Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-07-23
LOCAL CULLINGS.
A Combination in the Grad
ing of Streets Denied.
IN THE SURF AT THE OCEAN SIDE
How Sunday Was Observed by the
Good People of the City of
the Angels.

A few days since an article was pub
lished in the HERALD setting forth the
tact that there were rumors .
combination among two of the
contractors who grade the streets
and that the matter would probably be-
brought before the Council at an early
date. The article contained list of the
bids of Mr.. Burlingame and Mr.. Done
gan on the streets, but did not take into
consideration the bids of other parties.
Mr.. Donegan states that there has been
no combination SO far as he is concerned,
and cites as a reason why some
bid are lower in some parts of
the city by certain contractors, that
the contractor may have bank of gravel
near the street to be graded and can thus
underbid every one else. The fact that
he had underbid Mr.. Donegan in one
gravel nearer there than Mr.. Donegan
and could therefore afford to do the work
cheaper in that portion of the city, while
in another portion of the city, perhaps,
Mr.. Donegan or some one else could af-
ford to bid cheaper.
The figures presented on Friday morn
ing last were only those Of Mr.. Burlin-
game and Mr.. Donegan, and the article
stated that when they were the only bid
ders in the field complaints were sent
to the Council that the prices for grading
were too high. The article further indi-
Gated the occasions when Mr.. Burlin-
game and Mr.. Donegan were not the sue
cessful bidders. The property owners
and the City Council were left to Judge
as to whether the figures showed any
traces of a combination between these
gentlemen.
Mr.. Burlingame has written the fol-
lowing letter in reference to the matter:
| EDITORS HERALD am aware that
there have been charges against Mr..
Donegan and myself in that we entered
into combination as regards bidding
for street grading. This is not the fact.
There was not combination between
Mr.. Donegan and my self land while your
exhibit of figures was correct SO far
as it went, it did not 60 far enough.
One reason why my bid appeared. SO
often opposed to Mr.. Donegan alone was
that made it practice to bid on nearly
every street, and Mr.. Donegan suppose
only bid on those streets which he
thought he would like to grade. It
sometimes happened that he was lower
than on these streets, and this account
for by the fact that possibly on those
streets on which he bid the lowest he
had cellar or deposit of gravel nearer
than l and could afford to do them
cheaper than l, while, on the other
had the nearest gravel bed. When other
contractors bid lower than either of us,
it was because they either took the
work too cheap or else had gravel nearer
than we did. The financial failure OF
some of these contractors shows that We
were not SO high on our bid as might
have been supposed. Lately there has
been more competition in bidding, and
glance at the figures which you did not
give will show that in some cases there
were as many as five bidders. and sell
dom were less than three. bid ON
nearly every street, the smallest price
for which l thought the work could be
done, and think it would take consid-
cradle reasoning to show that there was
any combination so far as l was con-
cerned. To show how close the bidding
has been will give few instances. On
May 21st, for Sichel street, the bids
were, Bachman & Chase, $1.541s; D. f.
Donegan, $1.65; E. @. Burlingame, 81 .65;
Monroe & Co., $1.761S. Mozart street,
McCrabbe, 5000; E. G. Burlingame.
$3.50; Monroe & Co., $247; D. F. Done
gan, 1920. Workman street, Donegan,
$1.60; Bracewell, $1.95; Bachman &
Chase, 81 "a; E. G.. Burlingame, $1.5O.
Eleventh stI eet, Burlingame, $1.19; Bos-
we'll, 9934c.; Donegan, $1.40; Bracewell,
$40; ]. p. Jones, $1.00; Sanford john
son, $1.30; Wilson & Co., $2.S71a. Cen
trail avenue, Boswell, So 90; Burlingame,
$2.9o; Donegan, $3.50; Johnson, $2.9s.
The remainder of the bids if given
would present the same variations. Some
times I was the lowest and some times
some one else, and there is nothing in
them that would show any indication of
combination. So far as l have
been able to observe / have never
seen anything which would indicate that
any money had been spent in any way
to secure contract, as sometimes hap
pens in other cities. The people who
raise the cry OF combination and fraud
are those who are jealous of our success
in business, which has followed close
attention to the business in all it's de-
tails. E. G. BURLINaAME.