The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1912-01-25

l have had considerable cOiIes-
pondence with the attorney general
and with his special counsel, Hon. N.
J. Lee. concerning the new drag law.
have been asked great many ques-
tons about the law, and / have in
return written the attorney general
several times, asking various ques-
tions that l believed would natural
, " come up and where there was any
question in my mind, or where l felt
there might be a question in the
minds of the trustees, l have asked
the questions of the attorney general
and received his decision on the
same.
Before l begin this statement,
however, I want to say that in look
ing over this law carefully, I believe
that it is the best of the kind ever
passed. In most every way l believe
it is. practical, but common sense Will
need to be used in carrying out the
provisions. l believe the time has
come when all the public officials,
supervisors and trustees, in the
main, are satisfied to give the public
the worth of it's money collected for
road purposes. There are exceptions
to this rule, but / believe as gen.
eral proposition that the trustees
and supervisors elected, mean to give
good service. l believe they mean
to be honest and fair with their
neighbors. ! know, and so do you,
that oft times these men neglect
their duties, sometimes on account
of other pressing business and some
times because they do not seem to
care. However, the good roads
proposition is improving year by
wear and l believe Wapello county
will improve over the work OF the
past wear in some of the townships
during the past season, we have had
splendid work done. 1t does nc
special good to anyone to roast the
supervisors or trustees. We should
encourage them to do their duty. II
they absolutely fail to do their duty,
instead of continually roasting them,
we should simply say, and it is only
fair. "either do your duty as the
law directs, or resign" Do not &C
cent these positions unless you ex-
pect to give them some attention.
7 am in hopes that every board or
trustees in Wapello county at least
will comply with this law and If they
cess, it will be a success. IT they be-
gin finding fault at the start by say
ing that it cannot be carried out,
they can make it failure; but 1t is
to the interest of every resident OF
Wapello county that this law be
carried out, and l believe it Will
The following questions have been
taken up and answered to my salts
faction and I give them to you here
with and will be glad to make any of
them more full, if it seems necessary.
Q-Are road drags to be furnish
ed by the townships?
Ayes.
Q.-What fund must be used in
paying for these drags?
A.-These drags are to be paid
for out of the township road fund
and no part Of the dragging fund
created by the one mill levy may be
used for this or any other purpose,
except dragging.
On event the one mill levy is
not sufficient to keep the roads
dragged as contracted for, can other
township funds be used?
Ayes. When the dragging fund
is exhausted, the trustees may uBe
other township funds for this pur-
pose.
Q.-May the salary and expenses
of the superintendent of dragging be
paid out of the township road fund?
Ayes. There is no objection to
the trustees paying the superintend-
.ent's salary out of the regular town.
ship road fund.
Q.-April I being often too late
to start dragging the roads, l would
ask if the trustees could not make
their contracts with the superintend-
,ents earlier in the year?
A.-The TGirty-fourth General
Assembly in an act passed three days
after the enactment of the new road
drag law, provided that the town.
ship trustees shall meet on the first
Monday in February and at that
meeting shall elect superintendent
of dragging.
+ Q.-Since the superintendent of
dragging is to be elected on the first
Monday in February, when should
dragging contracts with individuals
for the various parts of the roads be
made?
A.-The contracts with individuals
for parts of the roads to be dragged,
should be made by the superintend-
ent of dragging during the winter
before the roads are ready to be
dragged and have all arrangements
completed early.
a.. Q.-Does this act apply to cities
and towns?
FL Ayes. Section of the act
makes it the duty of the city or town
council to cause the main Travelled
road within the corporate limits lead
ing into the city, to be dragged and
that so far as possible, the provi-
sions of this act shall apply. -..-,. j
Q.-1n event the superintendent
of dragging makes contracts with q
great many persons for short
stretches Of road, would the town
ship be under obligations to furnish
all drags?
A. The law makes 1t mandatory
that trustees should furnish drags,
!. simply so there might be no excuse
for the road not being dragged.