The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1875-04-23

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York papers. What aame shall
We give New York IN Sisw Of her
Tammany and canal exposures.
The most ingeEious and successful
rotten commonwealther must grow
indignant when lie thinks of the
success of the New York thieves.
The robberies OF the canal ring
have been carried on under what is,
by genteel robbers, called the "nnbal-
anced bid" an ingenious contri-
vance under which the most glariDg
frauds have been committed We
let Governor Tilden tell how il is
done in his message:
"When the engineers estimate Of quail
ties and kinds Of material are published
by the Commissioners, the contractor will
find out by collusion, or In some other
way, what quantities OF each kind OF work
or mater ial will, IN fact, be required, or
he will see what influence he can exert TO
change the contract after it is made. If
II Is changed no new letting is had, but he
claims the job as his right. lie then puts
In his bid, offering TO do such work or to
furnish such material as he finds will not
be required at all, or in small quantities,
at absurdly low prices, at a quarter or In
some instances ut u twentieth part OF Its
cost. TIE items which will be required
in full, and probably in extra quantities,
he will put at unreasonably high rates, and
il turns out that what the contractor Of
iers. at low prices is called for in small
quantities, If at all, while those which are
put at high prices are NOT only required
In full, but In most cases in extraordi-
nary quantities. An example VIII more
clearly illustrate how the State is de-
frauded by these devices. The engineer
having estimated certain work and mater
ial as follows:
100 cubic yards Of vertical -
wall at So $1,000
at s.IJO $3.50. 80
$50 1900
SIS 10000
Total estimate s7,1O25O
AS bid for the job Mt these rates
amounted to 7,1O25O
BIS bid for the same was, for
100 cubic yards vertical wall
at Sc 100000
at 80 cents 1860
$40 1Gs.OC
So $50 OO
and aggregated S2,IO4.5C
The proposal Of B., apparently so ad.
vantageous to the State, was accepted, and
the contract awarded TO him as the slow
est bidder" But afterward, by some i'll
fiuence, il wa decided to make only yer.
tical and no slope wall, and TO use only
oak and no hemlock timber. There was
I.,s
been in fact revampted in TO new. and
different contract, which enabled T., tC
collect from the State for
| 1856 cubic yards CT vertical
wall, at So S23, 113t
SO - 4,3G.
The sum of SOS, O9s
1t will be seen that in such transa ction
and they are numerOus-in violation o
the Constitution, the contractor gets thu
work without there having been in fac
any public letting, or any chance for com
petition By Others"
The Governor cites ten cases un'
der this beautiful unbalanced bid
system, in which the contracts ag
gregated S424,735 so, and on which
the State really paid Sl,5G0,760.S4
the thieves pocketing, under these
ten contracts, a cool 81, I3G ,033.0l.
The whole country will watch
further Developments in this mat
ter with great interest, aud if thu
Governor and the Tribune succeed
in making the scOundrols who are
engaged in robbing the people com
panions of the disgraced and no
torious Tweed, at Blackwellt
Island, there will be universal re
joicing. And now that we are il
the business of Investigation let i
90 on till the whole tribe of cor
ruptionists, everywhere, are hunted
down and driven out of society ant
into the prisons cells where theiI
rotten lives will no longer pollut'
the public atmosphere.