Martinsburg W Va evening journal. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1913-1920, 1920-03-22

There is a point that seems to have been
overlooked entirely by the mayor, council
and city engineer, yet ii Is a vital one inso-
far as future street paving is concerned.
We refer to the percentage of the bond
issue money available for street paving
that will be used to pave the intersections
of streets and alleys.
The council has no right to spend more
money on the intersections of these first
small paving contracts than that amount OF
paving bears to the total amount o. paving
to be done over the entire city If 1t does
there Will not be money enough on future
paving work to pay THE citys cost of paw
ing the intersections of streets and in front
of thte city's own properties, even though 1t
can collect from abutting property owners
the cost of paving in the blocks.
For example. just the intersections. to
be paid out of the bond issue money that
would have to be paved in these first
two contracts for which bids were asked
would cost approximately $4,000. That is
about 16 per cent of the entire bond issue
which amounted to $115,000. When you
consider that, you can readily lee that the
bond money would all be spent for inter-
sections, long before half of the city was
paved. Then what would become of the
other streets?
In this connection. it is rather difficult to
see just how Mr.. Wiltshire. a member of
the present council. would find 1t possible
to carry out the platform upon which he Ia
a candidate for the nomination for mayor.
With such paving prices as he and the bal
ance of the council have just agreed to,
how can he expect to do any improving In
the outlying districts, that being one of
the planks in his platform? Another plank
is Il will insist upon strict economy"
How can he reconcile such a statement with
a vote to go ahead with the present paving
plans?
And the same might be said of Mr.. Cline,
present membe. of the council, who is a
candidate for the same office again. Does
Mr.. Cline believe that the people of his
ward will not see at glance that with such
paving plans as the council is now adopting,
that few of them will live To- see the day
when the streets of his ward will be paved?
There is only a certain amount of money
available and unless it is spent judiciousy
is will not reach far enough.
The administration OF city affairs Is not
a political matter-it is purely a business
matter and 1t demands good hard common
sense combined with n certain amount OF
business judgement. What mayors and
councilmen would like to do and what they
must do while in office, are often two very
different matters. 4. .-..#=sa-
We realize fully that the mayor and coun-
Gil are earnestly anxious to give this city a
good administration. We realize that they
believe that the city improvements voted
for by the people should go on as rapidly
as possible We realize that they are
anxious to do the work as good as it should
be done. But they ought not to have let
their zeal carry them so far as to inter
fere with sound business principles.
When the bids were first asked for on
the sewerage system for this city, it was
found that the original plans called for
more costly plant than the city could af-