The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-12-14
MOSTLY NOT TRUE
 CERTAIN CHARGES AGAINST WATER co.
Bedding, Easton and Weston Are Interested In the
 Issues Raised.


 redress on the part of the aggrieved
 communities, it is certainly time, as suggested by local newspaper cor respondent, that the legislature pro- 1 vide some corrective measures. But l has the company the powers ascribed l to it and are the evils spoken of really existent or only imaginary? The l correspondents assertions regarding the loss which Easton is alleged to hayes uffered in the matter of reve- nue because of the virtual exemp- tion from taxation of the company's real estate requirements in that town are certainly all askew as to the facts according to one of Easton's reliable citizens. He says that whereas the towns former income from taxes was about $9,000, it is now about 15,00O,
 the increase being due to the increas- ed valuations placed by the assessors on the water company's possessions.
 These assessments were two or three times those levied while the property
 was under private ownership. The same citizen laughed at correspond dents statement that the poor condi tion of Easton's roads was due to poverty, explaining that the fault lay wholly with the selectmen. Now that the roads had been let out under a single contract at $2,500 yearly inn provement might be expected.
 That the legislature will curtail the
 present charter rights of the company
 in the matter of obtaining control of streams needed for Bridgeport's water supply or the acquisition of watershed
 areas required for the sanitary pro- lection of the streams can hardly be
 %DI !. sfN ocr1xy fC
 of the towns affected may urge such
 curtailment. The insinuation as to speculative operations or designs by the company seems to be wholly un- supported by facts and if acts of that kind were attempted they would prob ably not be suffered to proceed far. Tn the main the compensatory feature
 of the company's expansion is the scenic enhancement afforded by the creation of new 1akelets; the regret table feature is the withdrawal from the full degree. of agricultural pro- ductiveness of considerable territory. The means for the enforced changes of ownership are provided by the State in the exercise of it's right of eminent domain which has as it's justification the principle that the public welfare is superior to the rights of private ownership.
 As Lew Warner, returning from Bridgeport last Sunday evening in his car with Miss Lillie Sanford of the Center as a passenger reached the Ridge school corner, that part of the cars mechanism known as the wish bone broke and the machine veering sharply to the right smashed through the picket fence of Jesse Sanford's door yard By only foot or two it missed collision. with. large tree alongside the fence and by about the same margin cleared a post on the other side. Had it struck either the consequences must have been ser- ous. As it was the occupants kept their seats and the car remained up- right and suffered no particular dam age. ~
 One of H. Sanford Osborn's horses on which Ernest Reid, aged 15, was shop on Tuesday morning took fright at the passing of MT. Osborn's car and bolted into run. The boy hung on for few rods and was then thrown. landing in the road upon hisi head. He was unconscious when pick ed up and an Eexamination by Dr. Smith showed that his skull had been fractured. He was taken by his em- ployer to the Danbury hospital The prospects for his recovery are favor able. The injured lad is the son of Thomas Reid who lives with his sis ter. Mrs. Caroline Sherwood
 While out for game last Wednes- 1 day George S. Banks came upon a | deer which was lying among some bushes near his ice pond and killed it | with three shots. It was buck with fine pronged antlers and weighed 255 pounds. Last Friday Charles R. | Warehouse sighted very large deer on his land in Weston. He fired and l wounded the animal which bounded away through the mounds. It was pursued for some distance, but the end. of the blood trail was reached | without bringing the quarry again in- to view, and it has not further been heard from. The same day D. R. ! Warner sighted a herd of four deer at the top of Great Hill in Sanford town.
 MT. and Mrs. LemueI Sanford have the sympathies of the community in | their bereavement from the death of their infant son. The child was born last Friday at their home in Bridge poTts LO WHICH they removed rom this town last Spring, and died on | Monday. The body was brought here on the following afternoon and buried in the family cemetery following ser vices conducted by Rev. MT. Wool worth at the residence of Judge J. B. Sanford, the paternal grandfather.
 A special meeting of the vestry of Christ Episcopal church was held last Sunday afternoon to take action for cooperation in the movement to raise a fund of $5.000,OOO as a. means of providing pensions for the church's aged clergy. There has al- ready been pledged $3,0OO,00O and the timel init for raising the balance is fixed for the middle of February. The vestry voted that it's entire member ship should constitute committee to aid in the campaign with the addi- tion of Rev. MT. Cunningham, the rector, as secretary The dissemfna- tion of literature relative to the object Will be the first step taken.
 Harold, son of w. c. Sanford, went to Philadelphia this week to enter upon position with the Illuminating Co. of that city as one of their staff of electrical engineers. He is a, grad uate of the Sheffield Scientific school where he also took a post graduate course supplemented by practical training in the shops of the General Electric Co.