National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1884-03-25
THE CITIZENS, MEMORIAL.
Excl cmcnt Caustd by the Startling Dis
cIosurcs-Nyhnt the Commissioners and
Others Say,

AAAAh NhlNhA Nh"hNN w lho bAb-
closurcs--Whnt the Commissioners and
Others Say.
The memorial of tho citizens committee,
published in this paper yesterday was the
theme Of general discussion. in congress and
among citizens Of the district yesterday. The
general opinion was that tho committee had
drawn up an unnnsworablo Indictment, and
that congressional investigation into tho
administration of district alta irJ would in
evitably result.
A copy of THE REPUBLICAN, with the suf-
frage memorial displayed conspicuously was
hanging over the screen that shuts Gen.
Vests desk from tho public gaze yesterday
afternoon. When reporter entered tho
general looked up and laughed. ~ am
afraid you have been imposed upon" said he,
at the same time holding tho paper oil and
regarding IL critically.
How SO {"
"Why, / can plainly see what prompted
the writing of that memorial. Some people,
You know, arc nevor satisfied, and besides,
there are four disappointed applicants for
commissonerships members Of that commit
tee" ..
But how about tho facts set forth ~
You can hardly expect tho commissioners
to take time to analy2c the doiugs.of the dis
triCt government ten years ago." Mr.. West
memorial that he was wrong whom he claimed
that the revenues were misappropriated, be-
cause asphalt and stone pavements woro paid
for at greater ratio than tho reduced nppro.
priation allowed. II told him." said he
that was something wo could not control
We advertise for bids and accept the lowest
We cannot reduce the price Of work, So we
have to cut down the work.
"As to the charge that there is an excess of
expenditures that Is absolutely impossible
If there was one dollar expended in excess of
the appropriation the treasury department
would not let us rest minute The fact is
We have saved S150,000 during the last year
and placed it in the treasury, aud IL is there
now. There is apparently an unreasonable
advance in the price of asphalt, and want
to call q halt in that matter. When
there was competition between the
concrete and asphalt mon the re-
suit was that prices were low. Now, as
there is no competition, and tho asphalt is
controlled by monopoly, what can we do :?
They might demand So square yard. did
not want the present figure of $2.25 put into
the contract. Mr.. Barber said that II be re.
duccd the figure here to 50 10, he would have
to reduce 1t in all the other cities He said,
however, that he would, in fact, do the work
cheaper, as he had his plant here, but people
in Chicago would not understand that. So it
was agreed to let the figure stand with the
understanding that he should do moro work
for the money. Tho result has been that he
has paved three or four blocks that were not
in his contract He threw these extra squares
in. 1t amounts to the samo Of course, as re.
ducing the price per yard"
In speaking of the suffrage committee Mr..
West said: "Over year ago l saw what was
coming and-publicly stated it at the time.
saw that, between the enmities which would
naturally be made by the ommissioners
fhoge NVbn all ffro aud thnaa v,bo ho,,a
plundered the district before and want to do
so again, the commissioners would get into
hot water. There is one inherent difficulty,
| think, in this plan of government. 1t may
not, however, be so great q fii3ulty as not to
be more than balanced by the advantages of
this method. 1t may be better to bear with
the ills we have than to fly to those we know
not of. The difficulty is that these members
of congress who come here to legislate for u.s.
each comes with preconceived ideas, obtained
at home, as to municipal government. They
have not time when here to mako study of
municipal government as applied to the dis
trict. So we have great board of aldermen,
each with his preconceived notions. You can
not get board of ten aldermen to agree, and
how do you expect that 400 will agree"
Commissioner Edmonds said that he had
not read the articles, but as for the charges
of misappropriation of funds, any clear
minded citizen could see that il was not SO,
for the treasury department inquiries into
every cent of money spent ''rhe fact is,'
said Mr.. Edmonds, my time Is too we'll oc-
cupied to pay any attention to newspaper
talk, but if the papers want to help the citi-
zens in tho right way, they might turn their
attention to advocating the wants of the peo-
pie. What we want here is more perfect
system of drainage, and then the papers are
at liberty to arraign us, if they think We are
not doing everything for the good of tho citi'
zensn