Evening star., 1869-10-09

connected with the once, what the mode OF
Iransactng business had beenl A. From the
up to the time I quilted, an honor.ele gsntle-
/ man, remaining with him In the ONCE, and re-
/ gardipe him as Mayor, and holding an omcial
posItion-one of great dslieacy and response.
bility-eyery a cuestion that Mr.. Bowen put to
me, i answered him sincersly, as man OF
truth. cannot recollect the Questions he pro.
friend Mr Connolly here. W HON have known
ali my life. While remained in the ONCE /
considered II my duty, q: 1t certainly was, not
| 10 misIead any one, but, on the contrary. to
keep every ofncer in his proper place, as far as
Al the instance Of Mr.. stanson:-
Q. To acquaint him with the u.ages OF the
onncsl A. Every question be asked me au-
| swered him as sincerely 40 would any other
gentleman, Mayor Magruder, Berrett, Wallacn
or any body else. i would have forfeited nv
own self respect and self esteem n i mad not
At the instance OF Mr.. Cook:-
| Y. SOAR as you observed, did the Mayor
manness any anxiety 70 conduct the business
Of ne city IN q proper and careful mannsrl
/ a. Zen know Q new Groom always sweeps
clean. He manifested the sane care thst his
predecessors did. I recollect when Dol. Ber.
man, he looked carefully into matters; Mr.. Wal.
| lacn did the same. Mr.. Bowen manifested this
same desire to acqoant himself a. far a. he
he bad around him; and all sort Of things,
as either you or woaId do.
At The instance Of ar. Crane
Il
reading like this paper. (handing witness
| esnmate Of Mr.. Bliss, referred 10 in the
deposition Of that witness y A. cannot
| recollect now. The vouchers in the Registers
office are, or ought 70 be. matters Of such easy
access, not only 70 this committee, bat. In my
opinion, to every body who wants them, as
for themselves. see no distinction, no wevsr,
between this bill and the others. We will sup.
pose, for example, party made application
distinction between this bill and q mere certifi.
cate Of the Surveyor Of the city, certifying that
| q sumcient number Of cubic yards had bsen
graded and snnicient number Of SO uare yards
had been graveled to justify the Mayor in pay
ing S2,ss5 and so many cents do not recol.
| lect whether ! ever saw . specific bill like
that: But there is the Surveyors ofic,al Ger.
confusion OF the then Surveyor, who was very
expert, and who had very little assistance. and
Wn1 . was & dnying about the city an day. from
WORK done-and question whether there was
a piece Of work OF any magnitude that he did
not see every day. and know its exact con-
knowledge, the most superior officer in the
city. The moment the contractor made ap-
piicaiion bn, for money money the Mayor directed him
He would inquire how much the contrac-
tor wanted. He would say. $1,000 for in.
| stance. The Surveyor, instead OF going into
which requires some labor, and which might
require personal presence upon the ground,
used language similar to this:
SuRvkYoR's OFFICE, WAsHINGToH, ID. O.,
Aprf! 34th, 1851 hereby certify that John
Doe has executed work sunlcient under his
70 receive $1,000.
That being presented 70 the Mayor, the first
appropriation" I would do 80. He would
then ask for the law, ana would show that
The whole thing would not take more than
four or hve minutes. Then he would approve
for the amount desired. Then, when the work
was done, and the final measurement came in
1t was required 70 Be sIgned by the City Sur
veyor, the Commissioner of the ward, and at
least one Of the assistant commissioners; and I
think the vouchers will bear me out, you will
At least ind one of the assistant commissioners
case, where the attorneys opinion came in On
tne contumacy. perhaps, Of an officer Of the
corporation. Then when the final measure.
BY the City Surveyor, and the Commissioner OF
the wsrd in which the work was execu uted, and
both the assistant commissioners, or at least one
OF them, then the previous vouchers on that
work were taken from the Registers once and
compared with the ward book in which the
account was kept. The comparison being
made, and the amount stated in the ward book
unoer that appropriation, corresponding with
the vouchers previously nied, they were added
toRether-the amount paid was added and then
suotracted from the full amount rendered By
and Of course the balance due was paid the
eSntsastor: sSs % That was the usual way of doing
z. You have not answered my question. 1
asked You If you ever knew one. a. do not
remember. could not say.
z: vs.la 2, m: e =. e. e -. ever .as.
reading like this. "The work to be done &C.
cording 10 the specifications and bids which
are are, herewith annexed" The specifications
preparation will be paid until the work has
been approved oy the City Surveyor, the Com
missioner Of the ward, and the Assistant Com
| n oax
ever knew large sums Of money to be paid on
contract reading like that, while the work was
in progreesi A. Well, really cannot answer
that q question. Sometimes when accounts were
presented for payment the contract would be
exhibited, and sometimes the contract would not
be called for. Itdepended entirely upon whether
TINS ,ans.ags was IN an the old contracts, OF
shtuted BY the present Mayor, or it may have
been In the specifications under the old arfanee-
ment. l cannot answer the question pro.
q. Was it the custom Of Mr.. wallach to pay
money on bills that read In that way! A. 1
90 not IeeOlisss s about that That depends en-.
which the work was done. Mr.. Wallach was
exceedingly careful.
z. Was that clause in the contracti A.
for Themselves. i really could not say whether
that is substituted lately, OF was In the old con.
tracts. ! do not know, although 1 handled
q. There is another clause in this contract
which reads: sThe contractor Is TO receive nav
only for excavation or embankment as he may
elect. II paid for excavation on one street, he
shall not be paid for nlling another street with
the same EARTH Now, what 1 wish to know
Is, If you ever knew contract drawn up,
while you were in the Mayors office, reading
that way A. Well, no, SIR. do not think
ever did- When there We're any pecullarities
about tthe execution Of q law, and a contract
was ordered to be drawn up, l always sug-
gested that the Surveyor should draw il
up, he being familiar with technical terms,
and knowing the topography OF the place,
and all that sort Of thing. The work for
grading and graveling, however, ordi-
narily read thus: The work-the grading
TO be paid for but once" That is, the
contractor to be paid either for the grading or
the filling, whichever measures the most If
the flling meas ured the most, he got paid for
the filing II the cutting, he got paid for the
cutting. That being omitted once In q contract,
Coyle sued the Corporation for both cutnng
and filling, and obtained payment. After that
both advertisements and contracts underwent
| most scrutinIzing in vestigauon. They all read,
after that, that the work was 10 be paid tor but
once, whichever meas ured the most.
q. Didn't the Mayor send for you to come
and see him last week A. 1 will state
that there is NO compulsion on me to be
here. This committee has NO power TO
compel my attendance. With this remark l
will state, that about four weeks age an old
acquaintance Of mine, Of many years stand
ing-and o strong Republican, BY The way
stopped me ON the corner near my office, and
remarked ssthat there was q dificulty among
| 10 GOPnOrafr0u 003c,als ls \ n ssTfhat