The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1912-11-16
EXCESSIVE COST
OF STATE ROADS
Cecil County Hit Hard Will She Stand
For 1t

The WHIG Is In receipt of report OF
subcommittee of the old Crothers-
Tucker Good Roads Commission, cover
ing the operations OF the commission
from fSas to January /, 1912. The report
has been prepared by former engineer
Crosby and Messrs S. NJ. Shoemaker, w.
B. Clark and c. B Lloyd, of the oil mi
mission The WHIG will have other and
further comment to offer on this report
and other phases of the Good Roads worf
in this State. At this time 1t Is worth
while to note what the report calls the
excessive cost of the State roads built
under the Crothers Tucker Commission"
which excessive cost was due large1y tthe
report states) to the interference with
the work OF the Engineers department
by the then chairman of the Commission,
John NJ Tucker, and the want of organi-
zation and system in Chairman fuckers
attempt to administer the details of !sucn
large operations.
That inefnciency and excessive cost
has resulted can easily be seem. The in
efficiency is shown in one way at least
by the inordinate amount of time 1t has
taken to complete relatively small sec
tions of road improvements
MIR. Crosby mentions number of COM
paratively small pieces of road which
took from 16 months to three years TO
complete, and he adds:
"As at least the amount of overhead
expense chargeable to a particular road
is largely dependent upon the time occu.
ped by its construction, it naturally fol-
lows that if this time be excessive such
charges will also be in that case.
Further evidence of the excessive cost
of your work is seen in the amounts paid
by you to your contractors to compen-
safe the latter for losses sustained by
them for interference permitted by your
board to their work, such as lack of ne
cessary rights of way, delays by your
chairman in issuance of instructions or
in his decisions on questions raised. Such
compensatory payments have frequently
had to be made ana aggregate to date an
appreciable sum 100000, with every pros
pect of this sum being multiplied several
times before the work now under way
shall be finally settled for"
CECIL ESPECIALLY INTERESTED.
The report especially interests the peo-
tabulated figures to show that the State
road work, done in Cecil county, directly
under the charge of Chairman Tucker, and
without the supervision of the State
Road Engineer, was most excessive. In
Cecil the roads were built under what is
called the extraordinary force account
and the average cost per mile was
s15.s7s.
This extraordinary force account and
the consequent excessive expenditure for
roads in this county, WILL RAISE CUES
TIONS WHICH THE TAXPAYERS OF
CECIL WILL NOT ONLY ASK, BUT
WHICH THEY WILL, DOUBTLESS IN
sIST MUST BE ANSWERED.
The present Road Commission CON
tends that good deal more than Cecil's
share of the old five million dollar road
fund was spent in this county by the
Crothers Tucker Commission. The peo.
10 % -
of the Commission whether or not this
la so, and If SO, HOW MUCH WAS
SPENT IN THIS COUNTY, AND FOR
WHAT SPENT. 1t looks as if there
would be some citizenship in this county
stout hearted and aggressive enough, te
hang to this business until it is posi-.
lively learned whether or not the peo.
pies rights have been abused, and if SO
10 what extent, and whether or not there
is any possibility of the rights of the
people of Cecil county being recovered
For some months the WHIG has beer
insisting that the present Road Commits
sion shall give US a statement of exactly
what il coming to this county out of the
present road fund. We are entitled t.
our pro rata share, as a county, of the
amount appropriated by the last Legis
lature. We do not believe it ever shoult
have been appropriated. But being ap
propriated the people of Cecf count,
do not propose to be deprived of tn,
share thereof which is properly theirs
The present Road Commission contend
that much of Cecils share of this las
appropriation must be used TO pay OF
the amounts overspent In this county b,
the Crothers Tucker Commission, out o
the last appropriation. How much? W.
want to know. WE ARE GOING TT
KNOW. The Crothers- Tucker Commits
sion treated this county shamefully. TIL
present Commission doesn't seem t
know that Cecil is on the map The
have done absolutely nothing for thi
county this entire year. When the edi