Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-05-14
BlTULITHIc PAVING.
Best Wearing Material Commission
 CTS Met on Their Outing.

CTS Met on Their Outing.
 Mayor Thoms. Sheriff Smith, City Engineer Cairns, Assistant City Clerk James R. Lawlor and the commission CTS of the department of public works arrived home at g o'clock Sat urday night after tour through the principal cities of Rhode Island and Massachusetts. where they picked up considerable information relative to municipal affairs. They saw various kinds of pavement, but judging by what they say on that particular question the commissioners agreed with the engineer that, all things considered, bitulithic Is the bes. ma terial for Waterbury, and 1t ts quite likely that from now on 1t will be given the preference.
 II never believed in outings" said ! Commissioner Finn to a Democrat reporter, but after the experience 1 of the past few days l changed my mind and have no hesitation now in stating that the first thing new de- partment of public works should do l is get out of town for a few days and see how they do things in other places. For my own part I learned more about municipal work while I | was away than I ever would have known if hadn't made the trip, and l think the same thing might be said of the other commissioners. In most of the towns we visited the public takes more interest in these matters than we do here. This, in my judg- ment, is due in measure that the matter of expense is more evenly di- vided than 1t Is in Waterbury. For example, when new street Is laid out and the matter of benefits i, and damages adjusted all the abutting property owners have to do Is pay for the curb. The municipality lays the sidewalks and maintains them, while in Waterbury the whole of this cost is saddled onto private indi- viduals, and you see the result. Here we never had sidewalks in condition for public travel, but in Springfield, Worcester, Cambridge, New Bedford, Rhode Island, and such places you might travel all day without finding a bad spot in walk. It is up to the city officials to attend to such things and they do 1t.
 T asked the mayor of one of the cities we visited how they met all these expenses, and on learning that the rate of taxation was much lower than 1t is in Waterbury I wondered all the more, but the gentleman ex- plained 1t in this way and then I saw through it: Property is taxed at its full value. If one man owns a hous. worth $3,000 the assessors put it in at that figure and If some individual or corporation has property worth | S1, 1,000,000 1t Is listed at that. Tho same thing applies to water. Every body pays the same price for what he uses. so that while 1t costs consid- erable to keep those places in the condition we found them still owing to the equality of taxation and water rents proportioned loads are laid on each and the burden is not cumber. some at any point. Besides this they get something out of the trolley companies, in one place the mayor being of the opinion that the re- ceipts from that source somes pretty near keeping the streets and side walks in repair.
 "'What are you doing with that meter on the hydrant?' T. inquired |of the foreman of gang of men who were opening new street in Spring field. He replied that he wanted to know how much water would be used for back filling and other pur- poses. adding that this was figured in the total cost, and besides no; a drop of water used for any purpose can be had until until after 1t has first passed through meter, unless you come across leak or break in one of the mains. The police in those cities pay more attention to seeing that the ordinances are enforced than they do here, and for that req son the streets never are filtered with papers. Why, child would walk the entire length of block to throw banana peel into a receptacle. Yes, the police pay more attention to the streets in Worcester, Springfield and such places than they do to whether somebody is getting in through the back door of saloon or not.
 But after all, think that we beat the best of them on the quality of our city water and the appearance of our public schools. We have the finest school buildings in New Eng land, but noticed that the play grounds are very much smaller than in other towns and less attention Is given to providing suitable recrea- ton for school children. Of course most of the towns we passed through are older than Waterbury and proba- bly we'll have more of these things by and by"
 Commissioner Hartnett didn't know which streets he considered the prettier, Springfield or Worcester. He was particularly pleased with the nice. straight streets, delightful drives and magnificent parks he saw in those places. They are cities of parks" he said. "and after looking through them one cannot help saving how far behind the times we are In that respect. There are parks In all sections. some large and others small. but all kept in excellent condition. and young and old given ample op- portunity to enjoy themselves in them. The benefit of these parks Is seen in many ways. but in none more so than in the number of youngsters romping about in them and the ab- sence of little ones exposed to danger to life and limb on the streets. There