The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-02-28
VIOLATION OF
INSTRUCTIONS
Canal Commission Bought Materia
Without Bids.
Mr.. BRAKES EXPLANATION
HOUSE COMMITTEE STRIKES a
NEW LEAD.

LkI AsHINGToN. Feb. 27,-After de-
wv claring its investigation of the
Panama Railroad company
J closed last week the special sU5-com-
! inittee of the house committee on in
| terstate and foreign commerce today
/ struck new lead which was pursued
/ with vigor in an examination of Vice
President +. A. Drake and Alfred An
/ derson, purchasing agent of the road.
| 1t developed that for six months, be-
ginning early in May of last year, the
] railroad company had acted as the
/ purchasing agent for the Isthmian can
al commission, and that a total Of $215,-
OOO worth of supplies had been pur-
chased IN this manner without public
| advertisement for bids.
This is regarded as a violation of
! paragraph four of President Roose-
Velts letter of instructions to the com
mission under date of May 8, 1904
! which makes it the duty of the commits
| sion Ito make and cause to be executed.
after due advertisement, all necessary
contracts for any and all kinds of en-
| Slneering and construction works"
brakes Explanation.
In detailing to the committee how
! 1t happened that the railroad had made
purchases for the commission, Mr.
! Drake said that shortly after the rail-
road property was transferred, or after
| the stock had been acquired and prior
| to the transfer of the road to the gov
| eminent, General Davis and Major
| Brooks requested certain supplies for
| which they made requisition of Ad-
miral Walker, chairman of the COM
mission.
! The chairman had recently been
elected a director" he continued. "and
| was at the office and with the general
idea that the railroad was about to
become part of the governments
| property he awaited himself Of its IA
cilities for purchasing supplies"
Not Emergency Supplies.
These We're called emergency ma
/ terials?' queried Mr. Townsend.
At that time they were not" an
swered Mr. Drake, who then gave a de-
tailed account of the class of supplies
I purchased, large part of which was
lumber. a hurry order from General
Davis for various utensils as a special
order was filled.
In making these purchases the Off
GERS OF the road followed the practice
which always had been pursued name
~. asking bids by letter from several
! Trims In this case a list of eighty
seven firms was made up from a much
! larger list of firms and all supplies
bought We're from these firms. in en-
Urgency cases no bids whatever were
asked The first SIS, 900 worth of sun
plies We're paid for directly by the rail
road. after which the commission paid
the bills.
Were Told to Apply.
While no instructions were received
Tor the purchase of supplies from any
particular firms for members Of the |
canal commission. Mr.. Drake said that
the list of firms from which the bids
were asked was increased largely by
application of others who said they
had been told by members of the com |
mission to apply. Asked what mem |
pers had made such suggestions he /
mentioned Commissioners Grunsky |
HarrOd and Hecker
Did you purchase any lumber in |
california? ?" asked Mr.. Townsend, adj |
Ding that he understood that was where
Mr.. Grunsky was from.
We had bids from California" he |
replied but had not accepted any UP |
TO the time the matter was taken out /
of our hands by Mr.. Grunsky."
Cheaper But No Good.
1t was stated later that an order for |
between two and five million feet of |
lumber had been placed on the Pacific |
/ coast by the canal commission Mr.
Drake said Mr.. Grunsky had contended !
that Pacific coast lumber was chea per. /
and just as good. Mr.. Drake said his /
ntteen years experience with lumber /
IN the tropics had led him to the ]
opinion that the porous character of !
Pacific coast lumber untitled it for use 1
IN Panama. He understood. however /
that the lumber was cheaper Although
4 questions were asked as to whether /
d. O. Mills was interested in the Cali |
tOrnia lumber purchase, Mr. Drake /
hads no information on the subject.
No bids were asked from the north |
central states. il being the policy of /
the purchasing department of the road 4
10 get its supplies convenient to the /
Atlantic or southern seaboard. COnsid- |
cradle lumber was purchased adjacent |
to and shipped from New Orleans and 1
Florida ports. Questions intended to /
develop that the great quantities of |
material bought were not needed for |
emergency work failed of confirmation \
by the witness.
Specifications Changed.
He said that the specifications for
lumber. which had been made I'D J
through long years of experience re- |
garding requirements of the isthmus /
were entirely changed by Chief En- |
gineer Wallace, who adopted the speci- !
hcations Of the Illinois Central Rail- /
road company and thereby greatly in |
creased the cost of lumber
Mr.. Anderson, who made these pur- |
chases, gave detailed information con- |
corning them.
Mr.. Drake. In answer to a question /
as TO whether he was aware of the in /
structions of President Roosevelt re-
garding the purchase of supplies. said /
that he was and called the same To (
the attention Of the canal commission. /
Admiral Walker had told him that l
the purchases were not covered by thar /
order as they were emergency re-
quirements. Mr.. Drake maintaine5 |
that from p to SO per cent had been
saved TO the government in the pur-