Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-08-20
HAMILTON PARK
Funds Run Out for Any More
 Improvements.


 intendent Walker is being carried
 beyond the means of the people to ! pay for all that could be done at
 Hamilton park and other places. At
 the present time it is said that there
 is scarcely sufficient funds available
 to the credit of parks to pay the
 superintendent and few men until
 the first of next January. If this be true it is question whether the
 board of aldermen will be willing to
 make a special appropriation to
 build larger skating rink. no mat
 ter how desirable such a thing might 1 be. The City hall roof is leaking
 and the expensive work done on the | interior last year is being ruined
 and unless the roof is repaired be- fore winter sets in all the monet
 expended on the building last year
 will have to be provided. but this
 true that Waterbury could use more
 money to good advantage on parks
 and public playgrounds and more will havev to be provided, but this
 is very inopportune time to look
 for it. Property owners in every section of the city are railing at the city fathers about sewers, water mains, streets, sidewalks, police pro- tection, electric lights, and other things which they have no show | whatever of getting this season, not | because they are not needed nor Oh account of a disinelination on the part of the boards to act favorably on their applications, but solely for the reason that there is not enough money to do the work with. This is something the boards are not re- sponsible for, neither are the heads of the departments, but owing to the ambitions of we'll meaning but indis- erect men the public is often led to believe that more and better results could be had if the money appropri- ated for public improvements was spent judiciorsly. In some few in- stances this may possibly be true, but in a general way it might truth fully be said that the city funds are used to the best possible advantage and if many things that We ought to have are on the waiting list the trouble is due entirely to lack of the sinews of war and not to mismanage- ment.
 Early in the present year Mayor Thoms announced to the department of finance that no special appropria- tions would be made this year be- cause there was nothing against which they could be charged and thereupon the board appointed committee to apprise the heads of thu dfHnrnnt art, nr,t- nf fact. A meeting was called to which the head of each department was in- vited and during the session every one of them charged with the han> ding of city money was instructed not to expend a dollar in excess of the appropriation made for his de- partment. With this warning given out last spring there can be no ex- cuse on the part of anybody claim ing that he was not aware of the situation so that In case any depart ment runs short of funds to meet current expenses the man at the top will be likely to have to square himself with the mayor and board of finance. How he can do this does not appear quite plain to the ordinary mortal, but perhaps there is way out of it. It was supposed for time that the bond issue of s250,000 for park purposes was available for work any place where the board of aldermen might desig- nate. but 1t appears from an opinion rendered to the board of public works by Mir Kellogg that this Is not so. This is to be regretted, perhaps, although 1t may be good thing that 1t cannot be used here and else 1t might disappear too quickly and then more would have to be had at the railroad station. for while the sum total of that project is not known, the bills will have to be met from time to time according as they fall due whether people like 1t or not. There is almost no end to the amount of money which could ne spent to advantage in Waterbury. Mir Walker could use neat pile in Ham, ilton park to say nothing at all of Chase park. which everybody admits should not be left in its present con- dition, and the need of play grounds in the different sections of the town for the accumulation of children who have no place to amuse them selves except on the public streets.
 But these are by no means all. Somebody has said that order Is Heavens first law, and that being so 1t must be apparent to every thoughtful citizen that we need more police protection. No district of the town is any too we'll protected and many places have none at all. This is not the fault of the superintend- ent or anybody else connected with the department Indeed 1t is admit ted that the men now on the force are oyerworked and that in every case the beats are more than twice as long as they ought to be. What is the remedy? More men. What does this mean? Higher taxes. Who wants to see such a thing un- der our present system of taxation? Nobody except the man who is not carrying his share of the burden and on whom a propOrtionate load can- not be laid until the system Is nIde more equitable. The same thing might be said with reference to every other department. Nobody is asking for anything unreasonable but the cost incident to doing the work people want attended is SO much greater than the amount ap- for such purposes that not over a fourth part of what Is ordered in one year can be ham dled during that period. This is the real source of the trouble in Water