The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-03-01
do SO in a fearless and frank manner"
 "Eyaggerates, Denounces"

The Hurley report, he declared, "generalizes, misrepresents, exag- gerates, denounces, brands all off, cers and employees of the Highway Department as poor servants of the state, and makes startling allega- tions unsupported by facts. The re- port is not based upon any we'll directed inquiry, investigation, or study, but upon scattered observ a. tions, desultory interrogation of the employees of the Highway Depart ment, and conjecture"
 He accused Hurley of conducting his inquiries "by undercover meth ods", and with having "resorted to all the tricks of modern photog- raphy" to "distort actual conditions and to deceive both the governor and the taxpayers" with re- gards to the Merritt Parkway con- struction, which is under grand jury investigation at Bridgeport.
 Reveal Aides Training
 Macdonald respectfully suggest ed' that Hurley give full publicity to a statement of the training and previous experience of every man who had a hand in the preparations of his report or who made any of the 'inuiries' on which the report purports to be based"
 The public workers director offered his criticism of the highway agency early this year in a 100-page report in which he severely criticised engi- neering methods and construction, and favored reorganization of the dicision in the interests of economy. He charged that approximately 90 per cent of the departments funds went for maintenance, salaries and other costs and the remaining 10 per cent for actual trunkline high way construction. He further as- serted that favoritism existed in the awarding of contracts, that the de- partment persisted in the use of Waterbound macadam and that maintenance costs were ignored. One of the most startling angles of the report was the accusation that the $2O,O0O,000 Merritt Parkway was ill., constructed, that a portion of the road was routed around tree, that cracks appeared in bridges, separa- tion strips constituted traffic haz- ard snd that many of the over- passes would have to be replaced.
 Critical Summary
 Macdonald offered general crit ical summary of the Hurley report. Regarding the Merritt Parkway, he charged Hurley with having ordered pictures taken from an angle which exaggerated true conditions. AS to the cracked bridges, he asserted it would never occur to any reputable engineer that such evidence is proof of inefficiency on the part of fel- low member of the profession be- cause he knows full well that similar evidence may be produced from his own work"
 Seventeen photographic exhibits accompanied the Macdonald report to substantiate his claim that Hur- ley had resorted to trick" photog- raphy.
 BIames Hurley Truck
 In one particular instance, in which Hurley declared a section ot bridge railing was so loose it could be teetered back and forth with the hand, Macdonald replied that the fault was occasioned by a stone which fell from truck operated by Hurley's division.
 On one occasion, Macdonald de- clared, 8 public works department employe was found checking con- struction work with tape grad uated in tenths which he was read ing In inches"
 Here was a case of 8 representa-. tive of the public works department presuming to criticize the highway department who was not sufficiently familiar with engineering practices to know the difference between ar engineering tape graduated in tenthi and the ordinary in oh scale."
 Defends Purchases Macdonald staunchly defended tht departments usual method of ac' turing rights-of-way through out right purchases, rather than con- demnation because "the depart ment's records show only too clearl. in most instances that the 0rigina filing of condemnation papers is only the beginning of a long drawn out controversy which eventual! ends in court with disastrous result' to the state"
 The commissioner was particular Ily critical of Hurley's recommends
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