Iditarod pioneer., 1917-08-18
COMMISSIONER ROBERTSON
 APPARENTLY BEWILDERED

Evidently w. o. Robertson member of
 the divisional road commission from the
 Ruby district, is bewidered as to his duties
 and responsibilities in connection with the disbursement of the S1O,0O0 of road funds Tor his district In an interview in the Ruby
 RecordCitzen of July 28 he says:
 q am in receipt of two letters, one dated June and the other July 2l, written by H. II. Ross chairman of the territorial road commission, in reference to the work to be done with the territorial allotments granted, and l wish to express myself definitely re gGr!'ng my position cn ths commission. 'Neither J. F. Riley, the appointed com
 missioner of Idtarod, has been consulted,
 nor Lave l. as to how the appropriations granted shall be spent in our respective | neighborhoods Each of our districts has been granted $10,OC0 by the territory, and ] have no fault to find with that. But 1 would like to have a voice in the matter of the manner of expendIng this
 money for Ruby, and 1 am convinced that ge have ample home talent here to carry
 put our projects without importing any l past spent thousands of dollars here with
 out having completed the work to Long,
 What has already been completed is not a
 boulevard, either
 Prom one of Ross communications to
 me, it would appear that l have neglected my duty. This is not true. When Ross
 wired that a meeting of himself, Riley and
 me was to take place at TairJanE. 'uIy 6, it was impossible for either oi ji> t1 travel there. We both want Ross, Who Is the
 only paid member of the board, to come to
 Ruby, which is centrally located for the
 three. Therefore we did not attend at Fairbanks
 Furthermore 1 want Ross to see for
 himself the conditions in this neighborhood before we expend our money as we want
 roads that will be of the most service While
 I approve of the money being spent on the
 road from SaIatna to Poogman, 1 want to
 see that road go by Spruce.
 "Now, $1OO00 won't complete the road
 this year I claim that it will take two
 years If Ross lets the men start with the
 intention of completing the work this year it will be a mistake For to build good
 roads, ground must be prepared in advance by turning off water. cutting and hauling
 timber for corduroying, culverts and bridges These must be hauled over the first snow, including feed and staples, Nov, we have d large sum Of money charged to our canp, but no roads. And while it Is net bad thing to have 9 few thousand dollars spent here for labor, sup plies, etc, what we reelIy need are roads to make this a permanent camp. And if l cannot do some good as commissioner hall resign in faTCr of someone who can. do not wish to see our operators isolated all summer. neither do l wish to see men and teams work Sny harder than is neces- sary We cannot have this road completed before August, 1918
 Probably Due to Misunderstanding Mir. Robertson's complaint may be due
 to the difficulty of such a commission at tempting to carry on its work through tele- graphic correspondence, Contrary to MT. R0bertscn's understanding of the circum-
 stances, J. E. Riley was consulted as to work in his district, and he was authorized 10 go ahead with the local work under his
 supervision. l. was assumed by MT. Riley
 that similar authorization vas given to Mi Robcrtson regarding work in the Ruby
 district Two members of the board can
 authorize work, and it was natural to as
 sume that Ross had followed the same course with regard to Ruby that had heen +al-r, o+ TIi+cr4d
 But there should be meeting of this important beard during the coming winter
 to avoid such misunderstanding as seem
 10 prevail