Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1894-10-18

group of county buildings. common
ly called our court house, compels
four of our county officers to camp
out. SO to speak; that is, provide
themselves with offices as best they
can and upon such terms as the
board dictate. They are the states
attorney. one-half of whose expenses
is allowed by the county, amounting
to about e150 per annum, and the
want of a permanent office and lack
of vault room most of the time,
causes, in the administration of that
Office especially whenever the office
changes hands, great confusion, loss
of valuable papers subsection, to dan
gers from theft and fire, and in gen.
eral, results in said expense TO the
county as we'll as initiates against an
efficient administration of that Office,
no matter how able and careful the
incumbent of that Office may be.
The county school superintend-
ent's Office costs about the same as
the states attorney and lack of per-
manent quarters causes about the
same degree of inconvenience, with
the additional Inconvenience that to
secure Office room large enough, he
has to share Offices with someone
else, to bring his expenses within the
allowance made by the county, and
both he and those in attendance at
his office are required to transact
their business in confusion and
noise, and subject to great inconven-
fence and interruption. Both the
coroner and county surveyor have no
offices at all, save such as they pro-
cure themselves. and when the pub
lie have business with these officers
they can't find them at public office
as they should. if properly housed in
q public building.
County Treasurer Isolated.
The county treasurer's Office is is
olated and alone, and not only is it in
such a position that it could be rob-
bed with impunity, but has no vault
room whatever, so that the archiv es
of that important Office are at the
mercy of the flames; records that
could not be replaced, and the loss
OF which would be a great and ire
parable loss and damage to the coun-
ty. Some provision should be ,made
for the security Of his records, but.
if new building is not built, your
| committee is at loss what to recon-
mend as an adequate provision.
The Old Building Crumbiing.
In addition to the remodeling o.
the building occupied by the two
clerks, the center building or court
house proper, will have to be, in the
interest both of safety and common
decency, extensively repaired and
renovated. We find that one of the
walls is out of plumb and says; the
roof and rafters are decayed be-
yond possibility of repair and to such
an extent that the water flows
through. practically unimpeded; and
as you all know, we have, in view of
the possibility, and as we hoped prob
ability. of the erection of q new
court house, refrained from repaper-
ing, painting or otherwise repairing
the interior of said building for sew
erai years, so that its condition is
dirty. dilapidated, a positive dis
grace to the county, and has reached
a point that demands immediate rem.
ovation. The total cost of repairing
said center building, as estimated
by us, with the assistance of compe.
tent contractors will be from 1000
to $4,000.
As to the Jail Building.
1t is perhaps unnecessary for US to
remind you that the county jail is in
not only very unsanitary condition.
but is absolutely unsafe since the
grand jury, whose legal duty il is to
inspect the Jail and make reports OF
its condition, have condemned it:
but since its improvement in accord
ance with modern ideas would likely
cost no less than $4,000 to SIS. 900.
your committee is unable to make
any recommendation concerning it.
Another Improvement that ought to
be made now, and one that will
have to be made soon to take the
place of an extravagant and worn out
system, is new heating apparatus.
The present one, owing to its defec-
tive character as well as its great
distance from the points to be heat
ed, requires at least double the
amount of fuel that would be re.
quired by new and modern appar.
tus to heat new building of sufli.
cient size for the transaction of the
county's business.
Hope for the New Court House.
In conclusion, we beg leave to ex.
press the hope that the proposition
TO build a new court house will NEE,
with favorable consideration at the
hands of the people of the county at
the coming election; but if through
any cause they fail to appreciate the
necessities OF building as we know
them. and also that from economical
standpoints, now is the most favor.
able time for us to build. We fee
constrained from a sense of our pub
lie duty as representatives of the
county, to recommend the making
by your honorable board of the above
suggested improvements, much as
we regret to, inasmuch as it will, &C.
cording to the lowest estimates OF