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

suoJect oI~fayng the pavement, Wnlcn was /
done BY that committee Of three. =
mentSi on >Pennsylvsnia aFsnue,s under that |
eomAission, before the Board Of Public Works9
Easforganized, and Your Conversations A.
The Chairman. These two ietters were writ
Ten before the oganization Of the bosrdt Al
Mr.. Stanton. And the conversation also, he
says.
THEODORE .. skMo RECALLED. -
By Mr.. Wilson: Q. Do you desire to make
any change in your testimony given formerly
as to the manner in which you made the
measurement on which the money was paid by
the Government "A. Not that I know Of, sir.
Q. The statement that you formerly gave to
the committee as to the mode In which you
made these measurements is as you desire It TO
remainf A. Yes, sir; Think 90. ~ q 5. !
Q. l have not had time 70 read your state
ment which you read 10 the committee last
Saturday, but, n understood Il, you seemed
to take some exec, Iona 70 the manner In which
you were treated by Mr.. Blickensderfer, and 1
desire to ask you the question now whether he
did or did not, AFTER be had made his measure
ments, walk over the ground with you with the
papers 10 hand and ask you to point out or ex-
plain to him how you arrived at the quantities
you had measured against the Government A.
He did not, with the single exception Of New
Hampshire avenue. cpl, s.9-s ui 49,
@. Did he 70 over that avenue with youi A.
He went over the northern part Of New Hamp-
shire avenue with me. :. -
O. What distance over Il did he got A.
From P-strees circle to the Boundary, and,
believe, from P-street circle to Pennsylvania
avenue. do not think we walked the whole
distance of Pennsylyanis avenue, but part OF
the distance between Pennsylvania avenue and
P-street circle. .. ~ r--- % r-.r-.-I
Q. Did you explain to him how you arrived
at all the quantities you had put down over
that portion of the ayenuei A. l did. e.
@. You explained that all to himi A. Yes,
sir. .,.....-- ... ,.... =.
o. Are we to under stand from the statement
which you make that the Government has in
no case been oyercbsrssd, % stated by Mr..
Blickensderfer, A. No; you are not so to un-
derstand. ..-. ...--.-r...
o. What are We to understand In regard to
III A. Virginia avenue and New Hampshire
avenue, where the streets cross, there is GER
tainly an overcharge; also in street.
@. Is there any other place where there Is an
| overchargei A. At Scott square.
Q. Any other placci A. Not tn at I have ex--
| amined. 10 :,
o. Those you say were overcharges, and that
the Government has been oyercharged at those
places, and you differ with Mr.. Bliekensderfer
In reference to the balance of M A. Yes, sir;
that lie, those that he has referred to in his
testimony. e. ..-.
O. Can you tell how IT happened that before
any appropriation was made, or any direction
was Piyen BY Congress to measure this work,
you were sent out 70 measure til A. I can.
Q. What 10 til A. Twas ordered to measure
Il BY General Babcock.s ..f b. .......
o. That is the only explanation you have to
rivei A. No; the explanation 10 this This
appropriation, Is understand it, Of 81. 240, 900
was pending In Congress, had passed the House,
and / believe had passed the Senate with an
amendment, and pending this amendment the
two Houses adjourned. II was believed that
the appropriation would pass, and Governor
Shepherd requested General Babcock to have
the measurements made, 80 as to be done and
ready as soon as the appropriation passed /;
therefore commenced the measurement under
Gener al Babcock's orders the SD of December,
1877, and completed them. am speaking
| from memory Of these dates now-the 10th of
January, 1878.
70. 1t was for the purpose Of having the
Measurement ready to gee the money as soon
IS the appropriation was passed? A. Un-
doubtedly. -
Q. Turn to page Of the report Of 1873, II
YOU please. When you were on the stand
before called your attention, you will per-
haps remember, to your letter given on page
>of that report, and which seems to be In an
swer to letter Of General babcock to you;
was what you did, which you refer TO In that
letter, also In anticipation Of and for the pur-
pose Of procuring an appropriation. or do you
know what the purpose wasl A. l will Sell
YOU what the intention was: Governor Shep-
| herd wrote q letter to General Babcock to de-
tail en- engineer for the purpose Of estimating
the amount Of work that had been done since
the last appropriation had been expended.
General Bsbcock detailed me to do this work.
| This was in November last. l commenced
| making these measurements, but found that
\ there was not going to be time to make q
proper measurement in time for tho Cover
nor's annual report. l told General Bah
cock SO, and suggested to him that we
take from the vouchers of the board
the am cunt that had been expended on this
Government work since the last estimates had
been made. General Babcock aeceded TO 1t
with this proviso, which was TO state to the
| Governor, that in case Congress should make
an appropriation on this estimate that he was
to send In that he would reserve the right to
remessure the entire work. Acting on that,
either myself or General Babcock wrote to the
Goyernor-I think wrote letter and Gen.
| eral Babconk signed ito furnish US with
| oertiasd SUPies Of yuuShSss I'm The loLncc VI
the Board Of Public Works pertaining TO this
work showing the amount expended. These
vouchers were furnished to me-the identical
vouchers presented here Saturday, and on them
and other vouchers / based this estimate, TO-
gether with the few measurements had made
in the month of November.
@. Now, you say In this letter of yours that
''the estimates of work done BY the Board OF
Public Works are based partly upon actual
measurements and partly on estimates made
by the engineers Of the board. Copies of the
| latter, showing the various items Of the work
in detail certified TO by the chief engineer Of the
board, with the amount appropriated BY Con
| gress deducted, are herewith submitted"
What sctusl measurements did you makcl A
| Work around Rawlins square. -a........
Q. That had long before been estimated
upon7 A. Il enters into this statement.
| Q. For what reasoni A. Because there was
4 q deduction made--a correction made.
| Q. What other work did you actually meas
urei A. would have to bring my book.
had that book here Saturday and took it back
and forgot to bring It this morning. II you
| wish it will believer II to you. would not
like TO say from memory the particular streets
that measured. --.-- ~ -..r.-. lisa
Q. I notice in all this appendix none Of your
actual measurements are submitted In this
letter. In fact, you stated in that letter that
copies Of the estimates made by the engineers
of the board are submitted, but your own
Measurements are not submitted. A. No, sir;
| that was simply my Textbook Of the measure
ments: They were very few, and ! did not
send it to General Bsbcock. He understood
It, however, thoroughly. Practically these es-
Inmates are based upon estimates Of the board
Of engineers. --...
Q. You do not pretend, II understand you,
to say that these estimates that are made by
the board OF engineers arc correct estimated
You do not intend byyour letter there to verify
those measurementsi A. No, SIR; neither do I
intend 10 say they are not correct. e.
l @. No, of course not. In other words, you
do not commit yourself one way or the other
in regard to III A. Just 90; and tibet was the
way explained it 10 General Bsbcoek, and he
SO understood 1t. --a-.r- 6. 51assr q q -
q. In other words, when these tables that
are presented here in connection with your let
ter come here to this committee, they do not
come here with any Endorsement Of yours as to
their being correct or incorrecti A. Practi-
cally not. Z ---.-..r ,-.s... .-.---.r. .-.
o. You simply hand them here to the COM
mittee rs they were handed to you, and you
have applied no test to determine whether
they are correct or incorrect a., No test Of
actual measurement, with the exception Of
these few streets that aid actually measure.
| @. Are they embraced In this tablet A.
No, they are not embraced In detan there. 80
| g. You DO not submit them with your letter.
A. No, SIR. e., -. - - -
| Q. And It was because you had made no
measurements yourself that you recommended
that after appropriations had been made, II
any were made, the work should be remeas-
4 ured before there was any payment made yor
any fnal settlement A. Partly for that
| reason, but principally because 1 bad never
fora of