Los Angeles herald., 1906-08-03
CRY COMES FROM
OUTFALL SEWER
CONTRACTORS BREAK THEIR
LONG SILENCE
They Declare That Work Cannot Be
Completed Under Present Plan
and They Want Their
Money

Stansbury q POWell, tne OulIdll sew
er contractors, at last have broken
their long silence and sent to the city
council an explanation that Is a mar
velous mixture of Language, but as an
explanation leaves much to be desired
by city officials.
The communication begins by declar-
ing that neither the city council nor
any other public body or official has
right to declare the contract, which
Stansbury & Powell admit they have
abandoned, null and void While the
contractors refuse to concede that the
city may take the contract from their
hands, they suggest no alternative and,
according to the communication, their
plan seems to be to leave the outfall
sewer Just where it is now and for the
city to pay them the remainder of the
contract price, S112,000
They wax wrathful over the alleged
negligence Of the city In supplying
them with material early in 1904 when
work was first begun on the sewer, and
in conclusion they declare there is not
enough money In the entire city treas
ury, much less the sewer fund, to pay
for completing the work. The COM
munication in part is as follows:
Letter of the Contractors
1--WE acknowledge receipt of copy
of resolution adopted by your honor
able body and notice accompanying
same signed by the city clerk, dated
July 25 1906, service of which was made
upon us on the 2Sth ult,, requiring us
to resume work on the Noutfall sewer
within five days after the service of
the notice. or that, If we failed to do
so, your honorab BILE body will treat said
work as abandoned by the contractors
and will take such steps for the COM
pletion of said sewer as may be ap-
propriate under the terms of the con-
tract for the construction thereof.
"While under the circumstances we
are not legally called upon to answer
this communica tion, we deem it due to
yourselves and to ourselves and to the
public generally to state somewhat the
facts which have led up to the giving
of this notice.
1--WE emphatically deny that the city
of Los Angeles, or any. officer, or body
thereof, has any right. power or au-
thority to declare this contract for
feited or to treat the work as aban-
doned and it must be understood that
in making our statement to you we are
reserving all and every objection,
whether relating to the contract itself
or to the plans, specifications or pro-
ceedings, or the execution thereof or
any steps taken by the city or any OF
its officers or L cards relating therato
'In making this statement to you 1T
must also be further understood that
we are not attempting to define our
position as a matter of law upon the
questions involved"
Says 1t Is impossible
The letter then declares that the
work on the completed portion was de-
layed and that extensive and costly
cave-ins occurred because of the failure
of the city to supply material. The
letter continues:
n a r1nr1fhG w
have been at work on what may be
called the wet portion of section 8.
During that time on that work we
We're compelled to, and did employ, the
were compelled to and did employe the
for that class of work. We put in
pumps, bought and paid for engines
and appliances such as in our judg-
ment would be of assistance in work
ing the peculiar formation and over
coming the unusual conditions there
existing. We sunk shafts for several
thousand feet ahead of the work for
the purpose of obtaining such knowl-
edge as we could of the stratification
and water levels on the line of the
work. We have given the problem
| much serious investigation and con-
sideration. We have submitted the
| mater by correspondence and otherwise
| to many eminently well qualified people
familiar with such work. We drove,
either partially or wholly, the last
thirty-two feet in this wet section five
times, at a cost of over $4,000. After
the expenditure of all this time and
money most reluctantly we were forced
| to take the position which we did take
and now maintain, namely, that the
work cannot be successfully completed
under the present plans, contract and
specifications, and any attempt or at
tempts to do so will. in our judgment,
| CiponlU ha aVnnriOo aT1fG cost.
| ing the city thousands or perhaps
| hundreds of thousands of dollars and
several years of time.
1--WE may digress at this point long
enough to say that we presume that
no one will have the temerity to claim
that under any circumstances our con-
| tract orany of these proceedings makes
us liable in any event for any unsuc-
cessful experiments in connection with
| the work.
Having made up our minds upon the
! subject but nevertheless thinking that
perhaps the officers of the city might
have some suggestions which would
| forward the work. we called on the
board Of public works and the city
engineer about the 9th day of April
1906, and frankly told them the situ-
alton as we viewed 1t and asked them
| to instruct us how to proceed. The
| board Of public works then called on
the city engineer for his opinion, and
he stated in open session of the board
that he had been watching the work
for months, but that he did not know
what to do, and that anything he
might suggest would be in the nature
| of an experiment. We also subse-
quently requested conference with
the board OF public works upon the
subject but in a letter addressed to
us they declined to take the matter up
further and instructed us TO go ahead