The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-02-14

association just introduce5a in the gem
eral assembly is admirable in its COM
pieteness. Every city and town in
the state with a population of or ex-
ceeding ten thousand is directly reach
ed by it except Bristol, Middletown
and New Britain. These cities are
not far removed from the lines and
are connected up by good roads built
under state supervision so that they
have easy access. Furthermore more
than one-haf of the small towns are
either penetrated by the system or lie
so contiguous to it that the state sys
tenn offers connections that will rem
der travel easy and rapid tot and
thus accommodate almost every sec
ton OF the commonwealth No 9TH
err state in the Union has either pres
emit or prospective systems such as
begin to approach this In its advan-
tages of pleasure travel and traffic
The very layout enforces the thought
that the provision has been prepared
more for the benefit of our own peo-
pie than for the tourists who come
into our state in such large number
| and opening up as it does every sec
ton OF the state must be of incaIcu-
| liable benefit to the farming commune
| ties in that it will AFFORD them greater
choice of markets because Of more.
easy and rapid communication Roads
already built have illustrated this pos
! sibility.
So much for the system. Another,
conspicuous feature of the bill is the
plan under which the projected high
way is to, be built The most notice
able provision is commission of five
to be appointed by the governor to
serve without salary and be assisted
| by consulting engineer, Who will, of
course, be paid This will insure prae-
teal construction, economical expen-
diture, and relieve the performance
of the work of political Vaccination
/ and device-the bane of road build
! ing everywhere. The state highway
idepartment is closely identified with
/ the work in that it must undertake
/ the surveys, prepare the plans and
maintain the trunk lines when finish
ed. Approval of all the departments
work must be made by the commits
sion and it's engineer before it is att
tempted and all contracts and super
i vision of the work will devoIve upon
the commission and it's engineer In
this manner it would seem that only
| the best results would follow from ad--
herence to the plan, which is entirely
new and appears to be- eminently prac-
Teal and feasible. Under it the
| state bids fair to receive in better and
more durable roads full value for ev-
cry dollar that is invested. Oppor-
| tunity for wastefulness is removed
while the possibilities of improved
construction and service are so appa-
rent as. to immediately arrest atten-
ton.
| It is estimated that the cost of these
| trunk lines Will reach five millions of
dollars, the money to be provided by
a sale of bonds which shall bear a
rate of interest not to exceed four
| percent. and are to be in serial form,
| redeemabIe five hundred thousand
dollars each year. This would com
p1ete the payment of the bonds -
ten years. With the advance in knowl-
| edge of road building and the exper-
| fence that has been gained by the use
/ of different materials it ought to be
possible to construct a road the life
| of which would far outrun the life of
! the bonds. Such has not. however,
| always been the case and some of the
states find their roads worn out and
the taxpayers confronted by heavy
| debts when asking for money to re-
/ pair or rebuild these worn-out high
| ways. This has had the effect to
| create doubt of the wisdom of bond
issues for road Improvement in some
| suggested in Connecticut promises 10
be so much better than previous efforts
| that there should be no hesitancy in
| adopting it. THE character of the
| men who will constitute the commits
! sion selected by Governor Baldwin
! may safely be trusted to wisely expend
| the money. He would no doubt choose
the best men for the purpose obtain
| able. With such men in control
! there would probably be no work I'M
1 dertaken until such time as there was
reasonable assurance that the propos-
| ed trunk lines would be constructed in
a manner that would secure smoother
and more nearly permanent pave
ments for our roads than have yet
been enjoyed.
If one or two teaspoonsful of sugar