The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-07-01
SAYS COUNTY
WAS BUNC0ED
Society for Savings Flags
County Commissioners for
Bond Sale.
THEIR HASTE DENOUNCED
CLEVELAND PEOPLE FAIL TO GET
SQUARE DEAL FROM BOARD.

The Society for Savings of Cleveland
o., which made the best bid for the
new issue of s35O,OOO worth of county
refunding bonds. which bid was turned
down by the board of county commits
sioners, has written a singing letter to
the board, showing up its incompetence
and expressing sympathy with the tax
payers of Salt Lake county who are af-
flicted with such a board.
The letter, which is warm document,
was received yesterday. 1t will come
before the board Monday for action.
In as much as the board has already en-
tered into a written contract with E. H.
Rollins & Sons of Chicago, who made
the third best bid. the letter will prob
ably be without effect save as a cam
paign document to be used against the
denomination of Commissioners Miller
and Wilson, both of whom are candi-
dates for denomination and reelection
at the hands of the Republican party
The full text of the letter is as fol-
lows:
I'VE have received your letter Of
June 81 and we note your statement
that the county commissioners reject
ed our bid for the $350000 of refunding
bonds, and that they accepted the bid
of +. H. Rollins & Son, although ii was
a loss to the county of LIS in pre-
MUM. You add, as if by way of eX-
PLANTATION. your bid was so ambiguous
the commissioners were unable to tell
whether you offered a premium or Of
fered to purchase AS per cent bonds.
Bid Was Solicited.
I'm the ordinary course, not being at
this particular time in the market for
securities, possibly we should not have
bid for these bends. At the earnest So
licitation of one OF your commissioners,
however, who called upon us at our Of
fee here, in good faith We submitted a
written bid. reading The Society for
Savings in the city of Cleveland will ac-
cept and pay for $350,000 Az per cent
bonds on AS per cent interest-paylng
basis; that is to say, at price which
will make the bonds yield the Society
for Savings AS per cent
There is nothing ambiguous about
this 1t is put i'm about as plain Ian
guage as we could well use. Your
advertisement of sale sets forth that
bids will be entertained. 1t does not
outline any particular formula for bid
ding, and it does not say that the
amount of premium to be paid mus be
stated in dollars and cents. The sum
we agreed to pay for the bonds, as
stated in our bids, is definite and GER
tain, and il is very quickly reducible
into the exact amount of dollars and
cents by common mathematics or Ia
bles; and no one could fairly and hon
estly advise you to the contrary.
Haste Is Denounced.
LAS indicating to you that there
should have been nc question as to the
Ii h
mitted by letter by the representative
of a bond house here, present at the
sale, written after the opening of the
bids. describes the highest bid as thai
of the Society for the Savings, S10,6l0
premium The only means which this
man had of knowing what our bid was
came to him through the medium of our
letter TO the county commissioners con-
tanning our bid. If it was patent to this
man what our language meant. why was
il not equally so to the commissioners;
and if they lacked the knowledge suffi-
cient To enable them intelligently 10
construe our bid. might they not have
taken counsel with those who We're in
formed and well intentiOned and have
arrived at this same conclusion instead
of passing with such most unaccount-
able haste upon this matter of the gain
ar loss 10 Salt Lake county Of S1,1l5-
without giving the society an Opportu-
nifty to defend its position?
1.-The Society for Savings owns $3.50,
600 of the bonds of Salt Lake county,
more than half of it's bonded indebted
ness. The society has been continually
in business since the year 1S49 and in
its experience covering this long period
OF years it never has met with such out
rageous treatment as it has received in
this transaction at the hands of your
county commissioners II is a sad COM
mentary on such modern methods, dis
tinguished from our old-fashioned ways,
if bidders are compelled, in order that
they may have fair treatment, 10 have
a representative at the opening of bids,
upon guard, to protect their interests as
against the plausible arguments of in
terested bond dealers.
Might Have Invoked Courts.
Had a representative of this society
been present at the sale and il was
sought to do what your commissioners
have done i'm this instance in the ward