The Washington herald., 1906-11-13
GET AFTER CONRAD
Commissioners to Enforce
Street-cleaning Contract.
SURETY COMPANY Is WARNED
Bondsmen VIII Be Held Accountable
If Terms of Agreement with the
District Are Not FuIfIIed - The
Force Provided for the work De-
eIared TO be Insufficient

An Improvement in existing street condl-
tions is being sought by Commissioner
West, who yesterday notified the surety
company which gave bond for J. r Con-
rad, the contractor for machine street
sweeping. that the company viii be held
responsible il the contractor fails to pro-
vide . sufficient force TO in every way
comply with the terms of his contract
The contract with Mr.. Conrad, which
went into effect July !, and which calls
for the expenditure Of more than SlOOO00
annually. provides that he shall sprinkle.
sweep and clean the paved carriageways
Of such streets and avenues in the District
OF Columbia as the Commissioners may
from time TO time designate"
Mr Conrad is bonded for the perform
ance Of this work in the sum Of g2,03O
More Money Provided.
BY an increased appropriation from
Congress, the District nov pays - % cents
a thousand yards for street cleaning, al
though only 1513 cents was previously
paid for this class OF work.
The equipment Of the contractor con-
sists of twenty-six machines, six sprink-
Z
fifty men. Each machine is expected TO
cover about 60.OOO square yards a night,
and according TO the schedule an aver
age of 1.5O0.o00 square yards should be
cleaned
More than month ago Superintendent
Twohey. Of the street-cleaning depart
ment. submitted to Commissioner West a
number Of daily reports OF inspectors OF
machine sweeping, showing that a large
number Of the streets We're not swept.
owing 10 the fact, it was said, that the
contractor did not provide a sufficient
( force TO do the work. Upon receipt Of this
information Commissioner West sum
moned the contractor and stated 10 him
that the failure TO provide sufficient force
was a matter that demanded serious con-
sideratiOn.
Commissioner West further stated that
Congress had given an increased ap-
preparation, in addition to which the price
/ paid was much larger than the figures Of
the old contract so it was to the advan-
/ tage Of the contractor 10 do as much
work as possible as the District would
rather pay the money for cleaning the
streets than TO have it returned 10 the
! Treasury through failure TO have the
work done
Promises Increase in Plant.
/ Mr. Conrad replied that the increase in
/ the schedule which the Commissioners
! had recently ordered had taxed his facili-
/ lies to the utmost, but promised TO in
crease the capacity of his plant as soon
/ as possible.
/ At a conference two weeks later. Com
missioner West informed Mr.. Conrad that
! the Commissioners intended 10 enforce the
/ contract since which time, it is stated,
| conditions have improved, but the
! schedules are not yet executed entirely.
! Acting upon Commissioner Vests diTeC-
/ tion, Superintendent Twohey prepared q
| statement for the consideration of the
! Commissioners, and upon this statement
| Commissioner West made his motion n0ti-
/ flying the surety company that Il would
/ be held responsible in the event that the
! contractor failed to fully comply with
/ the terms of his contract.