The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1905-11-08
4 GRAB GAME
BY Which P;liiada!2 Lost Over
Six Million Dollars On
STREET CONTRACTS,
Six Million Dollars On
Report OF Msje: Cassius E. Gillette
Who Was Selected by Mayor
Weaver to See How Much
Graft There Has Been in
the Quaker City.

Graft There Has Been in
the Quaker City.
Six million three hundred and thir-
ty thousand dollars has thus far been
lost outright to the taxpayers CT
Ph:ladelphla through tbe contracting
CON oinatton which has been engaged
In building the great filtration plant
and the two bcu'evards, ore in the
northeastern and the other in tbs
southern district Of the cit9 cArG
irg to tie report just made public.
This conclusion has been reached
by Maj)r C .ssius E Gillette, corps Of
engineers, Z. S. A, and John Donald
MacLepnsn, experts employed hy
Mayor Weaver to make full inVestt
CATION Of the c2nLracts and the work
dons. Mcj>r Gillette is the cfhcsc
who !nvesui2aosd the j)bbery in the
Savannah Ha1bor Improvements and
procured the evidence by which ex-
Captain Ooerlin NJ. Carter was con.
victed, and against which Greene and
G2yno- must shortly stard tria' :.
ohn Donald MacLeunan is an ex2e-
rienced engineer, WHO recently com.
p!eted the construction OF the gov
ernment'S filtration plant at Wash
! ington.
John W. Hill, formerly chief OF the
Bureau OF Filtration, is now awaiting
trial on charges OF forgery, etc, in
connection with the filtration con
tracts. The contracting combination
ahich is accused is constituted in the
main, OF Israel W. Durham, Republi.
can boss o. P .iladelphia, and associa.
ted with United States Senator Pen
rose, OF Pennsylvania, and State
Senator James P. McNlchol. Taese
two men, with D J. McNichol. e
brother OF the state senator, compose
the contracting f n Of Daniel J. Nc
Michel g. Co. Evidence brought out
1t HIPS preliminary hearing showed
that in this firm D. j McNichCl owns
cne-twelfth interest, the other
eleven. .twelfuhs beirg divided equally
be tween Durham and James P. Nc
N'chcl,
WORK COST CONTRACTORS $40 $50. goo.
''Omitlirg from construction al
snail contracts, say, under $50, ,000,"
the report says, we ind for the I'll
ration work ard the two bculeVarcs,
IS CONSTRUCTED up TO date. uae city has
paid OF pledged SIS. 76l. al. FbsH
class work under the sp5cif 'aticns
should rot have cost oysr sl2. 43O, 600:
which includes an advance OF 20
per cent, or 81 075, 2oS for legitimate
contractors profits. The difference
is s6 $50 900. In ether worlds ,slS $50
O00 in round numbers has been paid
'or work costing the contractors $40 :,
$50 900.
''Ot the $3.50, coo excessive cost
there has gene 10 the contractors WOO
worked under the name OF D. j..
McNichol s5,o65 1872, similarly to
Ryar g. Kelly s543 500. and to Ware
Brothers $50 12S. OF thu SIS, ,76l al
there remains uopaid about S56S COO
to McN chol and $1,000 to Ryan &
Kelley.
Some Of these contracts are in.
complete. The estimated cost CT
completion of the existing filtration
contracts al contract prices is about
81 6S5, 600. a fair price, allowing 20
Der cert profit, would be 81 2]8. 600.
Tie d ference the city will lose If
these contracts are completed.
The price paid for the three guar.
ters OF a mile OF Northeast Boulevard
already constructed is 1852 346, on
which there was loss to tae city OF
s21S 81 There are nine and half
miles more Ct it laid out on tie maps.
II com pleted at contract prices the
additional cost to the city would be
about IS, 500 600, and the additional
less at least 80 250,000. On the
Southern Boulevard the amount paid
TO date is 1886 $50, on which tae loss
on the one and quarter miles built
nas Teen $50, 1873 To coH plete at
c; ntract prices would cost $3.50, ol6,
ard the additional loss would be $50,
555. La other words, the total cHst
Of both bouleyardS as planned at con
tract prices w i'd have been ST. 636,.
900 and the total less to the city OF
$4,000.
MUCH OF WORK NOT FIRST CLASS.
Much Of the work done by RYAN
AID Kelley and D. J. McNichol is not
6rst class. The parts which show
prominently to tie public are fairly
~ell done; the parts that can be ex
am;red With little trouble are dis.
tinctly second class ard not to the
Specifications. We, Of course, do not
know the condition Of such portions
IS caLnot be seen without tearing up
the work, but wherever we lave dug
into it we ind it second class or
worse. The Southern Boulevard work
50 far IS can be seen is good. AS yet
only the rough work OF filling has
been done"
The report says that the crushed
rock used in surfac:pg the Northeast
Boulevard is excellent material, but
/ the foundation rock was found to be
of a very poor quality. Tae report
also saws that the Investigators found
fault with much Of the mathrial o5at
entered into the construction OF filter
beds and also with the workman
ship.
One Of 4he means oy which exceS-
sive profits were made possible, the
report says, was By not permitting
fair competition. The advertising
was wholly inadequate, scarcely more
than preJense. The report gives
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