Omaha daily bee., 1899-12-22
MONEY no OBJECT TO BOARD
No Pretense is Made Of Awarding Contracts
10 Lowest Bidders,
DEALERS IN SLATE ENTER A PROTEST
BlncLbuords Are Purchased for Three
New Buildings at II Price Much
in Excess uf "idS Submit-
ted in Good Faith,

Contractors and material men Of this city
and Chicago have a serious grievance
against the Beard Of Education in respect
to the placing Of important orders without
regard to the lowest bids. The erection Of
three new buildings-the Cass, Saunders
and Pacific schools-has made necessary
eXtens, it. purchases through the agency Of
the committee on buildings and property.
The contractors complain that the commit
tee has either failed to consider any COM
petive bids whatever or has, in one case at
least. preferred a contractor whose bid was
higher than others received.
On December 4 bids were opened in gem
eral meeting OF the board for furnishing
and installing slate blackboards in the
three new buildings. Prices per square
foot were quoted as follows:
G. f. Weber & Co.. Chicago, 22ta cents.
Z. d. Beeghly & Co., Toledo. 24&a cents.
+. *. Burkminster Chicago. % cents.
Omaha School supply company, Omaha, %
cents.
Northwestern Slate company, Minneapolis,
% cents.
The bids were referred without comment
to the committee on building and property
consisting of Cowie, Black. Bandhauer,
johnson and Burgess. The committee rec
commended at a later meeting that the ma
terial be purchased from f. X. Buckmin-
ster, and such action was taken. The total
order amounted to about $4,000, there
being a little more than 5000 feet of black
board space provided for in the three new
buildings. The difference of 2a cents a
foot between Buckminster's and Weber's
bids represented 5000 Of the taxpayers
money. The bid accepted, far from being
the lowest, was with one exception the
highest one received.
Contractors Are indignant.
The firms which had bid lover than +. X.
Buckminster were naturally aggrieved that
they had been put to the trouble of figuring
the plans and of posting certified checks
for 500 when they were not allowed to
enjoy the fruits of merited success. e. D..
Bceghly & Co. Of Toledo, who had submitted
Il bid of PAN cents per square foot we're
especially dissatisfied and one Of the firm
expresses himself as follows:
have been most shaobily treated at
the h9nus of the school board and cannot
doubt but that the taxpayers will also resent
this expensive unfairness. We had a number
of letters from the secretary of the board
asking US TO bid for the slate blackboard
material. We believe that We are competent
TO execute the contract satisfactorily as we
have done similar work for ten consecutive
years in Kansas City, getting the contracts
each time by competition, and have equally
good records in other cities.
The excuse of the board therefore, that
our competitors We're able to execute their
contract more satisfactorily is not acceptable
inasmuch as we mad put up Il certified check
for the proper execution of the work"
Plain Truth to school Board.
The low. but unsuccessful bidders also
.l1,-,~4I - "a, - H. ar-.4 3 ~
school board in the following terms:
DAYTON, o., Dec. l6.--J. NJ. Gillian. Dear
Sir: Your favor of the 18th advising us
that the contract for slate blackboards has
been let to u higher bidder than ourselves
has been received with considerable sur
prise. If we had known that we could not
expect fair treatment from your board we
would have been present at the opening of
the bids in order to have preserved our
rights, even if we had been forced into the
courts.
The excuse that the bid submitted by
the BuckminSter company was more salts
factory is no excuse whatever, as you have
complete specifications for this work, and
have no right to imagine what someone
might or might not do as long as you have
our certified check, and We are ready and
willing to go under bond to complete the
work according to your specifications. Our
guaranty covered both labor and material
and the specifications should certainly
have been sufficient for you. 1t is in our
opinion an outrage that bidders in good
faith cannot get fair play, when the speci-
f~ications are plain and their certified check
is as good as any ones else.
We will put up another certified check
for any amount that may be named as
a guaranty that the sample we furnished
is as of good quality of slate as YOU bought
or will get. We will leave the question to
any producing factory other than the two
interested.
If your city contains taxpayers with
enough interest in their own welfare to
stop such a practice as this we will be glad
to bear our share of expense in any test
as to whether the board has the right to
take such an arbitrary action when it has
adopted complete specifications and pro-
vides that certified checks shall be at
tached to all bids.
T.. u BEEGHLY & GO.
When the contract was before the board
only four members, Penfold. Hayward, Bur
CESS and Thomas, recorded themselves
against it, Moore, Teal and Van Glider be-
ing absent, and the other eight voting for il.
CLUB IS ITSELF DELINQUENT