The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1911-01-03

situation. but no steTs were taken to
correct IL. In APPOINTING the nav
1hief engineer last May, the only of
ecer the governor names, vas care
frl 10 secure the Qualities required to
blaze the way for the reforms SO
badly needed. Under my direction
he promptly set to work and soon
fled with the board official reports
;n.ch are embodied in his annual re-
port recently filed. They showed
with srecifc detail how these funSs
are wasted and worse, and recon-
mended reductions in emf ioyes and
other econo----. Of the simplest char
acter which would effect an immedl-
ate saving of S30575 per year, not
counting what Is lost through various
forms of graft and lccseness of all
kinds in administration.
No attention whatever was paid by
the board to these recommendations
In the interest of economy. The specl-
fcaticns Of use of public property for
private profit, grating, etc., became
the subject of an invest t'gation by the
attorney general of which no rerort
! has yet been made. But, whatever
the technical legal asrect of these
matters may be said to be, abundant
facts have been proved and confessed
to justify the engineers report and
require close scrutiny of the entire
department as well as its thorough
reorganization.
The rerorts and records Of the
board do net show, as they should,
summaries of the details given, but
| have secured them by inderendent
expert examination of my own and
give them for your information.
Cr mary receip's 191O...... .s11S151 so
| Or mary expenditures 19t0... 1880 %
Dehcit ..s................S 396BS 73
This deficit was mostly made up
from land sales, which that year
amounted to sS5,e555O
The amount so spent W mt for the
following purroses:
saares OF officers and fore
men ..............,....$ 5S,4lO 07
Expenses OF officers and fore
men ...,4........,...... 1850 30
Tot'l s7lnri-s and expenses.s 7i76i %
! Wa es of l7borers ............ 4S47S 81
MATERIAL, etc. ................. 325T7 02
Total ....................... .S152.S20 %
These figures speak for themselves.
The entire amount Of tolls received
during the year was only $2,551.92.
| The remainder Of the receipts were
| almost entirely for use of water and
land rentals payable at long fixed in
| tervals, which could be readily col
lected by mailing bills from the Of
fee. Yet 12 collectors are paid an.
nual salaries and expenses. So are
40 lock tenders, though very few
locks are in use.
In numerous cases foremen at year
! ly salaries ranging from $50 to S65
per month had one, two or three men
under them and sometimes none at
all, and collectors salaries and ex-
| penses came to more than their col
lections. Some OF these men have SO
little to do that they take outside
| employment.
$19,74716 was paid out on checks
of the president of the board. The
remainder. S133.074.O7, was paid to
the six superintendents on their
requisitions and by them disbursed.
Agents who contract debts should not
| be the ones to pay them. Such sys-
TEN would not be tolerated in any
private business. And almost every
employe appears to be given the
right to buy, wherever he pleases,
whatever he thinks is needed, and
send the bill to the superintendent
G. G. 43O should be repealed or
amended and all purchases and pay
ments be made as in other cases.
call special attention to the re-
ports Of the chief engineer for details
which must be omitted here. con-
cur in all his recommendations
Canal improvements.
The question remains what shall
be done with the partly completed
work of rebuilding the locks and
dams, dredging, etc. so as to make
the canals available as waterways
In my inaugural address | stated
my belief in the great value and pos
sibilities for usefulness of our canals,
but | also expressed doubt which
shared with many others:
So plan is In execution for rebuilding
locks and other structures along our ca
nails But the traffic we hope soon to
carry between lake and river will, require
largei boats, and II may be well to re-
consider the question whether 1t Is wise
to go on rebuilding on the old dimen-
sions, AZ the plan provides.
However just this doubt may have
been, II is now too late to consider
1t. The plan was adopted in 1904.
Yearly appropriations have been
made and spent in executing it. until
we have now invested $l,637 ,279 The
work is substantially completed, ex-
cept the dredging, from Toledo to
Defiance. Dayton to cincinnati and
Cleveland to Dresden. Good business
policy requires that the undertaking
commenced on these divisions be
completed. Certainly what has been
spent Will otherwise be wasted, and