The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-06-26
THE INSANE ASYLUM BILLS.
A Talk with a Commission Dealer Who
Undersold Favored Contractors.
How Several Hundred Dollars We're Saved to
the Institution in One Month by Super
intendent Fletcher'S Action.

Yesterday, to continue the investigation
begun by this paper in the affairs of the Indiana
Hospital for the Insane, as managed by DR.. Har-
rison's board of trustees. a Journal reporter
went to Columbus, this State, for the purpose of
seeing Howard Duffy. Mr.. Duffy is one of the
largest dealers in butter. eggs and poultry in
Indiana. and is fully able to compete will the
dealers in this'city, and his shipments of eggs
and poultry are made direct to New York. Said
Mr.. Duffy, il answer to the reporters questions:
Nearly a year ago I made several bids
on butter and eggs to supply the Hospital for
the Insane. l never heard from them in any
way. Finally | wrote, asking whether | was in
range at all as a bidder. and to that letter I re-
ceived no response. Between the 18th and Goth
of last April, much to my surprise, I received a
letter from DR.. Fletcher, the superintendent.
He wanted to know if l would bid on produce,
and asked me to call and see him. About the
10Th of April | sent in a bid to furnish butter at
Is cents, eggs at 12I cents and live hens at 10
cents a pound.
'The next day 1 met DR.. Fletcher at the hos
pital. He asked me to look at some butter that
had been furnished. He asked me if it was
good butter. 1t was good butterine, and told
him so. He said That is what I thought He
said the State was paying q cents for it. I told
him | would furnish the anne quality at 16 cents,
or could furnish fresh country butter at Is cents.
He said, You may send US your stock l made
two shipments. DR.. Fletcher then wrote me
that he had ordered, on his own respon-
slblllty; that there was a wrangle in the
board. and not to send any more. He told me to
send In a bid for the next month. and if | was
lowest l should have a contract. I went to
Indianapolis and was told that 1 had lost, that
the bid taken was 10a cents for butter, my bid
for choice country butter being Is cents. /
thought my bid was low enough. as previous to
that time the fortunate bidder had been getting
q cents for butterine, which was called
anne
Or. Fletcher told me the institution had been
imposed upon, and for that reason he desired
to encourage outside bidding. I was to have
furnished the butter, I intended to have said,
for one month, but 1 was shut off after two
weeks, the order being countermanded
on account, as the Doctor said,
of some trouble in the board. He did not
then explain what the trouble was, nor
have | been told since. l thought then, as
think now, that certain dealers in Indianapolis
were playing a combination game. DR.;
aletcn .h. said that greal deal
unfit to use and that there was continual
trouble. Mr.. Budd, the commission man, tried
to discourage me from bidding. and said 1 would
have to give bond in s., 800, and that unless
everything was just so I might expect to have
my butter back on my hands again. / thought
it looked like a sort of pool. l am satisfied that
on the prices now paid by the board SOMEBODY is
making $500 a month profit.
''There has been no time when the, hospital
could not have bought butterine at fourteen
cents. I have bought it for thirteen
cents delivered here. To sell this to the hospital
at twenty-seven cents a pound is to make
rather a stiff profit. I would be willing to sell
on a profit of from one to two cents a pound.
DR.. Fletcher wrote me a very complimentary
letter at the close of my brief term as commits
sary, and said he had never had better stuff.
Butterine is made of deodorized lard, which is
mixed with choice creamery butter. 1t is bet
ter than country butter, but twenty-seven cents
is an outrageous profit. The butterine | have
sold comes from Sterling. III.
"When DR.. Fletcher asked me to test the but
ter, be asked: What do you think of this fine
reamery butterp 1 told him 1 could furnish it
for sixteen cents. He told me the board was
paying twenty-seven or twenty-seven and a half
for it. Mine was better because a little fresher.
DR.. Hall, the steward, said he had Analysed all
the butter and he knew all along that they were
D6lng supplied VIII DuCCcrlne. MY Judgment Is
that Arthur Jordan handles the best butter in
Indianapolis-he certainly has the best butter
trade. TIL board ruled him out, it is said, as a
bidder on account of his selling oleo. If that is
the reason they should, to be impartial, rule all
out. / think the bids ought to be made public.
The day / was at the hospital John Sullivan hung
round ali day. 1 never made any trade with the
board; only that brief transaction with DIR.
Fletcher"
A pointer from an indianapolis dealer:
Country butter in June and July is at it's
best. It is SO good that there is no need of the
board of trustees, in their requisition for sup
plies for the coming month, asking for creamery
butter, which is no better, and will have to be
in the bidding, country butter at this season is
good enough to substitute for creamery"
HOW DUFFY GOT THE CONTRACTS.
The circumstances under which Mr.. Duffy
happened to furnish the supplies for the month
in question were somewhat peculiar. Sullivan,
Budd and others had been furnishing the prod
uce at high figures, selling at wholesale at prices
that could have been bettered on the local
market places, and for this particular
month (either March. April or May
their bids were correspondingly high. DIR.
Fletcher had been renovating some of the wards,
and had been compelled, in cleaning the walls,
to destroy a lot of bric-a-brac and decorations.
These he was DESTROYS of replacing, but did not
were needed to replace the decorations. He was
present when the bids were opened, and after
inspecting and considering them denounced them
as exorbitant. Addressing the board, he said:
Gentlemen, need about $500 to replace the ar
ticles destroyed in cleaning the wards. If you will