The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-12-27
the Bridge Plaza at the lower end of the town. We are happy to re- port that they have repainted the little house and patched the roof.

SkeSA@ASSNs little house and patched the roof.
 Jack Swetland reports rousing reception from the Veterans of Foreign Wars at New Orleans but terrific trouble with mud around Mobile, Alabama. Dixie is boom ing. just as it did in 1917-18. with lumber and brick outfits working overtime. Worried less by union demands than in the north, less conscious of social gains, the Southerners steam up National Defense in the good old-fashioned way. The picture Swetland de- scribes is in sharp contrast to what we saw recently in tour of New England army cantonments.
 At Fort Devens, six arrests have. been made and more are coming. Men who never raised a hammer drew their pay regularly, and now await trial under $5OOO bail. Another New England camp expected 1900 buildings to be com plete and ready for use by Decem- Der first. On December 18th, two hundred buildings were complet- ed
 The FBI is busy investigating job selling throughout Massachu- sets. The mayor of one town, fearing charges, chopped hole in the ice of a woodland pond and jumped in. He escaped prison and wound up in the graveyard. An- other mayor is under investiga- ton and people are watching all ponds. The union in one village started the boom with $15 in the treasury. Came National Defense and the liberal payment of "dues" by skilled mechanics boosted the union treasury to what is reported as a $75,000 surplus. Now the small-town officials of that local are worrying about how soon the members will insist on a dividend. (While all this goes on, conscripts are sleeping under canvass or be- ing shunted to camps where quar- ters are available. The troops ship ping for Newfoundland are to sleep aboard their transport after dock ing, and anybody who has ever tried to sleep on a transport knows what that means.)
 Dixie seems to have escaped much of the labor trouble and bungled planning that inflicts New England army construction. Down there, local sawmills get the Or- ders. Up here, despite the surplus of good timber left from the 1888 hurricane cleanup, contractors are waiting for West Slope lumber that never arrives on time.
 But there is one piece of news that will awaken New Englanders and make them rub their eyes. The Connecticut State Library re- ports the release" of The His tory of West Haven," a book com piled by the WPA Connecticut Writers Project. This book was accepted by the township more than two years ago, $500 was ap- propriated for the printing out of the town treasury by the grateful town officials. The release" came on the same day that New Eng land was rocked by an earthquake. Will it take another hurricane to release" that epic tome known as "The Jews of Stamford" or that highly-touted WPA master piece that has been publicized as ''The Peoples of Connecticut?"
 The muddiest place in town is at the State Farm. The best roadside wOOdpiie passes i'm review as we drive up Purchase Hill past Bob Platt's. The fattest geese in the township strut around Ike Platt's shipshape farm. All we need to make life worth living is 8 higher price for milk and a good dance band.
 We asked Smoky Jenson if he thought the dead could commun- icate with the living. Smoky said. Tive proven they can't. Tn 1918. I borrowed ten bucks from Scotty Allen. Scotty got killed in France, and I haven't heard a word about that ten spot since.
 The Reverend and Mrs. Lindsey were recent dinner guests ct Cot tage H. at the New State Train ing School for Mental Detectives. according to the Cottage N BuI- letin.
 COMET SIZES