :, st SIX or eight months and while c sW Britain is not as hard hit as cd many other cities in the state, ere are a large number of people i' re who have not had work any, ! lere from nine months ago up 10 s 3 present time. During the winter q gre were many complaints made
 me with requests for work. This z ring the demand became more . onounced and in order to bring r } matter more prominently before i, } public, l endeavored to secure a @ lsus of the unemployed through !, applications. This resulted some 1,50O or 1,6O0 people sign- i, , applications for work. Judging \, nm the class of applicants, it is si parent that they are only part Q the idle workers, and evidently my of the people do not care to k Ike their wants known. |. The interest shown and the large s, nand for work has resulted in the m of q temporary muni- n al employment office, which your q norable body gave the authority a, start, also the appointment Of an ploylnent committee to act in an sf 'isory capacity" v lanes Cochrane, now employed in l.,
 office of the town clerk, and h, ink Rogers were placed in charge q the bureau. Every department c1 5 asked to furnish a list of jobs m n or which could be advantage ds ly created and street work open up in earnest. The sum of &1OO,. ;e
 in street bonds was appropriat- he
 The result was many men se- h, cd employment for few days a, h week. earning enough to be pa