New-York tribune., 1907-08-31
DISCUSSES PIERCE BID.
SAYS CITY WOULD LOSE.
Commissioner Chadzcick Surprised at
Criticism of 1shokan A1Card.


the criticism aroused by the action of the board
in awarding the Ashokan dam contract TO the Mac
Arthur Brothers Company and the winston IOAl-
pany, whose bid some $2,3DGe0 higher thah
that of the John Perce Company the lowest oldcer-
~ -as not TardeG siIe John Pe.rce Com
pany' said the commissioner. for sound business
reasons Their bid was about sz,5toVo lower -i'aA
our consulting engineers estimated the Work would
cost Mr. Perce himself told me that he did not
believe he could do work satisfactorily Tor lhe
amount he bid He said that his employees had
made a mistake in the estimates while he was
abroad in Europe.
"Of course. 1 could have held the Peirce COM
pany to it's bid and forced it to undertake the
work. and eventually 1 suppose made 1t lose us
81 $4,000. the amount 1t had to put uP. Dut
what does that amount TO IN the endE II
would have cost the city far more eventuaiy' De-
sides, the board of water supply does not WISH u
indulge in any practice like that. We want 10 see
that the city's interests protected In this mat
ter and in awarding the contract as we did we
acted for the best interests Of the city. mat Is
our Judgment Of it. 1t is simply d straight eilsl
reering proposition, and We had. of course, TO De
advised by our expert engineers what the Work
should cost, and act in measure on their advice
Commissioner Chadwick said that Mr. Peirce had,
however. evinced perfect willingness to stand oJ
his bid He said that he himself had taken the
initiative In the matter. and without any expression
OF opinion the part OF MI. Peirce had asked
him If he would not suffer heavy financial loss
in carrying out the work. In reply Mr.. Peirce mad
said he thought would lose the contract al
though he never made any request 10 Withdraw It.
but said that he would stand by it
81 did not believe that Nj Peirce would do the
work satisfactorily II he losing several mill
ions on it," declared Mr.. Chadwick Il did not
act especially, it fact at ALL from feeling OF
generosity TO Mr.. Peirce or his company when
rejected his bid; acted for the best interests OF
the city. You know that when he found that he
losing largely on the contract he would not
have done satisfactory work. and would have
probably brought the matter Up IN the courts and
tried TO get new appropriations as we'll"
DO you think that the Macarthur and Winston
companies will make the ccntract?" was asked
COMPANY WILL LOSE MONET
No" was the answer. Il think they will lose.
The feeling seems TO be that they will lose about
600 it,
Asked if he did not think this company would
also apply for more money If 1t found it was
losing on the contract. Mr.. Chadwick said he did
not know but that he felt safer with that
pany. and that it had undertaken the work cheer
fully"
The criticisms that have recently been rnads OF
Commissioner Simmons aroused Commissioner
Chadwicks ire He termed them unfair un-
Just and false" He heatedly exclaimed that one
minute of Mr.. Simmonss time is worth more TO
this commission than twenty-four hours Of the
time OF any other the city could employ to
take his place. and added that he spoke advised
ly and meant literally what he said.
The commissioner went over the whole history
of the letting Of the contracts. He said that the
board had had four OF lis engineers, its chief
engineer and three consulting engineers. prepare
estimates for the work, and that their figures had
differed only slightly although each engineer made
his report without consulting another. One OF
the engineers employed to make estimates was
Frederick p. Stearns. who, Mr.. Chadwick said.
was Intimately associated with the Macarthur
company. The boards engineers all estimated that
I Enri-a ohrYr CG1n
contract
After the bids had been opened Mr. Chadwick
sent for the representative man" of the Peirce
company. Mr.. Debrich. vice-presldent OF the COM
pany. came in reply TO his request. THE first time
I talked with him" said Mr. Chadwick he
seemed to be up in the air over his bid and was
badly scared. fearing that his company would lose
heavily on It, The next time he to see
he took a more hopeful view OF the matter but the
third time he took a most pessinlisttc view evf-
IDENTIFY thinking the firm would lose enormously
Mr. Chadwick then told OF sending for Mr.. Peirce
Il wanted to size the man up and find out whether
l thought he could do the work" he said Mr.
Peirce made appointment with the commissioner
for August 49, but requested II be put of TO
the next day. On the Goth ne made similar re-
quest which was also granted, and II not until
the following day that he finally called on the
commissioner.
HELD MANY CONFERENCES
In the mean time it is said that he held many
ton firms He also went TO see ]. Waldo Smith,
chief engineer for the commission. After these
numerous conferences Mr. Peirce then saw Com
missioner Chadwick. In reply questions. AIR.
Perce told the commissioner that he had had no
experience in earth excavation and could start
work on that part Of the contract at once should
he get it. He also told the commissioner that his
company capitalized at 81 25O.G00 II was after
this talk that Mr.. Chadwick decided that it would
be best not to award the contract to him
Did you doubt the Peirce company's ability
execute the COntract?'
NO" replied the commissioner. "T did not. I
know too. that that company has done OF
the largest pieces of work in the city. questioned
Mr.. Peirce about the work his company had done.
and he explained to the delay in the construc-
ton of the Hall of Records. But l felt that he
would take this contract up without any en-
thusiasm."
Mr.. Chadwick was asked II Mr.. Peirce had given
him any written statement. and he said he had
not Later Mr. Chadwick said that his stenogra-
pher had taken down the conversation that he had
had with the contractor. and that he would give
copies of it 10 the press on Tuesday
The commissioner said that the Mayors letter
forbidding the letting Of any more large contracts
did not apply to contracts where large number or
men were employed I'VE would be towards" he
said go stor this work now" When his attention
was called to the fact that there was no large
number of men az work the Ashokan Dam con-
tract" now he replied that the contract was al
ready let when the bids advertised for.
Chief Engineer Smith SAID ne had prepared the
estimates himself and that he felt certain that the
Peirce company could not do the work except at
heavy loss y think the commission acted wisely
in reiecting the lowest bid. he said. Had they ac
cepted it the probable result would be that Htga-
ton would have followed. and that finally the
company would get additional appropriations I
have known Of many cases where the lowest bid
der bid under the actual cost Of the work but
have not known OF single instance Of that kind
that did not result in litigation and the bidder
finally being reimbursed. Besides that means