The Press., 1920-08-12
ASHFORD.
Lively Discussion of Local Problems at Welfare Meeting.

Another SucceSSful meetlng or the Ashford Welfare Association was held last Saturday evening in Bakers hall Warrenville, with goodly number present in spite of the intense heat and threatened showers. There was no set program, but an informal neighborly discussion of Local Prob lems" with special reference to Good Roads, Better Farms and Local Indus tries" With reference to good roads, it was announced that plans were now completed to continue the con- struction of the state road from near Warrenville north towards Westford village, beginning opposite Alexander M. Bassett's and going '.as far as the money holds out" Ashford voted about two years ago to cooperate with the state in this plan, but labor con- ditions have prevented actual con- struction until now: Recently, First Selectman Bert Gardner, Fred Chism, A. M Bassett and other citizens have teen in conference with the state highway department to assure the commissioner that the men of Vest ford were ready to provide the neces- sary labor right after having" if the department would go ahead with the Westford road as voted; so now the work is actually in progress, with Westford men on the job. It is good instance of the old adage, "the Lord helps those who help them selves" Thefrst thing in hand is to build a new bridge over the state highway already running just north east of the Warrenville schoolhouse, over the Mt. Hope river, and this work is in progress this week. The big stone crusher and road roller ar rived on the schoolhouse lot last week, but could not safely proceed over the old bridge. Timbers for the new bridge have been on hand for some time. It is expected that the bridge will be ready for use within a few days, and then the road roller and stone crusher will invade the new territory and begin the actual exten- sion of the Westford road. These facts were greeted with pleasure by the meeting. There was some dis cussion of the present condition of the state roads south of Warrenville, and the statement was made that it seem ed unfortunate not to keep existing state roads in better condition. 1t
 was explained that the new construc- ton would undoubtedly be the occa-
 sion of putting the entire course Ill
 better condition as far as the state
 road is now built, and that it was up
 to the men living along the line or
 travel to render every possible as-
 sistance to the state department.
 Considerable comment was offered as
 to the wretched condition of that
 portion of the Willimantic road be-
 tween Mt Hope through Atwoodvllle
 to Mansfield Center where the state
 road begins again. It was hoped that
 the town of Mansfield would soon
 get busy and remedy this, as Ashford
 part is seriously handicapped by the
 poor stretch of road in Mansfield. The
 matter of better farms was briefly
 touched upon, in its relation to gooo
 roads and the advantage thus given
 to reach markets The point was
 brought out that Ashford did not
 raise enough to feed it's own people
 and that the Welfare Association
 might we'll enlist cooperation among it's own citizens along that line. A leading farmer in a nearby town, him self a large producer and not afralC to invest money in agriculture, was quoted as saying that one trouble with farmers is that they are not will ing to invest money ill food production as manufacturers invest for their pro duction, and that when more of the farmers were ready to invest money 1 in machinery and fertilizers to man ufacture food, there would be better results in agriculture. Reply was made that few back-country farmers nowadays had money, or capital tt work with; to which rejOlner was made that men in Ashford who haC money to invest might well use it tt encourage agriculture, for the ultl mate good of the community. Ger tainly, it was said in the discussion if the world needs more food, there is no reason in these days of auto truck and with good roads coming why Ashford should not plan for de velopment on this line. Concerning
 new industries" attention was called to the fact that, because of the over crowded conditions and high cost o operation in big centers of population there is a tendency among certain small industries to move out into the less populated regions, and to utilize as in days gone by the available water power of the hill-town streams, either direct, or blythe generation of cleo tricity. The possibility of running big power cables from cities was spoken of There were certain smal industries which it was believed could be developed along the streams o1 Ashford, as well as in other small eft n l town where abundant water power is quickly available for small industries in some instances where raw materia for certain products is near at hand , It was believed worth while to look into this possibility. As result o1 the evenings discussion, two commit tees were named, one to offer civic cooperation to the state commissioner and the town selectmen in the matter of good roads, and the other to look into the matter of possible new in. dustries. The civic committee on roads is Fred C.. Chism, John Henath anG Robert M. Balch, and the committed on new industries is Henry B. Church of Hartford, native of Ashford whose summer home is near Warren. vile, J. w. Armitage of Westford Hill and Everett Barlow of BarlOw's Mills These two committees were requested to report progress at the September meeting. Among those who took part in the discussions were Henry E Church, Orrin f. Duckee, Herbert Brown, John Henath, Fred c. Chism John Vostinak, A. M. Bassett, Frank Bennett, Maurice Bicknell. Allen B Lincoln presided.
 WestfOrd.
 Fred c. Chism has a new Chevro. let. William Maine & Son have bought a large tract of timber of Morgan Reed in Union.
 Mrs. Jennie Eastman of Hartford has been the guest of Mrs. c. H. Bar. low for two weeks Everyone is glad to know that worh