The Springdale news., 1906-02-02
CAPITOL STEAL STILL GOES ON
Architect and Contractors in
 League for Graft.
Permit Pilisge of Treasury, Ac- cording to c. w. Donsghey.

cofding to C. w. UonsRhey.
 It will be remembered that when the last legislature was directly Tn the act of making an additional appropri- atlun of eight thousand dollars for eX. tra graft on the new State Capitol scheme, the writer. in an open letter 10 that body, refuted as false the so. phistry that was daily mashed to 1t by the State Capitol grafteTS In unmis- takable language he fOreShadowed the rottennesS that has since been made quite public There were enough good men In the legislature to exam inc the allegations. and when they found the facts, the bill was defeated
 In referring to this matter, hO~ev- CT, l am not ldhOring in the interest of any political aspiration whatever. l am not candidate for governor or any other office or any other thing bow, or to be, at the disposal of this state
 But, again, at the expense of cauStic criticism by all the SympathizerS of the DoodlinR element-and its adher- ents are many-together with that of some good men who do not understand the workings of this combination, call attention to the mtSmandgement of the same work still in progress There has been stacks of evidence til- ed in open court concerning these boodllng operations. In fact, enough to send a large part Of the whole com blnatlon to the penitentiary, and yet the monthly payment of twenty i've or thirty thousand dollars is still mer- rily going on, notwithstanding the fact that the actual work has almost come to d standStill
 The scandal recently exposed by the Pulaski County grand jury has deyel- oped the fact that there are those who were standing as angels between us and their sins. Old cunning minks who never Yentured out except In the darkest nights have been chased to d standStill and made to loom up under a torch light. A few cars of tainted anthracite, which was guaranteed to be smokeless. has not only been dis covered, but there have been found stacks of gold where it was placed for distribution, and was distributed for the criminal purpose of graft on this State Capitol building. There is no record of anything so hrazen or so rot ten in all the entire history of the State of Arkansas. Still nothing has been done to even chck the evil
 The State Capitol Commission, which is undoubtedly being made d cats paw Of to pull hot chestnuts out Of the blazing fire, is ignorant of the laws of building construction general tY, but especially k it totally incOmpe. tent 10 pass Judgment upon some of the questions IL seems tu have assum- ed responsibility for. If, however It permits itself to become the Seape- goat of d scheme planned to entrap it and defraud the State, it should bear the full blame and not plead the baby act as some of it's individual members have already indicated that it would do. It should always have needed the advice Of Crockett: It should yet be guided by such. Very ordinary busi- ness principles would teach better practice than IL has Il some instances adopted. Men who kuoW how ta count five and lay off corn rows ought 10 know better than t0 permit some of the things to pass that have been done and passed by the Commission
 The work of planning and that of construction on the new State Capitol has been carried on about aS follows:
 The first story has been thlnly Ve- neefed with stone of the grade call ed for by the specifications aud con tract but in quantity there is scarcely half of the stone used that the plans called for. This veneer is backed up by supporting walls of brick bought and pald for in addition to the con- tract price by the State of Arkansas, and put on the scaffolG by its convlcts. More than enough brick to complete h.a ir.. nd yet many more will have to be bought before the work Is done,
 Then at the beginning of the second story the grade of stone is changed to that of an inferior grade altogether, and to d different color and grade to that which was Specl fled, contracted for and commenced with, and it's thickness is reduced d little more than in the first story, and the expense of the work ieSSened nearly half.
 As the matter stands now the origi- nal plans are not of service and there is nothing to work from in the way of pans and specifications but addition al drawings, which are evidently made by direction of and for the sole interest Of the contractors n0twith- standing the utter impropriety of let LiDB du uuHCi u pulbuS GOubfdGtAT tIlikt his own plans by which he iS ta dc work that ne is being paid to do after plans which were furnished and paid for by the State, and on which com petitive bids were had bY various oth- CT contractors. As the Inside ut the building k being constructed the cost of doing it is less than one.half Of what the plans called for at the time the contract was let All important work is now left unwritten, unplann- ed and unrecorded, and k carried. if contemplated being done at all, only in the minds of those parties who are being paid, and are to be paid for do. ing it. Yet 1t might be c0ntended that such IS fully set out in the gener- al and specific drawings which were hled in the office of the State Capitol Commission, and that there were more than hundred sheets or leaves Cf those. So there were when the work was contracted to the parties now in charge of it; but not a single sheet of them is absolutely in full force today, nor is there single whole page of the specifications, the law and the contract, which delegates