St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-04-15
A CzAR-RIDDEN CITY.


committee of the assembly upon tn,
street sprinkliug matter set forth tina
NICHOLAS FEYEN's bid was the loves
made for several years; also that, If thu
bids were rejected, it would delay stree
Sprinkling some weeks. After tho re-
port was read ASSPmblyman-D DORIAN
arose to oppose its adoption upon the
ground that Comptroller MCCARDY had
announced that he will not countersigl
the contracts if they are awarded tC
NICHOLAS FEYEN. This argument wOr
the day for the majority report. for i
was clear that MCCARDY would hang
out, even ifthe city went without street
sprinkling the entire season. Thus il
was not case of what the assembly
would like to do. but what they must dc
to avoid collision with the self-created
car. Cars are not noted for doing
things which are to the interests of the
people, and this one is no exception tc
the rule.
The only justification offered for the
course is the assertion that as there had
been a conspiracy between the bidders
there was not an open competition. Let
us see now this holds water. 1t is al
legged that there were three bidders in
the combine, one of them being FEYEN.
As asserted, the agreement between the
three was that if any one not in the
combine appeared, then their agreement
was at an end. An outside bidder,
PRESTON, did appear, and then fEYEN
acted upon the agreement and put in
bids to suit himself. 1t is charged by
those who remained true to the
combine that FoRRESTAL is back of
FEYEN, and that he induced PRESTON
to bid so that FEYEN would be justified
in flying the track. The faithfulneSs
with which two members of the COM
bine stuck TO their agreement evidently
touched the hearts of the car ana some
of the aSSemblymen; and, of course. it
is to be supposed that the car ct al.
were disguised by the treachery of
FEYEN. This is the face of the situa-
ton; and upon this it appears that
there was a competition between the
loyal members of the combine and
FEYEN. and 1t is fair to presume that
PRESTON, as he makes his living by
contracts. Intended to get the contracts
if he could, and was therefore a third
competitor.
Now, let US look at the matter in the
light of common sense. FEYEN'S bid
was not the lowest for years, as stated
in the minority report, but the lowest
the city ever had. The car and some
of the assemblymen seek to justify their
course upon the further ground that
they would not believe FEYEN under
oath; but the law does not require the
city to exact OF bidders a certificate of
moral character; it IS sufficient if they
offer sufficient bonds for the faithful
fulfillment of their contracts; and, if
these people hold that sufficient bond
would not secure the desired result,
they must have little faith in their city
governments ability to hold peo-
pie to their agree ments. Again,
why was it not open competition?
There is no other answer to this
except that the loyal members of the
combine did not know that FEYEN was
going to underbid them. But it seems
that the fourth man did come to bid.
hence they were given due notice that
they were no longer bound by the agree
ment. They certainly knew that PRES
TON was a contractor, and there is no
reason why they should not have sus-
pected that he was in the room to bid /;
butt seems that PRESTON deposited his
bid before they did. If he had not done
so. still they were entitled to no cOnsid-
Grafton, since, accord ing to their agree
ment, if any member of the combine be-
came aware of the presence of fourth
bidder. he was at liberty to act for him
self; so that there was at least cOmpe-
tition between PRESTON and FEYEN.
To look at the matter in a practical
way, the city was given an oppo rtunity
to secure the cheapest sprinkling it
ever had, and there is no reason to hope
that any of the bids offered at the next
opening will be nearly as low. About
all the Sprinkling contractors who have
wagons were in this competition. If
these competitors are given a second
trial they will. without doubt, do the
same thing over, and make it win.
There may be one other man in the city
who has sprinklerS, but it is doubtful.
Last year two contrac tors who had no
sprinklers got their contracts on such
fat terms that the y hired BEYEN to do
the work for them.