The morning call., 1892-04-16
FILCH, GRAB, GOUGE.
How Thieying Street Contractors Loot
the City.
PROPERTY.OWNERS MADE TO SUFFER.
Perpendicular Prices Paid for Wrctehed Work
Accepted by the City Superintendent
OF Streets.

Anything to clnch the property
That is the motto Of the thieving street
contractors with which San Francisco is in
tested.
Rob, steal. fitch, gouge, shave and plum
der. and We'll back you every time"
That is the assurance under which the
contractors work their mean games. The
assurance does not come from professional
burglars or hiShwaymen. Strange to say.
1t comes from city officials-men who are
paid good salaries to protect the interests of
the public.
And the robbery is going on.
II will continue TO 60 on until the public
has been thoroughly aroused on the subject
THE CALL proposes to open their eyes.
Everybody knows of isolated cases of
fraud. outrage and imposition in street work
in their own neighborhOod. They do not
know, perhaps, that this sort OF thing Is
general But it is.
The whole city suffers for it. 1t is almost
as bad as a plague.
The street contractor makes his presence
felt all around. 1t is lob here, rob there.
rob everywhere.
The Street Superintendent-salary $4,000
q year-is the might lest official in
the city, from the property-owners
standpoint. and they all have to kotow
to him II they are to expect the
that touches their pockets. He can apply
this rod at will, but he can be as nice to his
fayorites as he can be ugly to those on
whom he chooses TO frown.
The Gilleran fr0wn is something awful.
1t is four-thousand-dollar- year frown.
Tremble and quake. ye property-owners,
when you see that mighty man frown.
PROSTATE yourselves and offer up burnt
offerings. For he has the power to smite
you hip and thigh and breeches- pocket.
And he will do it every time.
Here Is the way the contractors are per-
mitted to loot the city:
prices.
They provide poor material and are paid
They frighten the property-owners into
signing contracts
They forge the names Of influential prop
erty-owners in order to induce others to
sign, aud thus order street work for which
they are not really ready.
They threaten lawsuits when the law does
not stand at their back.
They shave and skimp all around to save
dollar and then charge the property-own-
efs three times what the work is worth.
They take every mean advantage.
They leave the cement off from steam
pipes.
They provide rotten wood curbs where the
best wood is specified.
They take pains to do particularly bad
them in the least. and they eineh such men
with an extra cnch.
They are a constant menace to the proper
growth of the city.
They should be suppressed
Yes, it is high time that this thieying
gang and its official supporters were stopped
In their operations. San Francisco has
enough housebreakers, footpads and hand
lers of tie jimmy and skeleton key with
out being given over TO these merciless
nf darn hn ia
upon the best are always bowling about, like
hungry coyotes, for more, more more.
The CALL proposes TO present enough
proof OF their thievery to convict them in
the eyes Of MI decent citizens. If one-half
OF the statements already made to CALL re-
porters who are investigating the matter be
true, San Quentin ought to have a new wing
and another story added to it.
Grand larceniSts are respectable when
compared with some of the members of this
gang.
They are safe now. Nobody can harm
them. The alliance is such a strong one
: that the law could not break 1t il it tried
The street contractors gang is not neat
and sly about its vile jobs. 1t works openly.
A man cannot do piece OF work in the
middle of public street without being seen
and his work inspected:
Look here" SAYS the property-owner,
that macadamizng is as uneven as the site
of a prairie-dog village and those paving
blocks are laid like patches In a crazy-quiit.
That won't do"
.'Oh. it wont dc, 2" says the contractor.
What are you going to do about it?'
Raise a row. Why. it's an outrage"
IAN outrage? That's good. Hal ha!
ha"
And the contractor laughs in the property
owners face.
'Pll go TO Gilleran. He is paid $4,000
year to look out for this sort of jobbery. I'll
show him how wretched this work IS and
will order II done over again."
Whereat the contractor laughs louder
than ever.
Good enough. Go to Gilleran. He won't
do anything"
Truly spoken. He does nothing, But his
draws $1,000 year.
Humble are the property-owners,
Mighty is the contractors gang.
But the day Of judgment is coming.