Juliet signal. [volume] (Juliet [i.e. Joliet], Ill.) 1844-1???, 1847-12-28

yours is presented as fact. Permit me
to say it is in every particular incorrect, as
f never was an applicant to Gov. Ford for
the station.
i You say that | lent willing ear to the
complaints Of the "unscrupu!ous and dis.
affected;" this is easily said. But might
not even the INSCRIPTIONS have just cause
OF complaint? And might it not so hap.
/ pen, that you would call every ma un.
scrupnlous who should complain of your.
self and associates All complaints are
from dissatisfied men, and these you call
disaffected, as if it were a species of trea.
son TO murmur at your conduct. | did
listen to complaints as an act of duty.
would have investigated those complaints
had opportunity been allowed me. fear
some OF them are well founded had it
been otherwise, investigation would not
have been so much dreaded. Investiga.
ton into complaints made against the
conduct OF public servants. it strikes me.
is not subject for reproach; and public
servants ifthey are without blame, ought
not to be too sensitive and sore on the
subject. s .
In your reply to the charges made
against you by myself, you say ''you do
not propose TO give detailed statement
OF the testimony which was adduced upon
the examination. declined to be pres
emf at that examination. but should sup
pose as all the witnesses adduced were of
your own selection, you had better have
furnished their testimony Instead of your
conclusions from that testimony; il would
have been Eairer to have done so, for [ am
inclined TO believe, maugre your vehe-
ment protestations 20 the contrary, that
that testimony did not wash you quite so
clean as you would have the public inter.
Suppose you had given the testimony of
Hart l.. Stewart, Esq., the present Pos.
Master of this city, which was as I be.
lievc to this effect That on the letting of
the second contract for the construction of
lock No. ], nearest Chicago happening
to be at Lockport, he had been advised by
Gen. Fry, then the State Trustee, to pro.
pose for the construction ofthat lock that
ne was referred by Gen. Fry to you for
information in relation TO the time and
manner of completing that lock, tha, he
did so apply to you. That you informed
him that the rock for facing the lock must
be procured at Cleveland, Ohio that its
transportation here would cost five dollars
per ton; that the stone for backing of the
lock must be hauled over land from Ath.
ems, distance of twenty miles and that
the lock had to be completed by the 4th
OF July then next, and now last past, and
that in pursuance of such information from
you he bid for the work, and consequently
bid at paying rate for all these consid-
eratiOns. The contract for this lock was
awarded to your brother-in-law, who by
your permission gets the stone for backing
within a mile or two of the lock, instead
of having to haul it twenty miles using
stone which others we're told they wo'd
not be permitted TO use, and which is unfit
for the use TO which it is applied.
Had you placed all these facts before
the public, how then would the matter ap.
pear?
1t might fairly be inferred that Mr..
Hardy had different information than was
furnished to other contractors, and ena.
bling him to understand them.
1t is from such pregnant facts as these
that | supposed to use your own language,
that ''all your dealings with MIR. Hardy
have not been conducted under general
rules Of official proceedings" or if general
at all, only so as applied to him and your
other relatives.
Had the information that the backing
for this lock might be obtained within a
mile of it been made known, instead Of
requiring that 1t should be hauled twenty
miles and had the further TACT that the
lock might be completed at the conven.
fence of the contractor, also been made
known, would not Mr.. Hardy have suffer.
ed from the competition Assuredy be
would
For this and many other jobs, Mr.. Hardy
has become contractor since his rela-
tionship 10 you, although your professedly
candid reply would have it believed other.
wise.
No one would be disposed TO disfran.
chise honorable and efficient men be-
cause they are or become related to the
engineer" but all would concur in an ad.
monition to both relative and engineer,that
they so conduct themselves as to be free
from faint, if not free from suspicion.
The very relationship will cause suspi.
cion, unattended by such circumstances as
| have mentioned; but when suspicion is
encouraged by circumstances, when cir
cumstances are fortified and corroborated
by facts, the conclusion is inevitable. L
will here mention that when Gen. Fry
was called upon to sanction the letting Of
this contract to your honorable and eff
Gent" brother.in.law, he declared that he
should protest against il, because this same
honorable and efficient" relative had