The daily sentinel., 1914-04-09
ABOUT HOME FOLKS
and
ABOUT HOME. DOINGS
(By A. c. NEwT0N.)

are or ought to realize the truth of
this statement. About q year ago
some of the gentlemen from the low
er valley were pretty radical In their
assertions in Denver of frauds COM
mitted by the county commission
ers, Dwyer and Bessire. Friends of
those men we're sure there was no
intent to defraud, and only possible
carelessness or press of public duty
and which could be easily explained.
Just now the same sort of charges
are being made and on the same sort
of grounds-the expert investigation
OF an inspector. II is claimed that
the clerk was careless and the alder
men were also liable to allow things
to slip along without the close In
spection of bills which ought to be
made when public improvements are
being undertaken. 1t is too often
that we trust too implicitly to the
clerical work of men who are too
busy to do the work right and take
too much for granted. In too many
cases We do not pay sufficient salary
to secure that expert help necessary
when we take on the expenditure of
large sums of money. There seems
to be many things in common in the
work of the erection of the Main
street bridge and the Fruita water
and sewer systems. At any rate we
should not be too free to cast Grim
inal charges at men who have always
borne the best of regulations; exer-
else charity, gentlemen-it may be
your turn next to need 1t.
The Sentinel news columns a few
days ago carried an item as to a
bill which Judge Lindsey OF Denver
and Thomas lyman of Canon City
would initiate for this fall-a mea-
sure to provide for the short ballot
in this state. The election of gov
| ernor and legislative body of
twenty men. The governor is to be
given the power to form a cabinet
similar to the system governing the
United States.
The idea is not new to me, as l
mentioned such move in a local
paper three years ago after the
strenuous attempts to elect a United
States senator in Denver. Just why
the men who are responsible for our
form of state governments did not
system has been a wonder to me ever
since. | have more closely studied
our methods of making laws and the
enormous sums of money which it
takes to carry on our machines at the
state capital. The move will be op-
posed by a good many who will not
| stop to give 1t thought, but it will
grow, and the time will come when
every state will adopt this cheaper
method and even the national gov
ernment may finally cut down the
congressional body to one branch
and reduce the number of members
in that one to minimum. Our leg
islative bodies are far too cumber-
some to do good work.
The rule ought to be a less num-
Der of men with a better pay and
time to do their work right. II is
not fair that men shall work two
hundred days at the wages of one
hundred days, or asked to crowd the
work which can only be done right in
two hundred days into one hundred
days. This is what we ask of our
county commissioners. And when in
this day of advanced ideas all other
lines of business meet to discuss
| problems OF interest in their depart
ment we should not ask them to go
at their own expense or lag behind
the times and not go at all. Judge
Cayender is no doubt right in hold
ing that under the law our commits
sioners must not be paid for Denver
trips. unless it comes out of their
regular salary.
There is only one way in which
the county commissioners in a third
class county can be paid more money
and that is by a re-classification OF
all the counties for this office alone
this is also true of the county super
intendents. In the haste of trying
to crowd the work of this county in
to one hundred days will be found
the cause of many Irregularities in
road work and routine work in the
office. 1t Is pretty hard to be hon
est in some offices-either the pay is
too small to give honest service oil
the attempt is made to dodge the
strict,letter of the law as to compen-
sation.
WRITE NTnRlEE FIR