The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1890-01-31
This paper Is Democratic IN principles
and is Independent in its Uieaos on oil
local questions.
A job of the Worst Kind.

A Job of the Worst Kind.
In another column, we print an in
terview with Mr.. Dugan, who man
fully admits that he took that paving
bill down to Trenton and got Mr..
Byrnes to introduce it-but, dear bless
you, as Mr.. Dugan explains it, it is
the most innocent bill in the world, in
fact it is designed to benefit the city
by letting in the new style patent
paysments which are being tried in
other cities. Mr.. Dugan claims that
it contains no job, and offers no ex-
elusive opportunities to anyone.
Mr.. Dugan is wholly mistaken. 1t
is a bad bill clean through and
through. There Is, we have no doubt.
a big job behind it, and it places in
the hands of the Board of Streets and
Water the power of awarding all the
paving In the city to one concern and
OF freezing out all competition.
The whole art and mystery Of job
berry lies in the formulation of speci-
fcations. So long as it is impossible
to include in the specifications for a
piece OF public work, any clause n
provision which cannot be complied
with by all bidders, alike just SO long
competition will be fair and open.
Thus, In the matter Of paving, so long
as the specifications deal with natural
materials such as rock or granite
blocks, sand, cement, asphalt, or what
you viii, it is possible for any citizen
who has the necessary capital to be-
come q bidder, and the municipality
gets the benefit of genuine competi-
ton.
But onc render it possible for
patent concerns to come in, and it be-
comes possible for officials to so draft
the specifications that only one bona
tide bidder IA appear in the field.
The dodge is to include in the
specifications the particular fea-
ture covered by the patent of the
favored concern, and, presto, the trick
is done. Obviously the owner of the
patent is the only person who can
pretend to furnish the patented
article. Indeed the attempted Grove
street scheme showed that a patent is
not always necessary to accomplish
this end. There, the specifications
froze out all competitors by fol-
lowing the exact description of the
blocks that were made by one
concern alone.
But, argues Mr.. Dugan, it is impossi-
BILE. Contracts could hardly be
awarded on one single bid.
Oh, pshaw, Mr.. Dugan, what's the
matter with dummy bidders to de.
ceive the public,
No, no, Mr.. Dugan, this bill is a bad
one. Somebody has been imposing on
your simple trustfulness in inducing
you to make yourself responsible for
it. Drop it. 1t is foul, it is rotten.
Beware of it lest some of the slime
stick to you.
Bur next comes that bill of ex-Free
holder Boyle's to deprive the Board
of Finance of the function OF concur
renee in resolutions oil the Board of
Streets and Water, awarding contracts
and voting away the peoples money.
What more or less ingenious pleas
and ingenious arguments are to be
advanced in its behalf And who is
going to step upsand be scapegoat for
its backersl
Echo answersl
FoR the moment, things look bad
for the citizens and taxpayers of Jer-
sey City. There seems to be an or
ganized raid upon them contemplated.
AS it stands. we believe, as we have
all along. that the new charter offers
great possibiIities q GOOD - the city.
especially after 1t mas been made