The Holly chieftain., 1915-11-19
PORK BARREL SYSTEM
Of R0AD-BU|LDING
R0UnDLY SCORED
BY ROY RAY.
Editor W,adssr r. V.

Editor w,.d..r ".
The wsnton waste of road funds by the
eHtrsvaEsnt methods in vosue thruout the
state of Colorado has often heen COM
mented upon. The waste is depIored,
but seldom . remedy is offered. Ths
Madden road law was q step in the right
direction, but before it could be put in op-
Grafton ii was repealed, leaving the situa.
tion - it was before. II our memory
serves US correctly, we believe county
commissioners generally were the strong.
est opponents to the measure. 1t took
much of the money out OF their hands
end placed it in local districts to be ex.
pended under the supervision oflocal men,
TACT which did not appeal strongly to
them. II took out of their hands weap-
on which 10 often used for political pur.
poses. Since the automobile forced pub.
lie sentiment in favor OF better roads the
use Of funds for this purpose as means
promoting further political aspirations is
even more marked than few years back.
OASSs su~ sybAS" NJ" fOkuCy tutl
community which is so fortunate as to re-
ceive long due attention to its roads i. in.
clined to feel very kindly toward the COM
missioner to whom it is indebted for what
it 10 pleased to term "the favor" little
realizing that favors do not consist of re-
turning value for money received. Dik-
nifyinE the expenditure of money for the
purposes for which the taxpayer paid by
the word favor has helped promote the
idea among county commissioners that
this fund is thing which they can use to
curry public favor or to punish those who
are unfriendly to them. The opportunity
to play politics is too insistent. This no
doubt had much to do with the opposition
to the Madden law by county commits.
sioners, who ought to have welcomed the
new plan a. it relieved them of much labor
and responsibility, and probably would
have done SO but for the fact that il also
relieved them of the chance to manipulate
the funds for political purposes. The long
distance method by which road work is
done under the commissioners can be
nothing else but waste of money. Men
employed to perform certain odd jobs of
repairing spend more money fooIine
around than they do at actual work. Very
few of them plan ahead in the least. Hav-
inG had some experience, they ought TO
know in advance about what is required
to fix up, the ordinary piece of road. But
the Generally 60 out only half prepared
and then 60 back home or to town after
more material or more tools. This en-
ables them to put in a bill for more time,
SO what do they care how much time they
kill SO long as they are paid for il? They
have been known to haul gravel a mile or
place they were working They have
also been known to waste time throwing
9 shovel full Of Gravel in chuck. .holes, we'll
knowing that the first auto passing along
would scoop it all out and that no bene6.
cial effects could come from it. 1t is any.
thinG but an economical system by which
road work is handled by three commis-
sioners in a county the size Of Weld es.
pecially, but the counties OF ordinary size
Lately there has been q growing senti-
ment in favor Of road work all being let
by contract to the lowest responsible bid.
der. 1t is believed that by this method q
greater portion Of the waste would bs
done away with. The man who secured
. contract would have to see TO it that no
time was wasted by the men and teams
working for him. Under the present plan
the most expensive element in country
road work is time. That is becau.e so
much OF it is wasted time, for which the
county must pay, but for which no bene.
fit is derived. Something certainly ought
to be done to correct this. 1t matters not
how earnest the commissioners may be
in trying to carry on the work on an
economic basis; they are too far removed
from the place OF operation to know
what is koink on. Often the men who
supervise the work are rewarded in pay.
msnt OF political obligations, and have
not the same object in handling economic.
ally q would a contractor who had bid on
the job. Think it over. 1t is very un.
likely that the county commis,ioners
would take kindly TO the idea, Hut iii,
the only wNy IN which ,ss tsspl,sr can
ut sluArs deal.