The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1892-08-27
NEWARK'S SCANDAL.
The New Post Office Crook
ednesS to Be Ventilated
in the Courts.
"BAD MAN FOR UNION LABOR"
Contractor Johnston's Peculiar Pull
in the Supervising Architects
Office at Washington.
Special to the JERSEY ctr Nelvs.

| NEWARK, Aug. ~, 1879. EaSSalC
Quarry Company are about to begin a
suit for damages against the firm OF
Johnston & Byrnes. the Trenton con-
tractors, WAC are erecting the new post
office in this city. The grounds for the
suit will be the refusal of Messrs. john
! ston & Byrnes to take from the quarry
company Bellevilie stone for the new
building as they agreed to. 1t will be
remembered that soon after the contract
was awarded the contractors obtained
permission to substitute Indiana stone
for the Belleville stone mentioned in the
change was that the labor troubles
among the quarrymen threatened 60 re-
tard the progress of the work.
Mr.. H. H. Bowman, President of the
Passaic Quarry Company, has written a
letter to the Daily Advertiser in regard
to the matter, DuL the editor refused TO
publish it. One of the most significant
portions of the communication was Mr..
Bowman's account of the manner in
wnicn the first bids were rejected by the
Government q new ones called for. He
says chat Mr.. Johnston called upon him
and asked him how much stone
per month he could furnish for
the new building. After some
talk Mr.. bowman said to Mr.. Johnston
that he was TOO late; that the bidding had
pany, of Newark, were the lowest bid
ders.
HOW TO GET GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS.
"'Yes, that is all true,' he says" Mr..
Johnston said, coolly, ''put l have lone q
great deal of government work and l
know the government authorities pretty
well and / know how these things are
done. A short time ago I was at the
office of the supervising architect at
| Washington and / was talking there with
them about the Newark Postof1ce, and
I asked them to let me see the bids.
When Ihad seen them, / said I could put
that Postofice up for u less sum han the
lowest mentioned in any of the bids.
Then they said to me. 'You are too late,
johnston but l said, oh, no. you just
reject all the original bids ana call for
new BIDS They said, That is so, we can
do that. and it will be done
MR.. JOHNSTON DID'T FIX THINGS.
When Mr.. Johuston's secured the con
tract, and wanted MI. Bowman to furnish
the stone, MIR. Bowman asked him if he
was a member of the Joint Association
Of Quarrymen and Stone Cutters, and he
said that he was not. MIR. Bowman told
him that all dealings with him would
have TO be according to the rules of the
association. and Mr.. Johnston replied
that he would fix that. On June 90 he
called upon Nj. Bowman, and told him
that he had arranged matters with the
association, and that the committee of
the association were about TO sign q paper
giving him all the privileges of the
Organization. He then erected sheds on
the quarry ~compan.g's premises for the
use OF his men.
Tho nonnp which Mr. 1nhnokan sold H.
had obtained from the Committee he did
not produce, and Mr.. Bowman wrote to
him saying that his company could not
deliver stone to him until he had ar
ranged matters with the Association. Mr..
Johnston made an appointment to meet
the Committee and adjust the matters,
but he failed to do So, and while the Com
miJtee was waiting for him he was hur-
rying to Washington to have the Indiana
stone substituted for the Belleville
stone.
"1'M a A MAN FOE ORGANIZED LABOR. -
The friends of Mr.. Johnston have said
that he was a union man.. Mr.. Bowman
shows how great a friend of labor he is BY
quoting these remarks by Mr.. Johns
TOM
81 am a bad man for organized labor,
and organized labor knows it. When l
have any difficulty with my men l put
my revolver in my pocket and go right
among Inem, anu l mean business and
they know it. / have broken up every
union / have ever had trouble with, and il
the Newark bosses treat me right l will
break up their strike for them very
shortly"
"Mr. Johnston further said that he
had the contract for building the Morris
Plains Asylum; That he built that build
ing with %non-union labor, and that when
a walking delegate came on the premises
on one occasion he caught him by the
neck and ran the delegate a quarter of a
mile away from the premises and told
him that Ii he returned be would kill him.
Mr.. Johnston also said that when he did
an important piece of work at Hoboken
he broke down the rules Of the labor
union there.n
The scandal Is a most unsavory one AND
some rich developments in the manner In
which government contracts are secured
are expected at the trial.