The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1922-06-27
WASTE
QUITE ALARMING
(By Letson Ballet
in Tonopah Bonanza)

IN TOnopah Bonanza)
The wastage of public money by
political officeholders is little short
of criminal. 1t has made the bur-
den of taxation so great as to re-
tard development and industry. The
aftermath of a period of extrava-
gance and vast leaves the coun-
try with burden of unemployment
from which it must recover.
Taxation is 80 per cent higher
than necessary. l make that state
ment advisedly, and even so, it is
not strong enough. If any one cares
to look over the so-called budgets
of past years and then to look at
what was accomplished with the
money, they will find but little per-
manent good has been obtained
from the money expended.
Who pays the taxes? You have
been told that the butcher, the
baker, the grocer, the power, the
phone, water, sewer, railroad and
landlord pay the taxes. AS mat
ter of fact they do not collect from
the public.
The man who buys pays every
cent of the taxes. The man who
sells merely collects. Part of the
tax money that is being squandered
by political incompetents is in every
dollar you spend, and adds to your
cost of living.
The city, county, and United
States taxes all come from the man
woh buys. Income tax, corporation
tax, excess profit tax, war tax, rev.
enue tax, stamp tax, are all added
to the cost of doing business and
the man who foots the bill.
The government hasn't dollar to
spend that is not taken from the
man who buys; neither has the state
or county. When work is per-
formed by the government you foot
the bill, for it is like the travelling
mans overcoat, covered up in the
expense account.
Political Contracts Expensive
Some years ago cloudburst rup-
tured a dam at Staunton, Va. The
county commissioners called for
bids to repair it. The lowest bid
by any contractor was $4,000. One
of the commissioners asked Charles
E. Ashburner, engineer of mainte-
nance of ways of the c. & o. rail-
road what it would cost if the re-
pairs were made as the railroad
would do it. His estimate was
$737. Upon receiving this estimate
the commissioner asked Mr.. Ash
burner to do the job and prove his
estimate. The work was done for
1886, or 81 less than the estimate.
How Contractors Bid
Shortly after I left my engineer
ing school, I worked for contrac-
tor who built steel water towers
and county bridges. There were
five structural steel contractors in
that part of the state. Every job
had five bids. Before the bids were
received, the contractors got to-
gether and decided from the reports
of their scouts just how much they
thought they could get for the job.
One of all the others were several
thousand dollars higher. The coun-
ty commissioners, with no know
ledge of engineering thought that
one of the contractors had made a
mistake and bid too low. He was
eagerly signed up. If it was big
job the other contractors loaned
equipment and tools and the profits
were devided between all. If it was
a small job the equality Of the plan
was made by letting one OF the
other contractors get the next job.
The political engineers are never
equipped with cranes, graders, COM
pressors and tools that can COM
pare with the contractors equip
ment, hence whenever the attempt
was made to do the work by day
work under political bosses, the
costs were more. The contractors
know just how much to bid to be
under the cost of day work.
have seen city water supplies
installed that were maze Of USE
less piping, with big mains supplied
by small pipes, through bushings
and reducer. The system would
test up with excellent pressure but
would fall down when emergency
demanded a large volume Of water
at high pressure.
Not only are these water systems
violations Of all the best practice
Of hydraulic and hydrostatic
engineering but their costs are
several times more than a competent