, 1879-05-10

Il woudnt do TO order tlo building razcd. The
Chicago newspapers would aufcly pitch tnto hlt'l
II he did tllat. II, he recommended lint Cotl>.
sies attss, Ss e! 'Gses &s f',te% ~ apoed j. Ihs
ComrntssIon's report waa referred to the ne1t
Congress. At this timo the iowspauora were
nll on tic other side. When ANYTHING y
gentlemen ot tic press" pricked % their sars
an' thr!r pencils mid went Tor Potter, Wsll.
second Contnssiot cotllnosod oi leading Ctslca'
Pointed in June , 1S75. Whtlo they wcra *.
a'nntng the work, Mueller, who had been ant
tnwn upon In rottcr's report, resolved to ap-
pal t. a IL rsnt 1e :St no enx u:
CHANTS, ami nsscl Grant to order the resushp'
tlon Of work on Tie building While Grant wns
laboring over this document from Muel!ert
abusing Potter nld Holman, tie renoEt oi tllr
second Commission came atonE, recommending
that the work 70 on, and reporting. II, Substance,
| that The 1ounaationss. wero good enough t'rnnt
actca promptly. 1le percmpt,ory ordered
men IN tic country. 7t,c Commission was
appointed md finally reporleti that. while the
atom wasn't the best, yet 1t has bccn pal for,
Md It WINS better to gO on with Tie building than
| to throw It away. Then came tho
ORDER FRoM fRlsTow 70 90 AnBAD.
Just hero Mr.. Bwctt touched On the 10 Der
| cent business, expalt.tnE tlsat Mueller claimed
that amount On Ills cont ract-whIclt tile ttuyer,,-
| 1nent hau been holding back-for The reason
that l,G had mada Immense preparations to get
ont tho ttone Tor this building md had been DE-
| layed for snonths to HIS gruat damnre. aud tho
Arting Secretary Of tic Treasury decided TINT
tho clain WIGS a perfectly lust .l,lu valid one.
Mir. Bwctt then got down 10 The time when
MMcllcr vas compelled, llu claimed, 10 spend
$50, 900 for laid at thu Twelfth street yard, be-
eausc, though The CONTRACT provided thu. ho was
| hal S11PrH n II t1t1ippre1 fttpt,t
11c paid tho stl, ,oD0. but claimed TINT tic Gov
srnmcnt should pay Him for the extra work Of
hand'g tho Btone, ,-haultllg It first to Tweltth
street ad then to tllr building. Potter wouldn't
It sYns cut, nor would llo approve Aiuclier's
clalm for tilia extra lantllng. Mueller prote.t-
CD, and Potter in reply reiterated lls
ihe Treasury concurrei With him. Mualler
asHed 10 llMvc tho decEa'on Ecconsldcsc1, nntl Il
went to Blufors1 Wilson, who ngan sustained
Potter. Alter an antsEonts'n OF year. astoE-
page Ut the work, mud a complete deadlock,
Potter referred tue wholu question to Brlstow.
The Attoruey-Gcncra, In his written opinion,
decided tllat the iwo contracts wera. not to ho
construed togetlcr,-in otlcr Words decided
against Potter, who, us to t!c legal questions
iHyolvud, hail been wrong all The time, md who
was ordered by Brstow to follow tho decision
In the future. All the defects In tho stonc, dis
covered aftor their original delivery, we're due
tic Attorney-Gencral. But that dccIsion
ot hauling. Potter Insisted he was right, aud
Mueller Insisted o., bis claim. The question yns
referred to Bur.ing, WHO said the extra haul
ought to be allowed, as. no fnts-mndcd tHnn
could deny, nnd statcd that II cents was no
more thali The contractor Should receive. Final
Ii, however, tue Attorney. General drcidcd III
fayor OF M,tcllcrs cIaim fur Is ccnts, A,l Potter
had to saccumb
ALL THESE PERCENTAGE CONTRACTS,
hut In NJ rr,01n INF Pm {Y1fn
| nllcc. Faulty Ms these contracts were, he did
the best hc could With them, nlthouEh stating In
writing that he was opposed 10 them. Hy. :he
rules he put r. n forca ho controlled Sumo ot t.lc
ter uf fact, # wonlI bo sllown that tho stone
cutting III the middle OF tho huild1ug--1one
when Potter WIS in oi1co-was ot tho
mon money. 4 Great deal hid bec,, sa'l about IalinE,
but It would bo shown tliat while 10 wRs III
ollco the work went GU NJ promptly ai.sl
economically ~ possible, und that whntavcr
duo 10 tits sys.cs 11ow could Grant, lifting
IN tho White Hutsc, SEQ whother workman oil
! the roof Of thG ncw building pccI,rd away rs
hnrd as lie ought to! Grant could no moro do
this than eoai.! pryats porson putting up
| full work. =.
IN conclusion, Mr.. swctt confidently assured
the Jury that they would ind no case against
Mr. Potter, and that they must certainly acqult
him,
AtR, M'CA01 FOLLOWED FoR MR., nunL1Hp.
The chsxeo OF conspiracy, ,,e sait could not
be proved, but, as he gathered It, was 10 be III
| ferrcl. ucnce 1t wnB only FUR to say some-
th!ng about Mr.. Dnrling. He WIS lnnn 90
years Of acc mnn Of ability aud honesty, re-
BpecteIl Us Citizen, agal,!st whuse gond namc
nothing had eyer bcen sud before Tho linlng VI
this Indictment. Ic brought to the Office Ut
Superintendent Of Construction compctgnce,
respect, arl integrity, aud he camo out Ut It To
1 hbfnrn n rnfff iI1rV n I1nfh{1 httrH ii
against an Indictment from tho LANDS Of n Gov
ornment which should have ,pEotsctcd him.
He was poorer, IN fact. to-dny tllan when
hc went Into TINT Office; It would DO
with eln making Or co''struction OF tie coll
tracts, and when the jury Ind heard oil tho
evidence In the cast, they must sea that his
indictment was most ut,graclous. unfair. and
had served. ,Aiuch had l,ccn 6nd about tho
Worthless character Of the building. but Mr.
McCngg thought tlloY would show before they
got through that It was very, fno1 building.
One Of sllc frat things Atr. DurllnE. did was to
Inform the Supervising Architect that t,u found
material on, hand wlllcll contained srota and
flaws, NIT tho Supervising Architect wroto him
to not reject 'he stone 1 ha could help It, be'
cause to reject 1t was to thu interest VI The con
| tractor aud agatnht thu tntcrt:ht Of t1u Govern
nlcllt, Mr.. Yn.I Qsici alsu udyfsel him to usc
thc stouc, saying .at thy spots would iatle o4t
McCngg claimed to l,a nb!c to show tllnt not .
single stono with any di.cooratfon wns So. Id
tho building during Mr. Bur!ng's atltnlnIstra
tion tint wns the result OF his 0nn choico and
tits own inspection.
gEcaf deal hnl been said about the intqA!ty
OF Tho cutting contract. What hal Mr. Dur1In4
to do with 1t, slncp 1t was made before he be-
came Superintendent, except to follow til Pub
lc buildings were likely to 10 costly, but It would
be shown that thure was adequate reason In tI!e
naturo OF thugs why the third story and the
attic above should cost ,llora than the Other
atosles: that tho stones put in Wero cut out ol
stone whose suptFiclal area was to thu superficial
area uf stone IN the other stories ten to QUO.
uud tI,at stones frequently had to be worked
over. The Inference, as to these meals gull
would not have becD drawn Ind the 0rtntl Jury
gtycn tho casu tho fair hearng 10 he given 1t by
tin prcsunt potit Jury. Mr. aleCagg admitted
there was idllns, but c'atmcd TINT tlsr workHcn
alone wcru responsible for It, anl tint It did not
OCCUR uutll They wore told. at the cose Of ue
suason. that they were soon to BE-
discharged anyway, nn.l that they came
TO the conClustoll that they might u
well b. discharged fur diIateriucss ns to bc dis
charged because there was nothing more TO do.
| Hut tho EXCESSIVE cost Of u lew minor Utul,