Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-04-25
THE FIFTH WARD SEWERS.
Capt. Starlsey Enters u Protest ADninst tn
AsCard Being GiUeH TO mother.

Capt. StarIey Enters u Protest Against the
Ascard Being GiveH to mother.
To the Common Council:
Conscious of the disadvantage the indl-
vidual is under az against municipal cor
poration, and without desiring or intending
to reflect upon any part of the city govern
ment, yet presumiDg that corporations may,
in the exersise of their corporate powers, do
an injustice to the Individual, however I'M
interesting it may be, AN prompted to ad-
dress myself to the calm, dispassionate Judg-
ment of your honorable body, whether the
conclusion arrived at in awarding the con-
tract for the Fifth ward sewers to the sec
ond lowest bidder instead of to myself, be-
ing the lowest bidder i'll accordance with the
record of the board of public works, is alto
pether such decision as the facts and cir
cumstances of the case would warrant.
IT'S true the board and council under the
charter, are invested with arbitrary power
to say and determine what is reliable, re-
sponsible bid, yet being 80 invested with
such power, it Is only fair to expect that the
exercise of that power should, and would be
in the interest Of sound public
policy, fairness TO the bidder as
we'll as the city, due regard
to the credit and good name of the sure
lies and uniformity of procedure IN the
matter of awarding contracts regulated in
great measure By what has been the custom
and precedent of the city authorities in the
many cases of the acceptance Of the sureties
on bidders BONDS.
venture to assert that as far as my knowl-
edge extends, there has been no case In the
history of the city government OF
late years, where the exercise Of this arbitra-
ry power has been prosecuted with so much
pertinacity and determination as IN the late
Rice street sewer contract, and the one now
pending, and to which am attempting to
invite the attention of your honorable body.
| claim to have been the lowest response
BILE bidder for both these contracts. The
Rice street sewer contract was awarded me by
the board of public works, and my s0retIes
were satisfactory to the board, but upon
transmission of the award to the council for
confirmation, objection was raised as to the
sufficiency of my bond, which resulted IN
my being deprived of that contract, which
was afterwards awarded to P. Nash, of this
city, with what result your honorable body IS
advised, as well as the taxpayers.
The award of the Fifth ward sewers to one
G. J. Miller, he not being the lowest bidder, l
place in the same category as the Rice street
sewer contract above referred to. The act of
rejecting any bid for the Fifth ward sewers
deem is an exercise of arbitrary power that
will not conduce to the interests of the tax
payer, nor is it in accordance with precedent
in other contracts of like nature. I claim
my sureties were good for the bond. claim
that the suficiency of a surety cannot be
measured solely by the amount of real estate
he may own, but first by the reputation of
the man for business qualifications, honesty
and integrity, personal assets, as we'll as real.
which he may own. Ali these should be ia
ken into consideration, and all these claim
nv sureties, j. G. MCCARTHY and Martin De-
laney, have and had. Both these gentlemen
are old and respected citizens of many years
residence in st. Paul, and who is there that
knows them that will say, on bond OF this
character, their names are not good for
$500? And, in connection with this, with
out being egotistieal, claim to know some
thing of the business and profession am
engaged in, a knowledge of which is abso-
lutely necessary to the performance of this
contract.
I claim that throughout long life, large
part of which for thirty years has been spent
here, that in every contract but one ever en-
gagged in here or elsewhere I have performed
the same fairly and properly without liti-
cation or trouble.
Iagain repeat, intend no reflection on the
city government, but think that am entitled
to that contract. No personal prejudice, or
dislike Gf there is any towards me) should be
allowed to sway the action of any official
when dlscharging public duty. regret to
say that am informed there is personal
feeling against me existing in some part of
of the city government. 1 trust this is a
mistake, not true, for know of no conduct
of mine as engineer or contractor that should
be the ground of any such feeling. l am
ready ITO furnish additional security if al
lowed, although the city attorney has de-
cided this cannot be done, but as 1 am ad-
vised other reputable attorneys of the city
differ from that officer, and say it can be
done, I have thought it pertinent to herein
allude to it. Very respectfully.
JAMES STARKEy.