The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1922-06-05
HERE is MORE ABOUT
ROAD BONDS
STARTS ON PAGE ONE

trustee ara purely perfunctory. re-
Touring practically none OF his time
land no greater physical effort than the
occasional signing Of his name. But
II he lives 20 the maturity OF the s2,-
100000 Of highway improvement bonds
OF which he Is one of the trustees. he
win draw in amoiuments one-third Of
Approximately 10000. or say, approx
limateiy si6,66s. For the perfunctory
task Of receiving the proceeds OF the
first million dollars of highway bonds
sold, Mr.. Cant will receive eighteen
hundred odd dollars. and when this
raoney is paid out for road construo-
Ition he will receive another eighteen
hundred odd dollars. The same pro-
cedure will occur when the remaining
s1,000,000 OF highway bonds are sold
and disbursed. Then when the taxes
are collected for the interest on these
bonds and the sinking fund for their
retirement are turned into his hands
/ by the county tax collector and state
comptroller. Mr.. Cant will receive an
other commission: and as the interest
| is paid and the bonds retired, another
commission will be paid, And these
4
bonds; tlrey are paid out Of the gem
eral fund Of the county and a tax must
be levied for their liquidation.
For such privileges, of course, no
thing but an migrate would be map
preciative, so who blames Mr.. Cant
for his personal interest in the re-elec-
ton of the men who conferred the
privileges upon him? Least of any,
do T. But I do blame and censure him
forsinvoking the aid of an institution
which he must have known was de-
funct, to assist him in the liquidation
Of his political obligations.
| AS to the secretary of the commits
son, have already explained the per-
sonaI relations existing between him
and me. But In addition to this mo-
| tive, when the joint commission was
| functioning, it was he who was the
mouthpiece OF the organization and he
must be conscious of the fact that at
/ least some of the assurances of the
commission which were transmitted to
the public through him have been un-
| liquidated.
For instance, the assurance to the
public that every feature Of the dis
bursement of the proceeds of the bonds
would be under the sole direction of
the bond trustees, and when that nub-
BILE burst and 1t was discovered that
the duties and powers of the bond
trustees We're but perfunctory, the as
suranee to take it's place, that with the
exception Of the construction of the
Gulf Beach highway. which is county
project entirely, every foot Of highway
constructor undertaken with the pro-
ceeds Of the bonds would be directed
by the state highway commission and
its engineers.
OF course that the bridge construc- |
ton, grading and construction of IL |
miles of completed highway which have |
been contracted by the board of coun- |
ty commissioners within the past few |
weeks may not have been intended to |
come under the assurances referred to |
above The fact remains however. |
that the state highway authorities |
haven't look in on the work. In |
other words, its construction in every |
feature will be under the direction Of |
the board of county commissioners.
My authority for this is County En-
gineer Wheat, whom I, really hesitate |
to quote upon any subject, since he |
squirmed out of telling me some three |
weeks ago that the four miles of roac |
to be constructed south from Fiona
ton, was being undertaken by the COM
under pressure from the
residents of the northern end of the
Mr.. Wheat really told me that |
in so many words, but he has since |
so twisted and distorted his meaning |
of what he said that / do not recog-
nize what he says he said by what he
really did say.
The only points at issue in this con-
are the facts that the people |
understood that their bond money was
to be matched dollar for dollar with
federal aid funds available to the
commissioners have disregard
ed this understanding by contracting
for more than 100000 worth Of high
way construction upon which not
penny Of state or federal aid will be
received Notwithstanding that within
thirty days there will be 100000 OF
federal aid unds available to the
county.
OF course the interests of the chair
man OF the defunct Joint road COM
mission are, secondary. and doubtless
you viii so treat them.