The Waterbury Democrat., 1936-06-09

brief vacation or Q permanent abode.
 And out of further discussions was born the legislation which au- thorized Governor Cross to select and appoint last August the r1eTn- bers of the Connecticut Publicity Commission. !
 This commission today comprises: Willard B. Rogers of Hartford, presi- dent and general manager of the Bond hotels; Allerton F. Brooks, of New Haven, vice president and gen. eral manager of The Southern New England Telephone company; Charles Y. Smith of New Haven, vice president of the New Haven road: Albert D. Lavery of Fairfield, vice president of the Bridgeport Hydraulic company; E. Vincent Maloney of Waterbury, publisher of the Waterbury Democrat, and Thomas 0. Perkins of Hartford, who serves as executive secretary to the commission. The commission under the statutes is self-sustaining.
 UrbanizatiOn
 In beginning its study, the com- mission found that urbanization had proceeded at such rapid rate dur. ing the preceding 100 years, that in 1880, 70.4 per cent of the states eil. tire population lived In urban conl- munities; that the number of acres of improved farmland had shrUnk from l,0A2, ,l0S in 1880, to only 07O,. 973 in 1o30. It discovered that nearly three-quarters of the states population occupied only Q little more than one-third of the area. And in the gparsely occupied re- maining 5000 square miles or more of territory were the facilities for rich source of income to the in- dividual, the municipality and the state.
 It discovered that nearly one- eighth of the total area of Connecti- cut is set aside by the state for the enjoyment of it's citizens as public forests and parks, hunting and fish. ing grounds, or wildlife sanctuaries
 Miles of woodland and open traila tha follow the heights and foothillD of the Connecticut ranges were also catalogued as worthy attractions.
 Realization that Connecticut iS richly endowed with Q great variety of recreational advantages, brought the commission to the decision that the recreatlonal industry should be Q major wealth. h.producing factor in this state. Thereafter 1t searched for c suitable yardstick to measure the states recreational resources in terms of dollars and cents as . means of:
 i. Increasing OonnectIcut's cash income and employment.
 2. Increasing the safe of Connccti- cuts agricultural and industrial products.
 Through Q study of the results achieved by the New England coun- oil in ten years of promoting ell New England as Q playland to Q pleasure-seeking nation, the coTl- mission learned that during normal times some 3,000,O00 visitors spend e5O0;000, 900 annually in New Eng. land, and that property exclusively used for recreational purposes had an assessed valuation of 96b0, ,000, 900 and yielded an annual total tax of siS, ,00o,000.
 Inventory Interesting
 In the report of Q survey made in 1880 by Nathan L. Whetten and Victor Rapport of the department of sociology. Connecticut State cole lege, an interesting inventory of recreatlonai facilities was set forth. The inventory revealed:
 That 34,eO2 summer residential properties in Connecticut, occupied something like 204,617 acres or 0.2 per cent of the states total area, all having 6 total assessed valuation of 9l3O,777, 7,T63: that eighty.two golf clubs, occupy nearly 1i,000 acres Of land, and represent an investment of nearly 4o,60O.0OO, in addition to which are 20 public and private golf courses; that there were 00 hunt. ing, fishing and gun clubs: 50 yacht- ing, boating, beach and lake clubs; 00 summer camps, representing an investment of more than q, 500, 900