Connecticut western news., 1874-12-18

'enls per pound, and $48 and upward TO 'pec'Fe'y. Even at the low prices above ient',ned, the supply far exceeds the de 'handi ! 1n fact there is no demand; as prices prove except merely trifling on. hardly worth noticing. Of the causes which have led to a decline of this indust. ry, employing such a vast capital and hundreds of thousands of workmen all over the country, the most prominent is the decline ot railroad building and rail. way business. Many lines are in sore need ot new rails, but are unable to buy them. as manufacturers will not give credit, and the railroads have no ash. To the sud. den falling off in the demand for rails must br added 8 similar condition of affairs in the machine business in fact. in nearly every department of industry which uses iron.
 Christmas Presents.-It was our pur- pose to write up the Christmas present question this week, but those to whom we should allude as having the greatest dis play of really fine goods, and who will sell the cheapest, have sent in their new advertisements and rewritten thelr old ones to such an extent, that nothing seems left for us to do. We hope our readers will examine the advertisements In the NHws this week, the outside pages as well as the inside, and thus become informed of where it is best to buy. There is nothing truer than the loug ago established fact, that the cheapest and everyway most advanta- geous places to buy goods, are at those establishments who advertise. A mar in business which seeks the patronage ot the public, who "cannot afford" to adver- tise; ''cannOt afford" to be insured ''can- not afford" to sell goods as cheaply as others and indeed ''cannot afford" to en. joy a fair degree of health, and at such times as these might about as well hang his fiddle on hickory limb, because he can't get a tune out of it. We repeat. Read those advertisements and become wise.
 The Iron Bridge:-A wall of indignation very justly arises from people who come into our village and are compelled to drive their horses through the knee deep Wachi- castinook such weather as we are now hay, 1 ing. "Our horses will become chilled, take cold and be seriously injured Say they and they are right ;-nor Is this all the weather will soon be cold enough to freeze this small stream full of ice, and the water will be damned up" hy it and pouring ovel again, freeze and SO fill the crossing place with ice in such condition that to cross will be impossible. And why Is this SO? The echoes from the waters rushing down theil mountainous course on the occasion of the terrible stOlm in June, had scarcely ceased to reverberate from the hills at the east of our village, before the iron bridge at Lime Rock was in its place, and travel resumed with it's former comfort, and here it Is now nearly mid winter, and horses compelled tc splash through the frigid waters in our will age, and chamber up the icy banks, and vel we hear of no signs of 8 bridge being put in position. "Why is this thus ?" A frient at our elbow essays to answer the question and discourses eloquently as follows; "At the June town meeting, called especially for the purpose of getting the towns 1T structlons in regard 10 the repair of tht roads and bridges, it was voted to build al the bridges of wood. A few logs were tumbled into position and some blanks laic across them, and pretty good bridge built one that thousand years ago would have been called by the inhabitants of his coun try, as really first rate. Another towr meeting was called and the wooden vote recindrd and one of iron substituted, or at least as far as this bridge was concerned At this meeting Il e selcctmep were direct ed by large majority town vote, to bulC an iron 6ridge oyer the Wach. .castinooR ln this village. Strange as 1t may seem, af ter these special instr uctions from the town the selcctmen, or some of them at least still gave their attention and time to ar engagements for the construction of s acOoden bridge, and so much tima was con sumed in planning a wooden structure ; they going so far as to make contract with carpenter 10 build 1t, that it go we'll into November before they could b. made to understand the town, who mad, them it's servants to do its bidding, ha6 ordered them 10 bui m IRON BRIDGE in that place, and it was not till that lat, day that an order for the construction o an iron bridge was given, which il was found would. take several weeks te gc! ready 10 put into position. "There, says our eloquent informant, lis where the fault lies. If there hadn't been s. much dangling around an old pung of a wooden structure on the score of econoan1
 the iron bridge would have been n posi- long ago. It must he admitted that th abc ve remarks are little severe and ou readers will form in their own minds ex actly how much justice they contain. It matters not what determination each anC everyone arrives at, 1t is quite sufficient fol those who drive in and out of our village to know their horses must continue t, splash through the anchor ice for some time 10 come And that is where the s.econ 0my" comes in. We can all grin and bear it, so long as It is economical.
 Later.-The ink on the above item hat scarcely become dry, before the intens cold of Monday night and Tuesday morn ing had froZeu the water of the Rig stream, and damned it so high that horse on that frigid morning, Thermometer mark ing Zero) whose owners were rockies enough to attempt to drive them through went in among the broken pieces of Ice with the water almost high enough to ru
 in ,he boxes of the wagons. Numcrou threats were made ito sue the town" fo