The evening world., 1894-06-22
'MR. GRAM WAS 50 WEARY.
But he Thought, en- The Thole, the
Dock Board Would getter
Obey the Law.
AND THEY DID, WITH WRY MOUTHS.
Dredging Contracts Actually Awarded to the
Lowest Bidders--What Is There for
Tammany in Such Business.

The windows on three sides Of the
delightfully."- airy chamber on Pier A, at
the Battery, where the Dock Commits
sioners hold their meetings, were wide
open yesterday morning when the board
met, and a refreshing breeze swept
through the neat side-whiskers of Com
missioner Andrew ]. White and shook
the wicc, loose. white-and-b -blue-s striped
flannel pantaloons of Commissioner j.
Sergeant Cram. Nevertheless, neither
of those gentlemen looked cool or tran
pull. AS for Commissioner Phelan. he
was obviously at the boiling point
1t was not the weather that occa-
stoned this condition. for butter would
not have softened in that wind-swept
chamber, the walls of which are hung
with pictures of ships and through the
windows of which all the stirring sights
Of the harbor are visible. The trouble
was that the Commissioners. after all
possible squirmings and wrigglings to
get away from 1t, found themselves
finally forced to the point of obeying
the law in regard to the awarding of
contracts, which the late Legislature
enacted after a hard battle for its
passage by The World.
This law calls for the advertising for
bids when any .public work is to be
done, and the awarding of contracts to
the lowest bidders in every instance.
Before the passage OF this bill the
Dock Commissioners had advertised
when they felt like 1t. but had placed
the matter of awarding contracts en-
tirely In the hands of the Treasurer of
N Ia
tion but to accept the lowest bids. and
the Corporation Counsel. to whom they
appealed. SO advised the Commissioners.
1t was their duty yesterday to open
bids which were reluctantly invited a
suit of such sealed proposals. 4 big ma
hogany box with brass paddock stood
on the table when at ll.01 A. Nj. the three
Commissioners took their seats. The sec
retary OF the board produced small key
and drew forth Ave large envelopes, all
tightly sealed with wax. Three of these
envelopes were labelled Contract 49,
first Of these contracts. 1t should be ex-
planned, calls for mud-dredging not to
exceed 100000 cubic yards in North River
at and about new piers, Nos, 81 and 5S,
between Seventy-second and Seventy
Fourth streets, so as to produce Il depth
OF twenty-seven feet at mean low water.
The second contract calls for mud
points between the Battery and Thirty
fourth street, as determined by the en-
gineer OF the board.
The , fiye sealed envelopes were handed
weariness-one of those blaze sighs
which It is impossible for any one out.
side Of Ward McAllister's Four Hundred
bidders for contract No. 47s, with The
amounts Of their bids, were Morris q
Cummings, 10 cents: Charles pu Bois,
COMMA U.E1p mi n-l F,l.
TWO bidders for the second contract NO.
40, We're Morris & Cummings, 22h cents,
and Charles Du Bois. "a cents per cubic
Chief Engineer Green, who was seated
asked at what figure he had esti-
mated the work. and replied that his es-
innate was 20 cents per cubic yard for
each contract
Well, / move" said Commissioners
Pheian. that all the bids be rejected"
dent cram you cams kHew do thin that fFff The
Legislature has made the law, and we
must obey 1t. AS far as l can make out
president Cram spoke in tone OF utter
weartness) the intention of this law is to
force the department to pay higher
prices than necessary. It's like most OF
the rest of this modern reform business,
that nd Doesn't REFORM ho Still. it is the law,
Commissioner Phelan started to say
that he denied the right OF the Legisla
dTre o nSdnn,k t9 make any , such iaW but broke
two Commissioners to award contract
No. 473 to the Atlantic Dredging Com
pany. of No, 81 Pine street, at cent and
engineers estimate.
In regard to the second contract, Com
missioner Phelan was not so easily
we consider it in executive session." said
whats the use?" said President
Cram. even more wearily than before.
"The law seems to intend that we shall
pay fancy prices, and there you are"
Commissioner Phelan had his way.
while excluded from the board room in
order that the Commissioners might dis
cuss the Legislatures iniquity in secret.
At the close OF the executive session 1t
was announced that the second contract
had been awarded to Morris q Cummings
by vote Of two to one, Commissioner
Phelan opposing.
engineers estimate that the bide for
the second dredging contract were higher
than they need have been. a little ex-
animation will show that such is not the
case. The contract calls for dredging
at such points along the North River
from the Battery 20 West Thirty-fourth
body but Engineer Green knows whether
there are two or two dozen different
places where dredging is to be done.
A large item Of the contractors eEper e
machinery al spots where the work j.
10 be begun. II there are but few moves
10 be made the work can, Of course. be
done cheaper than II there are many
moves Engineer Green's estimate. II
will therefore be seen was based upon
knowledge which none Of the actual
bidders possessed. So indefinite were the
terms OF this second contract that the
Atlantic Dredging Company refrained
from bidding upon II at all.