The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-09-04

ken until an hour and hairs discussion
/ had been INDUCED In which II IS said,
was pretty warm at times. Tor some OF
the members had an idea that Niger
of some sort was hiding in the wood
pile.
When the Goa. men finally got an op-
portunity to say something Mr.. Webster
made the first talk. He said he could
not find so very much fault with the
award of the contract for the Burnn-
game coal to the Jack company except
that all presidents were violated IN the
] splitting up OF the contract and his con-
Germ as well as others had bid under the
old system in an effort TO make the low
est aggregate bid. But he did have lots
| of fault to find with the other part OF
the award because mill coal had not
been designated IN the proposals Tor
bids and an unfair ADVANTAGE was pelng
taken Of majority of the bidders II
the contract is awarded this way SAID
Mr.. Webster, you will find that you
are cheating yourselves and cheating us
as we'll" Mr.. Webster said that mill
coal was in no sense of the word nut
coal, it was a mixture Of nut coal ana
slack.
Mr.. Betram of the Kansas Coke and
Coal company which was behind the
bid of the Topeka Cold Storage, Ice
and Fuel company, made the same
statement about the quality Of mill
coal and Mr.. Monaghan OF the South
western Fuel. company SAID the same
thing and said that If the board wanted
to purchase "milIs coal all of the bid
ders should have an opportunity to
put in a bid for it as they could put
in II considerably lower bid than was
made for nut coal.
Mr.. Pitmeyer, representing the To-
! peka Coal company, insisted that
mill coal run through All inch ana
quarter screen, was the same as The
ordinary nut coal.
President Mallory of the board con
cluded this part of the discussion by
saying that he considered It MANIFEST
| ~ unfair to ask for bids for one kind
of coal and then award a contract for
another kind of coal and he thought
that before the matter was finally de-
termined all the bidders should have
an opportunity to make bid on mil
coal.
A motion was then made that the
board go into executive session again
1 and this was carried. They discussed
the matter for another hour and finally
announced that they had reconstructed
their former action and had awarded
the entire contract to Webster &
Tulloch as their aggregate bid for the
three grades of coal desired was the
| lowest. 1t was midnight when this de-
cision was reached and the majority
! of the bidders went away apparently
satisfied that they had finally received
q square deal If they did not get the
contract It was decided by the board
1 to have all the coal weighed on the
! city scales.
In another instance the board last
night reconsidered a former determi-
nation. BY a vote of five to four a
recomm endation from the teachers
committee. presented by Colonel Nor
ton, that Miss Joy Bechtel, Of Ro-
| chester, n. Y. be employed as an as
sistant teacher in sewing in the manual
training school and also as an assistant
/, in some academic studies in the high
I school, was adopted When it was
| planned to start a domestic science de-
partment in the manual training
school Miss BechteI was engaged as
| the teacher for it with the proviso that
If the department was not put in
! operation her services would not be
] needed. The board could not see its
way clear to establish this department
l this wear An assistant teacher in
her time would be required for this
work and then there were some
academic classes in the high school
which would need only the part time
of a teacher. SO the teachers COM
mittee at the July meeting of the board
recommended that Miss Bechtel be
I employed in this capacity This rec
ommendation was turned down by a
decisive vote on the ground that there
was plenty of home talent who were
/ fitted for the position and that II WAS
| bad policy to import teachers from
other states when there were those al
home to fill the bill. The committee
was instructed to canvass the home
field and search for a teacher who
could assist in the sewing classes and
also help out in the academic work.
A majority Of the committee decided
that none of the local applicants for
the position had the requisite training
and reported again last night that
they were in favor of the employment
of Miss BechteL
Mr.. Roudebush presented a minority
report from the committee suggesting
that Miss Medium, a teacher in the
Lincoln school. be given the place. He
said that he believed Miss Medium
was qualified in every way TO fill the
position. She had taken special courses
for the work at Manhattan and also at
! Peoria, Ill, and she was a teacher Of
never had any experience as a teacher.
He was strongly in favor of employing
| home talent.
Mr.. Hardy Of the committee, replied
that the situation had been thoroughly
| canvasSed by the members of the com
nnittee and that they were satisfied that
none of the local teachers applying
for the place could fill the position as
acceptably as Miss Bechtel and IN ad-
dition to that it would be a good thing
to have her on the school staff in the
event of the esta blishment of domes-
tic science department at some future
date. The motion to employ Miss
Bechtel finally prevailed.
On a motion by Colonel Norton from
( the teachers committee 1t was decided
not to increase the tuition this year
for pupils from outside the city limits,
which subject was preached at the
last meeting the opinion being ex-
pressed by several Of the mem bers Of
the board at that time that the tuition
| charged was not adequate in that it
really did not pay the cost of teaching
the pupils. There was no discussion
on the matter.
It was also decided on a motion of
! Colonel Norton to accept the tender
loG 49, 70 -~fxr
| lectures twice a week in the high
school on stenography. These lectures
will be available probably to only the
Il members of the senior class. Judge
Carver thought that probably this
\ would not be a good plan, as it would
/ tend to crowd too much work on the