The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1888-02-02

were LnaL nau pTOStlluLeu puDHc Oilct 10
serve private ends. If he is brave man.
the Doctor will not hesitate to give
the names of these corrupt persons when
they are called for and the evidence Now
the PRESS respectfully calls for them, and to
make it easier for the Doctor to answer, we
will call the roll of all the officials who had
anything to do with the heating of the High
School, and ask him to point out which one
or ones are guilty First let us take the
school committee:
DIR. Charles R. Crandall is the member of
from ward /. Is he the man who has turned
official actions to private advantage?
Mr.. Patrick MCGOWAN is the member from
ward q Is he the man who has turned Off
cial actions to private advantage?
Mr. Aaron b. Holden is the member from
ward 3. Is he the man who has turned off,
cial actions to private advantage?
Col. Charles B. Merrill is the member of
the committee from ward 4. Is he the man
who has turned official actions to private adj
vantage?
DIR. G. A. Ring is the member of the COM
mittee from ward 5. Is he the man who has
turned official actions to private advantage?
Rev. A. T. Dunn is the member of the
committee from ward g. Is he the man who
has turned official actions to private adyan-
tage?
Mr.. S. III. McAlpine is the member of the
| committee from ward 7. Is he the man who
has turned official actions to private adyan-
tags?
Now the committee on public buildings:
Mayor Chapman is one of its members.
Is he the man who has turned official actions
to private advantage?
Alderman Marks is another. Is he the
man who has turned official actions to private
advantage?
Councilman Spring is another. Is he the
man who hasIturned official actions to private
advantage?
Councilman Sylvester is another. Is he
the man who has turned official actions to
private advantage?
Councilman Cushing is another. Is he the
man who has turned official actions to pri-
vate advantage?
If there was jobbery some of these men
must be implicated. win DIR. Crandall
please state which ones they are?
Another charge is that the city contracted
for the work with nonresident, instead of
asking proposals from Portland workmen.
DIR. Crandall must know that the adoption Of
the system now in use in the High school nee
essarily involved the giving of the contract
to nonresident for New York company
has the sole right to its use and introduction.
The time for DR.. Crandall to put in word for
Portland mechanics was when the system
was under consideration in the school COM
mittee. But apparently he was as dumb as
an oyster then, and this point never occurred
to him until it was too late. Unless the Doc
tor is prompter in the future he can never
hope to successfully pose as friend of the
laboring man.
Now the truth about this heating system in
the High school is simply this. The school
committee, including DR.. Crandall, were anx-
ious to introduce into that school an efficient
system which would give satisfaction to
everybody. The City Council were equally
DESTROYS of doing so. After investigation
they adopted the Williams system. and it
was put in. They all believed it at the
time an admirable system. But experience
has shown that it is defective and fails
to do what was expected of it. Whether
the fault lies in the system, in defective
workmanship or in bad management we do
not undertake to say. Some assign one
cause and some another. The contractor, as
we are informed, has always stood ready to
remedy any defects that were remediable
Some time ago when it was found that
down draft in the chimney occasionally sent
bad air into the third story the chimneys
were heightened out with ventilating pipes
In the hope that that would entirely remedy
the difficulty. As to whether it has
done so entirely or not opinions differ
During the recent extraordinary cold snap
the apparatus proved insufficient to heat the
building, and last week the committee on
public buildings ordered more radiators to
be put in. The stopping up of the air ducts
with snow can be easily remedied- All that
DR.. Crandall need do is to order the janiter
or somebody else to shovel the snow away
from them. 1t may be found that some rad
ical changes will be needed to make the
system thoroughly efficient. If so it is the
duty of the city council to have them made,
and it is duty that we do not think they
will neglect to perform.
What we protest against in DR.. Crandall's
communication is not his criticism of the
heating and ventilatiRg apparatus in the
high school, but his cool assumption that he
is the only person who cares anything about
the welfare of our beloved boys and girls"
and that the conduct of the people, or some
OF the people, who have been connected
with this matter and who are just as honest,
Just as humane, just as reputable In every
respect as he, has been tainted with jobbery,
reckless waste of the city's money, and negli-
gence of the health and comfort of the
school children. Such insinuations, unless he
has the proof to back them up, are unbecom-
ing, not to say indecent. Ii he has any
proof let him furnish it. As the case now
stands DIR. Crandall seems more delinquent
in this matter than the committee on public
buildings. Though supervisor of the High
school he has never called the attention of
that committee to the failure of the heating
apparatus. But they found 1t out from other
sources and have been taking measures to
remedy it. AT their meeting January Is, it
being represented that the janitor then in
charge of the apparatus, did not understand
it and that to this was due its inefficiency a
new jantor was appointed. Some days later
the new janitor reported that the apparatus
was not working satisfactorily, and then on
January 81 the committee on public build
ings met and ordered that the agent of the
system be notified of the defects and re-
auested to remedy them. The committee
perhaps made mistake In not writing
stirring article for the Argus, but that was
an error of Judgment for which we must not
criticize them too severely.