The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1913-10-23
COMMUNICATION FROM
MEMBERS OF COURT

tion that is being spread throughout
the county in regard to the adminlstra-
tion of the county court in connection
| with the recall election, We believe u
necessary to place before the puoile a
few facts.
We will say at the start that the
county court has no apologies to make
for its official acts. These have been
within the province Of the law, along
lines of progress and consistent with
nroper. public economy. Therefore, our
administration, we believe, should be
Judged as a whole rather than from
one or two specific acts which are IN
themselves more or less insignificant.
AS a matter Of fact, the charges
brought by our opponents are OF the
most trivial nature as anyone who VIII
take the trouble to peruse one OF the
recall petitions will observe. Had we
been willing to dispense with the ser
vices of Mr.. Marshall as road supervis-
or there would really have been no re-
call. This in itself ought to convince
every fair minded person that the re-
call is really more measure OF spite
and preiudice, rather than movement
for the good of the county. We are
satisfied, from a perusal of the names
on these recall petitions. that great
many of the signers have been mislead
as TO the facts, and that they viii be
unwilling to lend further aid to move,
ment that is uncalled for, unjust and
harmful to the best interests OF tne
county, when they know them. IL Is
always easier to criticise than II IS 10
be correct and far easier still to con-
duct the other fellows job from the
curbstone or a rocking chair than from
the post of authority. The main obJec'
tions to the administration of the pres
ent .cou3ty court are, as specified IN
the petitions filed for recall election !:
The employment of Mr.. Marshall as
road master; the alleged expending
unnecessarily of heavy sums OF money
for road Oiing; paying unitemized
claims against tbs county and improp-
erly constructing bridge across the
Hood river near Winans station.
Taxing up the first item, Mr.. Mar
shall was employed because he was
considered as competent a man for this
position as could be secured. His sal
ary.was fixed at S5 per Day and 81 50
per day for his automobile, and not
81. so, as stated in the preamble to the
petition. The court had no knowledge
that he would be unacceptable to any
particular number of citizens and, as
has been said, employ ed him because
they thought he was fully competent.
The objection in the petition that Mr.:
Marshall received something like S55O
for his services for five months is, we
think, a very trivial one indeed. AS a
matter of fact, this compensation
would give Mr.. Marshall about SllO a
month, a sum, we believe, that will not
appear to any fair minded tax payer as
extravagant for services OF this CHAR
acter.
In regard to the money spent for oil
ing roads, we will say that this cost
the county about $3.50 mile. This
amount is the sum that has been PAID
in other counties in the state and tar
less amount than is cheerfully approri'
atped every year for maintaining SINH
lar highways in Multnomaho county.
Furthermore, the court has been com
mended by many of the tax payers II
the county for the thorough manner II
which the roads have been oiled this
season.
The small matter of complaint in re
gard to few bills that were fount
unitemized by the grand jury Wa'
promptly taken care of as soon as thu
matter was brought to the attention o.
the court, and no bills have since beer
paid except those that were itemlzed.
The bridge over the Hood river a.
Wnans, Which seems to be a grea
bone of contention with the recallers
has been grossly misrepresented. II
| the first place, the court properly ad
vertised for bids for the construction
Of the bridge; let the contract to thu
lowest bidder, who ogave bond, an(
what was considered competent maj
was employed to superintend its con
struction. On the report of this maj
the bridge @as accepted. The.photo
graphs ci&ulated in order to arouse thu
ire of the taxpayers in opposition t
the county court are what might b'
called especially posed. 1t has beeI
stated by several engineers and other
familiar with bridge construction tha
the bridge is safe beyond all question
and that the piers so mt2h criticise
are very likely to.be in place long al
ter most of the present population o
, Hood River has passed away.
1t has been stated by those who az
a parently have not any too much regar
!. for the truth, that the county court ha
spent son@ $45, 900 on the county road
this year, for which it has nothing
, show. The entire expenditure of tn
court for roads up to October wt
$2S, ,29S. %. This includes all materials
! road oiling, salary of the road maste
y and the cost of the new bridge ovt
' which there is so much dissension. I'll
: amount actually spent for labor on Il
10 county roads was $l8, 0S9.N. When
y, is taken into consideration that the
~ ~ are 24O miles of public highways
y Hood River couOty, it will easily
seen that this is far from an extrav
CANT expenditure. Notwithstandil
y this Hood River county's roads ha
- been kept in as good condition, or be
" ter perhaps, this year than at any til
in its history.
We wish to call attention to the ia
that when the present county cou
took over the administration of t
7, county's affairs it was $32, 900 in del
Y Eight thousand dollars of this amou
was paid off last year. and the office
of the court expect to commence {
On new year with the county's indeptt
rk ness wiped out. This. we believe, I
er MES most emphatically the stateme
e. by the opposition that we have be
n "unwise, careless and extravagant
10 Therefore, we feel justified in aski
h for the support of every fair mind,
public spirited citizen in the coun
,ir We do not claim that the members
ed the county court are infallble, but
". lieve that the Hood River peoples n
i. ural instinct for fair play will asst
IL itself. and that we will at least be dc
Sc simple justice at the hands of tn,
'or whom we have endeavored to sci
in. faithfully and conscientiously.
,r. G. X. Castner, County Judg,
la G. A. McCurdy,
J. X. Putnam.