The people's voice., 1959-11-20

anu Ill conceived 1t may De QlSallOWo
by the Bureau of Public Roads. Dis
allowing would make the State total
responsible for the cost of construc
ton instead of only the eight per cen
which it must put up under the Inter
state program. Any disallowing woul
break the highway financial district
involved, which is contrary to law
The blasphemy was followed b,
a furry of press releases Wednesday
Some quotes:
THE KING CAN DO NO WRONG
Burns, :" small group of indi
viduals apparently intent on ham
stringing false charges out.
burst of responsibility . (Wold)
must have been way out on the back
DO when we had the three formal
hearings :"
Vice Chairman Les Swanson, Liv-
ingston, C shocked to think an
elected representative of one of our
counties will resort to the use of
false information in an attempt to
discredit and harass the nearly 1000
employees of the Highway Depart
ment".
Roy Sorrels, Billings, @. alleged
the price of this bridge was $1,30O,-
000-yet the contract was awarded
in the amount of $642,857.48. The
actual bid price makes the statement
in the complaint look ridiculous.
The press is now forced to carry
the result of an openly admittedly col
lusive meeting with contractors Tues
day night.
The openly admittedly collusive
of Tuesday night changed
the whole picture as to the aim of the
States entire road program. The
shift from "the biggest program pos
sible" to Interstate ober-all-us" is
lirect result of Tuesday night.
The openly admittedly collusive
Meeting with the contractors resulted
n the forcing of Howard Busswell
o juggle financial district funds so
hat the Interstate will be increased
~ two and a half million dollars.
This will bring a reduction in the
ABC primary, Secondary and Ur-
'an) program and increase the carry
yer balance to $4,600,000. This bal
nee will not become apparent until
fter the next Legislature meets. On
he new Observation-Disclosures plan
total of six millions would be short
4 state funds. The hand of legisla-
ure is being forced to increase the
as tax!
The openly admittedly collusive
leeting of the commission with the
ODtractors Tuesday night gives some
lsight into the unique practice of
lie secret estimate used by the COM
ission to forecast the coming jobs.
he idea is established that the de-
is competing with the con- !
actors. Normal concept in govern {
ent is that the contractors should {
,mpete among themselves. Nothing I
ever made public except this ridic- I
ing of Wold's estimate. The press I
leases would cause one to believe I
e commission knew of better esti- /
ate than the one used by Wold. Just r
,actly how good are the estimates r
the department? t
The erratic gyrations of the road '
lilding program can be laid upon y
e doorstep of the commission who
eets in admittedly open collusion
tn contractors.
The contract control measures re- =
ntly inaugurated by the BPR will r,
lp matters some. Uncommitted s.
nds are picked up quarterly, fore It
: the commission, to schedule far
cad the work they intend to do. y
is will be of convenience to con- 81
Lctors who are now forced to con- A
er only the monthly whim of the
The contract control will
o require the commission to have 21
ne spare jobs on hand because the w
'rently much-overestimated costs ny
uld leave money to revert to the ch
r to use elsewhere. w
The openly collusive meeting of ORR
uesday night may explain why by
Services was hired to tn
POLISH the position of program en- "e
neer which was held by Horace sh
'illiams. The position of project %
ntrol now rests in the hands of ~ ~
Q contractors :. Everyone must
w change his organization chart.
+ II