The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1882-02-16
STATE HOUSE LETTING.

, There seems to be some trouble owe
: the letting of the contracts last week 70
: the foundation of the center building u
} the state house. We regret to hear THU
as both wings Of the building, costing
some 100000, have been erected with
: out the suspicion of wrong doing so fal
as we ever heard. The present commits
sioners are John Hammond, of this city
who does not seem 20 be implicated il
the present scandal, Colonel Anderson
of Manhattan, and ii. H. Williams, An
old and prominent citizen Of Miami
county Little has been devel
oped yet On which charges of wrong
dong can be lodged, and we hope
the whole affair may be satisfactorily
arranged and adjusted II seems at the
letting of last week the contract was
awarded TO Tweedalc & Co, of Tnpek q
whose bid was 81, 500 higher Than that
OF Sargent IL Smith The contract was
awarded by the Yates of Anderson
and Williams, MIR. Hammond recording
his vote for the lowest bidder, as the
law requires. The result of the letting
was ii surprise To all acquainted with
the facts, as Anderson and William )
have borne regulations above suspicion.
Speaking of ihis matter the Topeka
correspondent of the Kansas City
Times. says:
From this it would look u, a man up
a tree as though the firm, who are post
ell on inside maIters, made their pro-
posal so as to include the last cent of ap-
preparation, having assurance all the
time that there would be no trouble in
their getting the contract, regardless of
! any other aspirants. But there will be
trouble. 1t has begun nUw. Your cor
respondent is informed that the govern.
or has been notified, and says he will
make special effort To investigate the
commissioners doings, and il fraud is
discovered, he will ask for immediate
designations from several parties in high
places. Secretary of State Smith says he
will also lend his aid TO unearth any and
all crookedness. Wednesday night Sar-
gent and Smith sent a man 10 Lawrence
and yesterday he returned, with Judge
Usher accompanying him. After the
judge had been given an account of the
matter he went TO Attorney General
johnson and notified that functionary
that he should not write any contracts
for Tweedale u Co. until thorough ill.,
vestigations were made. Mr.. johnson
agreed that he would not perform any
duties of the nature forbidden without
first giving the judge notification of the
same.
lPthere is anything crooked in the let
ting il should be Strengthened and before
any Other steps are taken. We do not
want any ring stealing or scandal con
nected with this business.
We quote again from the Times:
An architect by the name of Ropes
has been employed by the board for
year and half at a salary of SO per
day, and of course he had TO he includ-
ed. BY order of the board, he worked
all last summer, drawing plans and
specifications Tor the central building.
Now, who is this Ropesg We re-
member that Mr.. Carr, of Leavenworth,
was elected the architect ut a salary of
1890 per year. Do the commissioners
hire an extra architect? If they do.
where is their authority for so doing?
The records show that this Mr.. Ropes
was elected superintendent of the build
ing. He WAS employed at so day,
and was humming the last legislature
for an increase ,'f salary for his valuable
services, but the legislature re.
fused to grant il. On motion of
Nj Williams his salary was
afterwards raised to $40 II day,
and the record shows that Hammond
voted against this little steal and Will |
liams and Anderson for il. Now it
would appear from the Times state
ment that Ropes has usurped the archi-
tects position also.
We warn all connected with this
work that it won't do TO have any
crookedness. After. them Will come the
legislature, and their transactions will
be thoroughly overhauled, and every
wrong step will be exposed. II won't
pay to let any contracts to pets at 81
800 above other bids 1t won't pay to
give man $40 day, be he ever so or
namental, when he took the position
knowing the salary was Sc per day.
There is no use of any hurry about
this matter anyhow. There is no ap-
preparation for this work, and will be
none for year yet. 1t will take all the
money appropriated to finish the west
wing of the building. We understand
the bids are all made on basis of five
per cent. increase because the contrac-
tors understand they can't get their
pay for a year. Why need the state pay
an extra $4,000 to hurry this matter up
Let there be no undue haste. It don't
look we'll. Finish the west wing, and
there will be sufficient room, and the
contracts for the entire building can be
let next fall, and the state save the &c.,
600 which it will cost to carry the con-
tracts for year.