St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1920-12-04
Mr.. Davis Reply.

Wv ICIl, Lad DSC. L, Wv
Mr.. j. d. Grant, Slidell, La.
Dear Mr.. Grant, have youl
favor of tne 30th ult.
| regret that you and | should diff
fer in our opinions concerning this
rather important phase Of the road
building porgram, but | get satisfac-
ton out OF the knowledge that our
differences are now, and will con-
tinue to be, honest differences.
In the third paragraph of your let
ter, you say Il cannot subscribe tc
your (my) statement about Mr
Buie's making up $4,000. He mere
ly indicated how that amount could
be obtained by taking $4,000 be-
longing to the state road fund, AMI
then adding to it $4,000 to be taken
from funds already allotted to other
parish roads, thus permitting the
making of contracts at what seemed
to me to be unreasonably high
prices" l did not understand Mr..
Buie to merely indicate how that
amount could be obtained. He, in
person, advised the Police Jury that
he would furnish $4,000 additional
|
and that if the Police Jury would
withdraw $4,000 from the Salt
Bayou road allotment, he would give
Federal aid in the early part of 1921,
to an amount of $4,000, if neces-
sary, for the completion of the Salt
Bayou road. These were direct
promises made by Mr.. Buie, chief
engineer of the Louisiana Highway
Department, in writing, and l would
not think they could be termed
mere indications. If we can de-
pend upon the promises of the State
| Highway Department at all, surely
these particular promises should not
be looked upon as mere indica-
tions." Here let me call attention
to the fact that the only hope of the
Second Ward having a mile of road
cons .ructed within it's boundaries is
pinned to the promise of Mr.. Buie
that he will give Federal Aid in 1921.
Concerning the question of getting
our roads constructed as speedily
and cheaply as possible, l am quite
sure there Is not much, If any, differ
ence between us. l think that both
road money buy as much as possible.
But the situation resolves itself
down to this: The Road Commits
sion has set aside $171,550 with
which to match government aid in
the construction of Sections A, g
and D (our main parish road, and
We find that, after advertising this
work three different times, the total
of the lowest bids runs more than
one hundred thousand dollars over
the allotted amount, making the
shortage on our half of something
over fifty thousand dollars. Per-
sonally, think that lower bids could
be had at later date and l used
every effort possible to get Mr.. Buie
to allow a further delay, but he takes
the position that the year is ap-
preaching the close and that he has
to allot the money to some other par
ish if we do not take it now. How
ever, in taking the position that We
could not readvertise, Mr.. Buie made
it possible for us to solve the prob
lem by promising us enough addi-
tional Federal Aid to make up our
made possible for us to buy the roads
in question without putting up more
money ourselves and without an In
definite delay, which would mean
additional expense. While a posi-
ponement of the bids and a readver-
tisement of the work would bring
some cheaper bids, you will have to
grant that we could not expect the1l
to be one hundred thousand dollars
(about 25 per cent? less than the
bids that have been accepted. In
total bids would have to come in for
less than $4,000, which amount
itself ID 100000 less than the pres
ent bids, and | do not think we could
hope fbf such a reduction within a
shorter time than six or twelve
months If then. Meanwhile what
would have becomd of the Federal
Aid during this delay? Ny judg=
ment tells me to take it while the
taking is good.
Further down in your letter you
say, 81 have always felt, and still
feel, that members Of the Good
Roads Commission in hand ing this
fund, should be guided in their ac-
tions by the same general business
principles that they would observe If
they were spending their own money
in their own interests" You and [
are in perfect accord in this thought.
excepting that l can "go you one
better" by saying l think We should
be even more careful in spending the
peoples money than in spending our
own. In spending our own money,
we have every right to do as we
please with it; we can take a chance
with it, IL we see fit, or We can be
arbitrary and say to the other fellow
''yOu meet my terms, or | wont dc |
business with you" I do not think |
we could have this right in handling |
public funds.
am perfectly willing for our cor
to be published in the
parish papers, and at your sugges-
ton, am handing it to The Farmer.
and l understand that you will hand
the same to The Slidell Sun. How
ever. to get the full correspondence
before the people, The Sun should
have a copy of my letter to The
Farmer of November 25th. At that
time, I did not know you had given
The Sun a copy of your first letter.
Very truly yours,
E. G. DAVIS.