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

more strange th0n JnaJ the treasury In |
vestigating Committee, of which r. W |
Taylor was chairman, with ample time
and clothed with full powers, should
have failed to discover the defaloation
in the State Treasury
To the opinion that the Board was
bound in all cases 10 award the work to
the l0,gest bidder, irrespective Of any
other consideration, L do not subscribe
I do not believe the law Of 1945 CON
templates any such thing, and the uni
versal practice on the public works Of
Ohio has been otherwise. / have taken
a leading part in other lettings, of a
magnitude at least equal to that Of No
vember, 1855, and Ihave neUer known
the work to be invariably awarded to
the lowest bidder; and I will venture
this to be the experience of all who
have had charge Of the public works.
After the lettings, I still had a de-
sire to ascertain the correctness Of the
statements of average cost for Sections
| 6, z and 8; a desire arising from wish
to finish the examination which had
attempted before, and to know for my
self in regard to those sections, what 1
knew in regard to the others When,
therefore, Mr. Conover came into the
Board in February, 1856, 1 renewed
my examinations of those statements
with his assistance and we soon came
to the conclusion that the amount had
been ovcrstated, the indications being
that Section had been let for more
than its average cost Mr.. Conovers s
knowledge, however, was confined to
Section Z. On Sections 6 and s he was
unwilling to trust his limited acquain-
tancc with the work, and 1 thereupon
desired him to write to Mr. Howard, his
then recently appointed engineer, who
was familiar with those sections, request
ing his attendance at Columbus. In
answer, Mr., Conover informed me that
, he expected Mr. Howard in Columbus
shortly, when it was decided to await
his arrival.
On Mr.. Howard's arrival in Colum-
bus he was informed of what had been
done, and requested to make a full ex-
animation of the accounts, the result
Of which was the statements afterwards
made to the Senate. When the truth
in relation to these statements was full
ly established, 1 desired the facts to be
made known; and it was at my instance
that Mr.. Howard first communicated
them to Mr.. Buckland, the Senator
from Sandusky, who, upon being con.
vinced Of their correctness, offered the
resolution calling upon the Board for
their transmission.
Since these developments, have be.
lieyed that some Of these contracts
were fraudulently obtained, and have
desired that all of them should be sub.
jected to a proper legal investigation
or adjudication. When the Board came
to execute the law Of last winter, 1 ut.
terly refused further connection of any
kind with the contractors for Section 6
and 8, being assured that those contracts
at least were void.
The contractor on Section 4 was cited
to appear before the Board, and on full
hearing, the Board unanimously de.
clared his contract forfeited for the rea.
son that he had failed completely to
make the repairs required, and no re.
gard has ever been paid to this con.
tract since
| These arc some Of the moro promi.
nent circumstances connected with my
course in regard to the Canal lettings
and the contracts of November 1856
The full record of the proceedings of
the Board in regard to these lettings
will be found in a report of the BOARD
made to the Legislature, March z
1856, (soe Pub. Doc. Vol Xxx, p 637.,
have ever endeaYorod to act for the
public welfare alone, and whether sue
cessful or unsuccessful 1 have no desire
to avoid Publicscrutiny in regard to any
act Of mine Respectfully,
j. .BLICKENSDERFER, JR.