The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1900-05-01
NEW CASTLE
COUNTY ROADS.
Caleb H. Steward and VIM.
II. Gibbons Score the
Road Commits
SiOnerS.

The Auditors appointedlby Judge Spru-
anco to look into the accounts OF the Road
Commissioners of New Castle County,
CALEB H. Steward and William H. Glib
bons, have presented report to Judge
Spruanco and in it they score the commits.
siuners.
The report says In part: The books and
papers produced were In most cases frae.
mentnry and imperfect and wholly insult
ficient to enable US to make thorough
examination, e
Without any disposition to invite cen.
ture Of the present officials who arc only
following the system in vogue for years
past, we must say that the present system
of administering the affairs Of the road
commissions Of the various hundreds is
to say the least very loose one, and one
that would not be permitted to exist In
any ordinarily we'll conducted mercantile
establishment for moment. The ac-
counts as kept In most Of the hundreds
are totally inadequate for the purpose Of
arriving at the true financial condition:
In many cases consisting mostly OF mem
oranda more or less unintelligible and
disconnected.
In preparing the statements Of the obli-
cations of the various hundreds OH stand
on the statements Of commissioners, the
books as kept not showing amounts due
and unpaid. We do not believe this can
DO satisfactorily arrived ut without adver-
Using for persons holding claims against
the various hundreds to present the same,
We were unable to give detailed, itemiz-
ed statement in some Of tine hundreds as
the check stubs did not state for what pur.
pose the checks were drawn, and no vOuch
hor tnan I'M n loI rbaalyo
to be found, and In no case did we find
any order book In which record Of orders
given for material was kept, so that the
amount Of unpaid accounts might be de-
termined.
We have generally ignored the previous
audits Of the accounts by the Levy Court
as a basis or starting point for our exam
ination, as in some cases the accounts
as were balanced by such entries as by
difference" "by balance nnaCounted for"
and we have taken tho accounts as keep
by the various depository banks in most
Instances as the most reliable data that
could be obtained. We find common
practice prevails OF issuing orders on the
county treasurer for material and labor
when the funds are not in hand to meet
tn N, and these orders are mostly given
o. 10, SO sheets OF paper no regular book 8
biing kept for recording them 1t is i'm
possible. under this system, to tell how
many or what amount of these orders are
outstanding. except by the statement Of
the commissioners.
We have been able only in few instan-
ces to asceri ain the amounts paid to, or re-
tanned by, the commissioners for their SER
vices, as the Usual course appears to have
been to blend these with other items in
such a manner as to make IL quite inpos-
siUis for US to separate them.
The following shows the amounts the
commissioners received from the various
hundred. up to the time audit was made
In July Of 1899 the amounts representing
the road taxes for little more than year
Appoquinlmink. 5000. 50; Blackbrd, ST.
9il ,94; Christiana. IS, 9S2 rs; Brandywine,
50, 576. "a; Mil Greek. $S,Oi1.39; New Cas-
tie, 81, 446.09; Pencader, s3.44S IS; Rel Lion
$l,S26.9S; st. Georges. a, 1869; White
Clay Crock % Hast; total, $i0.7794l.
Experts who were shown the above fig
ures say that II an engineer was appoin cd
to cake charge of the roads In five years he
could have every road in the country ma
cadamizod If he received as much yearly
as do the present road commissioners.
There Is no way to change the system ex-
Cept by appealing 10 the Legislature. and
it will be done. The engineer would DO
responsible to some one and instead Of
employing men who know nothing about
road building would employ men who
have experience In such work.
in other states where the horsemen and
farmers have forced good roads the plan
has been to select one or two OF the main
roads In each hundred and build o portion
Of it each year. After a macadam road Is
once mad, it requires little to keep 1t in
repair II it is sprinkled once in awhile. 1t
Is to the interest Of the farmers to have
good roads. They would not cost more
than under the present system and their
property would increase i'll value, to say
nothing Of tho saving on the wagons and
CARRIAGES
4 no following are the amounts owed by
each bundled on account Of work
and labor: Appoquininimlnk. s., 45l.S6;
Blackbird, $50; Brandywine. $500, and
sundry bills not to be fond on the books
of the commissioners; Christiana, 81, $40;
Mill Greek, $3.50; New Castle, $1,000;
Pencader, sl.2lj. rs; Red Lion. $500; st.
Georges. t9.9S095; White Clay Greek,
81, 91+27; total, $40, 1850
The greater portion Of the debt has been
standing from four to twelve years. For
tunately the deficit cannot become larger,
as under the law the commissioners can
not spend moro than the taxes turned over
to them.
One man said last night: II would
pay the county to issue bonds to build
good roads, us enough money would come
in as sinking fund to redeem the bonds
in short time."