Litchfield enquirer., 1878-02-21
One County Seat, Two, or Three ?
HAsTY HEIRs.

oI parceliing out, aucLlonlng or, ana SuD-0l- vision, naturally objects to the process. When the time of old Litchfeld really comes, no hand could more soothingly administer the rite of extreme unction than the filial hand of Brother Joseph Vail of the Winsted Herald but, to see him at the foot of her sick bed, pre- 1 maturely trying the judicial garments of l Reeve, a Gould, and Seymour upon his wor- thy townsmen Hitchcock and Fyler, is not quite 30 pleasing sight New Milford has al so been busy presenting her claims to part of the 'sick mans" estate; while, last of all l comes the Waterbury American stearning up the Waterbury River as grandly as an Admir- ! al Hornby forcing the passage of the Darda- nelles, and claiming jurisdiction of all the country tributary to the Naugatuck, clean up | to the Massachusettsline. Such demonstrations of the corner papers of this and other counties are of very common occurrence. Since Amer ica was settled, Corners have been proverbially jealous of Centers, and have been earnest with legislatures to repeal geography and make them Centers, too but it is not often that legislatures pay much attention to such appeals. When, therefore, even fraction of General Assem- bly, allows it's action to be influenced by claims of this description, they call for aconsderation not otherwise deserved
 TWISTED AND NEW MILFORD.
 The issue has arisen from the pressing ne- cessity there is upon the county of furnishing better jail accommodations for her prisoners The County Commissioners-one a resident of Salisbury, another of Winsted, and the third of Plymouth reported to the meeting of County representatives in Hart ford, that a new jail was needed. Thereupon a committee of five Representatives -Messrs. Andrews of Litchfeld, Hatch of New Milford, Ford of Winchester, Randall of Bridgewater, and Gregg ofNew Hartford, were sent to Litch- field toexamine the jail and report on it's condi- ton. They made their examination, and unani- mously reported not only that the present jail is insufficient, but that it would be beinexpedent to attempt repairing it. A motion was then made l in the county meeting of representatives to en- quire what aid would be given by any of the towns towards building new jals within their precincts Litchfield at once voted $10,O00, and asked the legislature to validate their vote. | Winsted passed vote authorizing commit tee to make promises for them-a vote which, by the way, no legislative action could have made binding. The Representatives were then asked to lay a tax for the building of a jail, required by existing statuteto be in Litch- field, receiving in aid thereof the $10000 vo- ted by Litchfield. This vote was rejected, 21 to IF and the convention adjourned sine die, without even making provision for paying the existing indebtedness of the county. now amounting to some $1, 800 No one denied that a new jail was needed and the vote for pro- viding one was rejected solely on the represen- tation of members from Winsted and New Milford that they intended moving for the withdrawal of the county seat from Litchfeld, and the establishment of twonew county seats one in New Milford and the other in Winsted In other words the representatives of this county have decided to let the urgent necessi ty of jail improvement and jail reform wait for three years till the matter of remodeling county lines can be constitutionally reached in the General Assembly of 1881.
 THE PRIDE AND PROFIT OF THE FEW, NOT THE CONVENIENCE OF THE MANY, DEMAND NEW COUNTY SEATS.
 | Convenience of access is the great argu- ment of our county corners for being legisated into county centers and we will look little into this vital question of convenience. Ex- a1ined closely, nine-tenths of what is called convenience will be found to really consist of local pride and local interest A few years since, the whole state was in uproar with the contest over the State Capital. The cities of Hartford and New Haven bid each it's half million for the half capital at issue. Was it mere convenience of access" ," for attendance on legislative sessions, that made the capital worth tle round million either Hartford or New Haven stood ready to give for it? Moth ing of the kind There is very considerable business advantage to the city in which leg islature sits three months every year i; the control of the place where laws are made, over the making of them, is notorious and the honor of being capital city is no light matter, of itself. The same elements that en- ter into fight for a capital enter also into a fight for county seat. It was not tho interests of Winstcd ltigants but of Winsted business men which sent West Winsted and the Flat, arm-in-arm-ten couples strong-down to Hartford last week to oppose the building of a new jail. Private individuals who probably never had suit in any court are said to have offered thousands toward establishing county buildings in Winsted Was it mere conven- fence, or the local honor and profit that were held at so high rate?
 THE TOWNS OF THE PRESENT DISTRICT COURT
 PEACE AN ESTIMATE ON ITS VALUE.
 This happens to be no matter of individual
 opinion, but matter of record. The question
 of corner county seats has already been par. tially tried, and the result throws a flood oi
 light on the practical interest taken in the mat. ter by towns immediately outside those which are straining every nerve to become county seats. In 1872, on plea of convenience of ac- cess, "the District court was established, having jurisdiction over the northern and western towns of the county, with court rooms at New Milford, Falls Village, and Winsted. On the submission of the question to the people of the several towns in this District, they voted rl almost unanimously for the measure As orig inally established most of the expense of the
 court fell upon the State, but New Milford Canaan and Winchester, were to pay the rent , of their respective court rooms. In 1875, how , ever, an act passed the legislature providing
 that the rent of their court rooms should be ap
 portioned among the several towns of the Dis ? trict. This raised very serious opposition ir towns outside those in which the court room I were located They protested against paying
 even so small a portion of the expense of tn, court. In Roxhury and Bridgewater, nearl,
 all the taxpayers signed petitions asking to b.