The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-02-12


 tee has had several complaints against
 the dimnesS of the lights and the globes. The test which the committee will make without the knowledge of the company will be for the purpose Of ascertaining the candlepoWer which the company furnishes the city.
 The residents of the East End who have been showering the board of al dermen and the tax board with peti- tions for a new bridge at Arctic St.. will be glad to know that $5,OO0 has been allowed by the Board of Appor- tiOnment for culvert of masonry construction to take the place of the himsy frame structure which is in a state of collapse. The item is now on the preliminary list and there is every probability that it will remain there.
 A citizen in looking over a number of old municipal registers at the city hall few days ago found that in 1874 an appropriation of s13,000 was made by the city to provide work for the needy unemployed. The city was on- 1y a village at that time when compar- ed with it's present size, but year ago when Alderman McMurray pro posed an appropriation of $10000 to provide work for the men who were out of work at that time the mem bers of the Tax Board thought that the Board of Charities was the proper place for the needy unemployed to go for aid. The mayor in 1874 was E. P. Goodsell and the appropriation was made and the money spent among men who were out of work as a result of the panic of 1873. The Board of Char ities has a, deficiency of $25,G00 this year and undoubtedly the city would have some return for half of this mon ey if Alderman McMurrays plan to give employment to those who wanted to work had been followed out.
 One of the wagons formerly used by the chief of the fire department is be- ing overhauled and will be placed at the disposal of Assistant Chief Daniel E. Johnson who will be assigned district of the city to cover in respond ing to alarms.
 The residents of the upper parts of the Eighth and Ninth districts who have been asking for a bridge to con- meet Island Brook avenue and ROose- welt street will not see the bridge built this year as no allowance was made for it on the preliminary lists. Last year $500 was spent in filling in the ends of the streets for the propos- ed bridges and it was expectsd that enough money would be allowed for culvert or bridge this year.
 Abe Levy and his neighbors who re- side in Madison road north of Alice street think there is something the matter with the city government; ;eith- CT that or they are "in wrong" They have been trying for twenty years to have Madison avenue graded and improved. They thought they were going to get an appropriation of $4,- GOO for the work this year as it was h.. 0F tor Biltz but Auditor Heating could not allow so much money in making up his recommendations and the tax board passed over the item without giving it a thought.
 This city is going to have some oil- ed roads this year like the towns be- tween here and New York which have protected themselves in a large way from the dust and grime resulting from heavy motor car traffic. The tax board allowed $1 GOO for road oil in the First district and another $1,000 for it's use in the Second district.
 The firemen of the city have a new friend and champion in Alderman Ben jamin Fletcher. He knows more more about fire departments and fire men than anyone else in the council for besides having been mayor of Nashua, New Hampshire he was a member of the fire department there, starting as a volunteer pulling appa- ratus by hand and ending up as chief of a paid department. At the last session of the council he spoke in fa- yor of two assistant chiefs for the fire department.
 The habit of modifying the spelling of words which come into common use has deprived the inventor of our most used pavement from hay ing his name handed down to poster ity. All of the early year books of the city refer to appropriations for roads as an engineer named McAdams was the originator of the cracked stone surface for roads. the word 'macadam" is written in the appropriations for nam- ing the pavement.
 Captain F'reyler of No. 9 engine con- pany has invented an automatic door for the pole holes in the surface of the second floor of the engine house. ] It is the desire of the firemen to keep the bunk rooms cold and the rest of the house warm. With the holes in ] the floor for the sliding poles open, it l is impossible to keep the house warm without heating the bunk rooms. In some of the older houses. the firemen nave IAdu d COVCI WllICAA oli0Oo oP "AACA | an alarm rings but which had to be placed back in position. Captain Frey l ler's invention is pair of doors which l fit over the holes and open downward. | They open to the weight of the fire men as they slide down the pole and | close automatically by means of weights. At No. engine house Hoseman Thomas Flanagan has built 1 a pair of doors which he believes is an improvement over Capt. Freyler's idea as the doors are closed by means of a spring. Both ideas have attract 1 ed a great deal of attention from fire men visiting this city.
 The temporary bridge which the l Congress street bridge commission is going to cause to be built in the near future, and upon which it is receiving l figures at the present time is going to have draw similar to the bridges which spanned the meats of ancient castles. The draw will swing on huge hinges and lift in the air by means of a huge WindlasS.
 Tn q short time Supt Barnes of the fire alarm telegraph will place a siren warning horn on the lower bridge for the purpose of clearing the narrow structure in case of a fire. The place 1 is damned with teams and the fire is obliged to use it great l deal since the Congress street bridge is closed. The superintendent will also