The herald., 1897-11-04

lOA AiAAil W AAdN e oil OPpOI tuully " SIOW, ,
If he could, that the other hose was in
ferior, as under the statute ii it could
be established that he had as good or
a better article than the others he was
entitled to the contract.
In attacking his competitors, MI.
Bowers seemed to fear the Dragon
brand most, for he showed where that
brand had, as he stated, been offered
here two years ago for 6S cents, at Palu
Alto for go cents, at Berkeley for s.
cents and at other places at prices under
rs cents. the price quoted here. He fur
ther asserted that this brand was the
third grade made by the New York Belt
ing company and was not therefore a
first-class article. He also attacked the
Bay State brand and pointed to infor-
nation that he had received that this
hose had been sold in Kansas City for
81 cents when 1t was offered here for 50
cents. The Pyramid brand also came
in for a severe criticism and few good
words were said for any Of the brands
except his own. He spoke for nearly
half an hour and when he closed it was
expected that the others would reply in
a similar strain, as Mr.. Bowers had let
down the bars for acrimonious debate.
They did not take advantage of the op-
portunity, however, and the other
speeches, while earnest, were in a much
more pleasant vein.
MERITS AND DEMERITs
Mr.. Latham, who represented the
Paragon brand, offered through the
Union Hardware and Metal company,
had very little to say. He had a good
line Of hose and he knew it. Perhaps
what was more important he knew that
the commissioners knew it. At the
former hearing of the matter he had
been barred through clerical error in
his bid. which appeared as 80 cents per
foot instead of the uniform price of so
cents. His brand Of hose has been con-
sidered standard throughout the coun-
try for some time, and he asserted that
other manufacturers were making more
of an effort to make as good an article
than to attempting to talk down his
hose. He simply pointed to the record
made by his hose in the department here
as its recommendation.
A FLAT DENIAL
r. 8. Chapman, formerly fire surveyor
VI tuc OdA CIdACAcCO UOuhu VI uANSA
writer's and representative of the
Boston Woven Hose and Rubber COM
pany, appeared in the interests Of the
Bay State and Tiger brands. He denied
that his hose had been sold in Kansas
City or elsewhere at price lower than
what 1t IL offered here except once at
San Francisco, where IL was desired to
overcome an admitted desire to pur-
chase hose from sentimental reasons.
Mr.. Bowers had said something about
being ready to have his hose tested, ami
Mr.. Chapman asserted that the other
agents were not equipped for such a test.
III we had known that such test as
one to show how much pressure hose
would stand was contemplated" said he.
1--WE, too, might have been equipped with
hose with a boiler iron lining, made for
the purpose" He asserted that the best
test that could be made was actual
service, and suggested that the commits
sion make an investigation Of the rela-
tive satisfaction given by the several
brands represented in service in the Los
Angeles fire department. Nearly all of
the brands on which bids were Offered
are in service here and have been for
three years, and Mr.. Chapman claimed
that II the commission wanted accurate
knowledge on the subject they had only
70 ask how much Of the several kinds