St. Paul daily globe., 1895-12-24
PARKER RETRENCHMENT COM
MITTEE RECOMMENDS CUT
TING EXPENSES,
FIGURES OUT BIG SAVING.
SCHOOL BOARD HIT HARDER
THAN ANY OTHER BRANCH
OF GOVERNMENT.
NOTHING HAS BEEN SPARED.
Fifth Ward Transfer Franchise
Extended IL Ycar-GarbaGe
Contract Awarded.

Seven assemblymen maintained a
continuous silence for nearly two and
a half hours at their meeting last
night-a feat unprecedented in the
annulS of that body, and quite unlike
ly ever to be accomplished by these
gentlemen again. Mr.. Parker per-
formed the equally difficult task OF
reading the report of the retrench-
ment committee, of which he is the
chairman. He began reading shortly
before 9 p. m. and did not conclude
until 11:20 Then he announced that
the committee would submit at a
future meeting a supplemental re-
port touching upon the affairs of the
water board.
Prior to reading Of the report the
assembly discussed the garbage bids.
and after rejecting the report of the
garbage committee recommending
amended specifications, voted to
award the contract for 1896 to Field
ing & Shepley, whose bid was $14,725
Subsequent to the reading of the
Parker committees report, the as
sembly passed the ordinance granting
the Fifth Ward Transfer company
one years time in which to begin oper-
ations.
The assembly first considered the
report of the joint committee on garb-
n1 ~ I
all bids be rejected, and that the
specifications be referred for amend
ment to the health commissioner, the
chairman of the garbage committee
and the corporation attorney.
Mr.. Parker said that he thought
that the matter ought to be discussed
before he assembly took action.
Mr.. Johnson, the chairman of the
committee, rose to explain and pref
aced his explanation with the re
mark that the garbage question had
been discussed for three years, and
that he had grown gray discussing it.
Mr.. Johnson went on ITO say that this
year the council was confronted with
for less money than the present con-
tractor had received for doing the
work. Health Commissioner Stone
had pointed out certain defects in the
specifications, and the garbage COM
mfttee had thereupon recommended
the rejection of all bids, and the ref
erence of the specifications ito the
health commissioner, corporation at
torney and the chairman of the COM
mittee for amendment for the pur-
pose of readvertising for bids.
In conclusion Mr.. Johnson said that
as for himself, he was disguised with
the whole affair. The garbage busi-
ness as conducted for several years
specifications as amended required
the contractor to visit every house
in the city, and report every house not
providing a receptacle for the garb-
age.
Mr.. Lewis was opposed to adopting
the report of the committee, which
involved readvertising for bids. He
scored the garbage inspector en-
ployed at the instance Of the garbage
committee, declaring that he first adj
vised the garbage contractor of all
complaints for non-collection of garb-
age instead of reporting to the au-
thorfties only. Mr.. Lewis was in
favor of awarding the contract to the
lowest responsible bidder
The lowest bidder was the firm
of Bircher & Riddell, who offered to
do the work for $1,000, but whose
bid was recommended by the garbage
committee to be thrown out for irreg-
ularfty. Senator Sheehan, who rep
resented the firm, was accorded the
floor to make a plea in it's behalf.
After Senator Sheetan had finished,
Mr. Parker moved that the report
of the committee and the bids be re-
feTed to the assembly as a committee
of the whole. Mr.. Robb moved as
an amendment that the report of the
garbage committee be rejected.
MI. Lewis favored awarding the con-
tract to the lowest bidder providing
the bondsmen were responsible. He
was Of the opinion that the amount
of the bid had nothing to do with the
performance of the contract.
The vote ON MIR. Robb's motion to
reject the report of the garbage COM
mittee and to award the contract on
the spot was then taken, and the
motion prevailed by vote of to g.
Messrs. Johnson and Reardon voting
in the negative.
Mr.. Robb then moved that the con-
tract be awarded to Messrs. Fielding
& Shepley, whose bid of $14,725 was
the next lowest, that Of Martin &
Strane, amounting to $1,000, being
thrown out.
Mr. Johnson moved that the bid of
Bircher & Riddell be thrown out for
not conforming Ito the specifications
This raised the question of the suffi-
cienoy of the bond, which was signed
by only one surety, but the motion
was not seconded, whereupon Mr.
Lewis moved that the contract be
awarded to Bircher & Riddell.
The motion was lost by the follow
ing vote:
Ayes-Reardon, Van Slyke, Cope
land, Lewis, Strouse. Nays-John-
son, Parker, Robb.
President Copeland declared the
motion lost, as it required 6 votes in
the assembly to award a contract.
Mr. Lewis then ,csIs c1Its Mr., Robb's