The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1903-03-27
THE COUNTY
LAW MAKERS
Have a Lively Discussion Over
Contracts for Building
New Roads.
DEBATE WAS INTERESTING

Work and Presents the Lowest Bids
for Several Pieces. This Furnished
the Theme for an Exciting raIk Dur
ing Which several Members said
Some Harsh Things.
There was a good deal of Lobbying "
done at the special meeting of the
Board of Freeholders. held last Wednes-
, day morning, and it was some little
time after eleven O'Clock before the
, board was called to order.
The meeting was called to hear the
report of the Road Committee and af-
ter the report was read and the recon-
mendations made, the results showed
that the "lobby" had been necessary.
The Road Committee reported that
the lowest bids received were as
follows: For the Green Village road,
3.21 miles, S14,603.31, Dickerson &
Gill; Boonton and Montville road, II
miles, $13 3,919.70, Bum: Sussex and
Newton turnpike, / mile, 81 ,574. The
committee recommended that these
bids be accepted by the Board and that
!, the contracts be given out, subject to
the passage of the bill now before the
senate which authorizes Boards of
Freeholders to make contracts and
start road work before the new boards
take Office 1t was moved and Sec
onded that the report be accepted and
the recommendations adopted and
then came pretty little pow WOW.
F'reeholder Post was first on his feet
and wanted to know what had become
of the Mt. Freedom road; where was
the money to come from for the new
roads, that they proposed to spend
S27, 900 which would have to go into
the May budget and that he was op-
posed to passing any such motion at
this time.
There seemed to be quite diversity
of opinion on the subject as four OF the
freeholders claimed the floor as soon
as Mr.. Post had taken his seat. Direc-
tor Becker recognized Mr. Spencer who
said that the Board should go slow
and be in no hurry toaward contracts.
He said too, that the board should
endeavor to make better record in
the future than it had in the past
and intimated that the past was not a
thing to be proud OF.
Major Dalrymple, chairman Of the
Road Committee, managed to claim
the attention of the Board long enough
to say that the clerk had all the data
as to the Mt. Freedom road in his pos
session and any one could get them by
going to him. Nosoonerhad the Major
ceased speaking than Mr.. Post was
again on his feet insisting that the
board go slow in the matter. He said
further that to give out these con-
tracts now meant increased taxes and
that there was really no need of any
hurry.
No sooner had Mr.. Post ceased than
Freeholder Mills was on his feet and
he proceeded to give his views on the
subject in no uncertain voice. Mr..
Mills said that to him it seemed inn
possible for the board to do anything
in the matter at present as it was in
direct opposition to the laws as they
now existed and that it was extreme
ly improbable that the bill now before
the legislature would pass as it was an
exceedingly bad measure. He said
further that it was very bad law to
pass any bill that would allow one
body to bind another body and that
this proposition was exactly the same
as was the jail proposition and that
he could see no good thing in it. He
even went as far as to say that there
were some things in the bill which he
had discovered by careful reading, that
made the bill look to him as though
there might be something crooked or
underhand in the bill and that he was
opposed to it from start to finish and
that in his opinion the proposed law
was unconstitutional and would not
stand ON the statute books two years
and that if the senate should eyenpass
the bill he was sure that the governor
should not sign it,
The first chance he got, Mr.. Schone-
berger, of the Road Committee, ex-
pressed himself quite as pointedly as
had Mr.. Mills. He said that it panied
him to have anyone be SO suspc-
ious and it was particularly painful to
him to have the gentleman from Nor
rs regard the bill, or the gentlemen
who were responsible for it, in a sus-
picious light. He assured him that
there was nothing in the bill that did
not appear on the face of it and that
the bill had been examined very care
fully not only by the counsel for the
board, but also by the attorney-general.
J Mr.. Schoneberger then went on to say
that there was really no good reason
why there should be any delay in the
giving out of these contracts as they
were some thousands of dollars less
than those of last year and by delaying
the matter now the committee would
lose two of the best months Of the year
for road work. If the contracts were
not let now but put off until June, it
would be a physical impossibility for
the contractors to finish their con-
tracts by October first.
Mr.. Post again claimed the atten-
tion of the Director at this point and
said that he had no charges to make
against any member of the Road Com
mittee or any other member of the
board. That he was willing to take
any one of them by the hand and was
himself in favor of the new roads and
was willing to pay extra taxes to get
them, but that he was not willing to
vote for them to-day. He then moved
that the motion be laid on the table
[CONTINUED ON FOURTH PAGE.]