The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-01-15
THURSDAY, JANUARY 15, 1881
Many Millions Needed

Since Governor Cross was inaugurated last week the amount of money needed for major
 improvements in Connecticut has steadily been advancing. We have known for years that millions would be required to take care of the states institutional needs; that more millions would be required to care for highway im-
 provements and at the same time permit broad dirt road program to be adopted; and 1, that in general the governor and incumbent legislature would be held accountable for such expenditures when they came due. Judg- ing by the way things shape up it will be upon Governor Cross shoulders will fall the bur den of caring for ali these pressing and highly expensive needs.
 He recognized good many of them in his inaugural address. lie advised the expansion of the state tuberculosis sanatoria even with the additional facilities now provided at Meri- den and Shelton retreats. He advocated such highway projects as the proposed Merritt Boulevard through Fairfield county to relieve congestion on the Boston Post Road. He also sponsored movement to get the farmer out of the mud. as the so-called dirt road pro- gram IS styled. As native of small Con- necticut town Governor Cross knows the con- dition of our dirt roads in late winter and early spring. Some of them are scarcely recog- niZable as roads.
 The Veterans Home Commission is the latest to call upon the state for aid It re- quests SZ.5OO,O 900 so that the present Sol- diers Home at Noroton might be serapped in favor of modern plant with facilities and plenty of land for future expansion. Tenta- tive plans of the commission include bar racks to accommod-te 75O men, hospita! for 25O more patients and sufficient ground for another barracks should the need arise. An institution that would care for 1 400 per- sons is the desire of the commission. The present home will care for 400 inmates Perhaps the commission advances its request now because Benedict M Holden. chairman of the commission, met~with little success at Washington when he tried to- interest the government in taking over management of Fitch's Home for Soldiers.
 Inasmuch as the federal government is planning such an institution somewhere in this vicinity perhaps it might be well to delay any plans this state might make until Uncle Sam acts. This advice is doubtless unneces- sary as we can't see the state building ,S2. 500 900 soldiers home immediately un- less the legislature has changed its senti- IHeNtS overnight. ne1e are so many ue- mands being made now for relief work. run ming way up into the millions that Gov ernor Cross will have most of his time occu- pied in finding ways or means of gratifying ! them or else rejecting them entirely As we have maintained for years that the state has been proorastinating.
 We knew even before Governor Trumbull and U. s. Senator Walcott came out in favor of bond issues or short term notes that Connecticut was sadly in need of an inn provement program that would require mil lions and millions of dollars. We also ad- vanced the opinion once that probably fail ure to take action would result in some democrat, fortunate enougk to be elected governor. being saddled with the task and responsibility of supplying all these needs at once. That time seems to be here now and Governor Cross is the democrat who must solve the situation. He proposes to go as far as he can without resorting to bond issues. He will use surplus moneys of which the state is supposed to have considerable for im- provements and expansion work. We won der, though, if the state board of finance and control will approve this action. It vetoed it once before However. the truth still stands we have put off too long our building pro- gram. We must start now or fall by the waysde.