The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-08-07
STAND TWO AND TWO
COMMITTEES EQUALLY DIVIDED ON
THE BIDS FOR LIGHTING
CITY HALL.
BIDDERS APPEAR BY COUNSEL
GAS COMPANX'S REPRESENTATIVA e
MAKES A STRONG ARGUMENT
FOR THEIR OFFER.
CLAIM III is CHEAPER in THE END
QucstiOn Referred 10 the Entire
Commission, which Was Not
Ready to Act Last Night.

An adjourned meeting of the court
| house and city hall commission was
! held last evening for the purpose OF
! passing on the question Of heating and
! lightning the court house and jail Tor
! a period of three years, commencing
! jan l next All the members of the
! commission. with the exception OF May
| or Doran, were present, and Mr.. DIX
| acted as chairman, in the absence OF
| the mayor. Mr.. Daily, chairman of the
| subcommittee to which the bids had
been referred, stated that in view Of
! the fact that the committee had not
! report ready to submit, he would sug-
gest an adjournment until next Tues
| day evening Mr.. Kellermann second
ed the motion for an adjournment. Mr..
Moritz objected, and said the members
of the subcommittee had heard the bids
thoroughly discussed and he, for one,
| was ready to act at once. Mr.. Lindahl
favored an adjournment. 1t was true
| that the subcommittee had been in ses-
sion during the day for over three
hours, but as all that time had been
taken up in the discussion by attorneys,
the members were not able to consider
the matter The motion to adjourn
was then put ana carried. -r--~
AT the meeting of the subcommittee
| held yester day afternoon, F. w. NJ.
CutcheOn, representing the gas compa-
ny, and Oscar Hallam, appearing for
James McGeary, argued at length as to
the duty of the committee and why
it would be to the best interests of the
city and county that the contract
should be awarded. The legal repre-
sentatiYes talked from $3.50 to $50
o'clock, and when they had finished an
INFORMAL vote was taken, which re-
suited in a tie, Messrs. Daily and Nc
| Carron favoring the gas company, and
Messrs. Lindahl and Moritz the bid Of
McGeary and the Ridgeway Dynamo
( company.
Chairman DAILY, as soon as the COM
| mittee had been called to order, stated
| that the gas company had agreed to
| light and heat the court house, includ-
| ing the library and county Jail, for
| three years, at a cost of $39, 600. James
| McGeary had agreed to do the same
| for $32,700, but in order to accept Nc
| Geary's bid it would be necessary for
| the commission to purchase two en-
gines and dynamos which the Ridgeway
| nish at cost of 81, 1853 Under the Me-
| Geary bid it would cost $500 addi-
tional to light and heat the Jail and
| $3.50 to place the present heating plant
in condition. An additional $500 would
| be necessary to be expended by the
! commission for repairs, which We're es-
| timated at 5000 per year. This brought
the McGeary bid for the three years,
| including everything except the inter
est on the investment and the depre-
! citation of the plant up to $39,400. Mr..
Moritz asked both Mr.. Cutcheon and
Mr.. McGeary if their propositions in
! Guided the taking care of the elevators,
| for which the gas company now charg-
ed $500 per year Both gentlemen
| stated that their figures included this
! service. Mr.. Cutcheon being called
upon to say what he desired in sup
port of the proposition of the gas COM
pany, made a lengthy argument, in the
course of which he said:
The question before the committee
was whether the city ard county in
tended to own it's own plant. Mr.. Nc
| Geary had contemplated the city and
| county spending about 81 600 to put
! in engines and dynamos. The COM
| mittee would, he said, make a mistake
! by putting in inferior machines. He
| called attention to the Ridgeway en-
gines put in the Minneapolis court
! house, and by the Bohn Manufacture
| ing company, of ST. Paul, and said
! they had not given satisfaction. The
engines and dynamos offered by the
| Ridgeway company, and which would
| be used by McGeary, if his bid was
| accepted. were not sufficient to light
the building. To light the Jail and
court house it would require $4,000 six
| teen-candle power lights, The ma
! cbinery offered by the Ridgeway COM
pany would not do the work which
was expected, including the running Of
| the elevators.
! Mr.. Cutcheon read a letter from
| Cass Gilbert, architect for the North
| ern Pacific Railway company, stating
that a plant in its building had cost
| SO 900, and the Northern Pacific build
| ing had less lighting to do than in the
court house. Mr.. Cutcheon figured it
out that in order to put in plant
| such as was needed, and one that
would give satisfaction, including
| everything which was necessary,
would cost $43243, which would in
| clude 50, 300 for the plant and $32, 700 to
McGeary. This was $4,503 more than
| the gas companys bid. Assuming
! that the Ridgeway bid was accepted
| and the figures which McGeary Of
fered to do the work of fitting UP and
keeping in repair the plant, the cost,
| Mr.. Cutcheon said, would still be sew
| eral hundred dollars more than the
! bid of the gas company.
Mr.. Cutcheon read an estimate from
| Mr.. Hawthorne, engineer at the New
York Life building, which stated that
it has cost $4,000 to run the building
! for a year. The estimate made also
| included the cost of the investment
! for putting in plant at $4,000.
Mr.. McGeary said he would like to
| have some detailed explanation from
! Mr.. Hawthorne, who had prepared the
estimate just read. He asked if Mr..
! Hawthorne could be present, but was
| told by Mr.. Cutcheon that possibly he
might. Mr.. Cutcheon argued that Nc
Geary would if given the bid, have.
to use the greatest economy in run
ming the plant, and the result would
be that the heat and light would be
| turned off whenever possible
On the other hand the gas company
would give just as good satisfaction
as it had in the past. The question
of damages arising from accidents