The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-02-09
Superintendent Williams and Arch
itect Paulsen Each Have Some
thing to Say.
The Former Tells Of Ills Contract
With the Trustees and What
Els Duties Were.
Mr.. TauIsen invites Those Interssted &
Visit His Ofice and Ascertain Some
Pertinent Facts.

Superintendent +. M. Williams, who hns
been in charge of the work on the new high
school building, rs the representative of the
trustees. sends the following to The INDIE
PENDENT, with the request that 1T be pub
lished. In his card he makes q direct
answer to several questions. The card ia az
follows:
In several issues of THE INDEPENDENT ref
erences have been made to me, and my con-
~nection with the high school. / wish to
make q few statements, which I can verify.
They will be borne out by the records, by
the trustees and by examination. In the
first place | never engaged oil of my time
with the school trustees. nor did / engage
TO superintend any other building for my
salary except the high school building. IT
would have been impossible to employ all
OF my time, rs, at the time I entered upon
this work and for q long time after, / had
upon my hands other buildings. When it
came to putting up two new buildings the
trustees engaged me at the same regular
fees they would have to pay any other archi-
tect. It "a stated in HE SUNDAY INDIE
PENDENT that some stone were put into the
building in two pieces, that, accord
ing to plan should nave been
in one, necessitating extra support.
also that the contractors had furnished
joist too short and some wall had to be
built in consequence. These are lies out Of
whole cloth. AS to my examining the plans
before the contract was let. I did examine
them and recommended a number Of
changes that were not made. I never
recommended the adoption Of the plans.
Az to the prices on extras that have been
agreed upon, l gave estimates and advice
upon very little. But the board did not act
unadvisedly. Estimates were gotten and
prices asked-mostly OF outsiders, spe-
cialists in the different lines. And
from inquiries I have since made from
specialists and dealers, my pinion is,
the contracts for extras are not far
out Of the way. Let some of these GROWERS
visit the building and study its size and the
nature of its materials. There will be
found a stairway of cut granite, supported
on steel beams, and buff pressed brick
arches extending from basement to attic,
the landing being supported by large carved
stone pillars. III cost OF this stairway
would put up quite a building. There will
be found halls Of fre4proof materials, steel
beams and ~box-girders with yellow brick
arches for floors, Wainscoting of enameled
brick worth about IA cents apiece, walls of
Milwaukee pressed brick with terra Gotta
cornioes. Main hall floors and v%estibules,
and stairway landings Of tile. The cut
stone steps and platforms at entrances are
something large and costly. There are
eight large dornlers on the roof, built mostly
Of such materials as copper, slate, terra
GOTTA, oak and plate-glass. ana are worth
at least a few dollars. Let all these items
be compared with similar items on the
court house. The building is very nearly
as large. Compare work and materials, and
then compare costs of the two buildings.
As to myspeoial work on the high school
building-to look after the quality of ma
terial and work-the contractors have been
held right up to the mark. An examina-
ton will show that there is no better work
in Helena. '~"Tnxpayer'' can easily be
pointed out and his special ailment located.
There is not much architectural work to do
at present in Helena. The school trustees
will build two more sch DOL buildings in the
spring. The only thing troubling Tax
payer" is that l put up wv school houses
last season, and that the people got large
value for their money. The buildings are
substantial and serviceable, were quilt at n
low cost and without extras, and as far as I
can ascertain give complete satisfaction. I
am not after newspaper discussion, but if
Taxpayer or any one else will come to
the right place he will get some truths. A
fair investigation will show some people
what fools they are making of themselves.
+. M. WILLIAMS.