Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-06-01
THAT HOSE CONTRACT.
To the Editor of the Register.

to petty Irritation in the lose deal prop
osltlon which the Register reviewed re-
Gently IN business like-way and from
a business standpoint Ii the entire
proposition is not business one the
city INDUCES in no business, and if
business, especially public business,
cannot be referred to without people
Ieellng called upon for a display of pet
W malice and self-appointed officious-
ness as IN the case in point, not to men
ulon tae guilt of inspiration through
channels more or less connected in the
case, 1t 1s high time to go back to first
principles and remodel the methods of
conducting public affairs
Inc Committee may have done per-
Iectly correct in the case, and if so it
should court public inquiry whereby its
action would secure the endorsement OF
public opinion.
II 1t did net discharge it's obligation
20 the public properly it was because
or two reasons-incompeten or will
ful perversion-one pardonable, tee
other culpable, but equal as to effect on
the interest which it is chosen to serve.
II 1t errs, the great panacea is to
ADMIT hts error. If falsely accused, es-
tabllsh Its innocence, quickly, fearless
~, thoroughly, with charity for all,
malice towards none.
With your kind permission the writer
VIII submit the side of the case oppo-
Sue to that which the Intelligencer
1eels personally called upon to defend,
ana let the interested public which
after all is, and happily, the great tri-
pune, Judge as between us. The Reg
listers representative in the article
which precipitated this discussion fail
ed, possibly, to properly designate the
degree of departure from business prin-
clples which characterized this transac-
ton in the mind of the writer The
word crookedness admits of many forms
or definition, although the Intelligencer
tCCK the liberty to place upon it tie
most severe of all such and saw fit to
attribute to the Registers comment the
Droadest definition of wrongdoing on
the part CT the committee.
This construction is severe and en-
phaslzed by the Intelligencer for rea-
sons made plain in the animus of the
article towards the defendant in the
writer's capacity of a champion. Your
correspondents acquaintance with the
members of this committee as a whole
warrants him in crediting the collec-
tive personnel thereof with being fully
up to the average of that number of
representative citizens in their private
and official capacity anywhere, with
capability, integrity and courtesy sec
Ond to none
The refutation of the imaginary
qualification of the Registers repre-
sentative does horrid execution to the
strong points of the inspired explana-
tion, further warning of the use of
a third party in a case of this kind,
and actually turns into a compliment
that which was distorted into unfavOr
able criticism; and that at the hands OF
an attendant upon this committee in
this line Of purchase for twenty years.
Based on the judgment OF minds thor
oughly reliable the writer long before
the evening of ordering was aware that
the hose had already been selected, or,
to be precise, the men who were to get
bte order, and therefore knew that
nothing but price could possibly block
the game. Hence it was that he took
steps by which was submitted espec-
lazy four brands such as the city fire
department needs, all of different grades,
assortable in two lots of two different
kinds each, one of which is fully equal
to that ordered and one superior, at a
comparative difference Of $4,000, in the
former instance, and 1884, in the lat
ter, better explained as follows:
Ordered 1000 feet at Csc. 81 10000
Ordered 1900 feet at Coo. 10000
NJ, 60 ooo M
OLdI. 100. -. -. .'''' .'V-'V-'''0
Tie kind mot considered for a mo-
ment because cheap:
1900 feet at % sec. ............$ 471.20
1900 feet at Assoc. $3.50
Total $3.50. 9l,Uz9-oV
Delivered, which from $1,000 leaves
$4,000.
Two other brands that were seen at
a glance to be SO obviously. bad as to
preclude any possibility of embarrass-
ing the taxpayer with their purchase, y
were:
2G0O feet at SO. 10c. ...........S 722.OO
1900 feet at 46.55c. .......... $500
Total. -. ...... Isl, $4,000
Delivered. which from cost of same
number of feet of inferior goods 5000
leaves S73940.
Now the writer contends that the city
"got it in the neck without saying
why. but it got it all the same, and to
establish his position he will, with the
Intenigencer put up an equal hundred
dollars to go to some meritorious pup
lie enterprise that any committee
chosen to pass upon the merits OF the
case will sustain his position as set
forth above throughout.
The reader will see the point OF the
case in the fact that if the city had Or
dered the comparative goods when
have been described above. the m.u OF
tie writer would have netted on the
transaction but $1,000. That sum OF
nrofit would not more than have PAID
freight and insurance on the goods en-
route and it's loss of the contract is
small cause of disappointment which
the Intelligencer dwells so feelingly ON.
AS to the suction hose matter any
discrepancy from fact in the case lies
between the Intelligencer and the chief
of the fire department, who told the
writer the cost was $3.50 per foot net,
length, size Is feet by Az inches
s112.5O. Same weight, size and length
is quoted to the trade by the writer at
s11.90 per foot, coupled and delivered
s319O: 70 per cent of which is com
mercial profit The mill making the
hose herein mentioned. and indeed all
kinds of rubber goods, has a reputation
as good as the best for honest and SER