The Lancaster gazette. (Lancaster, Ohio) 1846-1852, 1849-09-14

fore you order the Treasurer 10 pay out the
peoples money, you should be satisfied that
II was well done. II was, your ewn fund,
you might do as You please, but we can
find nothing in the Constitution of Ohio, her
Statute Law, or in the Moral Code. which
authorizes the Commissioners. as Commits.
sioners, to be generous. You must also re-
member that six-hOrse teams and heavy load
ed wagons are compelled to pass over brdg-
es as well as others, and a bridge that will
not let them pass is hardly PassaLle bridge.
II paid for, it has 10 be taken down, and an.
other contractor must put up another bridge,
that sometimes costs an additional sum Of
some 300. Then the Taxpayers are in
duced ITO examine into the matter, and If
they find il true, they sometimes say
hard things and think still harder They
say, even now, that the bridge over Hook
ing, south east of town, was constructed in
such bad manner, was paid for, and yet
the Commissioners were compelled to give
some six or seven hundred dollars to get
other individuals, to take it down and re-
build it.
In looking over the item of stationery, we
find it large as usual, the annual expense
being stationary. We think it might be re-
duced, by little care, upon your part, bat
staiioners must live as well as printers.
However We have not timo nor room TO speak
of that.
We also find "amount paid to County
Commissioners-S360." This is equal to
60 days services, for each Commissioner, at
50 per day. In our heart, we can find no
objection 10 this. To be sure, the law does
not fix the number of days of service, but
the compensation is named at 81 per day,
and we suppose that each member perform.
ed sixty days service, in the matter of re
pairing, rebuilding, re-mOdellIng and re
constructing. Atany rate, The county prn-
ter received twice as much and the item Of
stationery amounts TO nearly the same as all
three Commissioners charged, Let that
slide.
Our attention has also been called 10 the
buyingand selling ofproperty, to the defaca-
tion bonds and mortgages and to other mat
ters But this article has already exceeded
our space and we defer them to another time,
closing for the present with short homily ,
M Ia, A. in ri hntf ~ in
era
1t is generally conceded that individuals
have the privilege of managing their own
affairs as they please at least they are not
answerable IN this world, if they do not vio-
late the law and wrong their neighbors. But
when they consent to become servants of the
people, their own views and prejudices must
( be thrown aside. They must act for the
benefit of the whole, and in all things, use
their utmost capacity, wisdom, experience
and information, that they may work injus-
tlce to none and perform the duties Of theiI
station, fairly, honestly and prudently. i
they do not possess proper good sense and
experience, theirs is not the fault, il there
is wrong manageme ment-the fault lies witt
those who selected them. But when they
know that, with little care and prudence
they can save one, two or three thousand
dollars a year, and do it not, the wrong
must rest with them.
There has been, of late years, too much
extravaganza in the management of public
affairs. The idea has been too prevalent
that public funds belong to Office hold ers
and when men get an opportunity TO iii
their hands into the public treasury, the,
keep up kind Of perpetual motion from
the chest TO the pocket, until the peop
drag Them away. This, we admit, is bat
, state of morals, but 1t cannot be corrected
until the people determine that they vii
not trust the individual, who takes dolla
more than rig htly belongs TO him, spends
, dollar more than IS strictly necessary, en-
cages in useless expenditures or rewards ia
yorites at the public expense, Wien mel
learn that they must DO honest, capable, pru
dent and faithful, or else meet with public in
dignalion, we may hope for better condi
n tlOn OF affairs and more honorable set 0
4 men after public stato0. 1t depends upo
the people 10 say how soon that change sha
take place.
GTWhle Mr.. CLAY was at Newport, OR
J l.) ms colored servant Len was persuade