Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-07-03
SLIP OF THE MEMORY.
Why Controller Brown Did Not Re-
port the Engine House Bids.
HE SIMPLY FORGOT ABOUT THEN.
The Affair Leads to q Notice to tho Chiefs
of Departments
Mr.. BROWN SAYS IT WON'T OCCUR AGAIN

The failure of Controller Brown, Of ALE
gheny, to produce before the Committee on
Public Safety the proposals for the sale to
the city OF lots in the Seventh and Eleventh
wards for fire engine houses, promises to
lead to q change in the manner and time of
opening bids for city contracts The Con-
troller will insist that hereafter the day for
closing all bids shall be the day on the even
ing of which the Committee to pass upon
the bids shall meet -.-.
Controller Brown was not in good
humor yesterday. He was worried because
he had forgotten all about those bids on the
preceding evening. It was .he first time
he had done such thing for score Of
years He felt also little warm because
Councilman Drum had taken advantage Of
his forgetfulness to criticise him. Not that
Controller Brown cares two snaps of his
fingers for the opinion of Councilman
cause the Councilman had taken advantage
of an aggravating slip of the memory to
put him in false light and make it appear
that the Controller VI ,eglecting his
duties.
Controller Brown Makes an Explanation.
Controller Brown said yesterday after
noon: 'I will tell you just how the matter
occurred. Over a month ago the Chief of
the Department of Public Safety advertised
for bids for two lots for engine houses.
The bids came to me. received four I
do not know for which ward they are, as
they are sealed. Soon afterward the Com,
mittee on Public Safety had meeting, and
I called the attention Of the Chief of the
that I had four bids He told me to hold
them until the next meeting Since then
the bids have been lying in my vault.
and, with the multitude of other
things I have to attend to, they
had partially slipped my memory. Last
evening after supper I came down
to attend the meeting of the Committee on
Public Safety to look after the payrolls for
the employees of that department. Many of
the men were anxious to get their money
on account of Monday being the Fourth.
promised to look after the matter, and I
had that on my mind. was at the COM
mittee meeting until the payrolls were ap-
proved, and then spent about an hour
around the hall, when I went home. I
never thought of those bids That is the
plain truth about it. Nobody called my
attention to the fact that they were wanted,
and did not think Of them until I saw
The DISPATCH this morning. If anybody
had mentioned the matter to me last night
they would have had them.
Making = Change in tho Method.
'This is the first time this has occurred in
20 years, and it will not occur again. I am
going to notify the chiefs of the depart
ments that they must hereafter close their
bids on the afternoon of the day on the
evening of which the committee meets. The
bids generally close at 8 o'clock. and they
must be opened that night Understand, 1 |
do not blame Chief Murphy. 1t was for |
getfulness on my part, but If I had not had
the bids so long I would not have forgotten |
them"
When asked what he thought of the criti-
cisms of Councilman Drum, the Controller |
would only say: "Mr. Drum has never |
been my friend, and he takes advantage of |
every trivial opportunity to criticise me-"
The Controller yesterday made out all the |
checks for the pay Of the policemen, fire.
men and other employees of the Department |
Of Public Safety. They received their cash
from the Treasurer, who disregarded the
half-holiday, and they are now
to be patriotic.