The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1908-05-08
Governor Crother's Views on
the Good Roads Question.

the Good Roads Question.
Governor Crothers whilst il
Baltimore recently. made a stronl
statement in reference to his DO
sition upon the Good Roads bus
mess, as well as upon other mat
ters, particularly the enforce.
ment of the laws by the men he
has and will appoint to office,
On these subjects he said:
1 ''FOr var ious reasons | was not
in favor of turning over the whole
great work of building 5000, 600
worth OF roads to the Geological
Survey Commission. That should
be in the hands of men who have
been made specifically RESPONSE.
BILE for the work. who have taken
an oath that they will admin
lister their trust faithfully. II the
Geological Survey Commission
should be given this work, it
would have to intrust the whole
work to its engineer, and they
could not keep as close tab upon
it as the men whom | shall ap
point will do.
II believe that the people of
the State understand my posi-
ton. do not believe that there
is man in the State who will
allow a cent of this money to be
wasted. The criticisms that
am getting at the present time
are not on the ground Of extrava
gance; they are exactly npon
opposite grounds. They say that
| am pairing things down too
much.n
sit seems to me that instead
of criticising and tearing things
down we should all get together
and try to build up. These good
roads will mean progress and adj
vancement and prosperity. Every
cent spent for them will return
to the State in the shape OF in
creased property values, and
much more besides. Criticism will
not get the roads built any sooner
or better. Setting the counties
against the city and the city
against the counties will not help
things any. We the people of the
State of Maryland are one people,
city and counties, and our inter
ests are the same. That's not
mere talk: it's fact.
II valns public esteem. Every
man does. But | am NO cOnstitut-
ed that no amount of criticism
can move me when | know that |
am right. | would rather de-
serve public esteem than to have
it.
"In connection with all of my
appointments and | shall insist
on one thing, and that is that
the laws of the State shall be
carried out. That applies to the
Police Commissioners of Balti
more City and every other APP
pointee. They all know my views
on the subject. for / have made
no secret of them.
IF the liquor laws for instance,
are violated persistently and flag
rantly, the man responsible will
be held to account. 1t is useless
to tell me that the laws cannot
he enforced, for | have been all
through this thing and l know
that they can be enforced If
any appointee OF mine fails in
this respect shall do everything
in my power TO secure his removal
from Office.
'.In this connection, | have
about reached the conclusion that
it would be wise TO give the Gov.
ernOr the right to remove any OF
his appointees at any time with
out trial. There is a great diff
ference between legal proof and
moral certainty and you may be
absolutely convinced that a man
is faithless to his trust and yet
be unable to prove it. You can
learn all that you need TO know
about a man from his associa-
tions, some times when You can't
convict him of any illegal deed.
my feeling is that responsible
ity should be concentrated as
much as possible, and that the
official who is held responsible
should be given as much author
ity as he needs. The man respon
sible should I've given the power to
meet his responsibility. Demo
cratic Telegram.