The St. Johns herald., 1886-06-10
Bridge rs. Road Commissioners.

persons in Apache county to be designated as Wagon Road Com missioners, and the persons named in the act as constituting said Com missioners were Morris Earth, E. S. Stover and Ebin Stanley, and in event of vacancies the Governor was authorized to fill the same by appointment of any one or all of them, as circumstances might re- quire. (See acts 1885, p, 334. The members of that Board at present are: c. O Howe, Chairman Pedro Montana, Treasurer, and F. 4. Hub bell, Secretary,
 Sometime in January last the present incumbents, in accordance with the provisions of the act, were given $12,000 in Territorial bonds by the Treasurer of the Territory, for the purpose of repairing the public roads. By reference to the act above cited, the following lan- guage is found to be used: "The Treasurer shall keep a register of all bonds issued by him, and shall deliver the same to the Wagon Road Commissioners hereinafter named, and the said Commission CTS shall sell and dispose of said bonds at as high a rate as possible and convert the said bonds into cash provided, that no bonds shall be sold or disposed of by them for less than ninety-fve cents on the dollar" In the year 1883, $260,000 territorial, seven per cent funding bonds were issued, and were adver- tised for sale in three newspapers for thirty days, and a sale was ef- fected, the bonds bringing a pre- mium and selling for $264 ,0O0. The bonds placed in the hands of Pedro Montana were bearing eight per cent interest, and yet he sold them at the minimum price allowed by law, and at private sale. Itcer- tainly does not appear that he ex- ercised the ordinary prudence and business sagacity, which he would observe in the conduct of his own affairs. The language of the stat ute clearly contemplates that the Commissioners should use. every effort to make the bonds bring their lairest and fullest market yaiEe, and a precedent was given in the case of the Loan Commissioners above referred to.
 The question which these gentle men must now answerqte the peo- pie is, have they done so. If these bonds had been their personal pro- perty, which they offered for sale, does any one believe it would have been necessary to have told them the better plan was to place the bonds where they could be sold to the purchaser who would bid most for them? Let them answer where, when and to whom the bonds were sold, and relate the circumstances of the sale, together with their req sons for the course pursued. If the funding bonds were worth q pre- mium, why not these? Is not the security and the market the same now as then?
 Second, Within six or eight weeks after the bonds were lodged in the hands of Montana, some $1 300 of their proceeds had been paid out-not one dollar of which had been expended upon the high ways for which the money had been appropriated. These facts are said to be gathered from the Secretary's books, and have been published i'll a past issue of the HERALD. Among the expenditures was an item of $200 as attorneys fees. Now we would like for the Commissioners to inform the people by what au- thority they employed an attorney, and what use did they have for one. The act creating them certainly does not vest in them the power or priv ilege to use the money for any other ,,,,r,,oCoC tboo thOCa indicated hv