Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1906-03-19
Madison, March 16.

tee it was developed that some Mad
isOn contractors thought it useless TO
bid upon university work, because
they felt that T. c. Mccarthy would
be awarded the contract regardless Of
the other bids. This was substan-
TALLY the evidence of John T. Blake
and D. R. Butler, Madison contractors,
who have submitted bids without sue
cess. The testimony of Mr.. Mccarthy
was directly to the contrary. He
claimed that if favOritism has been
shown, he has never been the recipi-
ent He said that in the construction
Of the engineering building he did
not submit a bid because ne was GER
tain that the awarding OF the contract
was practically decided upon long
before the bids were opened. He
claimed that Fredericksons were the
favored contractors and to substanti-
ate his claim he gave the following
evidence:
The specifications for the engi-
neering building called for a large
amount of terra Gotta. When you buy
terra Gotta you are dealing with the
trust and they, through, their allied
firms, control the price The firm of
Robertson & Schwartz of Milwaukee
made me price on terra Gotta and
Mr. Schwartz told me to meet him at
the Park hotel on a certain day to
close up the deal. l went to the hotel
at the time prescribed and found that
Mr.. Schwartz was busy. 1t was two
hours before he was at leisure and
when he came down stairs he was ac-
companied by MI Frederickson and
Mr.. Gilbert. In a little while l saw
Mr. Jennings coming from the Park
hotel barber shop. Mr. Schwartz made
me price on terra Gotta that was so
high that could not consider it.
told him at once that | would not bid
on the work, because l knew the con-
tract was practically let. He after
wards informed me that Mr.. Jennings
was at that meeting"
'Mr. Mccarthy" asked Mr.. Ben
nett, there has been some evidence
to show that you were a favored con-
tractor in the construction of the az
riculturaI building. The specifica-
tons call for S-inch Bedford stone.
Your bid was made on finch Bedford.
Did you do this with an understand
ING with Mr.. Jennings?"
Jennings Made the Change.
4 met Jennings while I was MAX
ing out my bid. I told him that he
would not have enough money to
finish the building and he had better
economic. and showed him that 4
inch Bedford would serve his purpose
just as we'll as S-inch. This made
difference of about $4,000 in the cost.
He said he would inform all the bid
dcrs of the change"
Q. Did he do sO?'
A. Z do not know"
Q. What was your bid on the agri
cultural building?"
A "$14S,OOO. This was $4,000
lower than anyone else. want to
say that lost $1,000 on that building
In adding up my estimates I made a
mistake of $4,000 and Of course I
was out that amount"
Q. Did you bid on the hydraulic
laboratory"
A. mo. From the information I
was able to gather 1 understood that
the university was to do the work it.
self"
Mr.. Mccarthy said that he had Sc
cured the contract for work on the
new wing of main hall. For putting
down the foundation he was to re-
ceive $4,000. The next bid was SOL
900.
Thinks Mccarthy Was Favored.
John T. Blake of the firm of Blake
Bros, contractors, testified that he
built the hydraulic laboratory, and
that this was the only large univer-
sity work he had ever done. Asked
why he did not bid on university
work, he replied that he thought it
useless.
O. who do you think is the ia
vored contractor"
A. Mccarthy"
d. r. Butler, another contractor,
stated that he had found it useless
to bid on university work In his
opinion all the construction that
amounted to anything was given to
Mr.. Mccarthy. On one occasion he
had succeeded in securing a contract
by undertaking Mccarthy $4,000
This was the construction OF the tun-
mel from main hall to the gymnasium
He said that his work was hampered
by some one who did not wish him to
get the job. At one time the tunnel
filled up with water. Thinking it was
ground water, he proceeded to drain
1t with a two-inch pipe AS the water
level raised, he looked for the cause
and found that a pipe from one of the
buildings had been opened into the
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