Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1922-02-17

,eam. and our people did not oftcn ges
very far from home; but. now thai
We have tho automobile. It is neces-
sary that we have moro uniform
method Of levyins our taxes for this
class OF roads
Another OF the provisions In tho nov
bin was that the Lovy Court should
appoint during the month OF January,
1917. and every four years thereafter
during the month OF January. n COM
potent road engineer. who should be
a graduate OF h reputable school or
college. and must have had two years
experience In practical road building.
On January 1G, 1917. our Levy Court
Aappointed an engineer; who, at one
time was and may now be, a member
OF this Rotary Club. refer TO Mr..
Charles NJ. Upham, who served as
our county engineer from January l6
1917. until he was elected chief en-
ginecr OF tho State Highway Depart
OF Delaware.
Th6>act providing for tho appoint
ment OF an engineer gives n greai
deal OF authority to the engineer. TIL,
engineer appoints every one OF tn,
road supervisors. all of his assistants
and can discharge any OF them al
any time he may see fit without con.
sulting anybody. and can emplo,
Others to I'LL their places as ne may
see At.
When Mr.. Upham left us. his sue.
lcessor was appointed for the unex
pired term, which expired January |
1871. Since that time. our county ha.
had three acting engineers, but n,
legally elected county engineer" On,
of these acting engineers was a grad
uatc. as the law provided. but he coul,
not set a majority of the votes Of tn
Levy Court. although he had serve,
the county very acccptably for thre
and one-half years. Neither of tn
other two acting engineers was
graduate as provided by law. and tn
one now serving as acting county en-
gineer was elected by a majority O
our Levy Court last December to serv
as acting county engineer until De
cember 81, 1922; which, In my judg
ment, Is n strict violation OF tho Law
Under the old system. as previous al
: stated, there was a separate bank &C
count for each one Of the ten roa
: districts. and one bank account 10
: general county purposes. Under tn
5 new system, all of these eleven &c
I counts have been converted into On
5 account; and. instead OF retainin
county orders until called for. the
= are mailed direct 10 the parties
,, whom the orders are drawn. and I al
glad to be able to say that there hs
:, never been an order OF Sussex count
I issued since January !, 1917, presents
e to the bank for payment and paymel
o refused thereon. II this was the on
= thing the present system accomplish
= &c. 1t would be fully worth while.
I In all OF the Levy Court purchas $,
under the present system, bids a.
e 'asked for wherever possible and pra,
h tical. 1t cost Sussex county, und
a tho old system, over 5000 to publ.
I the list of delinquent tax payers whit
e was published in the year 1916: Will
!. under our new system Of securir
bids. this work was done In 1917 4
r. s2S4.2o. There might have been a fo
i moro delinquents in 1916 than 19l
J. but certainly the difference was We
l. slight. II cost Sussex county s14.
i a thousand for the ballots which we
y used In the election of 1916: but. aft
n securing bids for the printing~of ba
: lots in 1918, when everything w
v very much higher. it cost 1915
1. thousand. While we have saved
d many OF our purchases. these are 20
l. sibly the two most extreme cases.
.e Under the old system, the Le'
IT Court met once a month. Under q
Il new system, the Levy Court NEE
l. every Tuesday, which is decidedly be
l. ter. .
v After Mr.. Cpham was appoint
county engineer on January 16, 49,
= the Levy Court had Mr.. Upham at
e number Of conferences regarding pc
I, fnanent road improvements, and ,
Is were ell very anxious 10 get a b
d through the Legislature. which W
Y then in session. authorizing a bond
II sue for permanent improvement
is public roads, so 1t was thought be
n that we get in touch with the Office
IS of the Delaware Good Roads Ass
k citation OF Sussex County" which W
,e not very active at this time, and su
,e gest that they get back Of the NOV
,r ment and start some work 10 crea
Dr. public sentiment. The associate
Of called a meeting IN Laurel prompt
l. and invited the members OF the lie
70 Court ana county engineer 10 atte