Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 261, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 November 1910 — We Originated the Plan and Were Not Converted to It. [ARTICLE]

We Originated the Plan and Were Not Converted to It.

The Jasper County Democrat don’t even like to have the Republican agree with it and charges us with an eleventh hour conversion to the proposition to make the Winamac Bridge Co. pay to Jasper county the amount it has been defrauded of by reason of altered bridge plans. The Republican, however, has always thought this to be the proper means of settling the matter and in its issue of March 11th the following language was employed following a report of the engineers sent out by Judge Hanley to investigate the other bridges the Winamac Bridge Co. has built: “That there was something mighty wrong with the Winamac Bridge Co., however, is very evident by this report of the surveyor and his assistant and whatever work may be given to them in the future should be scanned very carefully and if there Is any method of making them liable for the shortage they should be. compelled to settle with Jasper county. The company should be responsible for the erection of bridges according to the specifications agreed upon and when the shortage is determined by the report of competent engineers a demand should be made of the company for the amount the county has lost. This will not affect the prosecu tions in a criminal way, but criminal punishment will not square the thing with the taxpayers. The Democrat is very queer in its disposition and hates to be agreed with. We dare say if the Democrat had remembered that the Republican favored this action it would have "opposed it, but it forgot that the suggestion came from this paper and now it would even kick out of its own opinion ii it could do so gracefully.