New-York tribune., 1907-12-26
ACCUSE WATER BOARD.
Continued frora Arst page.

testimony of J. Edward Simmons, pfesIoen1 VI
the board, discloses the following:
He had femiiiarized himself with the ue'
tails character scope Of the preliminary ihses 81
cation OF The reservoir or dam site pursued pt .ru
that reports were regularly made by the ehiet e
o their nature. He had visited the reservoir SITE
three times in all, spending day on the occasiiol i
Of each visit He knew nothing of the engineering
problems or questions involved. the results of in
vestigations the difficulties to be an.cipa.ir pi,
He had not inquired into these matters it
that they were OF such a nature as 10 De Hi'sh
gible only to engineers. .,o hid. on
August s. lie unable to say how OFTEN ne Wa Was
present at the o,ces of the Board OF water sup
ply from that day until August e. when th9 a"aaa s
OF the contract was made. but believed ne was
The question Of the acceptance rejection OF
the low bid and its sufficeney as TO price prize e1ar
August s. he believed, by Commissioner Chad"l Chaai
He sure that the greater part OF tne Pe6Ine PSoe
on Lake Mohonk He kept IN touch Wsh n aqe was
advised of the steps taken by them. He believed S
that Mr.. Chadwick had held an interview Win riie
nnber Of a such e Vi Sps and their
could not state specifically or IN detail; pte t This
matter of the award Of the contract He , knew ts
that Mt Chadwick had held an & n.eFv,s~ f t ei steno
graphic report thereof, but could not say when ne
hiq e tha G he had
Burr but could not be postye an9ut LIS IT. satisfed ned
With the reports of the chief engineer and con;
sultants relied absolutely on their advice. and di1
not consider that it necessary 10 so Deyonu
their advice in passing upon this matter He had
hot asked them or ds sny & of TO er
msnts and adviss and had maze no onrsas t teIi
him how he arrived at his conclusion. but took MS
statement of fact as sufficient. He did not think
that such Inquiry would reflect the integrity and
honor shls ST the chief @ m did not ask the
chief engineer TO explain how he had arrived az
him on what facts he based his opinion that the
Perce prices We're too low the chIef engineer
did not ask him OF the consulting engineers to ex-
plain set forth The facts or data Of experience
mendations contained in their reports. He did not
know OF his own knowledse whether the @ fonsa.ihs
of the boards letter and their replies TO It, but
examination Of thai site they had ever made. ex-
cept that he felt that MI Burr and Mr. freeman.
from their service on the Burr Herring Freeman
commission. must have been fully informed con-
He had no way of determining that the Peirce
bid was in error and the engineers correct othe.
figures highe, still.
general understanding Of the preliminary investga-
on and the nature OF the tests ads aso.s by s sns
had been exhaustive, and was informed as TO thei.
TO the Peirce bid by mental comparison OF the
bid prices made by him Immediately upon his eN-
animation of the tabu!ated bids. The contrast
which this comparison disclosed caused him TO
believe that the Peirce bid should be closely
answer to the question what process ,,I Of Tea-
followed
Commissioner Chadwick told us that upon the
question of price considered the bids themselves
a pest a lie oF out 9I OF @ a
those bids approximated. corroborated and indorsed
bid differed widely from It; that he had learned
from Mr.. Peirce that he was unwilling TO per
form under his bd that he (Peirce) considered hin
prices TOO low. and that he could not get any one
Chadwick) had before him the report OF the chief
engineer, which he considered able and exhaustive
corrohorated and reinforced by those Of the con-
sultants. Upon these facts he formed his Judg-
nent. -,
that Commissioners Chadwick nowhere repeated the
mneh SdW he ne had ao aed qT at his estimate
is also noteworthy that almost all the questions
Commissioner Chadwick's opinion of his bid
Moreover. there was nowhere an attempt to draw
1h the hs ems na Of Is and as to them Mr. Peres
and later too low TO- do 10, satisfactory work for
bring out what Mr.. Pelrce meant by. TOO low"
There vas no attempt to fes h9 tr9m n Mi os s'rSe re- "a
any Of its items showed no profit
man suggested to Commissioner Chadwick ut the
time that he might have had a more specific an
soner chadwick answered that he guessed that
was all that was necessary.
actually made up the Peirce prices or what adj
vice the Peirce company avaied itself OF in this
matter.
Commissioners Chadwicks letter to the con-
suIting engineers Messrs Burr. Freeman and
stearns is reproduced with the replies which in
substance recommended the acceptance OF other
than the lowest bid. All the replies closely
analyzed by Commissioners Mitchell and Gay
nor, with the apparent purpose Of showing that
sufficient care was not exercised by the
eineers IN advising the Commissioner. In re-
viewing the recommendations of the consulting
engineers the report says:
Ii becomes a question whether the members OF
the board took all the steps and precautionary
measures which business men of experience might
vate business, for this consider to be the fair
measure of their duty. We are of the opinion that
they did not. There was no evidence before the
boa rd that the Peirce prices were below cost Their
conclusion that such the rested solely
upon inference and opinion. inference from other
conclusions unsupported by evidence. and opinion
unexplained and unanalyzed Their conclusion that
DELAY must result from losing price rested also
ON opinion, though in this matter opinion quail
ned and unpronounced. and upon two cases cited.
What an analysis of the facts in one of these
fore us shows What thorough and searching in
vestlgatjon by the commissioners would have de-
yeIoped upon the whole question that testimony
also demonstrates. 1T seems to us that the meas
ure of care ana application gwen by the members
of this board to this problem was not that meas
ure which the people of this city have the right
the duty of wisely and economically administering
their funds
The report has this to say about the testimony
of Chief Engineer Smith:
wages prevailing at Ashohan. or what the con-
tractor was at the time of this hearing, paving
his men. did not know and could not estimate
the deailed cost any particular subdivision of
of EfrIic. He hefia