National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-05-26

4
your remarks that had been to Mr., Cluss
and , therefore, to nobody else, perhaps. hay'
been 10 Mr.. Cluss, Mr.. Barney, and Mr.. Oertly
l have had the explanations Of all three; and
have requested them, II they could, 10 eommu
nicate with Mr.. Forsyth; but ] have not gone
to Mr.. Forsyth personally and hunted him up
I have not had the time.
Q. Have you left with either Of those gen
tlemen q copy Of your resultsl A. have moi
given them copy.
@. You have merely talked TO them about III
A. No, sir; have shown them my figures and
told them the differences. am not sure that
i have In all cases told them the actual differ
ences, but stated that could not make IL agree
as they did, and made It considerably less,
although, in some cases, ! stated what ! did
make It. believe did fully.
Mr.. Christy. Mr.. Chairman, there 10 one
angle OF this triangular contest that they dc
not seem TO take into consideration at all, that
is ourselves. The only way in which we car
get this information is by hayingit appear here
unless we have the privilege Of examining st at
some future time, after the gentlemen are con
tent with the examination made BY them
selves.
The Chairman. I think there WIN be nc
trouble about the matter at all. There may b.
o little delay, but we will try to do justice tc
everybody as nearly as we can.
Mr.. Christy. 1t was upon that hypothesi.
bDdJ auuIeebeu myself 70 the Clalft0du. j
think II Mr.. Blickensderfer Is ready he might
give us his statement and then It can be printed
and the gentlemen can make any corrections
they desire. ] think that Is the shortest way.
Mr.. Stanton. A mere statement of the amount
of the discrepancies was no guide TO our engin
GERS for review Of the details Of his measure
ments. .'>-'-l
on your measurements, as / understand Il; he
has done the work on the material and data
furnished in the Office. ,,
The Chairman. Well, gentlemen, there seems
to DO some controversy. The committee will
retire a moment, and we will endeayor to come
to q conclusion satisfactory to you all.
THE Committee hereupon retired for con.
sultation, and returning, the Chairman interro
gated the witness as follows:]
Q. Mr.. Blickensderfer, have you reduced to
writing the result of your examinatlonsf A.
Yes, sir; In short, succinct way, as did
before.
Q. In the same manner as you did beforei
A. Yes, sir; substantially.
Twill read It
Tgeltfh street, befvees : and p.
EIcavating, as calculated from notes 6,c9S
Additional OF Intersection of Massachusetts
avenue ~
Total - ass
| Dy price OF pavement 7,2Ss
Balance -. le,1Is
Allowed TO contractor loo
ovorestinsse to contractor, suppOsing him =.
oversstimsts to contractor deducting feet, n ssS
Overpayment to contractor over total quantity
| of earthwork, o., 81. so, or IS per cent.
Overpaymens, deducting two feet covered by
| price Of pavement, %, 20, or 80 per cent.
| East Capitol street. OF. o.. r.
Excavation, estimated, First to Sec
EScsvatiOp, estimated, Second to -''o'' -'O''
Fourth street 5000 yards.
Included in feet covered by price of -.''.' '.'
AlloMsd da aS contractors 4s.SSo yards.
Overestimate to contractors, suppos-
ing them entitled to total guam
oseie,tImats, d.duoting the 2 feet. ai,aSs yards.
Now, in regard to B street, have no state
ment. made an examination with 9 view of
determining the accuracy of the quantities
that had been charged to the Government, and
/ made up my mind they were about right, and
so made no statement about them. ehould
have said on East Capitol street-excuse me
| ] got little before my statement. The B.
ward. On East Capitol street have likewise
q statement Of the amount Of curbing, 7,491
feet. The amount in the vouchers Is con-
siderably larger, and they represent con-
siderable quantities as being set, taken up
again and reset, and taken up, so that could
not understand 10. applied to Mr.. 0ertly,
whose signature is to the voucher. for explana-
ton, and he stated that certain quantities had,
after being set, reset, and taken up, been finally
taken up and carried OF the street entirely, and
certain other quantities were the quantities
that were now on the street. have made a
statement Of the two here, but do not know
whether the committee care about their going
in here.
Mr.. Stewart. Let them 90 In.
The Witness. Then l will read Il.
The Witness then read as follows:
CURBISe-ANoUST ON STREET, 74e1 FEET.
1872. Payments TO Contractors
May q. Setting 2sls feet new e-ineh
Resting tssisst old sinch curb, '''' : :
July q. 4,s42 feet new s-lnch curb and set "
ting, si.t2 s,Ssl o.
Taking up asos fee. t-ineh curb, w. w. " :.
TsiiSG up sssO fee. sinoh curb, ~ -
Taking up 4sas fee. curb in con- ~
sequence Of change Of grade,
ass feet s-lpoh curb reset, 50 cts l,is7 % %
July .. 0,Ols fee. e;lnch new granite curb =.
ass feet s.incs new granite cIrcu. ~
lar curb and setting, t2os SIS e5
s2a,e74 %
These quantities were the ones represented
to me as being on the street, mine being only
7,491. asked for the explanation of the diff
ference, and Mr.. Oertly said that in measuring
the curb, his impression was, they had meas
ured the returns that were put into the inter-
~, IL 90 ka1 t,sA
of simply what was on the face of the street.
Those spaces belonged to the fntersecting
streets; but he said as the contractor had put
those In, they were measured 10, and put into
this voucher. Making allowance for that,
find the quantity is just about right. do not
recollect the figures exactly. That Is all that
have on East Capitol street.
Mr.. Wilson. How much curb Is really
charged to that street, A. The whole of this
Is charged to the street. The whole of this
work. : m ~ .-s..srs-fr e."
@. Aud II was laid there by the contractor.
Who did the eurbing for that street, rs un-
derstsnd you'll A. There were several contrac-
tors, az understand. -. .ra
Governor Shepherd. There was change of
grade, change Of work. Sd
Tho Witness. asked the auditor whether
this street had been credited with this material
that was hauled of, and he said there was no
credit, but he supposed It ought to be done.
This Is all ] have except- d..
Governor Shepherd. Did the auditor state TO
you that there had been additional work done
on that street since the assessment was made
which would oyerbalance the amount of curb
ing overcharged. - .
The Witness. No, sir.
Governor Shepherd. That Is the fact. Mr..
Wilson has brought this subject up before.
/ Mr.. Wilson. When Mr.. Forsyth was on the
stand / asked him about this.
The Witness. That is all I have In regard TO
actual measurements, except another thing
that came up incidentally. ! will explain TO
the committee, and they can do with It what
they have q mind to. noticed In the report
of the Board of Public Works In 1873 that the
tabular statement of areas of reservations
seemed to have been gotten up, as I under
stand II, with q view of making out q state
ment of what was properly chargeable to these
areas on the Government areas N account of
sewerage; and walking over New York avenue,
with o view of making some examinations
there,I happened to get on some Of these
reservations, and they were very small, one
especially, at the intersection of II and Thir-
teenth streets, and it seems to me it was all In
the streets, so turned back. WhenI got to
my room and looked at the table again, be-
cause thought had noticed that there was
considerable area there, and / found that there
was considerable area there; and then went to
work and measured some of those areas on
New York avenue as was going up and down
nd coloulatad Thanh merely al Tnattar Of