National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-05-22

sion is due Is he lin tsi width Of streets as com
ADOLF oLUss, Eng.
: The sccount between Sc. -cush and Eighth
Ioined ExEtbi O, sis,Tss.I.
By Mr.. Stewart: Q. That is the bsst. AZ &
eorrec. assessmtQ.. How does that diff with
, the actual A. Il does not dider from Il, I
. bring the rate for o. 1yate property down. ans {
bring the assessmentNtO the Government alsS
DOWN. In the limited time wanted to show
my good viii tothe COM and wanted to
b4iag those sheets here. .Something must have
beer charged twice. The eupon l bring the
assessment against private property one dollar
down, and bring tho assessL> vent against the
/ Government also down.
/ O. What Is the aggregate diEesencei A. I
bring against the Govornment 81 Nv. oertly
had $3.50 go, and Mr. FORSYTH haze, according
70 my best understanding, SG50OO
Q. Against private properly how M A.
$1,000 against 81 -sS-s1.25 bring Z dt,wn
against private property, according, think, 70
strictly mathematical calculstisn. .
By Mr. Mattingly: @. Have you endeaFofed
to ascertain the cause Of the discrepancies that
you refer TOT A. No, sir; have not,
| y. 10 you mean to say, now, thaf It Is pc
cause you have not had time to ascertain what
Il Is, or because you have made up your mind5
that 1t Is one Of those inscrutable things that
i a.
seen, and other things, If there is grading Of
5000 feet, and afterward they charge rs, 900,
there Is no comparison possible.
| Q. Then you have not endeavored to make
anyl A. No, sir; had not the time. 1 had
| this, and when came here put the last stroke
of the pen down. These are, of course, indie
pendent of the avenues. found a good many
little extra bills, and this might have been pos
sible, If had plenty of time. I might have
noticed the particular parts of the street.
Q. Did you make any inquiry Of Mr.. 0ertly,
! so as to ascertain the difierencel A. could
not find Mr.. Oertly at his desk.
Q. Then you have not done it, A. could
not find him. l had to do business, not To run
after Mr.. Oertly.
| Q. Is that the reason you did not do it; be-
cause you could not find hint A. Yes, sir;
would have asked him if had had the time
and his face.
By Mr.. Wilson: Q. Have you done any
figuring on New York aYenuel A. had not
possibly the time.
BY Mr.. Bass: Q. Do I understand you to say
that you have assumed that this charge on
page All relates to that work. A. The upper
| portion of it. have q memorandum here that
part Of that work merely relates to Fiji
| teenth street west and Rock creek, although
that seems to be ommitted.
| Q. You took that into the account? A. Yes,
sir; examined that part of the figures as
closely as possible, taking in deductions well
as charges-taking everything that relates to
| Capitol Hill.
By Mr. Mattingly: Q. Did you find any de-
| ducEions relating to Capitol Hill-Pennsylva-
MIA avenue eastl A. Yes, sir; they are here.
First street southeast, Second street, and Third
street.
Q. You treated these deductions in the man
ner you stated little while ago in your mode
of estimating the account A. Yes, sir. These
| deductions were received IN full, and 50 tits
no: right to deduct them and sfterWsrd take
/ two thirds of it.
By Mr. Bass: Q. Did you make an examiua-
I ton with reference to Maryland avenue, as to
which Mr.. Blckeusderfer testifen A. Yes,
| sir.
q. Have you testified on that subject beforcF
A. 1 have an Independent table here.
I BY the Chairman: q. Did you estimate any
thing for old work. A. No, sir.
Q. Just for the work of the board! A. No,
| sir; considered ft in one account, making all
work. 1t is impossible to make out q state
ment of Old and new work, the way things
have been managed; you must have separate
| account kept.
By Mr.. Mattinyly: Q. Did you make out a
separate account for eschi A. No. sir; I made
one for new work.
| Q. Don't you know the charge BY the board
was for both old and new work. A.. T hope
| they have. not made such an incongruous bill
| as to put in new work and old work. That
must be stated on the face. That Is business
like.
Q. That is your idea of what is business-like;
but as a matter of fact don't you know that tho:
charge for work done on the avenue included
both old and new work. A. The Board of
Public Works is not aware OF any such thing.
Q. Are you aware of any such thipgi A.
No; sir.
i o. And the only work you, measured was
for work done by the board..nsW work. A.
Yes, sir.
@. Don't you know that the Government
made an appropriation to reimburse for the
old work. A. know that the Government
made one. This heading of the bill amounts
to nothing. l stand upon the engineers facts,
and not upon the headings of appropriation
bills. Of course, you know you, must charge
either new or old work.
q. Where the Government makes an appro-
priation to pay for both old and new work, do
I understand you, as an engineer, that ysu
would only make out aibill for new work and
make out none for old work. A. If incorpora-
ted in one bill, would make two separate
; statements, showing clearly what was old and
what was nsw..
O. Suppose they did not make ser arate state
ments, but included the two items in one se-
COUNT A. 1 do not know how that could be
done, for work done ten years ago was, GER
tainly done at different price from what it
was done for last year. 1t could not be done
By any correct estimate.
Mr.. Mattingly. will examine Mr.. Ciuss
hereafter fully in regard to these matters.
Il the CnalEuAn. ". DO you LlluS
! about profile Known as the Coyle's profile, or
q book containing so ne statements as to the
contour of the streetsl A. Yes, sir; have fire.
quently seen it at the city surveyors office.
Q. Have you ever tested its accuracy in any
) wsyl A. Well, i have frequently incidentally.
have found out that Mr.. CoyleIs book orr
ginally, it seemed to me, was done right well;
but 1t was not kept up, it seemed. A good
deal of work was, done independent. of Mr..
, Coyle's work. It is not reliable.
o. Is there any record of the work that was
} done outside of this Coyle record You say
they disregarded Il, or failed to keep it up; is
there any record showingl A. 1 do not think
there is any record showing that at all.
> Q. You stated. that you had no record in.
e. your office of the assessments! a! None what
: ever.
Q. Whose duty is It to make assessments
under The organization heref A. The Board Of
Public Works, no doubt.
3 @. But they do it by means Of some sIbona-
mate; what, do they call hiIrts A. Assistant
n engineer.
Q. Does hedo IL a suryeyoFor as assistant
8 engineer' A. I presume that he does itszas
assistant engineer of the board, because this is
n the only duly which he performs for his salary.
O.. Does he keep separate officer A.. Yes,
sir,
2 Q, Audeoples of these records in that Object
A, Yes, sir. ~.
o. From your knowledge of him-doss he
keep these records Accurately A. l would
b. rather not answer that question.
The Chairman. will not press it.
= Mr.. Class. wish to say, before lssEe the
= room bore, that was very glad to be- able to
make astatement here in instice to the very able
20 corps of assistants who have been tTumpetsd
through the country asineompetents-I am glad
N to say, that, on close Examination we DEFY
: criticism as to all ourdoings; and I1eyor knew
better men, in the con9se Of my. professional
80 life. than those men that have. now to assist
= me; and think that hose gentlemen will be
2 able to vindicate whatever has bean done under
!, the engineer department of the Board of Public
d Works.
], By the Chairmsa: Q. You are quite willing
that the engineers, estimates and measure
!. ments shall be pat to severe testi A. Yes
n sir; and / inyitssft,
III BY Mr.. Stanton Q. II any discrepancies are
a. FUND, fog instance In M. Barney's measure
!. ment, yq6 think that such discrepancies vert
= such as might have happened in any competent
;ot engineers measurement p A. OF course. Ir
that big mass of work it Is almost impossible
D. that everything would be exactly accurate.
al Q. You believe him, forinstance, 10 be quite
a a.