New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-09-07
ONE or TIE AQUEDUCT JOBS.

O-'H VI 4 M dXCEDCCI JODS.
Corporation Counsel Beekman is now con-
sidering some questions referred to him by the
Aqueduct Commission, involving the lawful
right Of the contractors to the sum of
S005,4 90 80 already paid them, to further
sum Of 81 so $50 80 certified as due but not
yet paid, and to a still further sum which
will be due if the principle at issue is decided
in the contractors favor. In ALL the amount of
the city's money which hinges as to its dis
position upon Mr.. Beekmans opinion is near
~ if not quite S1,OO0,0OO. 1t represents
claim first made by the contractors after Gov
ernor Hill recognized the Commission to sat-
isfy the demands of Contractor John O'Brien,
who was the manager Of his last political cam
paign, Before that niquitous conspiracy was
accomplished, no hint of their intention to adj
vance this claim had ever been made by the
contractors. although three-fourths of the work
upon which it was based had already been done
and paid for. 1t was brought forward only
after they had secured from Governor Hill
friendly board but even then it could not have
succeeded without the assistance given it by
Chief Engineer Church. Whether the sum al
ready paid can be recovered now or not ; or
whether. in view Of the orders and resolutions
in which Mr.. Church and the late Commission
ers have committed the city, it is now possible
to resist the payment of the balance claimed,
there is at least no doubt Of this fact, proved
indisputably by the evidence taken before
Senator Fassett's Committee and the official
declarations Of successive Counsels to the Cor
pOration, that the claim had in it neither JUS
tice nor legality when it was made, and that
in tempOrizng with it and finally in conced-
ing it, the Commissioners and the Engineer
betrayed the city shamcfully.
No doubt Mr.. Church found himself under
great pressure from the Commission to do what
he did. Had he declined to do it, they would
probably have made some excuse to get rid Of
him. as they did get rid of Secretary Nc
Culloh. But this circumstance only renders
his weak compliance the more reprehensible.
IT is amazing how few people appreciate the
relation in which the engineer Of great work
like the Aqueduct stands to the contractor on
the one hand and the public on the other. lie
is the repository Of the publicS fullest conf
dence. 1t cannot tell the exigencieS of such an
enterprise. In practical effect, it hands its
The details of the Aqueduct's construction
could not be put into the contracts. The pub
lie had to trust somebody and to give him
vast discretionary power 1t placed this trust
and power in Mr.. Church's hands. He should
have been the last man under heaven to CON
cede anything that was not within the clear
intent Of the contracts. He should have guard
ed the publc's money with jealous distrust
of everything and everybody that menaced it.
The fact that almost everybody else was en-
gagged in efforts to evade and defeat the law
should have rendered him the more resolute
and unyielding.
The public ought to understand the nature
of the claim advanced by the contractors 1t
relates to their compensation for excavating the
tunnel. The contract provided for tunnel,
either circular or horseshoe in shape of GER
tain expressed dimensions. For twelve inches
outside Of and all around this fixed area there
was to be a circle of masonry. Plans showing
this scheme were prepared and explicitly made
a part of the contract, so that no contractor
could fail to know the exact dimensions Of the
tunnel. The line which marked his obligation
and which limited his right Of compensation
was clearly expressed in words and shown in
drawings. That he would or could make
tunnel precisely within that line was, Of course,
not supposed, but that line was to guide him
in blasting and the city declined to pay for
any excavation beyond it. At the same time,
while this was to be the clear rule, the contract
enabled the Engineer, when by reason of the
character Of the soil he thought il absolutely
necessary, TO extend that line. Up to Jan
uary, 1887, this law was not questioned, but
so soon as the new Commission had been well
started on its compliant course, the contractors
began to put in extra claims for all the ex-
eavation they had made. Corporation Counsel
Lacombe at once entered his vigorous protest.
and in series Of elaborate opinions he held
that no allowance could be made for other ex-
cavations beyond the contract line except only
those specially ordered by the Engineer Up
to that time Mr.. Church had never issued an
order in violation Of Judge Lacombes deGn-
ton Of the contract. But in May, 1887, de-
spite all that had been written and said as to
his limited authority. he issued general order.