Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-02-15
]. $. ELTON TIPPED OUT.
Complained to His Son, the Mayor, About Condition of Streets,

Complained to His Son, the Mayor
 About Condition of Streets. Mayor Elton never realized what a
 miserable failure his administration
 is with reference to the care of the
 streets until yesterday. when his
 father. !. $. Elton, was thrown from
 hts sleigh on South Main street and
 after picking himself up drove home ! and told his honor that it was out ot the question to drive through some of
 the streets without great risk to life
 and limb. The mayor acknowledged
 the corn. but tried to get out of it by
 saying that no administration should
 he held accountable for an act of God. 1 adding the trouble on the streets was i due to tue unusual amount of snow that fell this winter Tho mayor told the story himself last night at the
 meeting of the board of public works. l and then with much reluctance. his honor and the commissioners looked
 1t each other like group of men
 charged with some terrible crime and each knowing he was a party to the crime. and finally Mir Holmes made . clean breast of the situation and sub
 mittcd that the streets are pretty rough. Nobody doubted this. but the l question was how to remedy the evil. There is no remedy except to keep It carted away. something that always has been done until the advent of the business administration and now the thing has got to be such nuisance that they can't help finding fault
 about it themselves No such con. ditions ever existed on the public
 ways of Waterbury. The trolley tracks
 are buried foot or so below the snow
 and ice and it requires the greatest
 caution to drive sieighS in these streets
 and keep them right side LID. The
 same thing might be said with refer ence to nearly all the crosswalks. Few
 of them have been seen since the first snow and as q result the public has
 been deprived of any benefit from
 them during the season which they
 are most needed. It never was so in the past and it is d strange sort of re
 form that brings the public face to face with such conditions now.
 The trolley company pays half the cost of removing the snow from streets through which it operates. but it is not likely to keep that up much longer. It is moving towards getting from under this burden. although in other parts of the state the trolley companies meet all the expense of re- moving snow. Another iron the troll ley has fin the fire this year is the passage of a bill requiring selectmen of towns to layout streets in which it has been decided to lay tracks and if the grade ever should be changed later on the town shall bear the full cost. This question was gone over very thoroughly by the commits sloners of public works last night and during the exchange of opinions one of the members wanted to know why Nat was silent ou such important questions as these. It looks strange, to say the least, to see the board of public works instructing the city at torncy to oppose a bill giving the tro'- Icy people the right to double track all streets when one remembers that within the past few months nearly all the principal streets of Waterbury have been double tracked and the city didn't get a copper for the privilege. Besides that. it is only the other day, so to speak. that the aldermen -eauest- ed the trolley company to double track North Main street from Exchange place to the end of the green, and the board of public works invited the con- pany, throgh recommendation to the aldermen, to go ahead aud double track North Willow street. It is un- derstood that the trouble grew out of all effort on the part of municipalities in other parts of the state to get some thing from trolley companies for dou- ble tracking. and not caring to pay if they can get things for nothing. they concluded to go to Hartford.
 In other places public officials cou. si'ler the right to double track the public streets something which should prove a source of revenue to the city. but if is not so in Waterbury. Here the company gets everything it asks and pays nothing for it. and person who would dare say that tbsy should open their purse and give anything towards Tightening the burden of lax alton would stand a good show of hr- ing branded as had citizen. But af- ter all the situation is much the same hein as elsewhere. but people won't wake up to that fact until it is too late. After the present year there will not he any thing in sight which cor pOrltion can convert into money hut will have passed out of the hands of thc people. The trolley companies will owu .lc streets. that is they will uSc them for all they arc worth and throw the added cost of maintenance on the taxpayers: the telephone company has already got hold of all the uiloccupicd space left below the surface ot inc and the new water company is in a fair awy to become the owner of the NaugatIck river. When this goes. wnat will there he left to fight ovc-? Nothing except the air. and it is well for everybody that that cannot bc ccoped up and sold at meter rates elsc citizens of modest means would fs ga Spinc for want of breath albout half