St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-12-17
Aldermen Diversity Their Pro-
ceedings With a Breezy
Discussion.
A Contractor Finds That He
Is on the Wrong Side
Of His Contract,
And Re quests the City to Re-
imbupse Him for Money
Out of Pocket.
But Public Representatives
Kick and the Matter Is
Laid Over.

amount OF business before the council
last evening, the session being concIud-
ed by $3.50 O'clock All members were
present. with the exception of Aid. Con-
ley. The matter of Timothy Sweeney's
contract for filling up the slough of des-
pond known as Langford park which
was before the committee Oh streets last
Friday night, was before the council,
with recommendation from the COM
mittee that the terms of the contract be
so modified as to provide for Sweeney'S
payment for all filling done in excess of
the city engineers estimate. This eSti-
mate was that $1,000 yards of earth
would be necessary to complete the
fill, and, allowing IS per cent for
Shrlnkage, he placed the total
at 100000 yards. Aid. Sanborn
and Flandrau opposed the modification
Ill the committee meeting.
A resolution by Aid. GeLau providing
for the modification as recomme nded,
and the payment to Sweeny of. 1734
cents per yard for all material in excess
of the official estimate, brought Aid.
Sullivan to his feet. In his opinion the
contract had been let to SWeeny in pre-
ciSely the same manner that similar
1t was plainly not the affair nf the coun-
Gil that Mr.. Sweeny had unuerbid other
contractors to the extent of SS,000-that
was Mr.. Sweeny'S affair. Personally
he would be glad to see Mf. SWeeny get
full value for the work he had per-
| formed, but from a business point given
he should regard any modification of
| the contract as establishing danger
Gus precedent.
Aid. Gehan disagreed with Aid. Sui
| Ivan. The latter had made an asSer-
| ton for which there was no sound base.
| any more than there was for the sup
| position that any given number of yards
| of earth would fill LangfOrd Park. His
| (Gehan'S) opinion was that the case
before the council differed largely from
| the ordinary cases of contract letting to
| which Aid. Sullivan had referred. In
tile ordinary instance the engineer and
| contractor both had solid bottom TO
figure from. and could tell with some.
degree of certainty just how many yards
| of earth it would take to fill the space.
| In this particular case there was no
| solid bottom. The earth deposited in
This Cnholy Pit
had sunk alarmingiy, more especially so
| to the contractor who had been COM
| PEELED to mortgage his home and every
thing he possessed. in order to carry the
| work to its present condition. In Justice
| to Mr.. Sweeney, he thought the council
should make provision for his payment
according to the terms of the resolution
now before it.
Aid. Sullivan denied thai his stater
ment regarding the character of the eOn-
tract had been incorrect, and maintained
his position relating thereto, III
Aid. Flandrau said that thereayas no
desire OH his part at least to allow an
injustice to be done Mr.. Sweeney. The
theory of the contract system, however,;
was to secure the cheapest price for the
work to be done. He could see no pos
Sible excuse for any modification of a
contract let under such conditions as the
one in discussion. A contractor had
SAID to him only yesterday morning that
II the council granted a modification in
Sweeny'S case he would apply for SIM
liar modification of the terms of bis con-
tract with the city, which contract was
similarly Improbable. Judge Elan
drau explained why, in his opinion, the
council should not act as requested, and
said in conclusions: Remember, gentle
men, if you grant the modification at
this time, do not get up in this chamber
and refuse to grant similar privileges
for similar reasons in the future"
Aid. Dobner held that no I'M
mediate action should be taken
in the matter, as it
involved dispute between the city en-
gineer and Mr.Sweeny as to the amount
of filling already deposited.
Attorney G. d. O'Bren, in stating
the ease to the council for Sweeny, cited
the latter'S Willingness to fulfill the
terms of his contract in the amount of
the fill, 100000 yards, but added that I'M
less relief was granted bIm by the coun-
Gil he would be compelled to abandon
the contract from sheer poverty.
The matter was discussed in all
phases, anu finally submitted to the
committee on streets and city engineer.
A communication was read from the
city comptroller stating that the order
; of the council drawing on the city
treasurer for S9.4l7-72 to pay laborers
for work on the ForrestaI Midway sewer
| contract was still unexecuted, because
the attorneys for Forrestal Bros had
Failed TO Return
the instrument which provided that the
money should be regarded as part of
the contract price.
Aid. Sanborn said he was surprised
at such a statement. He was aston
! iShed that Mr.. Roche should cause the
statement to be made to the council.
| The facts were that the lawyers and
bondsmen had been ready to sign the
release from the first, but that the as
| signees had refused to sign.
While these chickering's are in progress
| the statement was made that the laborerS
are in actual want, suffering the pangs
| of poverty in fact for need of tie money
| which is tkeirS by the best of all rights.
| On motion of Aid. Sanborn the COM
| munication was placed on file.
| While Aid. Sanborn was engaged in
! deeply interesting discussion on some
| legal point, and Aid. Sullivan was mus:
! ing on the near approach of the Christ.
mas season. AID. Dobner submitted a.
| resolution providing for the payment of
S75 each to jacob Hinkel and }. A.
| Meyer for services III the Tenth and
| Eleventh wards as poundmasters. This
| proposition was vigorously opposed by
| Aldermen SanbOrn and Sullivan at the
last meeting. e.
The resolution passed without opposf-
| ton. >
| An ordinance providing for licensing
! junk dealers was referred to the COM,
| mittee on streets. An ordinance by
| Aid. Gehan. granting permission to
Augusta Brown to Reconstruct livery.
stable recently burned at 1179 West
| Seventh street, was similarly referred.
An ordinance by Aid. Bot. changing
OllC vi Slltcb W
| Flandrau street was passed. a reSolu-
ton was passed that all licenses for the
sale of intoxicating liquors be paid on
! or before Jan. 5, 1891. A resolution
authorizing the city treasurer to adyer-
| tise i'll the official paper for sealed pro-
| posais for receiving and depositing all
money received by the treasurer. was
referred to the committee on ways and
means.
A committee consisting of Aldermen
Dobner, Sullivan. Bott, Sanborn and
Gehan was appointed to confer with
officials of the Northern Pacific as to
plans for the construction of bridge
across Raymond and Bayliss avenues.
The committee in charge of the state
encampment of the &. A. Z. to be held
in this city shortly, were
Granted Free Use
of the Market hall for the occasion. An