The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-12-30

Piece a
work.. II. KiIImar, who With
drew His Rice Street Bid, Gives
His Reason for Having Done So
When He Did
The board of public works opened bids
yesterday for paving with brick Ninth
street, from Broadway to Locust, and
Wacouta street, from Seventh to Ninth
street. There were four bidders for each
piece OF work, and, figuring on the lowest
bid In each case, the city or the prop
erty owners will pay about s. per front
foot for the paving.
The James Forrestal company was the
lowest bidder for each piece of work. The
company's bid was $3.50 lower than Field
ing Il Shepley's bid to pave Ninth street
with brick on a concrete foundation with
sand filler, and 500 lower than Fielding &.
Shepley for the same work H cement filler
was used. For paving Wacouta street
the Forrestal companys bid was s22t
lower than Fielding & Shepley's. The
board did not award the contracts. but
took the bids under consideration until
after jan l. The detail bids were as fol-
lows:
taV1ng Ninth Street-Fielding & Shop
ley, with sand filler, So, $50; cement filler.
So'zsO. James Forrstal company, sand
filler, $1,000; cement filler, $S,4OO; John
Lindquist, sand filler, IS, 142; cement filler.
$3,4O0 J. II. K:llmar, sand filler, IS. SIS;
cement filler. 1886. The estimate of the
city engineer was 1873, or IS per front
loot to the property owners.
Dow
shepley, cement filler $4,2oSs7; James
Forrestal company, s., 1887; John Lindquist,
$4,000; j. H. Kfllmar, $4,595. The estimate
OF the city engineer for the work was
81. 331
j. II. Killmar, of Des Moines, To-, was
the only outside bidder, and he was the
highest of the four bidders for each con-
tract. Fielding & Shepley, Killmar and
Idndquist stated in their bids that Gales
burg or Des >Moines brick would be used.
The bid of the FOrrestaI company pro-
v1oed for brick from the Barr Clay COM
pany, Of Streator, ILL.,, or the ST. Louis
Pressed Brick company, of St Louis.
Commissioner Sandell figured it out that
the brick under the lowest bid on Ninth
street would cost $1.S6 per square ward
with a cement filler, and $1.82 for sand
filler On Wacouta street the paving with
cement filler would cost $3.50 per square
yerU unQer the lowest bid.
There was some discussion among the
| members of the board and the city en-
g1neer as to whether the pavement on
Ninth street should be laid with a sand
or cement filler. City Engineer Claussen
advanced the opinion that if cement was
used and 1t was necessary at any time to
take up the pavement almost a new
pavement would have to be laid. If a
sand filler was used repairs could be
| Il \,
| that cement filler and tar filler had been
used on the street where brick had baen
laid this year and 1t would be only fair
to give the sand filler a trial. The uues-
tiCn will be more fully discussed at the
meeting of the board next week when the
awarding of the contracts on the bids
opened yesterday as well as those for
paving Rice street and Broadway will be
taken up. Fielding & Shepley are the
lowest bidders for both the Rice street
and Broadway paving.
j. H. Killmar, of Des Moines, To-, was
among the bidders for brick paving con-
tracts, which were opened yesterday by
the board of public works. Mr.. I<illmar
put in bids for the paving of Rice street
which were opened by the board a week
or so ago At that time, owing to a fail
ure to receive a telegram from G brick
manufacturing firm, Mr. Killmar with
drew his proposal before the bids were
opened This action caused considerable
comment and the opinion was freely eX-
pressed that Ny J<illrnar withdrew his
bio in order to favor the combine, which
it is alleged exists in St. Paul in the
brick paving business. Seen last evening
Mr.. Kill1nar SAID:
The withdrawal of my bid for the paw
Ing Of Rice street was simply a business
proposition. [ have been engaged in the
laying of brick paVementS for years and
have done considerable work in Des
Moines and other cities. l was in Min
neapolis a day or so before the bids for
the paving Of Rice street were opened,
and my attention was called to the ad
vertisement for proposals. I came to st.
Paul after making arrangements with
the bonding company and prepared my
bid. 1 wired for prices on brick, but as
no telegram came and the hour for OPEN
ing bids was approaching I put in the
bid at what I considered the prices would
be. Hardly had the bid been handed in
when the telegram came, and under the
circumstances L asked permission to with
draw and was allowed to do so.
There is no combine among the brick
paving contractors that l am aware of,
and if there is 1 am not in it. The reason
for so few contractors bidding on paving
in ST. Paul the last season is due to the
fact that contractors have had all the
work they wanted to do outside Then,
too, it has been known for years that st.
Paul was an asphalt town and 1t was
not laying any brick pavements. This
also had something to do with the small
number of bidders for brick paving con-
tracts. Now that the word has gone
out that st. Paul is to lay brick pave
ments there will, 1 think, be an increase
in the number of bidders. 1t is possible,
under the specifications, to use brick
other than those manufactured at Gales
burg and Des Moines, providing that the
brick is of as good quality This will give
contractors a chance to come in and
compete for the work The claim that
asphalt is better than brick, for the rea-
son that there is a ten-year contract
with asphalt to keep the pavement in
repair, does not carry much weight when
you stop to consider that the people en-
gagged in the laying of asphalt put just
so much per square yard on the price to
make up for the repairs. In some states
| the guarantee business has been done
away with altogether on the ground that
| the property owner not only paid for the
paving, but also enough more to keep the
| repairs up for ten years. Brick paving
is considered cheaper than asphalt, and,
| If properly laid on a siX-inch concrete
| foundation, with cement filler, cannot be
| improved upon for a pavement The
| trouble with asphalt is that a number
| of contractors are laying it who are not
up to the business and are putting in an
| inferior grade of asphalt. This has
| caused the public, and especially those
! who have to pay for the pavements, to
| turn to brick. I am a new man, so far
as bidding or ST. Paul contracts is con-
| cerned, but If there Is work to be done
/