The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-05-14
McARDY WILL NOT SIGN.
Sidewalk Tangle Must BE Fought il
the Courts.

Sidewalk Tangle Must he FOuSnt HI
the Courts.
The contract between the st. Paul
Sidewalk company and the city, mas
been returned to the board or pupllc
works without the signature OF comp
troller McCardy. Accompanying the
contract and bond, was letter from
the comptroller, which, for some reason
is not made public. A gentleman who
managed to get squint at the. letter,
saws the comptroller states that he has
examined the standing of the company
and finds that it is a Wisconsin corpar-
alton virtually owned by the Warehouse
& Builders company, or Dulutn, winch
is controlled by a Minneapolis man.
The comptroller also calls the attention
of the board of public works to the
fact that the st. Paul Sidewalk COM
pany has mortgaged it's utensils and
ma terials to the Warehouse & Builders
company for $685. 81 in March and April,
of this year, as shown by the RECORDS
in the office Of the city clerk OF tnls
city. For this reason the comptroller
informs the board that he cannot coun-
tersign the contract owing to the IRE
sponsibility of the bidders.
The letter from the comptroller reach
ed the board of public works Wednes-
day afternoon, and V. Beechem, presl-
dent Of the company, was notified to
appear before the board yesterday. Tne
records show that the ST. Paul Sidewalk
company was the lowest OF three DID
ders under an advertisement ordered
by the board of public works Tor the
laying of cement sidewalks for the year
1897. The contract was awarded py
the board to the st. Paul Sidewalk COM
pany. as it was the lowest bidder. The
contract was approved by the council,
and the bond in the sum Of $4,000 with
E. G. Krahmer and G. r. Schacht as
sureties, was duly approved by Mayor
Doran and sent to the comptroller Tor
his signature, this being necessary I'M
der the law.
An effort was made to prevent the
contract from being confirmed in the
assembly, the same objections being
stated In the letter from the comptrol-
Ter to the board of public works. The
objection of Assemblyman Craig, now
ever, did not stop the approval OF the
contract, it being stated that the bonds
men on the contract were all right and
had been approved by the mayor
Two of the members Of the board OF
public works announced last evening
that the only trouble, so far as they
could ascertain, was that U. b. curtis,
who had done the work for the past
four years, was underbid by the st.
Paul Sidewalk company this year, and
did not get the contract. Ever since the
bids had been opened and it was found
the st. Paul Sidewalk company was
the lowest bidder, one of the members
of the board stated, there had been
trouble and the elimination was in the
refusal of the comptroller to counter
sign the contract.
President Copeland had an interview
with Mayor Doran yesterday afternoon
regarding the difficulty, and action was
postponed until this morning.
Those interested in the st. Paul Side
walk company, announce that the mat
ter will be carried into the courts I'M
less settled in their favor, and man
damus proceedings will be Instituted
to compel the comptroller to counter
sign the contract. Last year work
to the extent Of Sill, was
done under the contract held by
U. B. Curtis, and in 1895 the same firm
did $10,S00 worth of work. Andrew
Hoban, of the Second ward, who is
one of the members of the ST. Paul
Sidewalk company, stated last evening,
that the company was all right, as he
had invested about $1,000 in the business
and knew what he was talking about.