The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-03-30
KICK WITHOUT CAUSE.
PRESIDENT Dement'S Reply to Crit
fcfsm OF the Water Board

President Dement'S Reply to Crit
fcism OF the Water Board
There seems to be question in GER
tain quarters as to- the sincerity of the
water beard'sa attitude in favor of
Rome trade, as exemplified in the action
of that organization in awarding con-
tracts at the 9meeting of Thursday.
1t is apparent from the figures sub
mitted. that all<the bids were close to-
gether, and the two lowest bids in
each class were especially close But
on lead pipe, it is claimed, the con-
tract was awarded to the Crane &
OrdWay company on the ground that
they were the lowest bidder by a few
cents, although the next lowest bid
der, the Western Supply company, Of
fered pipe made by the Northwestern
Shot and Lead company, of this city,
while Crane & OrdWay were to furnish
st. Louis pipe. When it came to brass
work, the Crane & Ordway bid was
higher than the Western, both to fur
nish Milwaukee brass, but, on account
OF the Crane & OrdWay people offering
to furnish st. Paul brass at the same
price, they were given. the contract,
though higher bidder. The Western
people claim that, if the home trade
idea was to rule, they should have
been given the lead pipe contract, or, If
the lowest bidder was to be recognized,
that they be given the brass work,
instead of giving the Crane & OrdWay
firm the entire work, as was done.
President Bement of the water board,
when asked yesterday as to the claim
OF the Western Supply company, said
the board had been pledged when prices
were practically the same to give home
manufacturers the preference. Some
years ago when the late William Lin
deke was a member of the board set
Of patterns were purchased by the
board from which goods used were to
be made. The idea was to favor home
manufacturers, not only in the brass
furnishings used by the board, but in
hydrantS and specials. In these goods
the matter of labor is prominent fully
80 per cent of the cost being for the
labor. The board had not pretended to
say that it would give the home manu-
facturers the preference because, if
it did, nc one outside of the city would
put in bid. AS to the lead pipe con-
tract, there was practically no labor
in furnishing the goods. The labor in
the manufacturing Of lead pipe over
the cost of pig lead was not more than
5 per cent, and the material 95 per cent.
In the case of the brass goods the labor
was 80 per cent and the material 20
per cent. In the lead pipe, possibly two
men would be employed. The board
had been obliged to let the contract
for lead pipe to the lowest bidder be-
cause there was only one firm in the
city that manufactured it, and if the
preference was given to the home man
ufacturer in this instance, the firm
would have a monopoly. The lead pipe
contract was let to the lowest bidder
and there was no reason why the ST.
Paul firm could not have put in a price
lower than the one submitted. There
had been four bids submitted for lead
pipe three of them were at the same
figure and one was evidently put in to
break the combination. For the above
reasons the contract for lead pipe was
awarded to the lowest bidder.
AS to the brass goods there were
three local competitors who agreed to
furnish goods manufactured in, town,
and one firm, the Western Supply COM
pany which stated in the meeting of
the board that they. reserved the right
to purchase the goods where they could
get them the cheapest. There was a
difference of IS against the lowest home
bidder and the board favored the local
manufacturers in this case as they
have always done, especially when
labor was the larger part of the con-
tract In matters of this kind the
board exercised business discretion, not
only for the good of the local manu-
facturers of the city, but also in the
interests of the water board in pur-
chasing goods as cheaply as possible.