Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1860-09-13
The Iscvcuuc Of tho Public
Works.

''''' w OIhNy W. tAufL IIOill IIlt OlttO
Herod ond Times:
DEpLoRADLE COSDrTioN or THE STATE
TREASURY.
"There is at this time about oxr ury.
DRED THOUSAND DoLLAns of the checks
drawn by the members Of our Board of
Public Works for labor done and n,ateri-
ais furnished in repairing the Public
Works OF the State, unpaid and being
hawked about Tor sale. The laboring
men employed on the canals are Obliged
to do without their pay or submit 10 a
slime to purchase bread for their families.
The credit Of the State is in the hands of
brokers ana money shavers, and money
cannot be obtained on checks drawn on
the State Treasury to carry on the neces-
sary repairs without selling the State pa
per at ruinous discount. This wretched
state Of things, discreditable to the State.
oppressive and ruinous TO the laboring
men, and destructive to the public inter
est and prosperity, has been brought about
by Republican Encouragement The
canals are dilapidated and decaying,
burden upon the Treasury and disgrace
to the State
The facts stated in the above article are
no doubt true. The Republican party
has had the control Of onr State Works
for the last five years, and the manage.
inent has been such as to dcpress the rev
enue to sum not more than one half
what it formerly was, and to almost ruin
our canals. No allusion is made to those
Works and to their condition, by the Re
publican politicians aud stumpers of this
State. The tax payers of the State will
read the article from the Herald and Times
with astonishment; for it is not, as we
learn, an exaggeration. At the recent
settlement of the third quarters account
of this year, by the Board of Public
forks, there were, as we are informed,
One Hundred Thousand Dollars of tie
checks Of the Boord drown upon lie canal
revenue, unpaid at tie Treasury! The
people will be amazed when they learn
that the men who labor on the canals at
the low rate Of about sixty two cents per
day, are required to wait for months for
their pay, or dispose of their claims at
from five to ten per cent discount, in or
der to realize their hard earned wages. ..
by recent statement furnished by the
Auditors Department, it appears that the
revenue for the first three quarters of 1860
exceeding the revenue for the same time
in 1889 about thirteen hundred dollars,
! The information which we now refer to
was al lso within the reach of that Depart
ment, as we suppose, and should have ac-
companied the statement of the increase
of revenue, in order that the people of the
! State might have an accurate view of the
condition of the Public Works. In that
statement nothing was said about the rev.
enuo from the National and the Maumee
and Western Reserve Roads. Why was
this omitted? Would the decrease on
these Roads have swallowed up the mea-
gree increase on the other State Works?
1t is now settled beyond dispute that
the expenditures OF the year will exceed
the revenue to an amount running from
Seventy-fve to One Hundred Thousand
Dollars, and this in the face of the fact
that the appropriation act of the last ses
sion was designed to limit the expendi-
lures of the year to a specific sum.
But this is not all. We are informed,
on good authority, that notwithstanding
the large increase of expenditures over re-
ceipts, the Board has neglected entirel y a
large amount OF necessary repairs, so As
to make the best showing possible in their
report. The Lewistown Reservoir, the
Commissioner in charge of which told the
legislature at its last session would re-
quire $4,000 to complete it, has not
been touched, Many locks, acqueducts,
and other structures which are in dilapi-
dated condition, have received no atten-
tion, and on number Of levels the ordi-
nary repairs and cleaning out the bottom
OF the canals have been entirely neglected.
With the Public works thus dilapidated,
the Board is going to carry forward to the
next fiscal year not less than seventy-fve.
thousand dollars, for work performed in
the present year, and which ought to have
been met and paid for out of the current
revenue.
1t is a sad thing to reflect on the pres
ent condition and management of our
State Works. From the day the Repub
lican party took possession of them until
this, they have declined in revenue and
are now rapidly going to decay. The
Legislative department does not appear to
take that interest in them that it should
do. If some means be not adopted, and
that speedily ;or their preservation and re-
pair, they will become so far gone as to
be eyond the reach of our wmakcrs.
We have often referred to them and
their condition in the Statesman; pointed
out what we conceived the evil and the
remedy; but this far tono purpose. We
hope our legislators will come to the cap
itol next winter impressed with the i'm
portancc and necessity of prompt action
with reference to the State Works, and
that such legislation may be had as will
result in saving this valuable property
from impending destruction.-SaateSman
| A NEAT and charming maiden in Indi-