The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1907-04-09
GOVERNM'T HANDICAPPED
Unable to Secure Reasonable Bids on
Irrigation Works on Account of Peo-
Pile Being Too Busy Building
Towns and Developing Country.

Washington, D. C.. April 9.-The de
velopme1t boom in the far West is
giving tine Reclamation service a
good deal of concern at the present
time.
With every part of the inter-moun
tain country enjoying remarkable
building boom the Government finds
itself seriously handicapped by it's il
ability to secure reasonable bids fol
constructing its big irrigation works
The large contractors are all loaded
up with railroad work which will oc
cupy their attention for many months
to come, while smaller contractors
have all they can possibly do to take
care of the local demands of cities and
towns
Many of the contracts of the govern
ment have been advertised several
times without securing reasonable
bids. The Government is confronted
with the proposition of doing the work
by force account of the postponing it
until there is an improvement in con-
ditions. The present time is most un-
Dropitious for the Government to I'M
dertake doing the work itself. There
is an unusual scarcity of labor. Wag-
eS are ITOm 4U 10 0U per Ce1I
than two years ago, while efficiency
has been decreased rather than improv
ed by the unlimited demand for labor
ers. Owing to the remoteness of much
of the Government wark from cities
and towns. labor is not attracted
thereto. and as a rule the Government
gets only the leavings or the most
undesirable class of laborers The
steady and skillful workers are all bu-
sy-
The costs of all kinds of materials
has increased enormously Take ce-
ment, for instance, which enters so
largely in the construction of dams
and headworks, and which for the
Government is asking for hundreds of
thousands of barrels, it has been COM
PEELED to accept bids at prices near
ly double those paid two years ago.
Even at the present high price only
few manufacturers are competing.
and today the cement required for
Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and the
Dakotas is shipped from Chicago.
Lumber has nearly doubled in its
price, and horses and mules now cost
fully twice what they did three years
ago.
AS an illustration of the material
increase in the cost of construction
the IOllOWI1S examples are clI0Q- III
1904 and 1905 the average cost of
earthwork excavation was 13 cents
per cubic yard Today the prevailing
rates for similar work are from "a to
80 cents. A large contract for grading
was let at 13 cents per yard, and the
contractor executed the contract and
furnished the required bond Wnen
he came to secure the necessary ma
chinery, animals and labor, he found
the work would cost so much more
than his bid that he threw up his
bid and forfeited MS bond. On read
vertisement the contract was again
let at "a cents per yard, and the con
tractor is said to be losing money at
this price. Reinforced concrete in
1905. averaged $3.50 per cubic yard,
while the responsible bids this year
are from SIG to $21.
The troubles of the contractor in
the matter of shipping materials are
shown by the experience of one con-
tractor, who ordered shipment in
November and loaded it on cars, de
failing a man to follow the car and ex-
pedite early delivery in every way
possible. Notwithstanding all these
precautions more than three months
elapsed before the materials were re-