The log cabin Democrat., 1907-10-10

more than that sum- But that money has practically all been spent. The con tract provided that the building should be completed by December B, 1905. Eqht years have passed since the state beqan the construction of this building, and if is scarcely half complete. The chanqed plans which the capitol con- mission adopted after the contract was let has reduced the work almost half. The price named in the original contract has not been reduced, but on the con- trary has been increased. There mas been enough money and labor appro- priated and spent for the construction of this capitol building to have more than completed 1t, under tue present method of doing it, and yet those In authority suffer the statement to be made without refutation that the work on the capltol is stopped solely because the legislature did not appropriate more money TOT us completion, or that the opinlon o1 the attorney general just rendered prohibits the further execution of the work. As matter of fact, however, If the con- tractors had been paid the per centage which is held back on the estimates given them and approved by the capltol commission. there would scarcely be tenth ot this appropriation left ln the state treasury to the credit of the capltol fund.
 It would be better to put dynamite un- der what has been done on the caPltol building and blow 1t into the smallest atoms rather than continue the gra1t which is now teaching the taxpayers of their money. I say this with due con- sideration for the apparent extreme statement. If the present self-confessed boodlers, who have admitted ln our courts that they put up twenty one thou- sand dollars for the purpose ol orlDlne members of our legislature secure the endorsement of the voters of the state for what they have done and what they will if continued in the state service, the state will certainly pay any where from five million dollars to ten million dollars for less than one million dollar 5 worth of actual service. Some of our good people are not yet prepared 10 ac- cept this statement as true; but Ii they will most themselves on the Pennsyl Iva mia state capitol theft, where that state has inst naid out thirteen million dol lars for a four million dollar state Capi- tol. they will then see how the trek can l be worked. So in order % get rid ot our whole evil before it assumes greater pro- portions, 1t would be economy tor the state to dynamite the whole thing graft l CTS and all if need be, rather than contln ue existing conditions.
 l But. felloW-CitlZens, these extreme measure are not necessary. Then what | is the remedy. Let the state take charSe of the work. Discharge the commls- sioners, the architect and the contract ors. Place the work Ill charge of some one that will protect the state
 l Why discharge the contractors! De cause they have confessed to the crime | of bribing the legislature and have also robbed the state of thousands of dollars. | Why discharge the architect? Because
 he is obviously Tn league with the con- tractors, or they could not have sue ceeded in changing the plans so that l the state has been defrauded, and he has untruthfully certified to the state that more work has been done on the capitol by the contractors than has actually been performed, according to their con- tract with the state.
 Why discharge the commissioners! Because they fathered the bill for the eight hundred thousand dollars that Caldwell & Drake, the contractors, tired to bribe through the legislature, and in
 all controversies they have taken the side of Caldwell & Drake against the state, whose interests they were chosen
 and sworn to protect.
 Now, these are strong charges. If they
 aie not facts, they are libels. If they are
 libels, ought to be punished for both
 libel and islander. I here and now chsl- lenge those whom l accuse to show that
 am guilty of either. l am not pauper, and it can be found that judgment
 against me for any sum that It would be probable for a court to render, would have to be paid. Then If l am not slan- dering these men, am disclosing some [ facts that ought to be known. and ii