, 1877-11-25
THE SEXTON BRICK JOB.


THE SEXTON BRICK JOB.
Mr.. P. j. SEXTON seems to be special
favorite of the County Ring nnd its attend
ant satellites. The statement is made that
ho wns given an order on the County
Treasurer last Friday for $50, 600 on account,
in the face Of the fact that there was dis
crepancy between tho County Architects
measurement and the measurement of the
Committee of Experts amounting to nenrly
1900, 900 OF bricks. The swiEdling allow
ance of extras on this same contract ought
also to be sufficient reason for refusing him
payment till there shall have been an oppor-
tunity to correct the whole matter; but
there seems to be determination on the
part of the Ring that the job shall be rushed
through aud the money paid before tho new
Board shall have an opportunity to set it
aside.
As m instance Of the operations of the
Ring, this final net of villainy may us
we'll be recountel in brief. SEXTON got
the contract for furnishing brick, Of n
description and quality corresponding to
what is known as sewer brick. at 50 per,
thousand. That this was very liberal price is
evident from the fact that the city has been
buying sewer brick, used in the actual con-
struction of sewers, at prices ranging from
$s;.35 to $500 per thousand. It is also
stated TINT q large portion Of the sewer brick
furnished tho city came from SE1ToSs
yard, SO that he must have sold them as low
rs that, or for less, rs the contractors who
bought from him and sold to the city must
h:ro nada something on the transaction.
Had he been content with his originq1 con-
tract prico of 80, he would still have
received over $3 per thousand in excess
of what other contractors havo received; but
lie even demanded - s'cxtrn" per thousand
on the ground that sewer brick had been
furnished, and that they were not expressly
named, though fully described, in the con-
tract. This .'cxira +" was allowed by the Ring
majority i'll the Board. aud as result SEXTON
receives S12 thousand for the same bricks
that are sold TO the city for less than Sc
thousand; in other words, he receives more
than double what they are worth. Besides
this, ho is credited with nearly 100000
brick that hare not been delivered at all,
according to the measurement Of the OK
perts. The net result of this transaction
is that the county is plundered about
S3j, ,0eo, including the allowance Tor brick
not delivered and the outrageous ovcrcharge
made On the brick actually used.
This is fair sample of tho way in which
the county affairs have been administered by
the Ring. II is preposterous to assume that
II number uf County Commissioners banded
together to put S'35, 900 into Alr. SExToS's
pocket, oTer and above !: reasonable profit on
his contract: without some share Of the
robbery. The squendering Of public moneys
las scarcely become mere pastime. We
do not think so badly even OF the Cook
County ling as to believe that they vote
away the peoples money in r:.scally jobs Cor
the mere fun Of thc@t thing. They regard tie
SEx1o,; brick job Us their last chance, md
want to make the most Of it. As it seems
hopeless matter to reach and punish the
RinGste:s by process of law, we can only
hope that SEXTON will keep all the money he
is able to lay his hands on, and let the retir-
ing members Of the Board whistle for auy
share OF Il on which they may have counted.
This SEXTON job illustrates pointedly the
necessity for the new members Of the Board
to enter unon their duties without even the
appearance Of combination, hut simply and
openly as the sworn agents of the people.
There are five Of them,-aIeEsrs. SpofForD,
MEYER, BrEI1Sa, BorsE, and WuEE1En,-
and they constitute nucleus for the forna-
ton Of n taxpayers majority i'll the Board.
There are four Of the old members who
ought to join them on this broad basis, VIZ. i:
Messrs. AgARs: SEsSE, TAnon, md F1rzGEn-
AID. Let these old members be thrown
upon their own responsibility. Any one Of
them who fni1s to make common cause with
the rev members against the old Ring and
its influences will do so Mt his peril. Agree
mcnts md trades are not III tho interest Of
the public. What is needed is an open and
courageous attack on the Ring. a