New-York tribune., 1883-12-21
H. O. THOMPSON'S DEVICES.
MORE EXTRAORDINARY UNBALANCED BIDS.

HOW CITY MONEY is THROWN AwAY-MR. RoosE-
WELT ON THE NECESSITY OF A LEGISLATIVE
NQUIRY-COURT OF APPEALS DECISIONS.
The details of three more extraordinary unbal-
anced bid contracts in the Public Works Depart
ment are given to-day. 1t is shown that in ono
contract Mr.. Thompson has classed the tearing
down OF an old stone wall as "rOck excavation"
and the city has been made to pay an exOrbitant
price for the work. On this contract the city
has already lost $50,3O6, because
OF the false estimate and unbalanced
bid. 1t is shown that in total disregard of the
interests of the city Mr. Thompson has increased
the annual pay of relative over 400 per
cent-making his pay equal to that of the
Mayor. Assemblyman Roosevelt says that if
elected Speakerhe will insist on a thorough, ex-
haustive and impartial investigation of the De-
partment of Public Works and of other
branches of the city government. The Court Of
Appeals has rendered several decisions re-
Gently that bear upon the disclosures concern-
ing unbalanced bids and other Irregularities.
PROFITING AT THE EXPENSE OF THE CITY.
A CONTRACTOR WHO is PAID AN ExoRBITANT PRICE
FOR TEARING DOWN A STONE wALL-PROsPER-
ITY or THE SMITH FAMILY.
of which have already been printed in TIE TRrB-
UNE. it was shown that James w. O'Grady was paid
700 per cent moro than the amount of his bid. In
that case he was paid $50 cnbic yard for excav-
ating rock while the fair value of tho work was not
more than So a cubic yard. Mr.. OGrady was
equally fortunate in contract he obtained from
Commissioner Thompson on June 20, 1882, forregu-
lating and grading Morningsidc-aye. from One
hundred and -tenth-st. to Tenth-ave. The amount
of Mr. O'Grady's bid on this contract was SGO,599.
So far he has earned SfO3, $50, and he is by no
means through with his contract.
Mr.. o'GRADY's WONDERFUL FORESIGHT.
The estimates on this contract were usual at
fault. The estimate on which bids were invited
called for 1880 cubic yards of earth excavation On
this item Mr.. OGrady bid an excessive price, 22o
per cent greater than that of two other bidders.
But his wisdom was manifest when the returns
came in as already he has taken out Haas cubic
yards of earth or about 400 per cent than the
estimate. On rock he also bid good price and tho
return also exceeds the estimate. But in this case
the city has been paying him for work classed as
" rock excavation" which was different and less
costly kind of work. good deal of the rock ex-
cavatiOn on this contract is nothing more than tear
ing down an old stone wal-a very different thing
from excavatng rack under the surface of the
ground; and yet Mr.. O'Grady is getting the same
rate pay for both. This estimate on this contract
called for 100 cubic yards of filling. On this
item Mr. O'Grady bid n low price and of course
there was only about onc-third of the quantity Of
filing called for actually supplied. For dry stone
masonry Mr. O'Grady bid q large price, and here
again his sagacity was evident from the fact that
more than twice as much was required as the esti.
mate called for The bids of five different contract
ors for the work of regulating and grading under
this contract were as follows: