Middletown transcript., 1899-03-18

$246. 40 is interest on bond, $51.l6 in
terest on notes, and 81, ,450 payments
on notes, total Of S1,747.56 leaving
the amount actually expended on the
roads as 50, ,297rS0. OF this amount
the three commissioners and their
supervisors, got 81, ,454.78, and yet the
Hundred still owes them for work on
the roads, $723.72. These amounts are
made up as follows: J. P. Cochran.
Jr., got $379. 90 and there is still due
him SIS. 90; NJ. Keegah got none but
there is due him S74O0; j. w. Voshell
got $329.00 and there is still due him
$97. .13; A. E. Holten, supervisor. got
$3.50; James and Daniel Keegan got
$232. so and there is still due them
$398. 81; Clarence Voshell got $97.13
and there is still due him $500; and
John M. Evans got $189.15. and there
is still due him $500. This makes
63 per cent. OF all of the money ex-
pended on the roads going to the COM
missioners and supervisors, and only 81
per cent to all other persons. In re-
gard to the notes, what were they given
for and 1hen? It seems to me that in
view of all these facts and the further
one that the whole body of Taxpayers
Of st. Georges Hundred is suspicious
Of the manner in which the Hundreds
affairs have been managed, that it
would be well for the new commission
ers before assuming any part of the
81 $50 deb (which really only represents
a small part cf the real debt), to.have
an examination made by interested
citizens Of the Hundred, regardless of
political affiliations. Let them, for ex-
ample, appoint committee to look into
this vast amount due by the Hundred,
and il there is any ''crookedness," !"
have it shown up, and If lot, let
the suspic ons Of the citizens be
allayed. Let this committee show
by its report just exactly how much the
Hundred really does owe. so the new
commissioners may have a starting
point. Let them also examineinto the
question of the resources" and see
how much Of the 1897 and 1898 taxes
are really co)ltctab,e. Are the total
resource sof the Hundred $2,000P For
'92, 1913, '94, '95 and '96 the amount
still due for taxes as shown in this re-
port aggregates over $4,000 an average
Of $500 per year. With the same
amount of errors for 1897 and 1898
the resources Of $500 as printed in
this report shrink to about So. 100. Six
years ago when Mr.. S. ). Holten left
the Board, the announcement was
made that except for the Cochran bond
Of $1,000 and the Hukill account of
81, 100 the Hundred did not owe a dol
lar. To-day by the report Of the Com
missioners there is owing exclusive of
these two accounts & $50, an average
SITS per year in debt for the six years.
If the money had been spent in i'm
provement of the roads, the people who
use them would or should be able to see
the effects. But any one who uses the
roads knows that they have been rap
idly going from bad to worse and now
they have about reached the bottom.
. Hardly a bridge in the Hundred but
needs. repairing; hardly hill in the
Hundred but is lady washed; hardly a
level stretch Of road but is half way to
the axle in mud;-this is the actual
condition Of the roads as viewed by one
who uses them. And this is the state
Of affairs that is to be dumped onto the
hands Of the new road commissioners.
If they take it without an investigation
either by themselves or some committee
like that suggested above, they will
greately disappoint not only the Re-
publicans of the Hundred, but also the
Democrats who voted for them. They
have the chance now to straight ten out
the old buisnes start fresh b and keep
straight, No one who knows them,
doubts they will keep straight, but the
thing to do now is to straighen out
and start fresh. And This can only be
done by committee Of outside property
owners, who should be appointed now
and get 10 work.
INVESTIGATE.