The Oakes times. [volume] (Oakes, N.D.) 1906-current, 1912-05-09
GOOD ROADS LAW,
What State Engineer Atkinson Thinks
of the New Law.

puOllSneQ IN Lne IraHQ FORKS DAILY
Times:
Your issue of April S contained local
article referring to the county highway
superintendent system with the head
lines as follows: "Claim Supervision by
Counties is Not Good" "Road Work
Under Direction of Single Superinten-
dent Frowned Upon" This article
stated that the Grand Forks county
commissioners had decided not to ap-
point county superintendent of high
ways and were influenced in their de-
cision from the results obtained by the
five counties that adopted the system
last year, their understanding being
that the system had not proved, in
these five counties, to be any improve
ment over the old system. This arti-
Gle was widely copied by the state
press and as believe it to have Great
ed wrong impression regarding the
system, am taking the liberty to ask
you to publish this letter. The facts
contained herein are being given only
after full investigation.
First. Every county superintendent
of highways who was appointed last
year has either been reappointed or is
holding over. The law provides as fol-
lows: ''The board of county commiss-
toner's may at it's first regular meeting
after April 1, 1911. and biennially there
after at it's first regular meeting after
January l, appoint competent engi-
neer or practical road builder who may
or may not be the present county sur
veyor, who shall be known as the
county superintendent of highways,
and whose compensation shall be fixed
by the county board. He shall hold
office for two years or until his sue
cessor is appointed and qualified
If the counties in which county su-
perintendents of highways were ap-
pointed last year were not we'll salts
fled that this system of doing road
work was better than the old method
it is reasonable to suppose that the
system would be dropped.
Second. Every report that 1 have
been able to obtain from these counties
shows that the system has already
proven itself to be far better than the
old.
Mr.. Plomasen, county superintendent
of highways ,ns Billings county, state.
that out of population of 1900 he
knows only one man who is opposed t.
the system.
The superintendent who were ap
pointed last season are as follows:
Billings county, Thor. G.. Plomasen
Beach.
Burleigh county, John Ecklund, Will
ton.
Griggs county, Martin A. Ueland
Cooperstown.
Dickey county, Sol Hunter, Cakes
Stark county, w. R. Veigel, Dickin'
son.
In Billings, Griggs and Stark coun.
ties the appointees are the county sur.
veyors and knowing them personally
can say THAT they are able, conscien.
tious and efficient men; the other mer
l am not personally acquainted with,
but the fact that they are obtaining
better roads for the money expended
than they were under the old system
leads me to believe that they are good
practicalimen. AS in any position OF
trust, muchlmore depends on the man
selected for the position than on the
law under which he works. Especially
is this true in the matter of road sup.
erintendents. Highway engineering
has only recently become acknowl-
edged a science in this country, and
good practical highway builders are
scarce all over the United States, and
this is especially true in North Dakota,
and the other younger states. With
the county superintendent system in
effect only one year, it is very graft
flying todearn, that with all the oppo-
sition that naturally arises when new
system of highway work is Inaugural
ed, the.system has proven itself to be
correct in principle and has shown it.
self to be an economical business pro-
position the first year.
am sure that any practical, honest
and conscientious man who may be ap-
pointed as county superintendent of
highways, who will keep himself free
from political alliances and endeavor
to be fair with the county commission
ers and the people, will make such a
showing in one year that the people of
the county will not consent to go back
to the old system.
One thing has been conclusively
proven tome, if there is opposition to
this system of handling the highway
in any of the counties that adopted
it last year, the opposition cannot hon
estly blame the system.
The state of Minnesota passed a
county superintendent highways law
in 1907 and.under that law forty county
superintendent were appointed out of
eighty-fve counties, but the law was
declared unconstitutional, owing to the
provision IN the bill that exempted the
three big counties. In their 1911 ses-
sion Of the legislature the state passed