The herald., 1898-12-08
COMMISSION RECOMMENDS AN
ASSORTED ORDER
THE HosEMEN's COMBINE
Agents Of Rival Brands Tell of the
Merits Of Their Goods-Speeches
and Samples

lengths OF 2R-nch cottoncovered RUBBED
lined hose and crowd Of anxious statesmen
were on hand yesterday when the board o
fire commissioners convened, and the entire
outfit remained until the last member of the
board had departed.
1t was an unusually interesting session
lfor the hose men, as it was the time set fol
the board to take up the bids of the various
companies to supply the city with 5000 feet
of 2h-inch cotton hose. These bids had
been opened by the council three weeks ago
and although all had waited patiently fol
the board to pass upon the merits OF thell
respective bids, some were doomed to dis
appointment; but the majority, while no,
wholly satisfied, accepted the boards re
port with an unusual display of good fel
lowship considering the circumstances.
The majority of the representatives were
not strangers, as they had fought notable
hose battle ON the same field year ago
ALL appeared cheerful and wore an air Of
confidence that fooled nobody. Each
"knight of the long tube" was given q
chance to make bow before the honorable
board, make his little speech and retire,
after the clerk had read his company's bid.
There were fifteen bids received by the
council and all were read yesterday. First,
there was the Pyramid Jacket, offered at 80
cents per foot; Bay State at 80 cents, Reli
ance, 10 cents; Victor jacket, so cents; I'm
perial, SO cents; Glenwood, 74h cents; Drag
on, 80 cents; Safal, so cents; Mastiff, 80
cents; Paragon, 30 cents; Eureka brand, 90
cents; Keystone, 80 cents; Cable, IS cents;
Warwick, rs cents, and Horseshoe brand,
80 cents. There were in all eight companies
represented in the contest, and when the
board had passed the bids five of the eight
were declared winners and honors were di-
vided on an equal basis.
The hose question was first introduced in
the meeting by the following report from
Chief Moore:
January and March, 1893, there was
| delivered and placed in service 1000 feet
each of 2A-inch cotton robber-lned fire
| hose as follows: Bay State, Victor
| Jacket, Paragon, Mastiff and Dragon;
| all of which is now in good condition.
| Commissioner Sabichi, after the reading
of the report, moved that it be filed and
said if there was no other business he would
like the commission to settle the hose mat
ter. This caused general stir, and when
the clerk announced the field clear, A. C..
Bates, the representative of the Pyramid
Jacket stepped into the arena and the con-
test had begun.
Mr. Bates made modest little speech
and soon made way for r. c. Chapman, who
remarked that the Bay State brand was
Iwell, all that a hose ought to be. This
brand has been used in the department for
some time and, according to the chief, has
been very satisfactory.
When the Reliance Jacket was called, A.
Russell, with much effort, made his bow
with two 5Ofoot lengths of 21k-inch hose
under his arm. He stood for few minutes
while the beads of perspiration trickled
down his face and dropped with splash
ON his shirt front. Some one suggested he
set the rolls of hose down, and to the relief
OF all present he did. Mr.. Russell, support
ed ON one side by fifty-foot coil of Reliance
and on the other by same-sized coil of
Victor Jacket, waxed eloquent in support
of both brands, and closed his remarks with
his usual reference to home industry, which
has won for him the nickname of "Home
Industry Russell"
F. B. McIlory, who with James Hellman,
represented the Glenwood and Dragon
brands, was the next speaker. Samples OF
both of these brands had been offered in
evidence and although the former was Of
fered for TAN cents a foot and the Dragon
at 80 cents, both samples, with the excep-
ton of name, were as like as two peas in
pod. In fact, Mr.. Mcllory, in very ex-.
tended and rapid speech, which was deliv-
cred in such evenness of tone as to cause
drowsfness, acknowledged that the Glen
wood was just as good as the Dragon or any
other hose in the world lie argued that as
his company's bid was the lowest he should
be awarded the contract for supplying the
entire 5000 feet. - am entitled to every
foot of it or not bit" said he.
Paragon called Mayor Snyder, and j.
L. Latham stepped forward with an air of
one who knew where he stood and expected
to have the remainder of the earth. He
made no attempt at speech, simply calling
attention to tho fact that the Paragon had
been used by the local department, and
added that its service was it's best recon.
mendation.
The Los Angeles Rubber company,
through its representative, j. w. Girvin,
offered four grades of hose, commencing
with the Keystone at so cents and the War
wick at rs cents. Although an old-timer.
Mr.. Girvin was mttled, and soon retired.
Other speeches were made by e. c. Haskell
for the California Hardware companys
Mastiff, and w. A. holman for the Imperial
jacket brand. A. c. Harper was also called
upon for speech, but being of shrinking
disposition, as he explained afterwards, he
declined.
This ended the suspiciously quiet contest.
There were no further attempts to press the
claims of the various brands. and the mat
ter was left in the hands of the commission.
1t had been stated previous to the opening
of the bids by the council that the hose men.
profiting by their experience of a year ago,
when certain firms, in order to win, had
resorted to cutting, had this year entered
into an agreement whereby all would come
in for share. This rumor was strength
ened after the bids were opened and the
price on first class hose was found to he al
most uniform. Yesterday it was even more
apparent that there was "nigger in the
woodpie"
The board gathered up the numerous sam.
pies and assisted by Mr.. Russell moved
them to the mayors private office where
an executive session was held. Half an
hour later the commission returned bringing
with it a report, which it will file with the
Monday, recommending that the
city purchase the following: 1900 feet of
Paragon, 1900 feet of Bay state, 1900 feet of
Victor Jacket, 1900 feet of Mastiff and 1900
feet of Glenwood. As explanation to the
r. recommendations the board had added a
L. III Al Il.