The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-12-22
IN DEFENSE
 OF MACDONALD
rHE FORMER REPRESENTATIVE WRITES STRONG LETTER TO
 THE PRESS.
To the Editor:

ing much of the detail of MT. Mac Donald's office I have naturally been interested in all the discussion and criticism in the press of the commits sioner and his work. The great ma jority of the criticism Gf honesO shows an utter lack of knowledge of the subject and some of it is absolutely vicious.
 One can readily understand that commissionership developing as this has with millions to disburse should attract politicians with itching palms and who. for purposes of their own. would start a ca-rpaign of criticism to .dsscredit the work of the present in fclimbent and one can readily conceive of such action on the part of dis honest contractor who. maybe. for the first time, has been compelled by the commissioner to fulfin specifications; but honest men. who have the welfare of the state at heart. it seems to me should fa1nilarize themselves with the facts before rushing into print to criticise an official or refrain until there are excellent reasons to believe that he is either dishonest or incom- petent.
 That MT. Mcdonald, as highway commissioners. has been and is not only absolutely honest and has so far spent the states money as judiciously as the circumstances and the law would allow, I think can be shown to the satisfaction of any honest, think ing man.
 Ffrst-There is no breath of suspi- cion of graft or dishonesty in his de- pertinent
 Secono-He Is absolutely in love with his work and devotes his whoie time thought and energy to it
 Thfrd-He comes as near. being a national authority on road building as any man in America. being the oldest road commissioner in point Of service in the United States and the recoSnl- rfon of his works on the subject, his lectures and addresses al over this country. and the demands %nade upon him for advice and counsel in road building are ample proof or this asser- ton
 Fouth-He has plead and fought with the people all over the state for fourteen years to awaken them to ac- ton on the subject of good roads and whatever of advancement we have made in this direction is due as much. if not urore. to his efforts. than any other man or agency in the state ana this much to his financial disadvan- tage. past. present and future, even though he be given "a life tenure or the office
 Fifth-That he possesses the execu- tive ability to disburse the large fund at his disposal to the best interests of the state at large is practically proven by what he has already done in two short years when it is known what under the law and what cooperation he has been able to secure from the towns
 The history of road building by this state practically began April |. oS' and was made possible by the appro- priation by the General Assembly Of 1907. It was with s ight hope of pas sage that the law was framed and but for it's connection with the appropr a. tions for the State Armory and Li- brary it probably would not have gone through Had it been loaded with pro- visions. for a large clerical force or enginesEs and deputies, it certainly would shAve failed of passage, but through the combined effort of Sen ator Bulkeley and James H. MacDon- aid the measure became a law with all its, limitations However, the start was made and the commissioner real ized the problem of 16S towns demand ing immediate roads for which they would pay but 25 per cent of the cost and which demands he was ecompelled by law to recognize, with insufficient machinery of office and dearth of responsible contractors at his com mand It is a matter of record that his best efforts were put forth to de- fer great portion of the work until such time as it could be properly su- Eervised and the state not placed at the mercy of the contractors But the elam0r of the press and the towns con- rinued and the commissioner went the limit of personal endurance to sat isfy it.. no relief being in sight and the pressure continuing until the rising of the General Assembly in 1909.
 Another reason for the commission CT dlscouraging such haste was that no provision was incorporated in the 1907 law for the maintenance of roads further than for the commiss' 'oner to furnish each town with certain Quan- tity of stone for the town to do theiI own repairing. he having no. authority or men to superintend this work. The result of this assistance in material tc the towns by the state was that many selectmen ordered it months after they were notified by the commissioner that it was, ready and instances are knowr where this material was used for other roads and the commissioners roads al lowed to go to pieces and he power. less to prevent it. Thus it will be seer if this be true, that the statement that the commissioner has been responsible for the maintenance of. state roads fol two years and three months is without foundation in fact
 It will be observed by reference tC the law of 1907 that the commissiOnei has no power to build roads without the consent of the towns and has nc choice as to the kind of roads they may desire constructed. Macadam ha: often been insisted upon by town: whose selectmen have had no seem ing appreciation of the fact that mac adam is expensive to maintain as wei as construct. most of them with al utter disregard of the value of any thing they did not pay for. having le them go to rack and ruin in spite o the protests, of the commissioner.
 Not only have the towns as a rul' neglected the state roads but thei own are generally bad on account O the lack of ordinary business method employed in maintenance
 The rnacadam from the West Hart ford town line to the borough O FarmIngton built through the gener oisty of Alfred Atmore Pope and D Newton Barney of Pennington, ant with, which the commissioner hat nothing to do, was given a coat of ta when new in spite of the protest O the commissioner. who advised wait ing a year until it had bonded, wen to pieces in less than two years wnei it was repaired at cost or SS,oO' two thousand of which was contribute se by MT Pope and is now in bad snap again. through neglect. except for tw hundred feet which was treated wit tar on the advice of the commissions CT
 It is plainly evident that the condi tion of the kind or the width of GU
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