Valdez daily prospector., 1912-06-18
COL. w. P. RICHARDSON
 ADDRESSES CITY COUNCIL
CUntinued from page 1 .

ing quotation, page iG of said letter (stating an amount which embraces expenditures not made by ilir road cOmmission)
 "Mr. Secretary, the S2,25S,- OS6.9G devoted to the building of wagon roads, bridges and trails in Alaska has been wasted, en- h"zzl"d, and taken by two big mercantile companies unfairly and without reasonable value. Majar Richardson has not en- brzslrd any of it. He is not dis honest in the money sense, but he is exceedingly incompetent. He has no money sense.' He blindly trusts two big mercantile firm there ta manage this read fund for him, and they have es- tabliShed a system which has on ly "nr result--inculnpetency, waste, failure in the management of the road work, and profit to thcmSelNeS. The system leads to 'Sraftfng' such as that indulged ia hy Lieut.. Orchard, the Secrc- sary l"f the Board of Road Com nlE%sDnerS, while Alaska is charged with s2,25S,O .96, and ihns nothing permanent or satis-
 farsory io show for it."
 And by tiae fm,tRIcr allegation |:ahlOng others, that the clause .oi ithc law reaating to petition .b, 'fhle people has been "whOlly Heg- eected, and sholtt but costly r9ads have been bliil to favor somt particular friend," and still fur. ther that 'fLignt: Col. Richard.
 son has spent his winters: ir
 Washington .lokbying for increas ed appropriations and for the 'bie
 interests 'oemered around the terminals eff Itaae Valdez Gerdova. FairbamkS .p0ad," while She em.
 ployes "f i6he commission built
 wagon neaHs by sitting around hot Sd'SNes in Valdez.
 The entiRe letter, more than 2( pages m length, is of similar tone and anpOrt. In support of thes: allegations there accompanied
 his letter a mass of affidavits anC
 statements relating to the con- duct of the eOurt-martiaI at Val dez Hast fall, together with cer- tain Ietters from persons form eriy an the employ of ihe road conasaission, who apparently have some complaint again6t it, or persons who 1Or reasons unknown to me have a grievance to air,
 Probably It8ie most remarkable aggregation of mis-stafements embraced in ahis set of exhibits was contained in cOmn1unica- ti0n addressed lO one Clifford Plnchot, apparently by reguest of the latler, whr, evidently, from this letter and from other facts known tO me, has constituted himself an investigator of the road commission, using only such evidence as would tend tO dis credit it, wiIlfully refusing other facts, apparently with the pur- pose, by this means, of further promoting the interests and de- veleopment of Alaska" with which he has SO coDspicuously himself in recent years.
 My reply Co the delegates let ter has been filed with the Sec retary of War and the truth or falsity of his allegations will be duly determined by that depart ment, and my reason for submit ting the above to you is that Il find that his letter has been ex- and circulated where the road commission work is less well known and with @ purpose too manifest to need comment; and that your body Is famil- | ar with the general character and extent of the work performed by Inc commission in the field, cs- 'ecially on the Valdez Fairbanks wagon road; and knowing thatl 'Ou are aware alao of n,,, o1fo,Io |