Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-03-29
CHARGES NOT SUSTAINED
Commissioners Act on Their Inspection Of
School House.
Committee Says Charges Against the
Building Are Unfounded and
Their Report Approved.

charges which the Federation of Labor re-
Gently raised against the new public school
building which is being erected on e street
southeast between 18th and 18th streets.
A number of representative contractors
and builders were present when the exam
nation was made, and the general opinion
expressed was that the federation had
practically failed in sustaining any of the
charges which were made.
These charges against the constitution of
the building were filed with the Commits
sioners some time ago, and had given rise
to SO much discussion and correspondence
between the federation and the building in
spectors Office that the Commissioners
deemed it best to look into the matter
themselves, and the result was their visit
to the school building yesterday. The
charges contained a number of specif1ca-
tons alleging bad workmanship in the
building and incompetent oversight on the
part of the building inspector and the
superintendent of the building. In general,
the charges were to the effect that the
brickWork was improperly done, and that
the walls were of hollow construction; that
salmon brick had been used in large guam
titles, and were rapidly dsintegrating from
the effect of the weather; that the walls
We're not plumb, and that the joists were
of an inferior character, barky, knotty,
sappy and generally unsuited to the sort
of building in which they were placed; in
other words, that the building, as whole,
IL
tract.
The Investigation.
The Commissioners invited committee,
consisting of three of the best known
building men IN the District, Messrs. Hill,
Morrison and Edmonston, to accompany
them and to pass on the merits of the build
ing. In addition to these number of
other contractors and builders had been in
vited by Building Inspector Brady. depu-
tation from the Federation of Labor was
present, consisting of Messrs. Milford
Spohn, chairman; George o. Cook and VIM
Maghan. When the examination was begun
there was crowd numbering several hun
dre1, made up largely of workmen, union
and non-un!on men, and the whole per-
Torrance was quite a lively one. Consider
able feeling developed between the two
classes, as the lower part of the school
building was built by union hricklayers,
while the upper walls were the work of
non-union men.
The inspection was begun by Building In
spector Brady, who read the charges and
specifications made by the federation. and,
at the suggestion of Commissioner Trues-
dell, it was decided to take up the matter
of hollow walls first
At the request of the committee from the
federation the walls were plugged in
number of these places.
The charge that the joists were poor was
also looked into, as was the claim that sal
mon brick had been used in large guam
titles.
Not Sustained.
1t was generally believed that the charges
had not been sustained, and today the
Commissioners finally disposed of the af-
fair, when they forwarded a letter to the
secretary OF the Federation of Labor, in
which they say that the charges are not
sustained. The letter was as follows:
Dear Sir: Referring to the charges made
by the Federation of Labor relative to the
character of the work and material in the
public school building now in course of
erection on the north side of f street be-
tween 18th and 14th streets southeast, the
&C mmissioners direct me to reply that hav-
ing personally visited the building and in
spected the alleged defective work, they
concur in the report of the committee of
experts, composed of Messrs. James G.
Hill, architect, and William c. Morrison
and Charles Edmonston, builders, that the
charges so made are not sustained. A copy
of the report referred to is herewith in
closed"
Experts Report.
The following is a copy of the report,
bearing datc last evening, which the COM
mittee OF experts submitted to the Com
missioners:
I'm the matter of the charges made by
the Federation of Labor, District of Column
bia, against the character of the work in
the E street school house, we beg leave
to report that We have examined the work
and sustain the findings of Mr.. Brady, the
inspector of buildings as given in his re-
port Of March IL, 1885, and We desire espe-
ciaHy to emphasize his findings to the
groundlessness of the charges in regard to
the quality of the floor joists. In our judg-
nent, it is an exceptionally fine lot of
timber.
This leaves for consideration the one
point which Mr.. Brady says in his report
that he is unable to determine from in
srectioI-the existence of hollow walls.
The cuttings made in the walls today by
your orders enabled us to make the en-
animation en- this point Some of the cut
tings indicate that at these points the
walls are constructed in the manner usual
at this locality. where 'grouting' or rub
brig up is not required: that is. that the
side joints of the stretcher courses are not
flushed solid with mortar.
I'VE cannot designate these as hollow
walls, but the specifications contemplate
solid flushed joints, and in this respect the
Specifications have not been adhered to-
ITO what extent this deviation from the
contract terms exists in the work We can
not, CT course, determine, and it is not i'm
portant as relating to the safety of the
building, for as far as the stability of the
walls depend upon the material or char
acter of the work it is fully assured This
was partially demonstrated by the difficult
ty attending the cutting in the places Sc
lected by the committee of the Federation
of Labor as those most likely to contain
hollow spaces.
Neither in the interior of the walls, de-
veloped by the cutting, nor in the exposed
faces, did we find the salmon brick alleged
to have been put in.
Every respectfully,
"JAS. G. HILL, Architect,
"WM. c. MORRISON, Builder,
CHARLES EDMONSTON, Builder"
Wants to Know.
In conversation with a Star reporter this
afternoon Building Inspector Brady said:
hot 70 l-nn ;e
the Federation of Labor will live up to
L..