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

the intention only, that the trustees
furnish drags where necessary. A
great deal in this matter must be left
to the discretion of the trustees.
Q.-The law states that the COM
pensation of the superintendent
shall not exceed $3.50 per day and
actual expenses and for giving no.
tees to contractors, he shall receive
such additional compensation as the
board may direct Do l understand
from this statement that the superin-
tendent might have his ordinary ex-
penses paid when away from home,
etc?
| A.-The superintendent is en-
titled, to not exceed $3.50 per day,
but should be reimbursed for his
actual expenses while engaged in the
discharge of his duties and such ex-
penses would seem to include meals
and lodging when away from home,
postage and conveyance in attending
to his duties. The superintendent
should not be allowed for such unless
they were necessary, and as to
whether they were necessary and in
a given case, is largely within the
discretion of the township trustees
Q.-What roads should be dragged
under the provisions of this law?
| A-The township trustees shall
from time to time designate what
districts must be dragged, which
must include all mail routes and all
main travelled roads within the town.
ship. The trustees would probably
be the best judges of what roads are
the main travelled roads,
Q.-The act says: (Section 2, page
3. of the pamphlet, line 81 1.-The
amount to be paid for such dragging
not to exceed the sum of fifty cents
(50) per mile for each mile travelled
back and forth while dragging the
roads, I judge that means that if
a man has six mile stretch and goes
over the road and comes back, he
would be entitled to six times so
cents or $500, and ! would Judge
further, that if the road could not
be cared for by one round of drag
ging that he could draw double the
amount of money, or $500, if he
had to travel over this six miles and
back again. l would think this
would only be fair, for some
roads are very narrow and need but
one round, while other main travelled
roads nearer town, could not be kept
in good condition by making one
round. Especially do l know this to
be true on the main travelled roads
in and out of Ottumwa, for | have
superintendent the dragging here for
several seasons. l presume these de-
tails will be left pretty mach to the
superintendent of dragging, as he
will have to protect the township
from being imposed upon In other
words, I should judge that his dis
erection would be such that if he
found main travelled road for three
miles out of town would need two
rounds of dragging instead of one,
he would make such arrangements
What is your judgment about this?
A.-This question has been pro-
pounded number of times and this
department has held that the amount
that can be paid for dragging the
roads is not to exceed per mile for
every mile necessarily and actually
Travelled with the drag upon the
highway while in the act of dragging
the same, in accordance with the
contract therefor But this would
not 1nclude travel in going to and
from the place where the work is
done upon the highway. You will
note that the law says that the town
ship trustees are to fix the compensa-
ion and the maximum amount at
which they are allowed to fix the
same is fifty cents. To illustrate:
If the township trustees have fixed
the compensation at fifty cents per
mile person makes one round trim
with drag upon the highway in
dragging one mile OF road, he should
be paid at the rate stated for two
miles, or $1.0O. I do not think there
can be any doubt about this being
the proper Interpretation to be placed
upon the provision in question and
l believe it gives force and effect to
the intention of the legislature. A
number OF reasons and cOnsidera-
lions occur to me which support the
Interpretation given but l shall not
attempt to sell all of them out here.
II the legislature had intended that
the compensation should be at the
rate OF fifty cents for round trip on
a mile of road, it would be equiva-
lent to saying that the rate should
be rs cents for each mile of travel.
l think the legislature meant to
authorize the trustees to fix the rate
per mile on the basis of the number
of miles necessarily travelled in drag
ging. Tt occurs to me that the
words back and forth are used in
the new law for the purpose of en-
phasizing the fact that all the travel
while in the act of dragging should
be taken into account in determining
the number of miles and does not
have reference to a round trip in
dragging a stretch of road. In any
event, it is discretionary with the
trustees in fixing the rate of COM
pensation and if the maximum of
| fifty cents should prove to be too
high under any conditions. the rate
could be reduced to a point where
It would be fair and equitable under
the conditions under which the work
is done. But if the provisions in
question should be construed to
mean that fifty cents is the maxi
mum authorized to be paid for tray
cling two miles with the drag, it un-
doubtedly would have the effect in