Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1910-03-01
COMMISSIONERS
 GIVE ANSWERS Judge Gould's Questions as to Paving District No. 26 Are Answered in Full. THE BOOKS ARE OPEN At All Times-DetaiIs of Work Ex- plained and Judge Gould is
 Queried Some.
THE BOOKS ARE OPEN
To the Public:

To the Public
 In recent issue of the Pine Bluff papers appeared an article addressed to the commissioners of Paving Dis trict No. 26, in which it was asserted that many tax payers, whether of the city or county does not appear, were anxious to know what has been done in said district. This article was signed James Gould, County Judge" and appended thereto was a list of questions which the Board of Im- provement were asked to answer.
 We do not deem it due Judge Gould ,}iat we answer his in luiries. Judge Gould had never at any time made in- quiries of any member of the Board of Improvement or manifested the least disposition to acquaint himself with the facts which he now appar- ently so much desires to know Nor did he do the board the courtesy of ad- vising them of his intention to pub fish an article containing inquiries which at least bore the imputation that all had not gone we'll in the district It is true that he mailed to the secre- tary of the board after he had given to the public press of this city, the list of inquiries, but this was evil dently to preserve the mere form of courtesy and not the spirit of it.. Judge Gould states that he has the fullest confidence in the integrity and ability of the board, but that the public is interested in knowing what is going on. He gives this as his ex cuse for thus publicly catechising the Board of Improvement of this dis trict; that the county had advanced nearly $20,000 to assist in the work
 For the benefit of any tax paye"s whose ignorane of the transactions connected with this district is less ili-excusable than that of the county judge, we take pleasure in stating that the records of this district are open for inspection at any and ali reasonable hours of the day, and have been held open since the organization cs the district, some eight or ten months ago. The commissioners have never learned any reasons for this apparently disinterested interest ct the county judge, nor that there vas anything connected with this district which was demanding the probe Of public investigation. But for the benefit of any person really interest. ed and who has not had the oppor- tunity to inquire of the members of the board we state:
 lst-We are going to put down cr.csoted wood blocks.
 2nd.-The cost per square yard (not cubic yard) is $2.20.
 3rd.-The contract is let and at the above price.
 4th.-We did advertise for bids in Municipal Journal (New York; and in the Pine Bluff papers.
 5th-Bids were opened before the bidders.
 6th.-The city engineer recommend ed this grade of pavement.
 
 7th.-The Board of Improvement examined pavements in Hot Springs, in Birmingham and in Chicago. with out cent of cost to the district.
 Sth.-Answered above.
 9th.-The city engineer took two different trips in examining pave ments in other cities (Hot Springs and Chicago) without a cent of cost to the district. The examination by the Board and the city engineer were not confined to any one character of paving, but to all paving in the above named cities.
 10th.-Contract is let for cash.
 11th.-Bonds are sold at 95, bear ing interest of , 1-2 per cent, run ming from one to 15 years. No addi- tional cost to the district for attor- neys' fees or for printing, a saving of about $500.
 12th.-Sold to Mercantile Trust
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