Perth Amboy evening news., 1920-09-16

campaign this fall as far as tn,
county and state are concerned. with
the millions OF dollars at the dis
posal Of the authorities for the i'm
provemsnt and maintenance Of tn,
highways there IL absolutely no ex
cuse for the present condition OF tn,
roads in New Jersey and especially
Middissex county.
It was known last January that ths
roads this summer would be in a ter.
ribie condition. The actual condi.
ton was known early in April. In
stead Of taking steps then to get
them in shape. awarding contracts
30 that the material could be order
sd, there was much dilly-dallying and
delay over one thing or another un-
I'll the summer was half gone before
even an effort was made t. put the
roads back IN shape. This applies to
the State Highway Commission as
well as to the Board Of Freeholders.
Today, with the fall already upon
rs the roads are little better than
they were early In the spring. Yet
millions OF dollars have been avail
able for road work. What has be-
come Of all the money and why such
incompetency?
Some OF the roads have degenerat-
ID into q scandal. There Is that
Franklin Park road out OF New
Brunswick. which, unless It has been
opened recently, has been closed to
traffic nearly two years. Only an in
different public and a thoroughly in
competent Board Of Freeholders
would stand for such an outrage.
With all the shortage of material
and the scarcity of labor it ought
not to take anywhere near that long
to build a road. A little while ago
when the New brunswick Home
News called attention to this tntoler-
able situation the contractor, or one
of his representatives, whined about
the inability to secure a ton OF soft
coal. Such petty stuff Is ridiculous.
Other roads that were started after
that Franklin Park road, have been
going ahead. But az long as the
Board of Freeholders let these Up
parently incompetent contractors get
away with their present methods OF
do nothing there will be nothing
done. In the meantime the public
must put up with all kind OF incon-
yeniences and the people living on
the road suffer considerable loss.
Another scandal is the road from
Rogan's corner to Fords between
this city and Metuchen. Here was a
road paved a few years ago at great
expense to the taxpayers. As a part
of a political game In Woodbridge
township 1t was decided to lay a
sewer down the middle of this road
for a mile or two. The sewer began
nowhere and ended nowhere. 1t was
about as useless as a sewer In the
Atlantic ocean, yet 10 crafty some
politicians the contract was given.
The Board of Freeholders granted
Woodbridge township permission to
tear up the street under the guar
antee that the pavement would be
replaced in as good condition as 1t
was found. This was never done.
For many months after the sewer
was laid the road vas next to i'm
passable and then, after much agita-
ton the contractor made some at
tempt to restore the road, but 1t was
neve put back in its original con-
dition.f Today the taxpayers OF Mid
dlesex must come up with another
$4,000 more to repave this road.
For the Board Of Freeholders to per-
init such use of the peoples money is
q deliberate waste. When a borough
or township agrees to a thing it
ought to be made to live up to st in
stead of forcing the taxpayers to pay
twice.
Within a few weeks hundreds Of
motorists will be going to Princeton
to see the football games. These
motorists come from all sections Of
the country. Last year the roads OF
AIiddlesex county in and about Mon
mouth Junction were in horrible
shape and any detour that might be
selected was just as bad. Has any
thing been done since last year tc
put these roads in decent shape? The
whole summer has been wasted
Even such contracts as have beer
finally awarded are not begun. Tit
ffeehoiders who come up for re
election this fall are beginning Il
take notice Of this themselves, bui
they get nowhere.
what applies to the Board o
Frseholders. however, applies with
equal force to the state Highwa'