The San Francisco call., 1898-04-27

charged TOT, the QuailIy IurIuSlSu HdS been, without exception, of the very poor est in the market, while the highest con tract price has been charged, and even the work itself has been done in the most careless manner possible
 It is possible that OBrien and the two committees of Directors will be able to convince the Grand Jury that the sole responsibility rests upon Contractor Swift, but in order to acquit themselves of actual complicity in the job they will be compelled to set up the plea of gross est negligence. O'Brien, who is Director Ragan's brother-in-law, draws salary Of $50 a month from the department to pre- vent just this kind of work. His duty as Inspector requires him to measure every foot of lumber delivered to the depart ment and to see that 1t is of the quality called for
 But as O'Brien is so closely related to a director whose influence among the other members is most potent, he may have thought it entirely unnecessarily to devote any time to the city. Besides, his private contracts, in which lumber played an i'm portant part, demanded much of his time that the city paid for.
 As for Contractor Swift. the best advice his most ardent well wiSher can give him is to strive long and faithfully to lose the reputation he has among the members Of the Lumber Dealers Association.
 The buildings and grounds committee of
 
 year, was composed of Burns. chairman, with Gallagher and Drucker. This com mittee had entire charge of all the re- pairs under investigation. It ordered the work done and the lumber with which to do II, and if the members accepted O'Brien's reports as correct without any investigation, they will have an opportu- n1ty to try and convince the Grand Jury that 1t was the proper thing to do.
 Waller, who is already under indict- ment, but still has more to say in the hon r.gl #fFler rectors combined, was chairman of the finance committee last year, his associ- ates being Burns and Armor. Burns and Waller are fast friends, and 1t was they who transacted all the business of the committee. Armer was thrown in the dis card soon after the committee was named. and was never given an opportu- nity to attend its meetings.
 He was not notified of the call for meetings, and finally he became so dis gusted with the manner in which the committee was conducted that he re- signed from 1t. Consequently Waller and Burns will have to tell why Contractor nothing but O'Brien's word for 1t that any lumber at all had been furnished The committee of the Grand Jury, with Experts Holt. Campbell and Rickard, continued its investigation all day yes terday. it's first visit being made to the Falrmount School, away out in the Mis- at that school that one Of the experts made a casual remark that disclosed a new channel for the drainage of the school funds. Grand Juror Bauer re- marked that the hauling of lumber must pc profitable, judging from the bills paid by the department.
 Expert Campbell who is member of the Lumber Dealers Association, re- piled that the association had a regular schedule sch of rates for hauling. He said the city was districted and a large map had been prepared showing these dis tr1cts, and no member was permitted to Gh GGhharge more than, the schedule rates. inRlQGi6Q 10 cai ix-e thousand, and to -Ae county line S2 50. these being the two longest hauls in the city. Grand Juror Truman stated that on one bill of S75O worth of lumber for one of the downtown schools the city had been nearly a third of the cost of the material It Is probable that the Grand Jury wifi go into this phase of the job to the fullest extent as soon as the present line of in-
 The Fairmount School yard was re- planked and some additional class rooms the bill for lumber was large, being as follows: 29,OOO fancy shingles tbest qualityl, contract price sl 90 per 1000 this No.1 planking of varying width; 10, 900 feet of 4x4 redwood. The experts found l5. 300 No. ? common shingles, contract price 99 cents per 1000; 2 ,5O0 feet of No. and 2 planking; 75O0 feet of 4x4 redwood. The city had been robbed of 13,5OO shingles, lO,426 feet of planking and 2500 feet of 4x4
 
 swindled on the quality received. Here, as in all the other schools, the experts made exceedingly liberal allowances for dealer who furnished lumber for the various jobs on the experts measure ments would know there would be some
 The yard Of the Horace Mann School on Valencia street had new classrooms built, the bill for lumber as paid by the School Directors calling for 3645 feet of 1Ax4-inch tongue and groove flooring: 4lOJ feet of Ks rustic; 22 900 shingles: 3452 feet of Finch planking, and $40 feet of 4x4 rredwoodc The experts figures show 24OO feet Of flooring; 1850 feet of rustic; IA 900 shingles; 2OOO feet of planking, and 451 feet of AKA redwood
 A visit to the Buena Vista primary on York street, near Eighteenth, disclosed one of the biggest steals yet brought to light. The city paid for 46 591 feet of 2- inch planking and received 22,OOO feet. loss of 24 591 feet; Il ,670 feet of 4x4 and received 5S5O feet. difference of 5S2o feet .ett and 6I0 feet Of stepping, of which no trace could be discovered.
 After exploiting this case of robbery the inquisitors made jump to the down. town district, alighting first on the Whit tier primary on Harrison, near Fourth. This job was awful, those responsible for 1t being unwilling even to divide but in- stead barely allowing the city third of the rotten material 1t had paid the high est price for. The bill called for 30 TAO feet or 2-inch planking, but only 20,5OO feet were used; 15l5O feet of 3X6 redwood at SS 95 per thousand, but for which pine at $7 40 was substituted, and only 9200 feet deliy- cred; 22,276 feet of 4xS redwood, in place of which 276S feet of Axe and 4722 feet of 4x4. e total of 7490 feet, was found; 750 feet of stepping, of which but 504 feet was in evidence, and 422 feet of 2x12, which shrunk to l47 feet under the experts tape line.
 The Starr King Primary. on Bryant street, near Eighth. concluded the days Investigation. Here the city got about half the lumber 1t paid for, except step- ping, of which only fourth could be found. and all the stairways in the build ing were measured. The A 760 feet of planking charged for actually measured 26, ,OOO feet, with an allowance of nearly 20O0 feet by the experts. Twenty thousand seven hundred and seventy four feet of 4x4 proved to measure $500 rect: Both of these measurements in