The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1904-09-30
CITY'S BILLS
BADLY CHECKED
Inspector Boone's CursOry
Note Taking Is the Sole
Record Of Work Done
YORKE CLAIMS HELD UP
Supervisors Finance and
Street Committee Will
Make Further Inquiry

The joint committee of the Board Of
! Supervisors on finance and streets met
yesterday afternoon and continued the
investigation of the inquiry into the
bills rendered by F. M. Yorke e Com
pany for street paving, and estimates
by local merchants on the cost of op-
GRAFTON of street sweepers.
The first witness called, Supervisor
Brandenstein acting as chairman, was
w, r. Boone, the inspector charged
with looking after the work done by
! the contractors Of bituminous pave
ment. During the inquiry it was de-
! veloped that the small note book kept
! by Inspector Boone was the cityS sole
record of the amount of work done by
/ the contractors up to the time the total
amounts were transcribed into the
/ books of the Board of Public Works.
1 Later Morris Levy, secretary of the
| Board of Works, testified that he took
| the 20. K" of the bookkeeper, Leon
ard S. Leavy, as to the correctness of
the amounts on the bills rendered by
f. NJ. Yorke e Company against the
city. When asked by Supervisor Bran
| denstein how he knew the amounts
! We're correct, Levy said that he took
the inspectors word for it, Further
! questioning developed the fact that
! Secretary Levy had made no vertical
! ton of the books of the Works Board,
! Whereupon he was advised by Bran
! denstein that it was his duty to veri-
| fly them.
YORKE ON HIS DIGNITY.
| After Inspector Boone had left the
! stand F. NJ. Yorke was called upon to
/ testify. AT the first question by Bran
y do 81 fn xyI he ,oiz
! of F. M. Yorke & Company Yorke re-
! fused to reply. After two more ques-
/ tons Mr.. Yorke arose hastily and said
! that he objected to being questioned
! as to his personal affairs He also ex-
/ pressed regret at losing his temper at
/ the last meeting of the committee and
/ thanked the members for their forbear-
ance, but positively refused to
answer personal Questions. He was
| somewhat Modified by Brandenstein' 8
statement that the committee merely
required yes or no.
/ During Yorke's- testimony it was
shown that the F. NJ Yorke Company
received the contract from the city
on July IA, while the company was in
corporated on the 18th of July. This
Yorke explained by saying that the
! contract, which was signed F. NJ.
! Yorke & Company, was entered into
3 ny the IIIu VI L . NJ. i OThe az Company
! which consisted at that time of Yorke
and p. NJ. Gopchevitch. 1t was also
/ brought out that Yorke & Company
! plant was not purchased until after the
contract was awarded
/ The next witness to testify before the
committee was Leonard S. Wood, a
clerk in the Board of Works depart
ment. When questioned as to his 20.
K" on the Yorke bills he said that
&c go ha
! putting Of the amounts, that he received
those amounts from the inspector, w.
, S. Boone, and admitted that he had no
/ means of verifying the figures.
WILL DECIDE MONDAY.
The ultimate decision of the commit
tee was to continue the investigation of
/ the Yorke inquiry until Monday, when
decision would be reached.
! In regard to the statistics on the cost,
operation and value of street sweepers
and street sweeping contracts, there
appeared before the committee, of
which Supervisor Rock was chairman,
several representatives of local ma
chinery companies.
George L. Belchery vice president of
the Henshaw- Buckley Machinery Com
pany, gave some valuable estimates
to the committee on the cost of oper-
ating street sweepers, the relative value
of various sweepers in regard to size
of the brush. Among other things he
said he thought 81 day sufficient for
the renovating of brushes on machines,
figuring that the brushes lasted ten
days and that the rattan bristles cost
fifteen cents. He closed his statements
| by Offering to sell to the city a nine
foot brush machine at 1886, and an ex-
! ira brush at $50.
4 representative of the Studebaker
Company agreed to furnish a seven
foot brush machine to the city at 1920
net Gray Brothers machines were
offered at 1855 05.
From the statements of ]. B. Cow
den, superintendent of street sweep
! ing, it was learned that there are thirty
more men on the payroll than there
are machines. Owing to this no man
in the service could work more than
four days in the week He also said
there were no other men in his depart
ment who were from the civil service
| besides himself.
1 The decision of the committee was to
pass a resolution directing the Board
J of Works to render acquisitions for
purchases and supplies to the Board
of Supervisors, according to the pro-
visions of the charter. The committee
then adjourned to meet Monday at
IL 80 o'clock.
VIII Widen Fourth Street.
Il ~,,.I -1aw