The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-03-05

[ would have the county and the state
each pay one-half.
rs is not a fact, Mr.. Lewis that the
| residents Of Voluntown were benefited
| by the building of the road?" asked q
member of the committee.
YES" answered Mr.. Lewis.
MIR. Lewis, in regard to the commits
sion, do you favor one man or three?"
st most emphatically favor three men.
One of the reasons that can give you
| is that the road building goes on at the
same time all over the state and one
man cannot attend to all the work"
Mr., Lord of Deep River, first select
man of the town of Saybrook, said the
people have been educated to higher
| standing and rank of intelligence. I have
| have been educated to higher stand
ing and rank of intelligence / have
built roads Now a good road may be
| built of gravel But down in our town
we do not have gravel The people are
not satisfied with the material found
along the road. The road built by this
| material is mud in winter and dust in
dry weather. The roads built by
{ the highway commissioners allow one
to walk dry shod. 1t is said that the
deaf may be made to hear. Now, if
| this is so, the dumb speak. Why, gen.
tlemen, this is the strongest argument
in favor of the highway commission act.
Senator Keller asked if in the inter-
est of economy it would not be better
to have only one commissioner.
Mr.. Lord replied that he did not see it
in that light, and it would be more ex-
pensive for the one commissioner to
hire help.
L. s. Ellsworth, said: Gentlemen, do
not repeal this law unless you give us
something more radical and progress
sive I would have one head to the
commission. He should be a civil en-
gineer, and should have an assistant
who is also an engineer. There should
be a limit to the amount of roadbed
that the state builds, say twelve feet
wide. Any wider road arises from local
| conditions. The selectmen of the town
| should be held responsible for the
work done I would put one-third of
the expense on the town and two-thirds
| on the state The cities and rich towns
are absorbing the population of the
poorer towns, and this arrangement
would in a measure give us back part
of what they have taken from us
'They say that the state cannot af-
ford it, but don't hear any one taking
exceptions to these-~being appropria-
lions for the militia.
mo, gentlemen, make the law more
stringent
Selectman Whitehead of Simsbury
favored the law, and asked that the
commission be reduced to one man.
The expense should be one-third to the
town and two-thirds to the state.
"Would you cut down the appropra-
tion?" asked the chairman of the COM
mittee.
mo, sir" said Mr.. Whitehead. let
the reduction of expenses come from
another channel"
James L. Cowles heartily supported
the gentleman from Simsbury.
Mr.. IT. w Russell of Hartford, presi-
dent of the Connecticut General Life
Insurance company said: Forty years
ago I rode from Winchester to Stanton,
in the Virginia valley 1t was then
that my experience with good roads
began. They talk about this being a
new movement by the bicycle men.
Why, gentlemen, fifteen years after my
experience in Virginia l crossed the
Alps Now, Napoleon Bonaparte is
considered by some men to have been a
wise man; certainly by all to have been
a great man. He saw the necessity of
good roads and had the government of
Switzerland build them.
"Twenty-five years ago I rode over a
road built two thousand years ago, and
it was as smooth as this floor.
Another thing. These gentlemen
say that the state should not bear any
of the expense. Does not the United
States recognize the necessity of good
roads being built by the nation? Take
the national highway from Boston via
Wheeling to Cincinnati"
Representative Baldwin read a letter
from Morris F. Tyler of this city. He
advocated, as a matter of reduction OF
expenditures, a commissioner who
should be an engineer, and who should
be paid a salary. He should have the
power to appoint a sufficient clerical
force to carry on the business of the
office. The selectmen of the towns
should be held responsible for the quail
ity of the work done. A county COM
missioner. who should not receive a
! y
diem for the work done, should be ap-
Ipointed, and also commissioner of the
town should be appointed by the select
men, who should also receive wages per
diem for each day he worked. These
three officers should constitute the COM
mission. Each county and each town
in this way would be officially repre-
tsented on the commission.
The letter was submitted to the COM
mittee as testimony.
Attorney Perkins Of Hartford ad-
dressed the committee in the interest of
the commission as it is now constitut-
ed.
Representative John I. Hutchinson
spoke along the same line He said
that the present commission had at its
head a practical road builder. and his
associates We're apt students. Mr.
Hutchinson advised no change in the
law. except that the town and the state
pay the bills. the major portion of the
expense to be borne by the state. He