Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1911-03-31
Senator Lees Reply To The BaIti.
more News.

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issue of The News entitled 1.-THE Counties
and the Good Roads Fund.-" mentioned
Montgomery and Worcester counties. and
indicates that in securing the aid of the
counties to do State road work the State
commission gives up its supervision and
opens the door for graft On the contrary,
both the State and the statute and the
methods adopted by the State Commission
hereunder preserve to the Commission the
power and duty to closely supervise all ex-
penditures of funds and, in practice, such
supervision is rigid and thorough even to
the minutest details of expense.
The facts adduced before the committees
OF the last Legislature convinced the Gov
ernor and majority of the members that
changes of methods were possible that
might produce beneficial results in State
road making. These changes were au-
thorized by the road laws and put in oper-
alton in several counties experimentally.
Speaking for Montgomery county, the re-
suit has been so satisfactory that the State
Commission on the motion of DR.. Remson
after report by Mr.. Crosby, Chief Engineer,
authorized the further application of this
method for the coming summer. These
methods have been in operation there
sufficiently to be no LONGER experimental.
"A competent engineer or superinten-
dent has been employed by the county,
subject to approval of the State Commits
sion, who gives this work close supervision.
The county helps out by paying this en-
glneer The State inspection and reports
on expenditures, labor and material are
independent of the county officials, and are
the same and as strict as in any other
place.
Where contractors are employed they
1 AsAGU To -
stone by weight and moving earth by the
cubic yard. They are responsible only for
doing definite thing. The engineer is
responsible for the result of the work and
the economy of the same. There can be
no shifting of blame from the engineer to
the contractor or from the contractor to
the engineer. When the contractors part
in the work is done he gets his money
promptly. This feature of limited respon-
sibllity makes the contractors bid lower
| as he does not have to make allowance
for possibly doing the same work twice.
| According to the report of the Chief En-
gineer, the result of the work on one sec
ton of road in this county last summer
was a saving of $1,000 when compared
with the State Engineers estimates more
| over, the macadam was put down one
inch thicker than the State specifications
called for, The local engineer has num-
Der of advantages over an engineer NOV
ing on circuit and who can visit the
work going on in several sections of each
county only at irregular intervals.
The local engineer has the benefit of
all the surveys and estimates of the State
Engineer. The local man always being
present can start quarry work in winter
and operate stone crushers, whereby to
save the heavy freight bills and other ex-
penses of imported stone. The cost of
freight has been one-fifth Of the cost of roads
formerly made in Montgomery county with
stone brought into the county by rail In
contrast with this most of the local stone,
being form OF trap rock. has shown bet
ter qualities for road making and should
last several times longer than the imported
stone.
I'm addition TO freight saved and con-
tractors charges reduced there is further
saving in hauling when stone can be got
ten from alongside of road rather than
to haul 1t several miles from railway
station. In fact, after getting several miles
away from station, railroad stone be-
comes so costly as to almost prohibit solid
construction at reasonable cost, as we have
no gravel or oyster shells to substitute for
stone.
ditions and opportunities to interest local
land owners in economical construction of
these roads, the Road Superintendent and
those citizens cooperating with him. have |
been able to procure donations of thousands |
OF tons of stone by property holders along
projected roads. the State fund of course,
being used in quarrying, crushing and haul |
ing the stone.
LAS a practical Illustration take the
work on three and One-half miles south of
kensingtOn. in Montgomery county ac-
cepted last summer. being the last work
given out where a contractor did all the
work and also was held responsible for |
the stability of the road, and compare il |
with five miles of road now being built |
under the County Commissioners southwest |
of Gaithersburg, known as the Jamestown |
section. The kensingtOn section was con-
trOled by contractor from New Jersey |
who hired Italian labor and used a soft |
limestone from West Virginia.
THE contractors profits went back to |
New Jersey, the wages paid largely went |
out of the State and there was a loss of |
about One-fifth in freight for temporary
sort of stone. On the Jamestown road,
three miles Of which are finished. more
than half of the stone was donated, the
crushing and other work was nearly all
done by local labor and the quarres have
been operated economically during the
winter. Local trap rock took the place of
soft limestone. Nearly all Of the money
spent. including that for machinery bought,
quickly returned to Maryland channels of
trade that lead directly to Baltimore city.
The experience in road building gained by
the citizens of the county and State who
have done the work makes them available
for further and better work both of con-
struction and maintenance and is a valu-
able asset added to the wealth of the State.
IF The News would investigate these
two roads and the commercial effect Of the
two methods followed, a very valuable
lesson would be learned. and OF considera-
BILE advantage to the trade Of Baltimore
city and very fully justifying the action of
Chairman Tucker and the other members
Of the State Commission in their effort to
follow the statute and add to the State
supervision Of expenditures the local pride
and interest Of the counties and the people
who will primarily use and be benefited
by the roads under construction"
Enlightened by the clear explanation
made above by Senator Lee the following
editorial appeared in the News the succeed
ing Friday practically acknowledging its
unpreparedness to discuss the subject of
County Commissioners in the several coun-
ties Of the State building State roads under
the supervision Of the State Commission:
Senator Blair Lees letter printed in
yesterdays News explaining the good work
done in Montgomery county on roads built
by the County Commissioners under the
supervision Of the State Commission, the
amount Of money saved and the valuable
local experience gained made out a good
case for the plan that has been followed
there.
"0f course, we are all in favor Of getting
the best roads to be had and at as small
an outlay as good judgment and real econo-
my permit If all the counties were as
deeply interested in the good-roads move