The log cabin Democrat., 1909-10-04

furniture in each of the county ofhces made I, some needed improvements at the county pool
 farm furnished heater wood for all tho r courts paid for all the records used by tht
 county. The expenses of the last September
 election. amounting to S425, and of having
 insane patients examined and cared for amounting to SS0, and some other smaller amounts for necessary expenses, are included in this last item of Other Legal Expenses FINANCIAL CONDITION OF THE COUNTY
 1t gives great pleasure and satisfaction to report to you that the financial condition , of our county is now better than it has been
 for the past 25 years, notwithstanding the heavy drains that have been made upon ouI
 funds by circuit court expenses and expenses
 of criminal prosecutions. For detailed state
 ment of the finances of the county refer you to the report of efficient county clerk, J. II. Bailey, but l will give you few figures
 in this report, in order that you may know
 in q general way the condition of our finances.
 When entered upon the duties of county
 judge, little less than three years ago, the
 indebtedness of Faulkner county was S42,
 45 and at present the indebtedness of the county is only S2S, 1 53 59, showing reduction
 of our public debt during the time l have
 served you of S14,05S.S6, according to the
 statement of the county clerk. l am very
 thankful that 1 have been able to reduce the county indebtedness to this extent, and still
 more thankful that it has been done without curtailing the work of public improvement, or by any increase in taxation. l have tried very hard to manage your finances in care ful way, and 1 believe that with continued economy in the management of the county s 1 finances we can soon place Faulkner county on cash bass-and this is what we should strive to do soon as possible, keeping Tn mind the fact, however that the people de-
 mand and have right to demand that the work of public improvements be kept up.
 BRIDGES.
 | I have devoted considerable part of my | time since. 1 have been serving the people as county judge to efforts to furnish the county with good system of bridges In my last re- port to you made in October, 1908, l reported 1 that 1 had built for the county nine wooden bridges at various places in the county and also that l -ad let the contract for hVe me steel bridges to be built across some of our | larger streams at different places in the county. This contract for these five steel bridges has been the subject of so much com ment throughout the county for the past year that feel it is my duty to tell you as repre- sentatves of the people exactly what have done about this matter and the difficulties that i have had in trying to get these bridges built. In the first place. when l let the contract for these bridges l felt that this work abso- lutely necessary. All of these bridges were badly needed. and in some instances the wood- en br dges that were in use were actually be- coming dangerous. Our experience with wooden bridges in the past had proved beyond any doubt that wooden bridges were vastly more expensive than steel bridges-so much had this been the that there was q de- mard all over the county that no more wooden bridges of any great size be built So ln- Nestigated the matter carefully and made a contract to have these five bridges built by the Morava Construction Company at price that 1 know saved the people of the county
  a written contract with these people. and had understood that it reliable com pany, confidently expected that these bridges would be built by them. After waiting req sonable time for the Morava company to begin work I began to insist that they commence on the bridges, finally threatening them with a damage suit if they did not comply with the contract. But they refused to carry out the contract. and the only explanation of it that they gave that some in Conway had written them that county scrip of this | t,t,t.r ,t-DG m and that they couldn't afford to go ahead with tLe work l do not know whether anyone at Conway did write them to this effect but l do lnoW that l have been st1enuouSly opposed in all of my efforts to get steel bridges for the county by some of those who own large amounts of county scrip But of course 1t Was not true that county scrip worth enly 5l cents. as it was being sold at that l cry time by the scrip dealers here at Con- way for all the way from sc to go cents At any rate. however, the Morava Construction | Company did not carry out it's contract. but | | continued to try to force them to do so, and at last after many months of pressure on | them they succeeded in getting the Joliet 1 Bridge Company, responsible concern, to l build the bridges under the same contract, for | them, and l succeeded in getting bond with ample suretes that they would carry out this | contract and build these five steel bridges for ! the county under the same contract which made with the Morava Construction Company ; | in other words. they would build the bridges 1 for the Morava Construction Company and under the same contract As an evidence of their good faith in the matter the Joliet l Bridge Company has already completed the | largest bridge of the five, and the most eX- pensve. and there is no doubt that the re- mainder of them will be built in the near fu- ture. In fact on last Saturday received a | letter from them stating that they had loaded on the parts for some of the other bridges and would be ready to begin on them as soon as the railroads could get the material here | feel that this is not the proper place to criticise anyone but l do feel that some of those who have opposed me in my desire to furnish the people with suitable bridges have | used unfair methods in trying to hamper and | hinder the work. and l think that 1t is but
 right that you and the people of the county generally should know the reason for the de- l lay in these bridges.
 1 also let the contract to the Joliet Bridge ! Company for four more steel bridges. which were badly needed, and which will cost s4,- 500 iu all. The company is under contract
 to build all these bridges soon material can be gotten here, and expect to have them
 all completed within the next few months. So that during my administration l have let
 the contract for the building of nine steel
 bridges. and these bridges located at the
 following places and of following length:
 Across East Caron. at Kings bridge, 34O
 Across North Cadron. at Hardwick's mill,
 Across East Cadron. above White Oak Ford,
 lS0 feet long.
 Across Palarm Creek, at Rodens mill, hO
 feet long.
 Across Beaver Fork Creek, Conway road,
 36 feet long. ,
 Quitman road, 90 feet long.
 Across Palarm Creek, on Conway and Beebe
 road, so feet long.
 Across Caney Creek, Jacksonville road
 80 feet long.
 Across Palarm Creek, Jacksonville road
 Sl feet long.
 And the entire cost of the above nine stee
 bridges will be only 1920, except flooring
 and hauling. feel sure that this is very
 low price for these bridges, and that the build ip,, pT tbap1 NVil he D Ur ing to the county.
 When l assumed the office of county judge | | told the people of the county that l woulC build steel bridges for them where they were needed. and l want to you that these
 bridges will be built, in spite of the opposition of those who are objectlng to the building of them for selfish reasons and in this work feel that 1 should have the support of every ) patriotic and public-spirted citizen in tho county.
 PUBLIC ROADS.
 l It is very gratifying to me to report tha there has been more improvement in roads ? during the past year than there has ever beer , in the history of the county. I attribute thi' [ to the fact that have now 10 road grad CTS for use throughout the county, and the } oveIseers throughout the county have gener ally been doing splendid work. believe that | as the overseers become more familiar witt the use of these graders the improvement wil be still greater. As you know. the overseers are now elected by each township, and ar,