The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-11-08
Public Works in Chatham County.


The county commissioners now have a
chance to do the county very great ser
vice, namely, put man in control of the
county convict force and of the public
works of the county who can make sat
isfactory showing for the means he has at
his command. If we are not mistaken the
impression is strong that the results al
ready achieved are not at all in keeping
with the money that has been spent by
the county. and the number of convlcts
available for county work. The cause of
this state of affairs we do not undertake
to say. 1t may be bad management, or
the want of a fixed policy or the failure to
get the right men for places of RESPONSE
bility. Be what it may, care should be
taken to avoid like mistakes in the fu-
ture.
A good engineer may be totally incapable
Of handling large body of laborers so as
to get satisfactory results from them and
an inferior engineer may be a man of
excellent executive ability, having the ca
pacity to accomplish twice as much with
the same means as another man not so
well equipped with these qualities What
the county commissioners should seek to
find is a good manager, a man capable of
handling to the best advantage such ma
terial as composes the labor force of the
county. He should have executive ability
and know how to get the greatest amount
of work out of the convicts while treating
them kindly and justly. 1t is not neces-
sary that he should be a civil engineer.
Let him have an engineer as an assistant
1t is an easy matter to find an engineer
who could do all the engineering work re-
quired for properly carrying on drainage
and roadmaking work.
The superintendent or manager should
be allowed a large amount of discretion
and be held to a strict account for the
faithful, intelligent and successful per-
Torrance of his duties. The county COM
missioners should decide upon the i'm
provements they want made, and the
manager, with his engineer and the force
of convicts at his command, should do the
work without any interference from the
commissioners or any member of it. If
that system were adopted there would be
little ground for complaints Of favoritism
or that nothing was being accomplished.
In selecting a manager politics SHOULD
be ignored, and no notice should be paid
to efforts to have this or that man given
the position simply because he happens to
be out of employment or has influential
friends. We undertake to say that if a
thoroughly efficient man, a man of high
character and good executive ability, were
given control of the convicts and permit
ted to handle them as his judgment die
tated, he would accomplish more in one
year than has been accomplished hereto
fore in any two years.
We assume that the commissioners want
to do the very best they can for the
county. That being the case why not give
careful consideration of the suggestions
herein made? Why not have the convict
force handled as effectively as a contrac-
tor building a railroad or constructing a
canal handles his laborers? There is a
vast amount of public work to be done in
the vicinity of the city. 1t ought to be
done as rapidly as possible, but it will be
many years before it Is completed unless
better results for the money spent and
force employed are obtained than is the
case at present