Los Angeles herald., 1906-08-12
Further Disclosures
Are Made in the
Sewer Affair
StaffOrd's Statements of
Work Completed
Disappear
Computations on Difficult Basis Prove
That Only 35 Per Cent of the
Improvement Has Been
Finished

With every probe made by the board
of public works into the condition of
the outfall sewer yesterday affairs ap-
peared worse than Friday evening,
when the first disclosure of an over
charge on the work was made.
c. E. Alsop, president of the Alsop
Engineering and Construction COM
pany who, as chief deputy under Harry
F. Stafford, the late city engineer, de-
signed every detail of the big bore, told
the board that as far as the difficulty
of the work was concerned 35 per cent
was all that had been completed. The
figures of Acting City Engineer Kings
bury show that as far as lineal feet
are concerned, scarcely go per cent of
the work has been done. In spite of
been paid on the basis of so per cent
having been completed.
$4,000 by One Calculation
By the difficulty calculation, if Mr..
Alsop's estimate is correct-and it is be-
lieved that, outside of Stansbury e.
Powell and the dead city engineer he
is better qualified to Judge than any
one else-the contractors have been
overpaid about $15O,OOO. By the lineal
feet calculation, which is the method
Mr.. Stafford was supposed to use,
Stansbury & Powell have been overpaid
to the extent of $S2,631. Whatever the
method of calculation it is certain that
the outfall sewer contractors have re-
ceived more money than was due them
according to the amount of work that
has been done on the sewer.
G. NJ. Stansbury, a member of the
contracting firm, declared yesterday
that, based on the difficulty of the
work, his firm had not received enough
money. This statement is diametrically
opposed to the communication sub
mitted by the contractors to the coun-
Gil in explanation of their abandonment
of the outfall sewer contract.
Statements Appear Inconsistent
In this communication they declare
that it is practically impossible to
finish the sewer on the gravity plan
On one hand they declare they have not
been paid according to the difficulties
they have overcome, and on the other
the difficulties are such they cannot
complete the sewer. The contractors
make no attempt to reconcile this in
consistency.
A surveying party under Engineer
Knowlton, chief of sewer construction
in the engineers department, went out
to the outfall sewer yesterday morn
ing to measure the exact amount of
work that has been done. This party
will be ready to report to the board of
public works Monday.
The contractors admit that Mr..
Kingsbury's figures submitted to the
board are very nearly correct. The
only difference between the two is that
Kingsbury shows that more than 25,O0O
feet remain to be completed, while the
contractors claim that less than $4,000
feet is yet to be done.
Figures Are Missing
The board of public works is careful
in its statements lest it cast undeserved
odium on Mr.. Stafford's memory But
the members of the board admit that a
suspicious circumstance that might
point to some Interior motive on the
part of the late engineer is the total
absence of any figures that can be
found showing how much of the outfall
sewer has been completed.
1t was Mr.. Stafford's habit to take
the figures submitted each month by
the outfall sewer inspectors and base
his calculations of the amount of work
done and the payment due the contrac-
tors by these statements. The state
mentS made several months ago are on
file and accessible, but those of the last
few months cannot be found on the
city engineers books. In making his
estimates of the work completed Fri
day Mr.. kingsbury was forced to send
for these inspectors and go over their
duplicate copies 1t was by these cop
les that Mr.. Kingsbury arrived at the
conclusion that only go per cent of the
work was finished, whereas by the orig
inals of these copies Mr.. Stafford had
found 1914 per cent completed. 1t is
presumed that Mr.. Stafford used some
other method of arriving at his con-
clusions than that of the lineal feet
made by Mr., Kingsbury.
Regarded as Peculiar
1T is peculiar that we cannot find
any of these statements for the last few
months" said President Anderson Of
the board of public works yesterday
"Of course, everything was found Just
as Mr.. Stafford left them on the even
ing before the day on which he died so
suddenly and tragically, and they may
yet come to light. Mr.. Stafford's books
will be carefully gone over This would
have been done in any circumstances
even had this question not come up
as Mr.. Stafford's successor demands
that all books in the department be
balanced before he takes charge"
Assistant City Attorney Hewitt will
report to the council at it's meeting
Tuesday afternoon that the outfall
sewer contract has been abandoned, as
far as the legal phase of 1t is con-
celned, and that the council can as
sumo the completion of the sewer either
by letting the contract to some other
.n.naI...n.I -. .....-.- a.....