The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1914-12-03
MURRAY KAY Dis
CUSSES ROAD MATTER

cles and letters with reference to the
appointment of a roadmaster, together
with the postal card vote conducted by
/ MIR. Root and his associates, constitute
a subject of very great personal inter-
est TO me and one in which ! am so d.
rectly coneerened that would. il am
not unduly trespsssing on your valuable
space, like to make further comment
on this matter.
The attorney general of Oregon has
rendered the decision that the laws Of
1918 mean that, if no roadmsster be
appointed, all road work is to be in
charge of the county engineer. The
advantage of this plan is that, whether
a roadmaster be appointed or whether
the work goes to the county engineer.
it makes one man directly responsible
for il.
Apparently the people Of this county.
and possible your county court, are In
some doubt as to the best plan TO fol-
low in this important matter; and.
while your county engineer has never
yet made a promise either before or
after election and doesn't intend TO do
so now, he would like to call your at
tention and also that of the people of
this valley to few facts.
Road construction is strictly an en-
gineering science. Ask any state or
county in America, where they have
good roads, or any foreign country. In
Creamy, France, England. Massachu-
sets, Rhode Island or California, they
would no more permit any other than
an engineer to build roads than you
would have one of your children vac
cinated by blacksmith.
The reason for this is only one and a
very simple one, viz: That there is nc
other possible way to get such goods
roads for so little money, and any en-
gineer of reasonable competence can
save this county in hard iron dollars
from five to ten times his pay each
year. That is exactly what he and his
work are for.
One quarter of a million dollars fol
roads is your record for the last five
years which is going some, even fol
Hood River county.
If you believe that other ways Of
building roads and bridges have had l
fair trial, after contemplating what
you have spent and what you have got
ten, and If you decide these other ways
have not been satisfactory. why mo-
give the engineering way good fail
trial, especially as that is the ONLY
manner in which any community hal
ever gotten any good road.
Mr.. Massee evidently does not conside
expenditures for tools, crushers, wage
of supervisors, etc. as money expended
on roads, but it is. Also, he state
there are only two or three months
work for a roadmaster or engineer
No doubt, he means during the winte
months, as that is the usual time TO
surveys, the making of plans and esti
mates, the stalking of work and the ad
vertising for bids, so that when goo'
weather arrives the construction worl
may go forward promptly. In tn,
summer the engineers work is lighter
consisting mainly Of inspection to Sc,
that the work is done according t
plans and stakes by the contractors o.
supervisors, as the case may be. How
ever, road matters are so behind AM
in such condition here that an engi
neer with a considerable department
has work ahead for days, nights an
Sundays for long time TO come.
Some of the things said about you
county engineer and his reply to ther
are as follows:
% "He has many enemies. Thi
is probably true in fact, it is in th
nature of his business. Run proper
ty line for man by which he loses
row of apple trees, or is compelled
give back a lot of money for misrepre
senting a sale, and then get someon
to ask him what kind of fellow or a
engineer you are.
(2) "He is not as pleasant as b
might be to some people" Logically
this might mean that II you had
have an operation for Appendicitis yo
would hunt up the pleasantest man 20
knew to perform it.
(3) ''He is not in harmony with tn
court" This may or may not be true
but his work is governed by the law
of Oregon and he is not under the d
rection of the court any more than tn
county clerk, or the sheriff, or tn
assessor. The court, however, is
approve his plans or alter them. Tn
is perfectly proper. Any court woul
be willing to approve an engineer
plans or be responsible for any alter
tion in his plans ordered by them. III
matter of selecting in what district
the funds are to be spent should
decided by the court and this would NJ
conflict with any engineers work.
(4) "He is in favor of high price
roads, This is exactly opposite
the facts. Concrete or oil bound ma
adam roads at $4,000 a mile on Il
200 miles of roads here would COZ
2,000,0 900. High cost roads and paw
ments are not the thing for this coun,
and are most emphatically not recon
mended by him. Some fairly expeI
sive work is warranted. however, {
the heaviest travelled arteries nei
town.
(5) Supervisors and others cou
not work under him." Only one supe
visor has ever done any work und
him: that is. Mr.. Eadleman. Ask hi
about this. Some of the men wi
have worked for him are MIR. Edd
now on the State Highway Commi
sion, Mr.. Coshow, deputy county eng
neer, Mr.. hurlburt, MIR. Mortimer al
many others. Ask them.
Your county engineer makes
claims whatever, except competence
build the best possible roads for &
least money.
If you believe an engineer is neede
that the county engineer is the logic