Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-03-20
1NE ACTION FOR HIGHWAYS
Long Continued Agitation Certain to
Bear Fruit.
ANT STATE HIGHWAY HEAD
State Engineer to Be in Charge Of
General Work.
OBJECTION TO AID FROM PUBLIC
number OF Wcuibcrs Declare Plan to
Appropriate GcnernI Funds for
Any Coupty u Not Wise
Move.

From staff Correspondent
LINCOLN. March Do - 6SpeciaLN-'rha
Eood roads legislation ,-hlch the nrrseut
session Of The legislature has been pre-
parinC 10 enact Tor several weeks viii
probably be disposed Of Monday sfterroo-.
The five bills drawn up by the special
jo.nt committee or roads and bridges
VIII en- was made un Of bo.h senator's and
repre- sentsiives. have been uaic a special
order for the day and viii be taken up IN
committee OF the whole
The bills. n. r. 80. 65o S,l 672 and see.
embody several different systems OF road
overseeing and q is not rrobaulc thst an
Of them viii be- pa .sed. Toe provisions ~
an the others depend 90 some extent upon
tthe enactment OF a.. r. ca. which cstah-
fishes a state highway commission. This
commission Is 20 have the engineer q the
STATE board of Irrigation os its engineer
and the members SHAH h. the govcrnor Tho
attorney general and the commissioner Of
public lands ana buildings. Three deputy
highway comm ssioners arc 10 do the cS-
ecutive work Of the commission.
what Hills Provide.
( The other bills include a state aid meas
ure a bill to provide FOR the collection Of
: county road fund one to allow the COM
mutation Of the road labor tax at s. p
day and one TO provide for county road
commissioner and deputy
The state aid bin is the one upon which
a fight will probably be made. The ex-
pense Of giving help out Of the state treas
ury TO different counties which may need
extra funds to develop their roads would
amount to about $4,000 a year. The bill
as drawn. gives the county board OF each
county the power 10 send resolutions to the
aal-T Ha
. improvement of any session Of road in
its county outside Of an incorporated
village Of city. II the state board ap-
prove the county board sends in q survey
Of the road and plans and specifications
Of the Improvements The road improye-
ment district + nad- np then by the
county board and as lands abusing vspon
the adjacent to the new road are embraced
in the district. The owners OF these lands
are charged with l5 per cent OF the cost OF
the Improvement = protest from 20 per
cent Of these property owners will hold
up the improvement indefinitely
After the improvement IL made the state
pays one-half Of the bill. The other half
is paid by the county. which may issue
bonds, assess benefits and make a spe-
cial assessment OF IS per cent upon prop
erty owners within the Improvement dis
trict-
The joint committee submitted this bill
, with the hope that Il would pass. but sew
eral members Of the committee are in
doubt as to It's feasibility and is ex-
pected TO deyeiope a fisht at least
BerIinEhoff RepIies.
George a Berlinghoff. state architect.
whose competency has been seriously at
, mittee on asylum and senate commit
tee on public lands and buildings has
made his reply in a letter published to-
day. He states what ne considers the
d real reason for the sppsrant mistakes for
which he is blamed and charges the whole
= trouble TO a conspiracy in which he in
p wolves three legislators and three Omaha
/ architects. He says:
AS near as he can learn the conspirators
S began open work at a meeting held in
T. Omaha the Sunday following the visit OF
70 the senate committee 10 Norfolk, among
y the persons present being a senator. Two
s members Of the house and three architects
s OF Omaha and Il was there planned and
y decided TO attack the writer by having a
resolution introduced condemning the WORK
e al Norfolk. This resolution was ne under.
e stood written by one Of the architects;
g at least this architect MADE this statement
n in Lincoln. and il is a we'll known fact
s that two Of these architects are candidates
h for the state work.
- a resolution was introduced in ths
senate. and II was there eecided to hold
an investigation. fact which accorded
well with the writer's wishes as he had
repeatedly asked his attorneys 70. II posi-.
BILE secure this Investigation, but thsy
have failed, and Il is now come 70 ths
place where he must, in justice 70 himself
demand and insist that Il be made
He was Informed that one Of the sen
ators made the statement that this In