St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-04-14
MAC AND HIS CLUB
Seem to Exert a Vast Influ-
ence Over the Municipal
SolOnS.
He Threatened and the AS
Sembled Rejected the
SpPinkling Bids.
The Usual Row PPeeipitated
Over the Police Appoint
mentS.
West Siders Kick on the
Sanitary Condition Of
Humboldt School.

The regular meeting of the assembly
last night was a rather tame affair. AS
semblyman Reardon interjeeted some
of his terse and pointed statements, but
they lacked the usual to6oSca sauce
flavor. The sprinkling contracts award
ed by the board of public works to NICK
Feyen, and over which an investigation
was held, were not approved, and new
bids Will be advertised for. There was
some objection to the confirmation of
some of the recent police promotions, but
the mayors friends prevailed ana the
action was confirmed. An effort was
made to pass a patrol limit ordinance
against the saloons in the Tenth cleo
| ton district of the Sixth ward, but the
matter, after some debate, was referred
to a committee TO investigate.
The SprInkIing Combine.
The committee on streets reported in
| favor of not approving the contract for
| sprinkllng awarded Nick Feyen, and
| directed the board Of public works to
readvertiSe for bids. The clerk had
hardly finished reading the resolution
| when Mr.. Johnson was on his feet with
| a minority report. claiming that, while
| there had been evidence of some collu-
| sion among the contractors, it was not
| in their opinion sufficient to warrant the
rejection of the bids. The bid of Feyen's
| was lower than the work had ever
| been done for before, and the
| city engineer had stated the price
was a reasonable one. All of the bid
| derS were not parties of the combine,
and in view of the fact that 1t would
| take six weeks to readvertiSe and have
the work commenced, they recon-
| mended the approval of the contract to
FeYen. The only possible benefit gained
| by new bids, the report stated, would
| De that the unsuccessful bidders would
| have another chance to bid and possibly
combine again. MIR. DOran said there
! had been some collision as to bids, and
| each one of the cOnSpiratorS were given
districts. One of them had taken adj
vantage of these meetings and put IN
bids lower than agreed upon.
The comptroller had informed him
the contract would not be approved
even if il passed and reached his office.
For this reason and in order that the
public might be spared from the annoy
auce of having no sprinkling until fall
he hoped the contract would be re-
iected. Mr.. johnson said he would not
believe the successful bidder under
oath, but that did not cut any figure In
his opinion. The city would save much
money by approving the contract. If
the city comptroller expected by the use
of club in the shape or not approving
to influence his vote that official would
be fooled. The comptroller or no other
official, he said, could in this way get
him to change his views. The men TO
be benefited by rejecting the con-
tract were the contractors who had
not been successful. The city would be
| the one to lose by the bids being neg
| lected. The only thing to be gained was
! to allow the men who entered into the
| combine to get another chance To bid on
| the work and keep the streets dusty for
| five or six weeks. Mr.. Lightner said
| the best interests of the city demanded
| the law be enforced. The charter pro-
Yided for the lowest responsible bidder
! to be awarded the contract. Had the
combine gone through the work would
have been done at about the same fig
ures as last year. The bidders met and
ParceIed Out the City
and agreed Oh a price. The successful
bidder put his figures under the others
and, of course, was the lowest bidder.
| There was no open competition and fol
this reason he would vote against the
| approyal of the contract. The bid oil
| Feyen under the law was not legal
| The order introduced for new BIDS
| would take only ten days and in less
than three weeks the sprinkling could
be commenced. If there were to be al
obstacle in the comptroller's office by
that official refusing to sign the con-
tracts, If approved, nothing could be
gained by pushing them through, and
if they were, it might be fall before any
of the streets were sprlnkled
Mr.. Van Slyke said, law or no law
Feyen'S bid was the lowe st, and the
contract should be awarded to him
The price was fair and the bondSmeT
sufficient. By rejecting the bids the
members gave the combine another
chance to get in their work. 1t was GER
tain, he said, the city would pay more
for the WORK if new bids were called
for. Mr., Reardon said the successful
bidder left the com mittee room per
iured cur. He would not vote for the
approval of the contract, nor for the ap
prevail of a contract 20 any of the men
who entered into the combine. This
class of men were the ones who were
welcome before the board of public
works. The city engineer, he said. had
spent two or three hours at s.
per hour to explain that Fey
Ell would do the work well
and the price was reasonable. 1t was
just such work as this, Mr.. ReardOu
said, that kept honest men from bidding
Oh city contracts. He himself had moi
bid on any city contract for years, anC
he was aware that others had not done
A. hof rrroc
there was crooked work in the board. a
contractor had told him if he thought
the contracts were to be awarded on the
square he would bid on the Sprinkling
A motion to adoptthe minority report
ana approve the contract was lost by {
tie vote, Messrs. DAILY, johnson, Schuettt
and Van Slyke voting for and Lightner
Doran, Reardon and WalterstOrf
against. On the adoption of the major
ity report and the passage of the reso
luton ordering new bids the eight mem
bers present voted aye, Mr.. johnson ex-
planning that under the circumstance.
he could do nothing else.
Want a Patrol Line.
An ordinance making the Tenth eles
ton district of the Sixth ward a pr
hibitiYe district for the sale of intOXi
eating liquors was handed in by thu
city attorney and read, 1t appeared
that West side brewer had made ap
plica:iOn for a saloon license at 80
Cherokee avenue. Accompanying the
ordinance was petition signed by al
the male and female residents in the
neighbOrhOod. Mr.. DOran said he knew
nothing about the matter, but large
number of residents requested the pass
age of the ordinance. If thu
thing were legal he would like Il
have it passed. The corporation
attorney said the ordinance was all righ
from a legal point of view. Mr.. DAILY
wanted it to go to the license commit
tee. The corporation attorney SAT-
there was no saloon in the district a
present, and for the information of the
members he would say that the distric
was that west of Ohio street on the
West side bluff. The locality was a res
idence district, and the people living
there objected to the granting of any
saloon license in the neighborhood
Dorau and Lightner insisted on the ordi
nance being passed at once, but they
we've the only ones who were in such