The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-08-05
MR.. ROURKE MAY BID AGAIN.
He Is Likely to Have Hand in the
House Drainage Contract.


House Drainage Contract.
Bids for completing the house drainage
system, which are 10 be opened Sept. /,
have not yet begun to come in, and will
probably not until the time is about up.
The contract has been pretty well adver-
tised, however, and the house drainage
committee feels confident there will be a
number of bidders.
The opinion has been expressed for some
days that Mr.. John Rourke, who form
erly had the contract for the work, but
only partially completed it, would file an
other bid on the unfinished portion. No
statement had been made by Mr.. Rourke
to this effect, and the fact that he met
with maAy adVerses in carrying on the
work before led most people to dlscredit
the report as it was not believed he would
again enter into the work after having lost
heavily on il. When seen by a Morning
News representative he neither affirmed
nor denied the report.
1T is possible | will again he connected
with the house drainage" he said but
1 cannot say will file bid myself. What
ever hand l take in it will likely be through
other parties. There is not a great deal
OF tedious work remaining, as that has al
ready been done by myself, SUCH for in
stance, as constructing the system
the business center, where the dtsadvant-
ages were far more than they will be in
that portion of the city to be completed
a score OF annoyances were encountered
which l never dreamed of, on account of
Whlch extra expense was incurred and
| numerous other difficulties met with. that
made II impossible TO push the work alone
properly or continue it successfully"
Mr. Rourke will probably take a hand In
the work, but not as an original contract
Or In the event he files a bid, il will not
pc taVorably considered by even the mem
bers of the committee friendly to him. II
is~asserted that the fact that the former
contract was not satisfactorily carried out
would make it unbusiness-like TO entertain
a bid from Mr.. Rourke One of the com
mlttee said yesterday he could not see his
way under any circumstances to favor
awarding the contract to him, as his form
er connection with the work would not
| justify 1t.
Ie-is said the committee will not be gov
ern@d entirely by the fact a bidder is the
lowest. The intention is to follow the
course most favorable to the citvs inter
est, aside from any fixed rules What the
city is looking for now is contractor who
will push the work along without delay.
Ten miles of pipe have already been mt
down and there remains about forty-nine
| miles yet to lay. The most difficult nor
lions in Yamacraw, the business section
| and the eastern part of town have been
laid however, which will place the next
! contractor at decided advantage He
may also profit to some extent on tie
! lessons learned from Mr. Rourke's ex-
| perience.
! Just who will bid on the work is VET
| unknown to the committee The members
! are expecting a general response from
! Northern contractors, however, among
| them being Mr. Herbert W. Tate, who was
one of the last bidders. Had it not been
| for the fact it was determined to take
! the lowest bid, it is said Mr.. Tate would
| have been awarded the contract at that
! time. His former experience in const rue
| ting system of house drainage in the South
| lead members of the committee to believe
| him a safe contractor. If he is among
| the bidders in September, it is pretty GER
| tain his offer will be favora bly, considered.
While Mr.. Rourke is not apt to become
| an original contractor, the fact he has
about $4,000 worth of material on hand,
| left over from last winter, will likely briag
| him into the work in some way. Uuless he
| sells this he may become a sub-contrac-
| tor 1t Is known he is considerably inter-
| ested in what the city will do about The
| house drainage contract, but the part he
| will play in it is yet uncertain.