Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-25
THAT DISTRICT COAL CONTRACT
A Statement by Mr.. v. Baldwin John
SON

AS the property clerk to the Commission
ers has exercised the very proper preropa-
tive when intelligently. justi1edly and jul
dfclously done), reserved by the Commits
sioners n awarding contracts of rejecting
all bids when deemed to the advantage of
the District to take that course Justice to
the bidders demands Gn that their business
integrity is implicitly reflected upon) that
the Interested public the taxpayers in mar
ticular, should know the data upon which
this course has been justified by the officer
acting on behalf of the government. Now
as was the lowest bidder for the great
bulk of the anthracite coal asked for. and.
therefore, the most interested, 1 ask you to
publish the following statement sworn to
by me, and l would then be glad If the
property clerk would be equally ingenious
in presentation of the governments side
of the matter.
Following is an estimate of cost of hand
ling the anthracite coal for the District
government from July /, 1904, to June 10
1905:
Total shipped for District account, 16. 36l
tons; rejected by inspectors. 1929 tons: ac-
cepted by inspectors, 1852 tons: estimated
loss from cost of repicking rejected coal
or selling same at reduction. 80 cents per
ton, 81 80; cost of dumping cars ~
cents per ton, on 13, $50 tons, 5000 9S; short
age on cars and waste from forking and
screening coal, 10 cents per ton on l3 $50
tons, 81, 1916; proportion of cost of wheel
wrtghtng and horseshoeing chargeable to
District contract one-half of 81, 547 33)
$11366; proportion of cost of rental of rail-
road trestles and clerical help chargeable
to District contract. 1900; interest on
money in stock Of coal necessary to carry
for District use to protect District against
uncertainties and Irregularities Of ship
ments 4.000 tons), 81 200; proportion of cost
of horses killed in effort to keep schools
and fire department supplied during bld
hauling, three-ffths of ten horses at $780,
$500: total estimated cost on all anthracite
as per items enumerated above, $7,7J030;
total cost per ton on anthracite Q3, 532
tons), ST 2-10
In the foregoing estimate there has been
no apportionment of charges whatever
against the District of bonding costs tele-
phone service and many other incidentals
The above estimate appears to be the
necessary costs of handling the anthracite
coal for the District government. exclusive
of the cost of hauling same, which latter
1 have purposely omitted In other words,
In order satisfactorily to handle the anthra-
cite coal for the District government, con-
tractor must undergo an expense of 81 2-10
cents per ton before he sticks shovel
into the coal for the purpose of hauling
and delivering the same.
The lowest figure for hauling this coal.
exclusive of the cost of storing, which l
can get from any large and responsible
teaming firm dixie that of Littlefield, Alvord
& Co., for instance), is one SD dollar per
ton.
(Sgned) " BALDWIN JOHNSON.
District of Columbia, City of Washing
Personally appeared before me- this Goth
day of June. 1905, the above v. Baldwin
Johnson. to me personally known, and
signed the foregoing estimate, and declared
under oath that the same was true and
correct to the best of his knowledge and
belief. c. A. NEALE,
Copy Notary Public.
Very truly yours.
June "a. v. BALDWIN JOHNSON.