The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-12-21


committees current hearings may
possibly evolve a pattern for solving
similar problems in more than 200
other war TANNED communities.
IT'S STILL GROWING
Pascagoula was a quiet town Of
1000 when the ingalls, Shipbuilding
Corporation moved in five years ago.
In 1910 1t had grown to $500. Today
the population is somewhere be-
tween $4,000 and 10000. And the
boom town is still growing. The
ingalls, shipyards now employ
1000 but expect eventually to
increase their force to $4,000.
The new workers have drifted
in from the bayous and pine woods
of the South. They dropped their
hoes in the pea patch or cotton
field, gathered up their families
and headed for Pascagoula and big
money. A lot of them have left
because they couldn't find decent
place to live, or enoogh food to
buy, or a doctor when their kids
took sick, or because thy could
make more money somewhere
else. Turnover at the ingalls,
yards is almost 100 per cent a
year, But lot more have come
to take their places.
Sixteen thousand Of them live
at the east end of town in a variety
of dwellings erected by the Navy,
Maritime Commission, Federal
Public Housing Authority and pri-
vate contractors. Other thousands
live in tents, shacks and trailers on
vacant lots or in somebody's back
yard. The city has a coming law,
but 1t Is not enforced.
All over town you can find, clus-
tered beneath magnificent. moss
hung live oaks, structures in which
a good farmer would hesitate to
house a flock of chickens. Most of
the shacks are windowless. Water
must be carried from where it can
be found. There Is not SO much as
a privy by way Of sanitation. These
are the dwellings that townspeople
have erected without regard to
health or decency. They look like
a particularly depressing stage set
for Tobacco Road" But they rent.
Living conditions in some parts
| of the government-built projects
are scarcely better. There are hun
dreds of trailers being the ini-
tials of the Federal Security Agency
in which families Of five and more
are living. Most of these trailers
measure about 6 by IL feet, have
hunks at each end, and a small
stove in the middle.
BUILT WITHOUT BIDDING
One of the Oldest and most de-
pressing segments of the project
is that built by the Maritime Com
mission. I am told that the govern
ment simply gave a contractor
So, 100000, without the formality
of competitive bidding, and told
hi INTO build. The promised neat
and handicapped results didn't pan
out. The gas supply was SO meager
that last winter residents could
neither cook nor heat their houses
in cold weather. Sewers were ILL
planned and totally inadequate.
Cesspools formed under every
house.
So the government poured in
more money, and today, things are
better" But today, an open ditch
of raw sewage still runs through
the settlement. Children sail their
boats in it when it rains. The
Handspring" is ungraded dirt
that becomes a sea of mud in wet
weather. Apparently only the
grace Of God has prevented a ty-
phoid epidemic.
GARBAGE LEFT FOR DAYS
Elsewhere In the project, condi-
tons are somewhat improved, but
there Is LATHE evidence that the res
idents have done much to make the
best Of what they have. Rubbish
| liters the ground. Wrecked jalop-
/ les line the sand and oyster shell
roads. on street after street. open