The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1857-10-01


CoLUMBus, o., Sept. IA, 1857. (
Hon. JACOB BLICKENsDERFER:
DEAR Sm:-The State Central Com
mittee Of the Republican party, at a
general meeting in this city, on the 10th
inst, instructed me to write to you,
stating our belief in the fairness Of
your nomination, and our entire conf
dence in your integrity and in your ca
pacity as public officer, &C.; and that
you be requested to prepare and publish
in the papers of the State the facts in
relation 20 your connection with the
Canal lettings The Committee think
a statement of this kind from you would
be Of service to you, and we hope will
be satisfactory to the Republicans Of
the State
Let us hear from you at as carly
day as practicable. Yours truly,
w. T. BASCOM, Sscy
To which letter Mr.. Blickonsderfer
replied as follows:
70 the Republican State Ccarol Commit
tee Of Ohio.
TUsCARAwAs, o., Sept II, 1857.
GENTLEMEN have no desire to en-
ter into q defense Of myself against in
situations or indirect charges, but it is,
perhaps, nevertheless, proper that
should at this time, make few state
ments to you in reference to the Canal
lettings and contracts of November,
1855, which do not appear in the
records Of the Board of Public Works.
Before any movement was made in
the Board, / was applied to and strong
ly urged, in the fall of 1855, by leading
Republicans, to take the initiative and
try to induce the Board to let by CON
tract the repairs of the public works
under the law of 1S4j, which was still
in force. The reasons urged in favor
Of the measure were that the contract
system had been adopted in New York,
that it would be advantageous to the
State, was advocated by some of the
public prints, and was especially desir-
ed in the western and southwestern
portions of the State. On mature con-
sideration I declined, much to the re-
gret of my Republican friends, to in.
troduce a measure which, once brought
forward, I knew would be controlled by
the majority of the Board, but when il
was moved by the other party did not
like to commit the Republicans against
tho contract gs'cm, and voted for it
The system itself is indorsed by the in
vcstigating committee, of which C. s.
Hamilton was chairman, in their report
pages 30, 33 and "a.
The form Of the contract and speci.
fcations adopted by the Board, under
which the work was let was, at my in
stance, very much modified from the
original draft presented by my colleagues
in the Board. 1 was successful in get
ting it into a shape which it is admitted
puts it into the power Of the commits
sioner in charge to enforce the faithful
performance of the work contemplated;
yet, as a whole this form Of contract was
not what / preferred, and I therefore
voted against it,
The statements Of average cost for
the six years previous to the lettings
made up at the time, afforded the only
available data for Judging Of the value
of the work to be let These statements
I cndeayorcd to verify, and, on exami-
nation, L found those for sections ], 2,
3, 4 and 3, comprising all that part of
the public works with which 1 was IA
miliar, to be substantially correct
Those for sections G, Z, 8, L could not,
after laborious effort, decide upon, for
want of that information which would
enable me to do so. My means of
knowing the value of the work on the
Miami and Erie Canal were exceeding
ly limited The law expressly re-
quires the division Of the public works
into three districts; places one district
under the charge of each Commissioner,
and holds him responsible for the
faithful administration of the affairs
of the district under his particular
charge only; and it is impossible for
any Commissioner to make himself
familiar with the details Of expendi-
lures in the other districts, and at the
same time properly attend to the affairs
Of his own. The law also requires the
accounts to be kept with the respective
appropriations. These are often singu-
larly misnamed and frequently embrace
several and different objects under one
head. For example, an appropriation
for replacing the decayed woodwork of
an old aqueduct is called an appropria-
ton for "new work, although clearly
a repair; and an appropriation for "su-
perintendence and repairs is made to
cover the expense Of removing bars. re-
placing lock gates, rebuilding a wood
en- structure with one Of stone, and per-
haps several other items, some of which
are repairs proper, while others arc
properly part of the original construc-
ton L never had charge Of the Miami
& Erie Canal, or any part Of it, and had
no personal knowledge concerning the
expenditures ON that work. L was not
only the only Republican in the Board,
but the only Republican in the service
of the State on the Public Works, my
own subordnates being Of the opposite
party. 1 could not apply to others who
had a knowledge Of the work, as all
such were bidders, and yet none but
those personally familiar with the work
performed can distinguish between those
expenditures which are properly charge
able to repairs and those chargoablo to
construction. IT, under these oircum-
stances, and with the limited time at
my command, L failed to discover the
truth in regard to the Miami & Erie
Canal, and was thereby misled into