Evening journal., 1898-10-10

at an enormous cost Of money and time
spent for engineering, he says: 1T can
readily be seen that on 454 miles Of this
kind Of work on old, dilapldated canals,
with thousands OF structures, the phys
ical condition OF which could only be
determined at great expense; with hun
dreds Of miles of vertical and slope
walls, every foot Of which would have
to be undermined from one to seven
feet during the most dangerous season
OF the year when frost, floods and
storms We're the constant rule and with
this work extending over sections of
country in such a manner as 10 en-
brace almost every known difficulty in
prosecuting work Of this kind; with the
foot OF the wall covered by many feet
of frozen earth, besides snow and ice, at
the time the surveys were made, thus
almost completely preventing an ac-
curate determination Of conditions:
with part Of the work, and that part In
some OF the most difficult portions.
flooded with water that could not be
removed except at an enormous cost Il
can, ] repeat, readily be seen by any
fair minded person that this work must
Of necessity embrace n much larger
percentage Of uncertainties than almost
any other kind Of public work. 1t is. IN
fact, far more difficult TO correctly es-
innate on I'm advance than a new canal
OF similar length would be- In the latter
case all uncertainties as TO the physical
condition Of walls and structures could
be determined in advance. The great
bulk Of the cost Is In connection with
these walls and structures. The total
excavation that has been done, cover
ing about half OF the whole work, and
including the excavation for walls and
structures, amounts In round figures to
only S2.00O,OOO. In other words. seven
ninths Of the cost is for walls. structures
and supervision"
Attention Is called TO numerous err
rors in the commissions report, which
forms the basis of adverse criticisms OK
the canal officials. and without excep-
tion, Mr.. Adams asserts, these are found
TO be on the wrong side Of the balance
sheet, so far as those officials are con-
cerned. One of these errors is said to
be a deliberate misstatement of the pro-
visions of the Improvement law regard
ing lock lengthening. The commission
says that the law did not contemplate
the Improvement Of the Lockport and
COhoes locks and charges the state en-
gineer with the improper expenditure Of
$40 39l.32 on this account. The law con-
tains no exception whatever and was
absolutely mandatory concerning the
Improvement of these and all other
locks that were unlengthened on the
Erie and Oswego canals.
The state engineer further says that
this whole matter was carefully dis
cussed by the canal board when the
attorney general. comptroller. superin-
tendent of public works and himself
were present. and that their approval
was obtained before this expenditure
was made
The state engineer believes that there
was too evident desire I'm the reports
to find fault Unfortunately, and in
this connection. concerning the charge
of improper expenditure Of S1500.00O
concerning which so much has been
said, he refers to page 145 Of the COM
Missions report, which says:
while we have criticised the expen-
diture of n part of the 1900. 900 fund
for work that should have been taken
care of by the ordinary and extraordi-
nary repair funds, we would call atten-
tion TO the fact that the objection is
based upon the legality OF such expen-
diture and not upon it's propriety. The
state gets the full benefit of work which
in It's nature is repair and not improve
ments. and practically It makes no diff
ference from what fund It is paid for"
The state engineer thinks IL Is evident
that the partisan press has not read the
above quoted paragraph. THE attor-
ney general, who is a member OF the ca
nal board, and the state officers who
have constantly TO deal with these mat
ters are quite as able TO decide about
the legality of these expenditures as
We're the members Of the commission OF
their engineers or their counsel, and
there can be no question about the work
that has been done being a part of and
absolutely essential to the completion
of the Improvement work. The canals
cannot be deepened without removing
the accumulations of silt. and il is sim
ply silly to assume that It would be
proper 10 leave aqueducts. culverts,
waste weirs and other structures in
such condition as to jeopardize the in
tegrity OF the canals simply because
their improvement or rebuilding was
not specifically mentioned In the i'm
provement act. In fact the whole pur-
pose OF the improvement would simply
be nullihed by failing to do such work
when II Is found to be absolutely nec-
essary.
The further charge that another ST.
600 900 has been improperly expended as
a result of poor specifications, bad
precedents loose methods or improper
management was equally unwarranted,
says Mr.. Adams, either by the facts OF
the testimony. The commissioners were
careful not 10 give many details for this
charge. but contented themselves with
the general statement. II is believed
that this statement will show wherein
the facts concerning each of the items
comprising this amount are quite differ
ent than would appear from the reports
and that the charge is completely met
and successfully refuted. barring a very
few Isolated cases. where oversight OF
incompetency have had the usual re-
suit.
superintendent OF Public Works AL
bridge prepared q statement immedi-
ately following the publication OF the
/ commissions report. His statement
{ however. has not as yet been made pub
/ lc The reason for the Withholding OF
/ the statement Is that Superintendent
Aldridge has not felt that it would De
/ proper 10 make It public until Judge