National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-04-09

| v; were contracts swarded, and paI1jes put
to work before the board had acted upon the
awardsf A. No, sir; IL was considered that
they had been acted upon when they wers
awarded.
| Q. Was It considered when thew were
awarded BY you, for example, that they were
awarded by the boaidi 4. Yes, sir.
| Q. In other words, you had been authorized
by the board to award contracts A. Yes,
Q. Was that authority given by an entry
made on the minutes of the board, OF simply
by an understanding of the boardl A. My i'm.
preston 10 that that is on the minutes of the
records of the board, and general under
standing from the members of the board. The
! contracts awarded since have been there have
been small matters Of finishing up work that
has already been laid out.
larger contractsa A. The larger contracts have
not been awarded to any extent since have
| been there.
Q. Prior to that time who awarded thenni
A. preseme that was done in the same man
! ner. ~ -.----~--
q Have you any means Of showing have
you any books or memoranda that will show
who awarded these various contracts! A.
Nothing more than the journal itself.
| Y. Have you no paper outside of that that
VIII show what contracts were awarded by you,
| ano what contracts were awarded by othersl
A. have nothing but the records Of the office.
| Y. No private memoranda A. No private
memoranda.
| Q. Did you keep no private memoranda of
the contracts awarded by youi A. No. sir:
everything is on record of my transaction.
Q. am not dispusing that at all; but simply
want to know whether you kept no memoranda
of the contracts that were awarded by you from
time to timel A. o, no, sir; nothing.
Q. Have you ever made out statement
showing the contracts that were awarded by
you and the contracts awarded by any other
member of the boardl A. have made out q
memorandum myself of contracts that have
been awarded since l became the executive
officer of the board.
Q. Where is that memorandum A. do
not know that l have it now.
Q. How long since you saw It? A. do not
know that have preserved it. do not know
that have it at all.
Q. How long is It since you did have itl A.
l can explain, When this investigation was
talked of l, to refresh my memory, looked over
| to see what contracts had been awarded since I
had been the executive officer. preserved
nothing for record. The records of the Office
will show it; and by reference to eny paper
that you may call for that will show the trans
| action itself.
Q. But the reference to the records Of the
office would not show what member of the
| board had awarded the contract, would til A.
| say myself, that I awarded the contracts since
have been the executive officer, upon author
ity delegated to nae by the board, and the Gus
tom that had been adopted before came into
the office.
Q. Who awarded the contracts prior to the
time Of your becoming the executive officer!
A. presume that my predecessor did.
Q. Governor Shepherd A. Governor Shep-
herd.
Q. Were those large contracts awarded dur
ing his occupancy Of the position of executive
officer Of the board7 A. presume they were.
Q. Do you know of any contracts being
awarded without the knowledge or consent OF
the board! A. Do you mean without the con-
sent of the individual membersl They were
awarded; yes, sir.
Q. They were awarded with the knowledge
OF the board proper? A. 1have stated, think,
that the executive officer had the authority and
was delegated to award these contracts
|, Q. Do you remember when that authority
was granted to the executive oficer-how long
agol A. No, sir; I do not.
Q. viii the records of the board showl A
By Mr.. Merrick: Q. Do understand you to
mean that this awarding was the exclusive
matter of the executive officer, without consul
tation with the other membersl A. / mean to
be understood that the awarding was merely
ordering the work to be done, IS understood
it. There was q rate of prices established
and the awarding of the contract was merely
ordering the work to be done.
Q. Did the man who awarded II have the
selection Of the contractor A, He had the
selection of the contractor, If he could find a
contractor who would do it.
O.. The subject of the selection of the con-
tractor was not q matter discussed in the board
itself, but only determined by the executive
officer, if understand youl A. would like
to state this: that since Ibecame the executive
officer, it has been very hard to find contractors
to do the work; that is, since the panic; and
there has been an. eKertfon to get the work
done.
By Mr.. Stanton: Q. That is at board ratesi
A. Yes, sir.
By Mr.. Wilson: Q. What is the reason that
il was hard to get contractors to do the workl
A. Well, sir, the panic struck them first, and
then the investigation second. I think that
has been the trouble.
Q. Has your difficulty in getting contractors
only been since this investigation beganl A.
Yes, sir.
Q. Prior to that time you had no troubled A.
Well, I am only speaking from the time Twas
connected with the board. That was about
the first of October, when had the awarding,
or you might say ordering, of the work done.
Twas ordering the work that had been already
laid out.
Q. Have you had any money to pay to con-
tractors since you have been the executive Off
Ger of the boardl A. 1 am not the treasurer.
Q. Do you know the state of the finances of
this boardi A. do not.
@. Do you know anything at all about it, A.
do not.
@. Do you know whether the board has been
in position, since you became its executive
officer, to make any contracts for which you
could promise to pay money! A. Yes, sir; 1 think
that they had, in my own judgment. should
think that they had good grounds for making
contracts, from the fact that believe there
the Government owed the board, and / GER
tainly should not myself have ordered work
unless saw that there was q fair prospect of
the contractor being paid.
Q. Your reliance, then, was upon getting
money out of the Government to pay for this
work, was tta A. Yes, sir; q reliance that the
Government would pay the board what was
due them.
Q. What did you consider that the Govern
ment owed the board. A. That could not
answer without reference.
@. Cannot you give us, the amount In round
numbers; has this matter never been consid-
cred by the boardi A. It was considered. I
think the amount was 81 600 900, aside from
the sewer taxes which was due from the Gov
eminent.
Q. That was your reliance, and not any
moneys that you had on hand of your ownl A.
From that and the assessments that were to
come in for the work done.
Q. What was the marketable of the Sc
curities of this corporation about the time that
you became its executive officerl A. That / am
not prepared to answer.
Q. Do you know what the certificates Of To
debtedness were selling for in the market herel
A. No, sir. should refer to the quotations at
the dates If were to give you an answer.
Q. What was about the marketable about
the time that you became the executive officer
of the boardi A. Are you now referring to the
auditors certificates
@. Yes, sir. ! mean these certificates that
are in the market here. A. dou't think that
can give an intelligent answer, for had
nothing to do with them.
@. Do you not know, from your position as q
member of the board and as q business man in
this city, that those certificates were at very
large discount A. They were, sir.
Q. At 40 and so per cent. discount, were they
noti A. presume they were,
Q. Did that have anything to do with your
difficulty In getting men to take contracts at
board prieesi A. Yes, sir.
@. Then It was not this investigation that
was preventing men from taking contracts, was |
lti A. The investigation prevented the obtain
Ing Of money from the Government. 1t was
It would prolong the matter, and the
of getting 1t was something.
Q. Was there an anticipation that there would