The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1920-09-10

i
he decided to put on the uncrushei
rock and he Is willing to take hit
medicine for that mistake. Ther
there are reports about other things
that never happened, such as his
selling sixty or seventy thousand dol.
lars worth of road machinery to the
county and making a little fortune
OF Of it. Nothing of this kind hap.
pened and there is a sense of dis.
appointment in being blamed fol
those things, and asked to step aside
as II he was discredfted because OF
them. The report being circulated
and accepted by many of the public
leaves stain upon a man, that is
unjust, and has just little of dis.
agreeable sting about it, He realizes
that man in public life must expect
those things and he takes it as
cheerfully as possible.
Our Own Attitude
We said in the beginning of this
bond road construction that we ex-
pected the commissioners to be hui
man and make mistakes: that we ex-
pected them to be honest, and II we
caught them in fraudulent Trans
actions we would not hesitate a
second about exposing them. We
have been on their heels all thru,
looking for fraud and hoping we
should not find it. We believe they
made mistakes in letting coarse un-
crushed gravel go ON the road, we
believe the effect of that is being felt
more now than it will be hereafter,
we believe the dragging of the road
will soon push the coarse gravel in
the gutter and that as the grades
get wet and settled and packed, that
the public will appreciate this more
than they do now. The hot sum-
mer months find our roads at the
worst, because they get dusty They
have always been SO. The next worst
period is in winter when 1t is wet
and muddy and there is no drainage.
Under present conditions we shall
not have the winter trouble because
the drainage will be good. From
October to June, the roads will be in
excellent condition and that is the
season when the heavy hauling is
done. Heretofore the roads have
seldom been in good condition during
that period and for the hot months
they were worse. People have been
borrowing a great deal of trouble
about the grades going to ruin.
Statements have been freely made
that they were actually gone to
pieces when the statements were not
at all true. A few chuck holes in
a mile of grade do not ruin nor de-
stroy the value Of the grade. They
are to be regretted and repaired, not
taken as the basis of statements that
the grade has no value or that it is
ruined. We believe, as do many
others, that much of the grades
should not have been made quite so
high.
Ignore Personality
Our attitude may seem to be a |
defense of Mr.. Bills and the COM
missioners. If j. H. Hale had been
in Mr.. Bills place and had done just |
what Mr.. Bills has done, our COM
nent and our attitude would be the
same. If John w. Bitton, the Demo-
cratic candidate for the position had |
been in the same position, and had |
lone the same, our attitude would
nave been the same. We believe our
attitude is fair one based on un-
)rejudiced- observation and judg-
nent of what has been done and fair
less to the officers. Public critic
SIN on the matter is colored with |
'alse reports and unfair comment. |
Il Mr.. Hale or Mr.. Bitton shall be |
elected to this position our predic-
ion is that in two years from now |
le will have been subjected to as un-
air and dishonest criticism as Mr.. |
Bills is being now. The new Of
icial will have to decide some hard |