Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1870-03-04
"rOr HOUSE LEassa.aTsoy..,

EOA EAUGSsI kEsS 1S3..IE RON
Oar attention has been called to an arti-
Gle with the above elegant caption in the
Mount Pleasant journal Of two weeks aro.
the main purpose which seems to have
been the Iteration of q heart fall of spleen
all the more aggravated because of hay-
ing been SO long pent up,-against the
18th General Assembly for having in tie
exercise of its wisdom and discretion. pro
vided for the erection of new Insane
Hospital at Independence, and for having
Jailed to make an appropriation for the en-
largement of the one located at Mount
Pleasant. The JomaaI takes occasion 10
say almost at the outset of its article, and
with kind of prophetic rremoniion Of the
manner with which the same will be receiy-
cd by dlsintereSted aders, that "sour
grapes is not altogether the animus OF
is scrcel and yet it is difficult to account
TOR so much heat, such Misrepresentation
OF fact and SO much assertion wiki ut even
the suspicion OF trath 10 warrant It. as the
Journals article contains on any hyro,l.e-
of an honest desire Cor the public veal.
The Journal characterzes the action Of
the 18th General Assembly in voting an APP
preparation for a new building, and refusing
t. vote one for enlargiag the old Asylum, in
the most gross and unsecmly terms as 'pot
house lygislation," shameless legislutil \, :
putting Of "thcir hands into Iowa 5 pock-
ct and taking from it thousands of dollars
which hare been shamefully squanderel.
with other charges and aSpersons of kin
bred character. In its blind rage aud zeal
TO make geo these angry chtrres, it tr,v
els out OF the record and asserts us fact
giving it the benefit Of the miidest Judgment
that which it does not know to be such.
1t calls Zig res to its aid, ard, by its manip-
ulation Of them, demonstrates the palpable
sbsusdi'y Of the time honored saying, Gig
ures will not lie
We propose to notice ia this article
mainly the Journals peryersion of facts
with regard to the Asylum at tits polut.
and that there may BE- no mistake concern
ing lis position. we will quote literally from
II. Promising that the location Of the Asv-
lum at Independence was made to spite MIR.
" ooison, at that time Senator from Henry
county-an assumption ridiculous in Itself,
but very natural from the stand point Of
The writer Of the article in questionable
Journal says:
Independence was selected for the site
Tor Tie new building, aud one hundre and
My thousand dollars voted to commence
the work. That the location was made
VIII Out reference to any pecuaiary advan-
Iases we expect to show before done with !
inns. The work was commenced LIST sum |
mer aud pushed forward, we believe until |
tie foundation OF the building was about |
completed, when the worK stopped, the coz
tractor "petered OUT aud now we learn !
thit his bondSmen are asking to be reioas-
ed. Stone for the building had to be haul
ed from Anamosa, seventy-fve or eighty
miles from Independence, and we learn no
ton Of the Independence Asylum has cost
twice as much as the foundation OF the
building at this city, and now we are told
that the work which has been done at such
an enormous expense is not accord, to
contract
The Journal very complacently winds up
its article as follows: I'VE haze been
careful to be correct in giving figures and
amounts, and we are certain that we have
made no material errors And yet in a.
most every instance where it attempts to
tor'ity its position by figures, it perpetrates
the most fragrant errorS-- OF worse Tie
first to which we allude is found in the
opening Of the above paragraph; the 9th
ers will appear as we proceed. The appro-
priation for the Independence Asylum was
$4,000 and not $4,000 as the Journal
has it. Again, it is not true that the work
stopped at the completion Of the founda-
ton, or indeed, at all, until the approach
of winter forbade further operations. The
walls of the first story are up, the timbcrs
for the second story in place, and tie stone
for the second story dressed and ready for
the wall. Ii is not true that the contractor
has 'petered out AMI that bis bondsmen
are asking to be released. lie has had a
large force of soue-2uttcrs employed all
winter, end is accommodating immense piles
of material, preparatory for vigorous
prosecution O. the work in the spring. As
TO the quality Of his work, we append the
testimony of these who !tn2sg against that
Of the paper which "beleyes, learns Or
is ''told.' The Commissioners, one OF
whom is also chairman Of the Board Of
Trustees of the Mount Pleasant institution,
and therefore, entitled to the confidence Of
The Journal, in their late report to tie Coz
ernor say:
at gives the Commissioners great pleas
ure TO do this justice to Mr.. Armstrong.
aud it is nothing more than justice, by say
ing that notwithstanding his mislortunps, he |
has executed his contract so far with the |
utmost fidelity. His work is all substan
'ial, excellent, and every respect equal to
the specifications of his contract
1t is but truth to say that the above
tallies with the opinions Of all experts who
view the work.
If it is true as suggested By The Jomne5,
that the foundations Of the " building
cost twice as much as what by courtesy are
called such in the Mount Pleasant building.
The fact is compensated Cor b. the satisfac-
ton Of knowing that they are what they
purport to be; foundations broad aud deep.
and built Of imperishable granite. The as
snrance that no drafts wi ever be made up
on the treasury of the State to pay for re-
placing defective stone or for mca uros 20
arrest the settling AMI cracking Of the walls
as IN the case of the Mount Pleasant strac-
ture, will probably be considered by the
Legislature a sufficient compensation f
the difference in cost, whatever it my be.
Another of the Jo,uRa,s mathematical
ecccntricitics will be found ia the following