Morning journal and courier., 1888-04-27
THE TRACTS FROZEN OUT.

Were Instructed To Award the COR-
 tracts To New Haven Bidders.
 The largest and what proved to be the liveliest town meeting held in New Haven in many years was that held in Loomis' Temple, of Music yesterday afternoon, in pursuance of a call issued by the board of selectmen, to unrayel the snarl in which the joint commit tee of citizens and selectmen having charge of the matter found themselves in regard to the erection of the new almshouse. The town, in town meeting held December g, 9,1866, voted that new almshouse be erected and an appropriation was made for the pur- pose, and a committee of seven citizens was appointed to act in connection with the board of selectmen to procure bids and award the contracts. The action of this joint committee and the results that have proceeded therefrom, by which the matter was taken through the courts to the court of final resort, are familiar to our readers.
 When the meeting assembled at 3 o'clock the hall was nearly full, and many persons kept coming in so that the galleries had to be opened. Among those in the hall were N. D. Sperry, Judge Sheldon, Police Com- missioner Benton, William A. Lincoln, John W. filling, counsel for Tracy Brothers, John T. Sloan, Fl. s. Dawson, T. Atwater Barnes, F. s. Andrew, N. Countryman, J. D. Punk ett, s. Harrison Wagner, George Hotchkiss, second, 8. E. Baldwin, E. G. Stoddard, George M. Grant, w L Atwater, John s. Fow- Ter, Alexander Troup, ex-Selectman Beech or, Frank 0. Bushnell of the board of finance, Attorney James H. Webb and many others. Town Agent Reynolds intro duced Mayor York as moderator, and Town Clerk Hugo read the call for the meeting. S. Harrison Wagner at once offered a series of resolutions setting forth the action of the citizens committee and selection de erection of new almshouse in awarding by a concurrent vote of Il to the contracts for the erection of said building to George M. Grant for the mason work; to Larkins G Langley for the carpenter work; E. R. Jeff colt for the painting; to D. F. Kelly for the plumbing; to the New Haven Steam Heating company for the steam heating; said con. tractors "bsing the lowest responsible bid ders whose propositions were for the con struction of separate parts of said building and in accordance with said advertised pro posals for bids" The resolutions nhen called for the ratification of this joint action of the committee and the selectmen by the town meeting of yesterday and the reawardiDg of the contracts to the parties named.
 Ex-Senator Plunkett at once offered the following amendment:
 Voted, That the joint committee on the eonstruc- ton of the new almshouse be instructed to award the contract for the mason work carpenter work and painting to Messrs Tracy brothers at $162 800, pursuant to their bid for the same on file with said committee.
 Major Lincoln vas quickly on his feet with a motion to indefinitely postpone the amend ment, and the fun began. Herbert E.Renton deprecated any such action, claiming that the good name as well as the interests of the town of New Haven were at stake in this matter, and Q full consideration of all the questions involved should be had. Attorney filling arose and stated that this case had been be- fore the court and that at town meeting it had been voted that the contracts should be given to the lowest responsible bidders. "New Haven," he said, "cannot afford to put herself on record as saying that none but local bidders need apply" MT. filling then read to the meeting g complete history of the case as it appeared in his briefs in the matter read to the Su- preme court. Attorney Wagner once inter- rupted and said that MT. filling had once read all that before the court, whereat MT. filling replied that he would read it again. "It's no laughing matter" he said. eff New Haven's honor is not at stake in this matter l do not know when it can ever be at stake. |" The Supreme court, he said, had only de- cided against the injunction as applied for by an individual citizen of the town, leaving with the town the matter of giving the con- tract to higher bidder if it SO chose. Judge Morris, who as chairman of the joint com mittee had been authorized to attend to the advertising, had expressly allowed the Tracy brothers to bid in the form in which they had done, and as a consequence their bid was before the committee as the lowest for the items for which they had proposed. To the Tracys belongs the contract for the mason work, the carpenter work and painting, and he asked tEe meeting to deal fairly with them and not go before the world as throwing out their bids simply to give home builders a chance to build at larger figure.
 s. Harrison Wagner then arose and stated the claims of those who opposed giving the contract to the Tracy brothers. This whole snarl he said was the creation of his brother filling, who suckled the baby injunction and nursed it until theSupreme court buried it in it's little grave. He asked for fair dealing to all concerned, whether citizens of Water bury or Kamschatka, but thought the New Haven builders who had bid on those con- tracts, and to whom they had once been awarded, deserved some consideration when the question of fairness was at stake. He claimed that the Tracy brothers got the sem blance of being the lowest bidders by trick pected fair treatment at the hands of New Haven they should come be- fore the meeting with clean hands and open nature. They had not bid, he claimed, in accord with the letter or spirit of the ad- vertisement which called for bids for the car- penter work, the mason work, the painting, the plumbing and the steam heating sepa- rately or altogether. Not doing this they had received no wrong at the hands of the town of New Haven, and were not entitled to the contracts. The New Haven builders who had put in their bids for each separate item as named in the advertisement, he claimed, were the ones entitled to be awarded the con- lvv1xs xsakn to other than these would be unjust, unfair and illegal.
 Attorney Webb, Herbert E. Benton and Frank 0. Bushnell spoke in favor of giving the contract to the Tracy brothers, the latter claiming that New Haven in its business men would feel the effects of doing an injustice to the builders from Waterbury. Hon. N. D. Sperry then rose and made the strongest and most brilliant speech of the meeting. His interest in New Haven yielded to that of no man, and he was anxious to do what was just and fair to all parties concerned. The Tracy brothers, he claimed, had not bid in accord ance with the advertisement as he and the New Haven builders and any man of intelli- gence read that advertisement. If they chose to bid contrary to the instructions which should have guided their action they, and not the town of New Haven, were at fault. Any expense which they had assumed in making their bids was their risk, and they or any other men whose Dl0G might De ro1ecfed in consequence of irregularity had no right to charge injustice to the town of NewHaven. MT. Sperry was loudly applauded, and his telling hits and pungent arguments had a visible effect in creating sentiment against the Tracys and determining the action subse- quently taken by the meeting.
 Town Agent Reynolds stated the posltion of the selectmen and citizens who were op- posed to awarding the bids to the Tracys, ,and his clear cut argument, ,forcible and succinct, joined with Mir. Sperry's had disastrous eff feet on the Tracy forces.
 Attorney Plunkett and Alexander Troup spoke in favor of the Tracy broth CTS. A dramatic episode occurred after Senator Plunkett had taken his seat. During his speech he had spoken of the at torneys who were urging the opposition to the Tracys, and Mir. Wagner, who had evidently learned something within twenty four hours, jumped to his feet and said:
 siMr. Plunkett, you speak of attorneys ap- bearing here for New Haven parties. I ask you are you not here in the capacity of an at torneyg"
 'T ann here," said MT. Plunkett, "as g citizen of New Haven.o