The herald., 1897-11-09

had been combination among the hose
men In the matter Of price, and ne
thought It was time the combination was
broken. In the present bids he saw an
opportunity, as one of the former ad-
herents to price Of so cents had dropped
to 75 cents, and he was in favor of re-
warding such action with the entire con-
tract. He demanded that the council
either reject all the bids or give 1t all
to the Dragon brand.
In the matter Of Inconsistency. Mr..
Toll made point in reply. He stated
that several weeks ago when the matter
was before the supply committee Mr..
Nickel favored the adoption Of the fire
commissions report because. as he then
said, that body was supposed to be good
judges of the quality Of hose. Now.
Mr.. Nickel was one Of the first to try
to secure rejection of the commissions
report. To this Mr.. Nickel did not reply,
but advanced the idea that the adoption
of the commissions report would prob
| ably be illegal because. in his opinion,
the award had not been made to the
lowest and best bidder.
At this juncture Mr.. Mathuss moved
tA1t tuC AcPOTI Ue IclGIIcu OdCh W NhC
commission, but such a motion had
little chance of adoption with the feel
ing of the councilmen as 1t was. While
it was under discussion Commissioner
Wells spoke at length upon the action
of the commission. He said that the
report was the result of careful in
vestigation of the subject extending
over two days. 1t was the unanimous
report of the commission. I'VE learned
much about hose while we were looking
into this matter" said he. 'the most
important thing being that there Is no
means of testing the quality of fire hose
except by actual service. Pressure tests
amount to nothing. In this award We
have tried to do our full duty to the city,
and this report is made with a desire
that we have an opportunity to observe
what service we can get out of the sew
eral brands we mention"
Asked as to the quality of the Dragon
brand. Mr.. Wells stated that 1t was not
known here, or on the coast that he was
aware of. AS to the Bowers hose, made
in this state he almost positively stated
that it was not as good in quality as
some of the other brands. When the
matter of guarantees was mentioned,
Mr.. Wells made the surprising asser-
tion that they were not worth the paper
on which they were written. Then he
proceeded to prove his statement. He
showed that by the terms of the guar
antor the burden of proof was with the
city to establish the failure of the ma
terial to come up with requirements.
Guarantees only covered defective ma
terial and workmanship. If a piece of
hose was sent back to a factory the
makers invariably charged that the hose
had not been properly cared for. Ask
ed the direct question as to why the Fur
rey company's hose. the Dragon brand,
had not been accepted by the commits
sion, Mr. Wells stated that the commits
sioners doubted if it was equal in quail
ity to the other brands submitted.
In spite of this Mr. Nickel moved to
award the entire contract to the w. c.
Furrey company at rs cents per foot.
This motion caused a storm. c. B.
Boothe, whose bids of so cents for Ba-
ker fabric hose and 75 cents for Pyramid
had been rejected by the commission
asked to be heard in the matter. At
this some one suggested that II one per-
son was heard, all interested parties
should be given an audience. Chief
Moore and Assistant Chief Smith were
sent for, and all the hose men present
were invited within the railing. Mr..
Chase, representing the Dragon brand,
was the only one Of the out-of-town
hose agents in the room, but he was op-
posed by Mr.. Boothe. The other brands
were not represented.
| Councilman Baker, who had heard a
portion of the fight before the commits
sion, did not want the subject reopened,
and in order to prevent the wrangle
which was certain to follow he moved
that the matter be referred to the sup
ply committee. If that was not de-
sired, he favored it's going back to the
commission. His motion was voted
down. Mr.. Boothe spoke first, his
speech being about the same as he had
made before the commission. Chief
Moore was then called upon for his
opinion. He answered that he would
reply to any questions, and the council
men opened fire upon him. Asked if he
had ever tried Boothe & Co.'S. hose,
he answered. NO" Had he ever
heard of it?" mot under the name of
Pyramid" did he have any practical
knowledge of the Dragon brandt" mo. "
WAS it made by a reputable company ?"
"Yes so far as he knew" WAS it
good hose? Before this could be an
swered Mr.. Chase was introduced, and
he proceeded to answer the question in
a brief speech.
Assistant Chief Smith was not called
upon, although he was prepared to tell
the council just what kind of hose was
under consideration. Mr.. Toll ad-
vanced the claim of Boothe & Co. to a