The Vinton record. [volume] (M'arthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1866-1891, 1873-10-09
Friday, January 3Ist, 1873,

ar the hour of2 O'Clock. p. NJ; until which
time saln proposals for the same will he re-
esiyed At tie Auduvr's Office, and the contract
awarded at that time, or ~ tme therealler
t. which the said Commissions may pub
licly adjourn The cOnSi leation Of tnS SINE.
The said Commissioners will also, on tie
said 3lst day Of January, A. D. 1873, before
awarding any contract, hear petitions for and
remon frances against the proposed con
struction Of Baid lniirmarY building and the
location thereof. W. W. BELFORD,
Auditor.
january 9th, 1873. I'd
1t is an innocent enough looking ad,
vertisement to the uninitiated, but the
reader will observe that any person can
bid without giving bond and security
that he will fulfil his offer, or he may
bid a dozen or an hundred different
bids, if he can find that many persons
who will allow him to use their names,
and then when all the bids are opened,
and he knows all the other mems prices
he can put in his security "where it
will do the most goOd"-where it will
bring him the most money. If the ad-
VERT, ement had been properly and le>
gally drawn" it would have stated that
bids when filed with the auditor must
be accompanied with penal bond in a
sum dOul the estimated price of the
house, $4,000, for the faithful perform
ance Of the contract Here is where the
"best Auditor Vinton county ever had"
opened wide the door for the free en-
trance ami exit of the Ring with the
peoples money. He did it. He cant
plead the baby act"-that some per>
son else wrote it. So much the worse
for him if he allowed some other person
to do it, for it is a virtual confession
that he is but as putty to be nodded as
the Ring chooses
And there is yet another equally
lame place. 1t will be observed that
he does not even reserve to the Com
missiOners the poor, customary legal
privilege of rejecting any or all bids,
and thus virtually turns them over to
the Ring bound hand and foot.
"3 and 4. Four weeks notice was
given in the Enquirer and Record"
Four weeks notice was not given by
either paper. But the law requires
eight weeks notice, four of intention
to build, so the people NAV petition
for and against and after that, if it is
determined to build, four weeks no.
tice to contractors for bids. The adver-
tisement above calls for both at once,
and only gives twenty>two days notice
at that. Look at the figures. 1t is da-
led january 9th, 1873" and says bids
will he received till January 81, 1873"
Just twenty-five days, and the Ring
will have Il, get up new almanac be-
fore thew can make 70 weeks out of
twenty two days. h!nd why this indie
cent haste2 The ring wccs afraid some
outsiders would hear of thJ, proposed
building. and get in lid; afraid the
advertisements if allowed to run their
legal time would have secured the peo~
pie a contract at lower figures.
"5. The contract was not let to the
highest bidder The contract was let
to the highest bidder whose lid under
the law could not be considered at all.
Wat Holland for fun, bid $4,000.
Mr.. McCov, of Marietta, came over to
bid, examined the situation, saw the
combination of the ring, and said he
would not bid ut al; but before he
went away he bid SlO,S0O. Neither of
these bids could be considered under
the law, because they were greater
than $4,000. the estimated cost of the
building by the architect" The
other four bids, and the only bids
within the estimate, were;