The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1920-02-06
The Lesson Of
the Bond Roads
Continued from page five1


what to let by contract. At Spring
field lake the officers did not get
the kind of bids they thought they
ought to have and they did 1t by
force account. By the time it was
finished the cost per yard for NOV
ing earth was found to be so dow that
some contractors got down to bust
ness and took contracts on the level
country at relatively low prices and
lost money. In this way the county
got on the right side of two risks,
but 1t was hard on the contractors
who made the mistakes The
trouble. was in defective judgment
as to the difference in dragging dirt
down hill into big fill and drawing
it from shallow skimming on level
ground, up on a grade, with rocks
entering into the deal at places. 1t
makes vast difference whether a
man is scraping sand hill down
into lake or humping some rocks
in moving clay and hardpan up on a
ridge, and men cannot possibly guess
correctly on these things. Men of
experience expressed. the belief that
the county could do the sand hill by
force account and come out better,
and so they did. That taught some
contractors lesson and they made
the mistake of bidding too lew on
the next work. 1t saved money for
the county, and the officers did not
profess to be working a protectorate
over the affairs of the contractors.
Revelations Both Ways
There were places where the con-
tractors stuck for good prices and
got them. There were places where
the local farmers wanted to get con-
tracts and did not get them. There
'were places where the officers hoped
toilet contracts to local farmers and
waited in vain for suitable bids.
There were places where the officers
took work by force account to favor
farmers who asked for a chance to
earn money, and the officers could
not get the service they thought they
were entitled to, and yet they had to
make. the best of a bad bargain, once
they had torn up the road and
started. There are localities where
they would not start work again on
| force account if they had to rely on
local people to perform the work.
There was some work done in this
way that cost 81 per cent more than
| it would have cost if it had been let
by contract and this happened only
on one individual mile. There are
n1QnnC uyhorn ha ;r%o
ing to let work by contract in 1920
II they can get bids at about certain
prices. They think they have learned
something by experience and they
hope to secure the advantage of it
for the people this year.
The Final Lessons
AS we look over the events of the
past year relative to- road matters
in Bingham county. we are pro-
foundly thankful that a start was
made and that it was a good start.
We are glad that the people and the
press have kept faith with the Of
ficers, and that the officers have kept
faith with the public. If it had been
otherwise, the loss in money would
have been bad enough, but the loss
in morale would have been beyond
estimate. Our county had already
suffered things that shook mems
faith, and anything added to it at
this time would have been hard
blow. People have come to realize
that when officers are elected and
placed in charge of heavy RESPONSE
bilities, the people owe them their
cooperation and encouragement and
they also owe It to them to be in
terested and following the course of
events to show their appreciation
and to leave no doubt that betrayal
Of interests would be discovered and
punished. When the public have
suffered in the past it has often been
partly chargeable to lack of interest
on the part of the public that Of
ficials have felt the force of tempta-
ton and have seen an easy way to
carry out dishonest designs.
4 Not Very Complimentary
The lessons taught by the years |
experience in bond roads are not all |
dbne vet, and when we have studied
the books while longer we shall be
able to give our readers some more
conclusions based on the figures as
they come up in classifiCations and
totals. The things we are not yet
sure of will be left unsaid until we
complete the study and know our
ground. We have heard good many
things said by different men, and as
we recall their remarks and predic-