Jasper County Democrat, Volume 13, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 May 1910 — B— S— FROM RENSSELAER [ARTICLE]

B— S— FROM RENSSELAER

No Such Opinion Prevails Here as Expressed In Following Dispatch. A dispatch from Rensselaer, published in Friday’s Indianapolis Star, conveys an entirely wrong impression of the feeling in Jasper county over the parole of C. L. Bader, and, if digested carefully) is about the thinnest of the many their “arguments” that have eminated .from fbe same source since Wallace Marshall made his charges of fraud in bridge contracts here last June. The Rensselaer correspondents for the Star are too well known here to require naming

by us, and the dispatch which we copy in full, bears such prominent ear-marks of the writers that there is no necessity to mentidn who wrote it. Here is the dispatch, headlines and all: BADER FREEDOM PLEASES Citizens Commend Action-: —Sanction Parole Granted Convicted Btidge Builder, Saying Nothing is Lost' Through Violations. Rensselaer,' Ind.,. May 5.-—(Spe-cial) —With few exceptions, the people of Jasper County believe that' the action of Governor Marshall in staying the sentence passed upon Clinton L. Bader, the convicted Winamac bridge ihan, was proper, since it carried with it no efforts' to defeat the ends of justice, but simply granted him liberty pending an appeal to the higher court. The evidence in the trial yest no doubt that he was guilty, but the general opinion here is that his fault was in taking bridge contracts at less than cost and then shaving the specifications for his* profit. While the public condemns this means, it believes that every bridge erected by the Bader Company in this county is worth all that was paid for it. It is thought that there would have been nothing gained in sending Bader to the penitentiary. He is said to have every dollar he possesses tied up in his business and he has a wife and five children to support. Bader has been regarded as an exemplary citizen. It is said that there have been efforts on the part of other bridge men to force the Bader company out of this territory and there are many taxpayers who think that Bader has actually saved Jasper county a considerable amount of money. The grand jury is now in session and should it find any evidence -to justify the suggestion that Bader and the county commissioners were in collusion clemency and sympathy that has been extended Bader would be withdrawn. No evidence to this effect was brought out at the trial, however.

Now “the . people here endorse, the parole since it carries with it no effort to defeat the ends of justice, simply granting liberty pending appeal, and the evidence left no doubt of guilt.” If guilty why the appeal, unless to defeat the ends of justice? Is a contractor who takes contracts for less than he can do the work for any right to “shave down the specifications for his profit?” He intends to rob the taxpayers just the same as any other man who gets pay for something that he agreed to do but did not do, Can it be said that a bridge that has been scaled down 35 to 40 per cent is “worth all that was paid for it.” Is a bridge of this kind worth anything at all, as a matter of fact, and is it not a menace to the public who are compelled to use it? Is it not liable to collapse some time when a load that would easily be carried by the properly built bridge might go through the one “scaled down for the contractor’s- profit,” perhaps carrying death and bodily injury with it? On this particular Milroy tp., bridge, we are told by reliable people of that vicinity, that last fall a threshing gang drove across.it with their engine and separator hitched together, the same as they always did over - other steel bridges. When in about the center of the 70 foot span the bridge swagged so that those in charge, of the threshing outfit became greatly frightened for fear the structure would go down with them before they . could get across, and they de- , dared they would not undertake to. cross it again with the separa- ; tor ditched to the engine for any ' amount of money. On their return over the bridge they run the , engine across and then pulled the separator dyer separately. Is such a bridge as that “worth every dollar it cost?

A few years ago a si/all steel bridge, almost new, in the southwest corner of Jordan tp., went down with a traction, engine, and the parties in charge of. the engine narrowly escaped with their lives.. One, if we remember correctly, was quite badly injured. This bridge was erected by a company that has since abandoned the Jasper county field for (reasons, we. are told, not compli-. mentary to our county. No doubt it was “shaved down” too—for we do not believe the Winamac company is the only bridge company which has operated here that is guilty,of this crime—and if it had been built according to contraci it would no doubt have stood the test of carrying an ordinary traction engine. We sometimes read of a railroad bridge collapsing and killing many people. Perhaps in some cases these weak bridges were “shaved down” and caused the loss of life in additiojp to the great money damage. Can it be said that such \ bridges' were

worth all they cost? A good steel bridge should last a lifetime. Can it be said that any bridge firm that puts up such light work has “saved the taxpayers money?” Such rot as that in the above dispatch is too silly for any consideration whatever, and it is an insult to the intelligence of the taxpayers, of Jasper county to say that they believe any such thing as claimed by this dispatch.