The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1891-10-17
Cold Comfort.

The prodding which has recently
been given the Iron hADge s. Huron
Bay Railroad company has at last
effected ON explanation, such rs it is.
Some one, name not given. writes the
following letter to the Mining Journal
under date of Oct. H.:
There seems to be mi apprehension
on the part of portion of the press OF
the Upper Peninsula u regarding the
trouble growing out of the construction
of the Iron Range & Huron Bay rail-
road, and as result the company is
blamed for trouble with which it had
nothing Whatever to do.
The contract for the construction OF
the Iron Range s. Huron Bay railroad
was let in August, 1899. The gentle-
man who took the contract was recon-
mended to the company as man of
ample means and we'll qualified to carry
out an undertaking OF such magnitude.
He contracted to build the road COM
plete including clearing, grading,
bridging, furnishing OF ties, ETC., and
to turn it over to the company ready for
the rails. by the terms OF the contract
the work was to be finished by August
1, 1891, aud to insure it's completion Mt
that time, and in workmanlike manner,
the contract provided that the company
should retain Is per cent of the month";
ly estimates which should be forfeited
to the company in case the contractor
failed to carry out his contract.
On August l, 1891, very large por.
tion of the road was still incomplete,
and few days later the contractor was
forced, either from mismanagement or
negleci or some other cause unknown
to the company, to chattel mortage n
portion OF all his property along the
road to one creditor, and assign all his
interest under his contract to another.
The work had to be stopped and the
road, which should have been complet-
ed this fall or early next spring, cannot
now possibly be- finished until nid-sum
mer. W
In spite Of this failure Of the contrac
tor to complete the work, and the con.
seQuent forfeiture OF the Is per cent
reserve, the company has paid either
directly to the contractor, or by his
orders to those employed by him, for
every acre cleared, for every yard of
material moved and for every foot of
timber every tie and pound of iron fur
nishcd. II has gone further, and has
paid to those holding labor and nateri-
al claims the entire amount of the Is
per cent reserve and many thousands of
dollars besides, and meritorous labor
claims are still being paid.
The company belives that it has
already exceeded its obligations in this
matter, and that it cannot be held,
either legally or morally, to pay t he
debts of the contractor or his sub-con-
tractors. IL had nothing whetevey 20 do
with the contracting their payment, nor
has anyone done so by its authority Or
with its knowledge or consent.
As to the merchants who seem to be
active in the attempt to load the COM
pany with odium which belongs else.
where, they are largely men of means
and the courts of their own counties
and state, presided over by judges of
their own selection, arc open to them
for redress. If their claims are valid
let them be passed upon by these courts,
and any judgement that they may OBJ
tain will be promptly paid with costs.
TIE SENTINEL has but little to s,y to
the above explanation and that little is
this: Any company that will hawk its
construction contract t. the lowest bid
der without reference to his response
bility; that utterly ignores the guaran-
ties of its chief engineer, who, when
the contractor could get no further
credit, came to the rescue in order to
keep the men from starving and pledged
the credit OF the railroad company |;
that allows the laborers along its line to
be housed in filthy camps and fed with
rotten provisions until they starve or
sicken with typhoid, and then to be turn
ed loose on the community without their
pay to die like dogs or to be cared for
at the expense of the public-that COM
pany may not be morally or legally re-
sponsible but it ought to be-may be
innocent, but its innocence is OF the
nature that justifies hanging (not in ef-
figy merely in some communities.
When railroad company lets a con-
tract for the construction of its line it
is morally bound (we will not argue
the legal poinD to secure the public,
especially that part Of the public that
furnishes the labor and materials that
go into the construction of the road,
from loss by the failure Of the contrac-
tor. It can do this easily in one of two
ways-let the contract to one whose
responsibility is beyond question or re-
quire good and sufficient bond. It is
not to be supposed that all who are
likely to have dealings with the SON
tractor have the means of ascertaining
his responsibility or his business rela-
tionship with the company. The public
hears by common report that the
company is financially sound, and
have right to suppose that
it has used ordinary business
precautions in the matter of letting the