The San Francisco call., 1895-12-01
will be taken up at the next meeting OF

Will pc tdhcH up 1T tuO ACAt iACCtIdE Va
the Fire Commissioners.
From all accounts the trouble has been
caused by the cont. actor and his foreman
Garloch, an ex-policeman of Los Angeles,
hiring incompetent workmen. Not long
after the work was begun the Carpenters
Unions passed several general rules to gov
ern its members.
One was that the minimum wages should
be So a day and another that no union
man should work with q non-union man.
Nearly all of the contractors were satisfied
with this arrangement. Wickersham was
not. AS result, all Of the union men
were called off of the building. Garloch
at once hired any one he could get, so it is
said, and in the protest mentioned the
cause of the poor workmanship is said to be
due to the men who have been employed.
The protest handed to Chief Sullivan
deals first with the engine-house, and COM
plains that the side next to Stockton street
is improperly constructed. The rustic had
to be torn off because it was not put On
properly. That is, the level was not started
correctly. and the side bulged out. The
work of putting the rustic back is no i'm
provement over the first. The improper
construction of the cutters made it neces-
sary to remove a part of the roof.
1t was reconstructed after the plastering
had been put in the inside. While the
roof was off the rain poured in on the
green" plaster, which was not improved
by the bath. Another point made was
that the rear wall OF the engine-house was
one and a half inches out of plumb. When
this matter was called Ito the foreman's at
tention by the authorities he tore off the
rustic and put the men to work with
hatchets to hack off an inch and half of
studding, and then put the rustic back
without dressing down the uneven sur
faces.
The contract calls for 2x6 studding, and
since the timbers have been hacked by
hatchets. as substitute for straig htening
the wall, the studding is only 2x4I. AS
every timber was given the same treat
ment, it is claimed that the entire wall is
weakened to great extent
Another objection is that the large
girder in the cellar that supports the en-
CINE floor upon which the engine will rest
has sunk or settled considerably and will
have to be .''jacked up" and plates put un-
der the ends. Still another point made is
that the butt-end joints and rustics are not
white loaded, as specifically required by the
specifications.
Regarding the warehouse the protest
calls attention to the fact that some bung-
ling workman cut the ends of the cellar
beams in the main too short. which made
IL necessary TO put On "a -lnCn "Outcn.
man. or piece out the beams to that ex-
tent. The next point made is that the
plans call for all "headers' to be doubled
around the piers on the first floor, which
has not been done. Again, the space for
the windows were left too high and the
heavy supporting timbers will have to be
cut down three inches.
These are only few of the flaws found
in the construction of the buildings,
which, it is claimed, will most materially
change the class, stability and value of
the buildings, ana the communication re-
cites that the City will be sadly jobbed if
it pays for or accepts either until all these
faults are remedied.
The buildings were contracted for for
S17 900 or $4,000. and people familiar with
this style of architecture claim that it will
cost every cent of this amount to make the
alterations.
This will make the first work and the
materials almost dead loss.
So impressed was Chief Sullivan with
the protest that he called the attention of
Architect Wilson to the matter and de.
tailed District Engineers Shaughnessey
and Fernandez to make an investigation
for the Fire Department.
The bondsmen for Contractor Wicker
sham are to be interviewed upon the SUBJ
ject. When the matter comes UP before
the Fire Commissioners protest will be
entered against giving Wickersham an ex-
tension OF time and against the acceptance
OF the buildings.