The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1911-05-03
FACTS VS.. FANCIES.
Hartford Times \

| A long letter to the Hartford Cou-
/ rant, printed this morning, might
nave been written in Mr.. MacDonald's
/ once but it is signed: "A Republican
Member of the General Assembly" 1t
Is intended for defense of the high
way commissioner against any and all
complaints-eXcept one. This one is
that he has made "a serious mistake
| IN his policy of silence under attack"
As to this it should be remembered
| that Mr.. Macdonald himself has made
| that phrase very familiar, and that
it is grossly misused No one seems
| TO have any personal objection to Mr.
| Macdonald; many people object to the
administration of his Office and say so,
and give reasons for it. There may
| be a number of things to say later, re-
garding this communication of "a Re-
! publican member of the general as
| sembly," but at present we wish to
speak Of his remarks about the gov
ernor Of the state. Their animus sug-
gests an explanation of some other
| things in the letter.
| Indeed, if the truth must be said,
| the governor himself has played poll
| tics, and done it very obviously and
cleverly, in his handling of this ap-
| pointment and others. With an ap-
pearance of n-partisanship, the re-
| appointment of Bank Commissioner
Lippitt, a Republican, appeared al
| placement Of Macdonald. Then, af-
ter the Senate had refused to con-
| firm Mr.. CALDWELL, the, Democratic ap-
| pointee, to the highway commission
ership, he Immediately sends In the
name Of Mr.. Terry, Republican for
| the same office.
( The words are the words of a man
who either cannot understand honest
| interest in the public service, apart
from politics, or deliberately seeks to
create a false impression. He con-
| tinues in the same vein when he says
| that the governor with somewhat os-
| tentatious iteration has laid down the
| principle that the affairs of the state
| should be run like the affairs of
| big corporation. Unquestionably the
governor has insisted on that principle
and we pass by the slur at the manner
] in which it was done. Then this Ere
publican member Of, the legislature"
asks triumphantly:
Does His Excellency know of any
corporation in the world did he ever
hear Of any corporation anywhere,
| that would dream of turning over an
enormous enterprise. involving the ex-
penditure> of millions of dollars. when
half done, to a man with absolutely
| no experience in its administration?
OF course, nothing like this has oc-
CURED. If a great corporation had
| put in charge Of its construction work
d man WHO ulu uOC SIlOW OrSdHlZ1AS
ability it would soon find out that the
outlay was too large for the result.
| 1t would seek a better organizer and
know that the sooner the leak was
stopped, the better off it would be. It
would get a man familiar with the
kind of work he had to do, but it
would look first for a practical man
of proved efficiency in getting work
done promptly and according to con-
tract. It would prefer a man with
sound technical training, other things
being equal, but there are executive
departments in which formal techni-
cal training is not the first considera-
ton Mr. Macdonald himself, if we
are correctly informed was a land
scape gardener until he became high
way commissioner. None the less his
opinions about methods and materials
may be sound and useful. The COM
plant made is that he does not pro-
duce results economically. The work
of the office is not merely telling how
roads should be built. It includes
seeing that they are built promptly
and efficiently and that once built
they are kept in good condition. AS
to this, the present commissioner can
hardly be called success by his most
enthusiastic admirers.
This suggests one absurd misstate-
ment in the letter from which we
have quoted. Unless we are mistaken
it has been made in comparatively
recent times in nearly the same terms
by the commissioner himself. The
letter says:
| 1t has been the policy of the state
to build the roads and leave their care
to the towns. For only one
season has the commissioner had eth
er the power or the funds to under
take the work.
AS a. matter of fact the repairs were
were at first left to the towns. But
six years ago in 1905, the legislature
directed that if any town neglected to
keep state road in repair to the
acceptance of the highway commits
sioner he should after one months
notice make the repairs and collect
the cost from the town. The comp
troller was authorized to pay such
sums as the commissioner might re-
quire pending the collection from the
town, and the law added: "All mon
ey received from the several towns of
the state from this source shall re-
main as an emergency fund for the
use of the commissioner in compelling
repairs"
That was six years ago. The next
legislature, 1907, went farther. 1t eX-
plicitly required that state roads built
before or after the new act went into
effect "shall'' be kept in proper repair
by the highway commissioner That
law was approved August 1, 1907, and
it's ninth section provided :, that it
should take effect from it's passage.
That was four years ago the 1st of
next August The law of 1909 chang
ed some details. but that was all as
far as this matter of repairing is con-
cerned.
This is not the only instance of
doubtless unconscious nisinterpreta-
ton of facts by the commissioner or
some of his friends. Enthusiasm about
hIi1dincr 6nnC M Q1yyaUC on hand
in hand with understanding of the
law, Or sound business economy.
FOTjEY,S KIDNEY REMEDY