Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-03-17

Pasadena sewer bonds on the market.
The difficulty revolved around the fact
that while, in the advertisement for
sewer pipe, vitrifisd sslt-glazed pipe was
called for, a large portion of the pipe
supplied was of the ordinary dip"
variety. The HERALD, editorially and
locally, simply referred to the rumors
which were going around the county
that the failure to make the pipe sup
piled correspond to that called for in the
official advertisement and specifications
gave rise to possible litigation which
would make the negotiation of the
bonds exceedingly difficult. Re-
flecting the phases of the matter
which reached us, we simply stated
that there was a predicament, viz,
the departure from the official conditions
prescribed as to the character of the
sewer pipe might release the city OF
P asadena, thus making the sale of the
b onds difficult if not impossible, or it
might make the contractors themselves
unwilling to receive these bonds in pay
ment of their work. This, TO our mind,
constitutes municipal muddle euffi.
GENTLY grave to be commented upon
editorially in any journal published in
the metes and bounds of Los Angeles
county.
The Pasadena Star and Union take ex-
ception to our few and conservative re-
marks, and both, with fatuous disregard
of the history of the HERALD, assume
that the article was inspired from the
outside. The Star says:
An article appeared in this mornings
HERALD, of Los Angeles, predicting
trouble for our city trustees on the ground
that they have invali0ated the sewer
bonds by not following the letter of the
sewer ordinance as to the contract for
pipe. The puerile claim made by the
writer is that "dip glazed pipe" was used
in our sewers instead of salt-glazed
vitrified pipe, and that therefore, blue
ruin stares the city in the face.
The Ethiopian in this woodpile is cas-
| lily discoverable. The attack ia undoubt-
edly inspired by rival sewer pipe manu-
facturers in Los Angeles for selfish pur-
poses. Evidence of this fact does not
wholly appear on the face of the article
itself. Applying to City Attorney Policy
for information on this subject, we
learned that the sewer contract WAS
drawn before he WAS appointed to office,
but from an inspection of the document
itself. and from information furnished by
City Engineer Mayer, it plainly appears
that the HERALD article is full of mis-
statements.
The Union, which INDUCES in great
deal of the same kind of arraignment of
the HERALD's statements as is embodied
in the foregoing extract from the Star,
quotes the City Engineer of Pasadena
himself, Mr.. Mayer, who delivered him
self as follows:
ga gentleman whom l know quite
we'll contributed or instigated the article
in the Los Angeles DAILY HERALD this
morning, by which think he wishes to
scare Pasadena into contract with him
for furnishing US with 'salt-glazed' sewer
pipe. 1t is great pity that the gentle
| man could not enter into competition
when the city asked for bids; of course,
this was impossible for him since he
turned out the first pipe which he ever
manufactured only week or SO ago.
This pipe manufacturer who is also
lawyer has found technicality in our
sewer contracts, by which he seems to
think he can rule out our former con-
tracts and he himself step in as their
successor. Being not fully aware of all
the facts, he is bound to make misstate-
ments-all in bis favor, of course. The
firm which furnishes the city with pipe
has itself manufactured 'salt-glazed'
sewer pipe for the last four years, and
can, therefore, furnish us no other pipe
themselves. But since they were unable
to supply the city fast enough with salt
glazed pipe, they were allowed to supply
eome pipe from their associate manu-
facturers with 'dip-glaze.' with the ex-
press understanding that this pipe should
be fully up to all requirements for stand.
ard sewer pipe. The 'dip-glazed' pipe
which went into our main sewer is,
therefore, fully as good as the salt
glazed pipe which we use for part of the
work, and which will not only satisfy the
people, but also the law.
"We believe in patronizing home in
dustry, and sincerely hope that the Los
Angeles and Elsinore factories will prove
successful, and that they will furnish us
Ouly Win uIbGCIdsb pipe WuouofeT tuey
get a contract for the same, but we also
sincerely hope that they will try to get
this contract by open competition and
fair means, and not by prejudicing the
public"
Now, mark how plain a tale will put
all this fanciful stuff down. The city
editor of the HERALD happened to be in
the Supervisors room in the County
Clerks office during the noon recess of
the Board. A citizen of Pasadena was
discussing the divergence between the
city of Pasadena's advertisement and
specifications for sewer pipe and the pipe
delivered. This gentleman expressed
grave doubts as to the liability of the
Pasadena municipality under the cir
cumstances; and was of the opinion
that, by this circumstance, the liability
OF the city was of a very questionable
character, and, in consequence, it would
not be an easy matter to negotiate the
bonds, it being doubtful whether even
the sewer pipe contractors, themselves,
would accept these bonds in payment of
their work. The HERALD's representa-
tive, as was his duty under the circum-
stances, asked where he could obtain
reliable information as to the facts