Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-01-30
THE OTHER SIDE.
Mr.. Venable Tells What He
Knows of Roads.
HE THINKS THE SYSTEM BAD.
He EXPLAINS What the General Road
Fund is For, and Other
Matters.

find out why 1t Is that with q levy Ol
nearly 500, 900 year for road purposes
this county has practically no roads
With this purpose in mind, it has had q
member of the staff 60 over the larger
part of the county to see what there is in
the way of thoroughfares. He has told
in graphic terms what he has seen, ol
rather what he has failed to find in this
line. Yesterday ex-Supervisor Venable
Met HERALD reporter on the street
and entered into conversation on the
matter. The HERALD has no personal
animus in the matter. 1t aims TO injure
no individual, public or private, but
simply, in the interest of the people,
wishes to know where the blame for the
execrable condition of the roads should
be laid. The proposition is beyond the
power Of any one to gainsay that the
sum of 100000 is large one to
spend for roads in such a county
as ours. The other proposition
is Just as irrefraeable that there are no
roads worthy OF the name in the county.
The HERALD, however, desires to do full
justice to all interests, and for that pur-
pose gives full scope to Mr.. Venable's
views.
His views are of this nature, as he ex-
pressed them:
In 1887 there was no money in the
road funds of the county. They were all
exhausted. The work done in the latter
part of that year had to be paid for out
Of the funds of the next year. Mr.. Els
worth spent $500 just outside the city on
the west. That had to be paid out of the
levy of 1888. There was a good deal
done on the Cahuenga road, and. that
had to come out of the levy of the next
year"
.'But," said the reporter, "did not the
levy for 1887 come to large sum? If /
remember Alright, there was 20 cents
levied for roads that year on an assess
nent of $92 900, ,0O0."
Mr.. Venable said: "No it was not so
much. We never did levy large sum
for road uses until last year."
Now" continued the ex-Supervisor,
sfyou are asking what the General Road
Fund is for. For the General Fund 35
per cent of the whole levy for road pur-
poses is set aside. Last year this came to
$32 900. That left about $4,000 to di-
vide up among the separate funds. Now
this General Fund goes for building
bridges. We built seventeen bridges
that I now recall, all of which were paid
for out of the levy of 1888. These cost
from 81 GOO to s., 900 each. Two of these
are below Downey City and are large
combination bridges. Besides these
bridges there is the road over the noun
tains and the big tunnel between San
Fernando and Newhall. We spent a large
part of the general fund on that. Then
in the Santa Ana Cailon large stretch
of the road slipped into the river. We
had to drive piles there to carry the road
over it. At Santa Ana the bridge was in
danger of being carried away, and we
had to bald q wing-dam to protect it.
"Again, when a new road is to be
opened in any district, land has to be &C.
quired by purchase. We had to pay
$500 an acre for land at Los Nietos for
road purposes.
Here is another matter that makes
roads an expensive luxury. 1t is a
matter over which the Supervisors have
no control. 1t is fixed law. 1t is this.
A new road is to be opened. A surveyor
has been sent out to run the
lines. He gets $40 a day. He is
allowed "helps," and they have to be
paid. With him go three viewers, and
they get three dollars day each. 1t
costs about twenty-five dollars day to
view a new road. 1t costs all of one-fifth
Of all the money spent in the several dis
tricts to pay for the land for new roads,
the surveyors and viewers. l do not
think the system a good one. 1t is
vicious, but that is no crime of the indi-
viduals engaged in it.
"There is your covered bridge over the
Los Angeles river. Time and again l
have tried to turn that over to the City
Council, but they will not have it. We
have to keep it in repair. That comes
out of the General Fund. In all incor-
porated towns we spend much of the
General Fund, and yet such towns pay
no road tax"
The reporter here suggested that the
present system was in all respects q
vicious one.
"Yes," said venable, 81 agree with
y0u." 1t is vicious at all points. There
are ways to engineer steals, and no Board
Of Supervisors can stop it. Look at a
demand. See how it is drawn. 1t
specifies the fund it is drawn on and
what it is for. All sorts of things come
under the head of "labor." 1t is sworn
to and passed from all hands to the Sup
ervisors. There is no easy way to ques-
tion it. The demand ought to state
whom the "labor" was done, where it
was done, and what it accomplished.
Then the Supervisors might find a reason
for objecting to pay it. But, by the way,
We do not pay road overseers for coming
in TO lay matters before us. They are
only paid for the time they actually
spend in overseeing actual work on the
roads.
Some districts are very costly to main
tain roads in. The Vernon district is
such q one. The sewage which runs
down there is lot flow wild all over the
country. 1t makes the roads as soft as
dough and they cut up badly. Compton
ls another very expensive district. The
river there, in flood, spreads all over the
country. To make road is to make a
dam. So we are obliged to put in many
bridges to carry the road over
he river. There are five roads running
from the river and converging at Comp
ton. On one of these there are nine
bridges. Then in all the irrigation dis.
tricts there must be frequent culverts to
carry the roads over the water bitches.
These all cost money.
Zone more thing, and then will let
you alone. There never has been any
thing like 800, 900 spent for roads in anv
one year. Your statement takes from
January to January. whereas the fiscal
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