The San Francisco call., 1898-08-10
Halo Justice EmplOyeS
 Treated Well.
RAW WORK OF SUPERVISORS
FLIMsY EXCUSES FOR THE NU- MEROUS DELAYS.
Rolling Mills and Other Plants Which Evidently Existed Only in the Imagination of
 Contractors.

~ The more delving is done into affairs re- lating to the new Hall of Justice, the more manifest does it become that there Is "a colored gentleman lurking in the woodpile," and that all the delays have been made for some object.
 The contract was let on November 2, 1896, and signed on December 3, 1S96 and called for the building to be finished on October l. 1897. Extensions of time were made as follows: September P. to Oc- tober 9, 1897; October 9. 1897, to January l, 1898; January 1 to February s2S, and February 2S to October l. The building will not be finished on October l, or at all events the contractors think it will be impossible and intend asking for another delay In the meanwhile the Board of Supervisors is paying out $42O each month for salaries of superintendents and Morgue rental
 In their appeals for more time the con- tractors made many excuses, which were Board of Supervisors, but one of the star plays was the plea that work was not fS@aT e6rnaEy OguR 5 Iss7 qn John E. Buckley Ss appointed Superintendent of Construc- ton at a salary of $250 per month, said salary to begin at the same time as the actual work of construction. The report of the Committee on Public Buildings, adopted February 2S, 1898, reads as fol- lows: Tn the matter Of the petition of Bdteman Bros. for further time we find that the contractors were not in control of or had the lot on which the Hall of Justice is being constructed prior to July ], 1SS7;' Chiefly on these grounds an ex- tension of time was granted by the Board of Supervisors. The list of expenditures on the Hall shows, however. that MT Buckley'S salary began or March 26, and he has. accordingly. drawn three months salary which he was not entitled to. The salary of the inspector of brickwork dates from June l, or a month before the "ac- tual work of construction" commenced. Either Bateman Bros fooled the commit tee or the board has been fooled into paying men salaries for doing nothing.
 Other portions of the statistics relating to the work prove just interesting. Time and again the architects called at tention to the fact that the sub-contracts had not been let. After resolutions had been passed and notices sent out, which were totally ignored, committee was sent to interview the contractors. These gentlemen unblushinglY informed the gullible committeeman that they did not intend letting sUb-contraCts, as their own rolling mills would soon be in operation, and they intended taking the stone from their own quarries; also, that they had just erected plant near Stockton for the manufacture of terra cotta. This was told in nice oily way, and 1t was easily swallowed by the committee. These mills and quarrieS, however, appear to have been abandoned as readily as Spanish warship, as since that time iron and steel have been supplied by the Car negie works of Pennsylvania and the Pa ciflc Rolling Mills. Stone has been pro- cured from an old quarry, and the terra cotta is due from a local firm within a few days Where the contractors get the brass with which to equip themselves when telling such yarns does not appear on the records.
 The whole scheme was once investi- gated by a committee from the Grand Jury. which, after making a thorough investigation, became convinced that the whole scheme of delays was a fraud and that the contractors were really holding back waiting for the price of building material to take a drop. Instead of talk ing a drop it has gone steadily upward. and they are getting deeper in the mire every day. This committee filed re- port with the Board of Supervisors pro- testing against further delays, and was backed up by committee representing every property owner in the vicinity. but the fairy tales about factories, unavoid- able delays. etc, seemed more plausible and the desired extension was granted
 While the property owners fume, and sweat and the little bunch of workmen keep out of the way of the host or su- perintendents the contractors compia- gently talk of asking for further time.