The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-01-28
and everybody yelled with

l
did you expose. the bribe giyer. in the
columns of the Evening Journal?" in
| quired the mischievous Mr.. Cole.
No, sir. I did not because I didn't
C"ohl oh!S from Mr.. Cole amid screams
| of laughter)
Mr.. Dear. in resuming. plunged into a
labyrinth of figures about the benefits OF
! the proposed award. No one understood
| the calculations or what he was driving
at, but It sounded very learned and the
unlearned ones looked very much i'm
pressed. In dealing with the expenses
| of the water department in Jersey City
| he said the aggregate total. including
salaries. was $lsS,OoO. But here he came
pointed out that the sum mentioned
did.
"Oh, no." replied Mr.. Harrison, "the
| expenses were $4,000 without pumping. :,
Mr.. Dear said that he had assumed
| these figures against himself. 1t would
still mean deficit of 100000 on sS0O, 900
if the city maintains temporary supply.
He closed by debating on the advantages
| of a pure supply, attacking the alleged
| contradictions in Mr.. Rafters report and
advising the Board to take the East Jer-
| sey Water Company to their hearts as q
corporation ready to do everything and
| everybody in Jersey City.
During. Mr. Dear's speech there was a
| tions from Messrs. Cole, Harrison and
Gordon, who were in their element. Mr..
Dear didn't speak as well as he usually
| does. He doesn't make a good pleader.
When he had finished Engineer Edlow
w. Harrison began to make mincemeat
of the arguments in favor of the con-
| tract and punched holes in the specifiea-
| tions, which he termed loose
He said that what the city called for
and what the city expected was double
| pipe line. He made comparisons between
| For instance, the specifications provided
| that the reservoirs should be cleaned and
| the contracts are silent on this point. A
| violation of this clause would be a saw
| ing to the East Jersey Company of $780,
| 900. He also said that the East Jersey
Company could save 100000 on the pipes
under its bid. He predicted that if this
contract goes into effect that at the end
of fifteen years the city will be COM
PEELED to buy the plant and then it will
| find that it will be necessary to spend
at least a million dollars to place the
pipes in proper condition.
Both as to reservoirs, conduftS and
pipes, Mr.. Harrison found fault with the
| specifications Certain clauses were in
the copy handed to him but were after
wards cut out by Mr.. Vermeule AL
though his company had provided for
cleaning reservoirs, the East Jersey had
not, and that meant thousands of dollars
contract is awarded under the present
! specifications. People suffered in New
ark, ne said, for two years because the
| East Jersey wouldn't clean the reservoirs
I n,
in the case of Jersey City meant loss
of $500, ,000.
AS for the pipes. continued Mr. Harri-
son, the specifications under which his
company bid said they should be fully
described; but there was not word in
the East Jerseys bid What would be
the sinking fund of the city, if it ac-
cepted the contract, at the end of the
twenty-five years? he asked 1t would
pay as much money as it could build
pipes itself with which would last for
hfty years. The city has got under the
award, to buy the works, which, in the
end, would be expensive.
just as Mr.. Henry V.Condict was about
to speak Mr.. Frank o. Cole gravely sug-
70 Lembeck's brewery and return when
Mr. Condict had finished. Laughter)
gentlemen" began Mr.. Condict when
the laughter at Mr. Coles sally had SUBJ
sided, Il am sorry that the Rockaway and
Hudson Company did not get the contract
TO supply the city with water. If it had,
our office (Randioiph, Condict & Black)
would have been in it.''
Oh, eh! What break, % cried Mr. Cole,
and the room resounded with shouts Of
laughter at the Ingenious admission.
Mr.. Condict then began to explain his
love for the East Jersey Water Company,
into whose flesh pots his office did not
stick its fingers, and insisted that if the
city rejected its bid the Rockaway and
Hudson wouldn't bid again, because it
costs money to bid.
"Oh, does it?" innocently inquired Mr..
Cole and then after whispering to Mr.. Ed
low Harrison, of that corporation, said to
Mr.. CoEdict:-
'sHe says he'll go it again" (Roars Of
laughter.)
Mr.. Condict explained his gaucherie by
saying that he wished to appear consist
ent, and that influence of corporations did
not affect him. He advocated the East
Jerseys scheme because he thought it was
the best, and Notwithstanding the remark
that they would come down in their next
bid If the contract was not signed there
was no foundation for such a statement,
and he would like to ask Mr.. Cole on what
grounds he made it.
Simply because they have come down
before" reterted Mr.. Cole, who, aided and
abetted by DR.. Gordon and Mr.. Harrison,
proceeded to ''hecllle'' Mr.. Condict and tie
him up. The lawyer stood the raking fire
We well. = and nd vas proceeding smoothly to the
said even Mr.. Rafter had said was ex-
tremely reasonable
"Where?' quickly interrupted Dr.. Cor
dcn
I'm his report
Read it, please said the doctor, and
Mr.. Condict took hold of the, report and
read, Il do not consider the bids submit
ted by the East Jersey Company as spe-
Mr.. Condict, putting down the report
Oh, yes, and so forth, that settles it.
said sthe doctor, and his associates
chuckled at the result Of the extract. Mr..
Condict implored, begged and pleaded with,
the obstinate opponents of the contract to
see the error of their ways as he had done
and welcome the award of that dear East
Jersey Water Company with open arms.
Mr.. Myron J. Furst, one of the obstin-
ate ones was not to be won over with
the reasoning of Messrs. Dear and Con-
dict He had the audacity to deny that
the contract was a good thing and should
be pushed along. The practice in the con-
struction of great works had always been
to put them into the hands of other than
mere city officials. So it should be with
the question of water. The trouble was
Jersey City doesn't go about things in the
right way. The Board of Trade fought
with the Mayor for an expert. At first
he refused and then gave way. The ques-
ton should be delegated to experts and not
officials.
Mr.. Dear having in his speech said that
he had spent s150 out of his pocket to pay
Mr.. Hazen for a report on filtration, Mr..
Furst said that the statement was not
quite accurate. The Board of Trade, he
continued, had paid $3.50 and Mr.. Dear the
remainder.
Il object to this personal angrily
interrupted Mr.. Dear, in which Mr.. John
J., Cone Joined.
Are these gentlemen" said Mr.. Cole,
jumping up and pointing across the room
sat, hying In such. glasshouses that they
can't bear the truth? 1t is bad taste on
their part; execrable taste to interrupt
Mr.. Furst.' 2
This nettled Commissioner Cone, who
sarcastically retorted that it was such
truth, and he didn't believe he was speak
ing it now.
Il believe Mr.. Furst should not be inter-
rupted when he is questioning the SINGER
ity of Brother Dear" Laughter.)
Mt Furst continuing. said that he had