The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1903-11-07
A LESSON FROM BALLARD.

Attorney c.. A. Reynolds Of Ballard
is in the city for the purpose of in
vestigating the record made by H. E.
Worley in doing contract work for the
CITY. After Worley left Walla Walla
early last spring, leaving a guarantee
company to settle several hundred
dollars of his accounts incurred in
the building Of the East Alder street
f1ume. he went to Ballard and be-
cause of his we'll known reputation Sc
cured a position as inspector of the
work being done under a 100000 sewer
contract. Although the cost for about
the same mileage of sewers was
double the cost Of the Walla Walla
system. the work under Worley's in
spection was done so poorly that 1T
has been found necessary to relay all
the pipe at an enormous cost to the
city. Attorney Reynolds says that the
citizens committee has secured abso-
lutte proof Of the existence of con-
spiracy in which a majority of the
council and other city officials were
involved to slight the work and run
up the cost in order to rob the city,
the "swag" being divided among the
members Of the ring and their tools.
Proof has also been found that mem
bers of the council have been securing
their fuel and some other supplies at
the expense of the city. In fact Bal
lard's municipal administration is as
corrupt as that of st. Louis or Phila-
delphia and it is expected that a
grand jury will be called to bring the
boodlers to justice. Ballard has less
than ten thousand people, yet it can
give larger cities pointers on official
crookednesS.
at Walla Walla that has proven far
from satisfactory. The $4,000 devel-
opment work at Thomas springs was
done in an unscientific manner, and,
according to the statement made by
the mayor to an emergency session of
the council after a personal investiga-
ton, Worley fooled the city by sur
reptitiously turning irrigation water
| from Mill creek into the city's pipes
| to increase the flow. Engineers Weile,
Miller and Storrow have stated that
| the flow of subteranean water deVel-
oped might have been greatly increas-
ed if the work had been done in a
scientific manner.
At Ballard Worley is accused Of
having taken a rake-off from the
Il Of Ia
sewers, and there were suspicious of
! the same practice in the work he did
| for this city. At Ballard several citi-
Zens of the town, fully competent,
made application for the position of
| inspector of sewer construction, but
| they were all turned down, because
| the ring wanted a man versed in the
| art of addition, division and silence.
| In this city also worthy and competent
residents of the town applied for the
| jobs given Morley but they were turn
| ed down for reasons that have never
been fully explained.
| The lesson to be learned from the
costly experience of Ballard is that
| eternal vigilance on the part OF the
| press and the taxpayers is the price
! of honest government. This city has
| been comparatively free from the use
| of public office for private graft, but
| the man is blind indeed who will say
| that there has been absolutely no
| ,rookedness in the administration of
| public business in Walla Walla at any
| ilne.
Even in this city Of heavenly purity
| is Well for the people to use wise
| discrimination in the election of men
| o public office. Otherwise rnere
| might come time when the tempter
| would ply his trade in the Garden City
| just as was done in the Garden of
Eden and more recently, for a differ
ent purpose, in Ballard.