The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1915-07-20
This Year Less Than Million
And Half
New Law Will Decrease
Building Of Roads


partisan supporters of the administra-
ton of Governor Willis are seeking to
explain why no new road work is be-
ing undertaken and issuing reams and
pages of statements, the old mud roads
continue to hold their own. Assault
is made on the previous conduct of
the state highway department for hav-
ing exceeded authority in the making
of contracts, but for this the people
have little concern. The fact which
pleases them is that when Cox was
governor and when Marker was high
way commissioner, steps were taken
by which the federal aid was secured,
and roads were built.
The people cannot forget the attack
that was made on the state highway
department in the Republican state
platform, hence they look upon the
present muddle with gravest suspicion.
The fact that Peter Durr secured con-
troll of the commission under Willis,
and the further fact that the present
commissioner violates the law relat-
ing to the makeup of the commission
and boasts of it does not help mat
ters any. New roads are not being un-
dertaken in any great degree and the
people want to know the reason.
There is no charge made by the
partisans that Marker did not build
roads for the state, nor is it charged
that the states money was unwisely
expended. They simply say he exceed
ed authority in making contracts-in
other words that he was doing more
work than he ought to do. 1t so hap
pens that Marker is successful o. S.
U. college man who was football
player of note and who knew how to
buck the line. He carried his training
into practise in business and the con-
duct of his office with the result that
I last year he had more than seven mil
lion dollars worth of road contracts
started. His successor this year will
start a little less than million and
a half, and with the deficiencies in
the new Cass law, there is not great
assurance that even that much will be
done. Mis-construction and careless
phrasing endangers bond sales under
the law, and 1t is full of minor errors.
There now appears a greater and fur
ther defect which endangers the en-
tire road tax levy by the state. Under
the test of the Hite law in the su-
preme court when mandamus was
brought against the auditor of Hamil-
ton county it was held "the right Of
the general assembly to levy this tax
for state purposes depends upon
whether the purposes of the levy are
thin premise that the case was met
because the fund was all in the hands
of a state official for expenditure, it
was proper to raise the money in one
county and expend 1t in another. But
the Cass law makes a new condition by
breaking up into S8 units with S8 stan
dards, a portion of the work, and pro-
viding for the transfer of state road
funds to county commissioners on their
proper certification under named con-
ditions. After such transfer there Is
not even assurance that the money
will go into roads-it may be transfer
red to the salary fund or the sheep
fund or some other fund which may
be deficient. Under this state of af.
fairs it is not unlikely that Cuyahoga
Hamilton and other large counties
paying the greater portion of the tax
will refuse to contribute without a
test of the law which allows such con
ditions, where before they acquiesced
because of the fact that they knew
the money went to proper end
It is unfortunate that partisanship