ossing of streets and roads.
Your special attention is called to this subject.

One of the most difficult and interesting practical problems which
now engages the thoughts of the American people is how to maintain
economy, efficiency, and purity in the administration of local
affairs, and especially in the government of towns and cities,
without a departure from principles and methods which are deemed
essential to free popular government. Many of the most important
functions of government are in the hands of the local authorities.
They are directly charged with the expenditure of large sums of
money, with the protection of life and property, and with the
administration of civil and criminal justice. These duties, in one
way or another, touch nearly and constantly the interests and
feelings of every citizen. Upon their faithful performance depends
the prosperity, happiness, and safety of the community. It is true
that as yet Ohio is happily, in a great measure, free from the
operation of causes which in the commercial metropolis of the
country recently led to such extraordinary corruption in the
government of that city. But those causes do not belong alone to
the great cities of the East. They are already at work in our
midst, and they are steadily and rapidly increasing in power. No
political party is altogether free from their influence, and no
political party is solely responsible for them. We have laws
prohibiting almost every conceivable official neglect and abuse,
and penalties are affixed to the violation of those laws which can
not be regarded as inadequate. The difficulty is to secure their
enforcement. Those whose duty it is to detect and prosecute are
often interested in maintaining good relations with the
wrong-doers. The contractors for public work and supplies not
infrequently have a community of interest with those who are the
agents of the public to let and superintend the performance of
contracts. Where these abuses exist there is apt to be a large
circle of apparently disinterested citizens, who labor to conceal
the facts and to suppress investigation. What the public welfare
demands is a practical measure which will provide for a thorough
and impartial investigation in every case of suspected neglect,
abuse, or fraud. Such an