The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1915-09-16
Road Making Taken Out
Of Politics in Wisconsin,

ger the country ever faced. II they are
built by Incompetent men and grating
contractors there Is nothing that VIII
prove to be SO bad and SO costly. n
road materials, then, must be up to stand
ard, the contractor must be closely In
spected, and there must be no skimping OF
mixtures.
No Chance For Crooked Contractors.
See just how this works out In
kee county. H. j. Kuelling is the highway
commissioner, though he was not. when
engaged, a resident Of the county-ln fact,
his home was almost 200 miles away IN
southwestern Wisconsin. He came into
the responsible position to do justice TO
himself, as well as to the roads. He OPP
Grated a testing laboratory, he him
self tests every consignment of materials
that goes into the roads-from concrete
and oils to sand. Last year he rejected
100 car loads of delivered sand and gray
ell. 1t did not come up to the speclflca-
tons or requirements and could not go
into the roads. He also condemned IL de-
livered car loads Of concrete. The sane
and gravel were, of course, a dead loss to
the contractors and pretty nearly put
them into bankruptcy, but the inferior ma
terials did not go Into the roads. Politi-
cal pressure and political pull did not
count. Even friendship. which was pref
ty close in one case, did not get the In
ferior materials through.
Also Draws the Contract.
Kuelling also draws the contracts, so
that he can come in at any minute and
summarily dismiss any foreman or crew
of a contractor. He did thiss several times
last year and this year when he saw that
the work was not up to standard. he
has the county provide the cement. This
removes from the contractor one incentive
to 'tskimp' the work.
Members of the county board sent over
some men for jobs. Kuelling notified the
members of the county board that he
would not take them on.
Kuelling also, at each contract letting,
prepares and files a bid for the work for
the county. Sometimes the county gets
the work if the bidders are u~nreasonably
high. With earnings. or savings, from
this work, he has bought $4,000 of equip
ment which, when not in use, he rents
to contractors and gets for the county
about $1,000 a year gross for 1T.
Inspectors Are Corruption Proof.
Within certain limitations he is able to
differentiate between good and not-so-
good contractors. Always he is on the
Job with a well organized working force.
He has inspectors that he keeps corrup-
t%ion-proof.
The great secret Of good concrete work
Is well drawn and clear contracts, and
then searching, constant inspection. Mil
waukee county seems to be getting this.
The result of all this is that the county
seems to be getting a full dollars worth
Of road for each dollar that 1t puts out.
The state highway commission, which is
in a position to be arbitrary with the state
aid, gives such county highway commits
sioners a stiff backing whenever any eff
fort is made by local political and other
influences to undermine their ability to
do good work.
Such control, such independence Of local
political grafters, such protection of the
public from men who know nothing about
the science Of road building and main
t%enance, Is the whole key to the good road
lproblem's solution.