The daily gazette., 1883-07-31
THE SCHOOL GOAL ooNrnACr.
The Board of Education Gets Itself INTO q
TrOublesome DifacultY.

TrOuDfeBOm0 D1mCuitys
A special meeting of the Board of Educa-
tion was called for last evening, and IL
members responded.
The call, signed by Samuel F. Belts, g.
redmond Smith and others, was read by
the secretary. Mr.. Belts stated that there
was hitch in the matter of fuel contract.
The committee misunderstood the matter
when It reported in favor Of awarding the
contra to the jackson Lime and Coal Com
pany. The committee understood that the
bid Included Lehigh as well as Schuylkill
coal, but next day It was discovered that the
coal to be furnished as LehiRh was mined in
Sehuyikiil regions. George W. Bush &
Sons and Chailes Warner & Co. each put in
clsim for the contract as the lowest bid
ders Tor Lehigh coal. Mr.. Belts thought 1t
best to refer the matter back to the Board.
He made a lengthy report Of the CORE
spondeDce with Jackson Lime and Coal
Company and Of conference he had with
David a.. Kent, president, who offered to
substitute Lehigh coal at 80 cents
more q ton. The company claimed
the contract and urged an immediate
answer. The coal was guaranteed
to Messrs, Beaton Smith and Reeve,
Of the committee, to be as good as any Le-
high coal H. the market. The committee
wanted to experiment side by side with the
Lehigh and Schuykill Goals to see which was
the cheaper. Mr.. Reeve explained that be
did not know much about coal before, but
that now the committee pr badly kneW
more about the business than the coal dealers
Themselves. The Jackson Lime and Coal
Company had told him and Mr.. Smith that
1t was the Thomas Lehigh coal which was
as good as any Lehigh coal sold I'M the city,
although it was mined in the Schuylkill re-
gions. He thought 1t was just as good as
the Lehigh coal furnished from any yard
and that the company ought to have the
contract. There would not have been any
trouble If Charles Warner g. Co. or George
W. Bush 81 Sons had received the contract,
but that when they found that the Jackson
Lime and Coal Company was the lowest
bidder they kicked up about 1t. He would
have given S10if he had never been on the
Fuel Committee. A motion Of Mr.. Belts to
reconsider the vote by which the contra It
was awarded to the Jackson Lime and Coal
Company was then adopted, but afterward
no action was taken thereon.
Mr.. Reeve then submitted majority re-
port signed by Mr.. Smith and himself, which
favored the awarding of the contract to the
Jackson Lime and Coal Company, claiming
that there had been no misrepresen tation. A
motion to adopt the report was opposed by
Mr.. Belts and advocated by Mr.. Reeve who
said that II the bid was not sustained no
one Woulf bid hereafter except Bush and
Warner. The motion, after discussion, was
lost, and motion made by Mr.. Kyne to ask
for new proposals was adopted.
Mr.. Wiley of the special committee on
the new building Of School II reported the
bids as published yesterday, and reported In
favor Of awarding the contract to the lowest
bidder, j. r. D. Seeds g. Son, at S11, ,104,
which included the building with fencing,
grading, cnrbing and paving 1856 feet front
and 40 feet deep each on Fifteenth and Six
teenth streets as well as a heating boiler in
the cellar capable Of heating eight yoons
when II became necessary to double the ca
paelty of the building. The boiler probably
added about 81, 100 to the respective bids,
which included everything except furniture
and blackboards. The recommendation OF
committee was adopted and the Board ad-
journed.