Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1857-10-01
10 the Republican ota,e Central
ommittee OF Ohio.

/
lime. :naRe les statements To , OH IN rel
erence To the canal lettings ana contracts
oi November, l6j5. when do not appear IN
tne records of tHe Boa of Public Works
/ Before my movement was made in the
Boaso, Nas applied 10 and strongly urged,
ia ;he ial ot 1893, by leading Republicans,
! 10 take tie initiative and try 10 induce the
Ii"ard 10 .eI by contract the repairs OF the
puDnc q oiks unser the law ol lSi5. which
wa still IN turce. The reasons urged in
! ia. or ui the measure were that the Contract
system had been adopted III New York, tha-
| il aouId he advantageous tO the State, was
advocated b. some OF the public print, and
was rs peuialiy desired in The west m and
southwestern portions Of the State. On
mature consideration | declined, much to
the regret ol my Republican friends, TO iE-
truduce a measure which, once brought for
warj, | knew wuaid be controlled by the
majority OF the Board, but when it was
moved by the uther party did noi like to
/ commit the Republicans against the con-
tract 50, lem, aud vuJed Tor ii. The system l.
sci! is indursed by the investigating commit
tee, of which T.. s. Hamilton was chair.
man, IN their reports, pages 81, 80 and a.
The fern of the contract and specfica-
tons adopted by the Board, under which the
work was let, was, at my instance, very
much modified from the original draft pre-
scented by my colleagues In the Board.
was successful in getting II into shape
J IL pujs
ui tie CUmuiizs!gHer Iu c,arge IL eniUrce
tho faithful performance u. tn work CON-
II npistrd; yet, as II whole th.> form oi cun-
tract Was noi WHIT preferred, aud there
ture vUiod ugainst 1t.
The Statements % average ,ost Tor the
six years previous l" the lettings, made up
al tae time. Afforded The "niy available Caia
lur lnde Ing oi lhe v5lu, Oi thy c.k 10 g.
1T These stI'e.::ents Cndeaycr IL srfi
fy ahd, On eXamInI ION, uuHd ian~e sur
seCtloBs /, =, 3, !. auG . CawVtis'H- .i
that part -! the ..uD - works nlin l.Hish
was IauIl AT, 10 te ,ubsJai.jl+t.! y.fr,,.-
| hos. ;uF sections o. Z ana .yu.G r.-,
alter luxurious eii.r., ugc.te upon, ioI wal
of that inioTma ion ~ hIch alone would ena-
ble me to DO 30. My means oi knswin. the
value oil the work un the Miami aad Erie
Canal were exceedingly limited. The law
expressly requires the division oi the public
urks into lhree districts; places one Dis
trict under the charge vi esch Cummis> oner,
and hoi-s him res sponsiOie iur the faithful
administration OF the affairs OF the DIST, lcr
unde. his particular charge un.r; and 1t Is
imp0ss bic 10 make hImiselt FAM lar with the
details Ut expenditures II the other dis ricTs, !,
and at the sumo time properly attend 10 the
afiairs OF his own. The law asu requires
The accounts 10 be kept witE the res spective
appropriations. These are often siuguiariy
IN .snamed and frequently embrace several
aud different objects under one head. For
example, an appropriation Tor replaci ,g lht
decayed wocd-worR OF ali old aqueducI is
ca led an appropriation ior 'ne~ work. al
though clearly repair; 4hd an apprOpria-
ton los .auperintr ndence ana repairs is
mace IL Cuver the expense ui removing bars,
replacing lock gates. rebuilding wooden
structure with one of stone and perhaps sew
eral other items, sUme OF which are repairs
proper, While others are properly part o. the
orr inal construction. never had charge
OF the NJ ami i Erie Canal or any part of il,
and had no parsonal knowledge concerning
The expt ndilures on that work. | was not
onl ly the only Republican in the Board, but
the only Republican in the service of the
State on the public works, my own subord-
mates being o: the opposite party. 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
" ork performed can distinguish between
those expenditures which are properly
chargeable to repairs and those chargeab le
to construction. Il, under these circum-
stances, al with the lin tei time at my
command ! tailed to discover the truth IN
regard to the Miami & Ere Canal, and was
thereby misled into agreeing u award work
to those u no should not have had u, il
seems no more strange that the Treasury
InvestiI atiuy Committee, OF which K w |
Ia, lnr Aas Chairman, with ample time and
clothed " ilh fuii powers, shuuid nave tailed
10 discover the deialcal:cn in the State
T,easury.
To the .nion that tiIe board was bou d ;
in bll cases to ard to the lOlueSt bi0der,
irrespective u; ahy other consideration, |
60 not subscribe. ! d. nui De!Iele the law
ui lS45 cOniemp,ates any such hug, and
the universal practice ON the publ, works
of Ohio has been otherwise | have taken
leading part in other ,eIrul-, = ma.gh,-
Jude aI ie.st equas 10 that Of Np,emOcr,
$50, aud hive RGUsr kLuNn ihc wOGk so
be invariably awarded 10 the lowest bidder:
and | viii venture this 10 be the eXperien ce
OF d | 81 U have had cnarge OF pubic works.
After the letting, still had d desire 20 as
certain the correctness at the statements oi |
average cos; for Sections 8, 7 and 8; a de-
sire arising from - ish 10 finish the exami-
nal ion which had tempted before, aud
to know Tor myself IT, regard to those seu-
tions, u hu. knew in regard 10 the others.
i hen therefore,, Mr.. Conuver came into
the Board, i'll February, 1856, | renewt d
nv examinations of those statements with
his assistance, and we soon came to the cOh-
cIusiun that :he amount had been over.stu-
led, III Indications being that Section q
had been let tor mere than lts average COST.
MIR. ConoscT's know ledge, however, had
been confined chiefly te sec::cc Ca &C.
tions 6 unG 3 he is unwilling to trust To his
Iini ted acquo intunce with the work, and !
;bereupun desiyed him to write TO Mr. How
ard, his then recently appointed engineer
~ who ~ as familiar with these sections, re-
nues,jn, his Attendance at Columbus. In
Xtr, Mr CoRover informed me that he
cxpec ected Mr.. Howard in Columbus shortly,
when il was decided 10 await his arrival.
On Mr. Towards arrival in Columbus he
was informed OF what had been done, al
requested 10 make iul examination OF IN,
accounts, the resuit of which was the state
ments afterwards made to The Senate.