The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1895-10-01
\. TUESDAY MORNING, OCTOBER /, 1895.

I on hand with an his men tomorrow
morning, to go right ahead with thei
work, and that 'on the engineers certif
cate that one mile of the ditch had beel
completed (about days hbor) 1 woult
pay them cash, and for every fresh mill
they dug they would get then none,
promptly. Seeing that their contract only
calls for payment once month, l be
lleve that the bondsmen are treating tn,
men very fairly. l notified Lucas that
on the completion of every Is yards OF
stone work he would get his pay in full
L exhibited a certified check Of sufficient
amount to cover the fun cost Of material
and labor for several weeks, and offered
to place it in the hands OF any prominent
citizen they might name. Lucas accepted
the proposition and will have all his men
on hand, with the exception of about
three, bright and early tomorrow morn
ing. Zanillo would not give me any de-
| clded answer, but stated that the ma
Jority of his men, he believed, would not
go to work again until their back wages
Were paid, and Furthermore, he thought
they would not allow any new hands to
start work in their places. What these
men VIII decide to do between now and
the morning / cannot say, but with
such terms before them they certainly
should be only too glad to accept. /
notified Engineer Adams this afternoon
that 1 had ordered men to start in ON
the asphalting at once and that we were
ready to begin all classes of operations
the moment the laborers chose to set to.
1t is not our present intention to employ
a single new man unless we are COM
pelled to. The hands who have been
working right along are good enough for
us, If they will only come out and dig in.
Messrs. Scroggin and Judge Smith, my
fellow bondsmen, have lef the whole
solution of the difficulty to me. am a
contractor and naturally am better able
to deal with such things.
81 have thoroughly examined every inch
of the work and am confident that | can
complete 1t in good shape before the wet
weather sets in If the men will 20 to
work at once. Indeed with the appara-
tus at my command am really In a bet
ter position to finish the job satisfac-
torily than the Pacific Paving Co. were.
My opinion about the whole muddle is
that 1t was caused by rank mismanage-
ment and extravaganza. If the contract
had been judlciously handed 1t could
have been completed with small mar
gin of profit. The tunnel and the power
house were certainly botn losing PROPOSE
tions but the amount that should have
been made on the other parts of the con-
tract were quite enough to offset this loss
and leave a little profit besides Dehm
and Hamshaw have both skipped out
from Portland and / never expect to see
either Of them again.
1--WE had legitimate reasons for going
en- their bonds. They owed us $1,000 from
an Oregon City street contract in which
they were mixed up and we wanted to
get 1t back, Besides, the contract, with
IFS stipulation for ten per cent reserve
and 20 days hold off from pay on each
months work was good guarantee. Both
men have been doing some very shady
work down here. They have been draw
ing 5000 each a month right along. Ham
shaw drew 800 to go to Portland and
buy brick, and when he got there he
had the brick sent down to this city and
gave an order for it. The reservoir work |
cost them 17c. They took 1t themselves |
at 15c, and had a chance to let 1t out to |
a perfectly responsible contractor for |
I2c.
'The job itself is a most excellent one /
and 1 have no hesitation in saying that, |
.@king 1t all through, it shows far better
than either of the Portland |
eservolr systems"
Mr.. John Hahn, the receiver, when in
ervlewed by an Astorlan representative |
'aid; II want the Astorian to state that
he laborers should at once file their
'laims for services rendered the Pacific
Paving Co., with me-"
ut seems to the Astorlan, Mr.. Hahn"
laid the reporter, that there is now only
me solution of the difficulty with these
men. Giving them one meal here and one
neal there is only a slight temporary
elief that cannot be kept up long. The
water commission should collect the
laims OF all laborers, pay them their
money in full after verifying the ac-
cunts, and then assume their place in
ourt as preferred creditors What do
Iou think of the proposition?"
II am heartily In favor OF It," he re-
lied. ut is the very best way out of
he trouble, and am certain that, even
the commission had to take the funds
ut of it's bank account and then failed
o recover the amount 1t had disbursed.
he public would look on the deficit as
proper expenditure and justify the COM
nissioners' action. But / don't believe
here Is any question but that .he labcr-
rs claims can all be easily recovered |
his method OF settling the matter will
atisfy the workm an and will get the
lty out of very serious mudd,e."
Mr.. w. w. Parker. chairman OF the I,
-ater commission, when seen by an AS
1rian representative, was also greatly In |
lvor of the suggestion. He said: 1.-THE
Spenses ahe now running along at the
ate Of $1,000 month"; and already dur-
lg the period that the work has been
lie we have lost nearly 500 in this way.
believe that we should assume these la
orers' claims, and l have no doubt that
ublic sentiment wiz be with US II we
o."
The commission will meet today to con-
der this matter and will no doubt come
} a definite and satisfactory conclusion
efore night. Meanwhile Mr.. Burke viii
nxiousiy watch this morning for signs
activity on the works and the general
rpressiln viii certainly be that the men
nsht to seize the opportunity to resume
lelr places, and allow the commissioners !
} find a speedy way of settling with
lem in full for past services. The
rardng house at the camp win be open ,
again today II the laborers begin oper- =
lions, so that from the moment they
art they viii be supplied with meals
nd at the end Of each week will have Z
oney besides, in addition to the certain /.
Of recovering their back pay in full.