The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-01-22

nittee yesterday. At the meeting Friday
night he made the statement that half Of
to .aa and that It
would be impossible for a contractor to
observe the specifications at the prices bid
Yesterday he came prepared to demon
strate the truth of his statements. He said
Diner oa a0 m9r wTh He e knew Of NO wR
being laid contrary to specifca tons. but he
merely wanted to show how improbable it
at loss to himself. The price of the cement
called for in the specifications is s. a bar
square foot for cement, sand and concrete
at cents; the sand and cement for the top
finish fin at sSs cents. and the labor at a1f cents
about Is cents per square foot. 1t would,
so he stated, be impossible for contractor
cents, without a loss of or s cents. Mr..
Dearinger said he had never done any work
of the kind for the city. but he had come
bid upon several contracts.
When you bid did you intend to comply
Certainly not replied Mr.. Dearinger.
with a pleasing degree of frankness. mo
to himself / proposed to do the work like
the other fellows
How is that?" asked Mr.. Young.
by using less cement, suppose.
In answer to further questions put by the
different members of the committee, Mr..
Dearinger said he could not tell, by looking
to specifications; that the great saving was
made in the, foundation. and that he had
had heard that the work the cement
walks on North Illinois street, from North
there is to be- suit over the payment, but
he had not looked at the job.
August M. Kuhn, dealer in cement, testi.
fled TO the committee that the cost of
cement allowed by the specifications ranges
from $315 to $3.50 per barrel. Only four
brands are accepted by the engineer as
How many contractors bonds are you
on?'' asked Mr.. Costello.
THAT does not matter. I am here to tell
what / know about cement
But my question is pertinent to this in
vestigation," continued Mr.. Costello
Il guess not" replied Mr.. Kuhn. Il know
ington-street walks. was examined by the
committee, but his answers were not al
together satisfactory. Mr.. Costello had on
his, desk sample of the walk which he
had taken up for the purpose of examina-
tion In the concrete were several large
stones. Holding one of these up, Mr. Cos
".Mr. Keller, how could pieces of stone like
asS GO ssISegh inch
Il can't help it, can't help it," an
swered Mr. Keller. II let out that work
and it is not my fault"
The committee endeavored to question Mr..
Keller regarding the sample, but he refused
and Couldn't answer all such questions Apef'
Mr.. Keller agreed to cut section of the
walk In question and let the city engineer
decide as to it's compliance with the speci-
fications. Mr.. Young agreed to pay for the
cost of the repair of the walk If it was
found to be good. City Engineer Brown,
who has been making calculations and in
vestigations of the cement question within
the past few days, was the next witness.
He estimated the cost per square foot of
cement in the North Illinois street side
walks at 1-3 cents, with cement costing
So barrel He estimated the entire cost,
including sand, stone and labor, at 1913 cents
per foot. The contract price paid for the
Illinois street walk was n.2 cents per
square foot, leaving profit to the contrac-
tor of four-tenths of a cent square foot
The committee then went with Mr.. Keller
to obtain sections of several walks, sup
posed to be faulty.