Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-11-08
COLLECTION OF ASHES
District to Do Work Formerly
Under Contract.
ALLEGED EXORBITANT BID
Commissioner West Regarded Price
of $4,000 as Unreasonable.
MR.. S. P. BAYLY'S STATEMENT
Alleges That He Did Not Abandon
the Work-Expiration
of Contract.
MR.. S. P. BAYLY's STATEMENT

The District government has since last
s. srday morning been collecting the
ashes from private dwellings throughout
The city III. Commissioners alleging that
q combination has been made to force the
District to pay an excrbitant price for the
work This is the first time in the history
OF the local government that the city
ash Collections We're not made by private
contract
Il is stated that s p. BayIy, the con-
tractor for collecting the ashes for the
pas two years. threw up the work No
vember l. using the expiration of his bond
as Al excuse This Is according 20. q state
2lent made by Mr.. West today. Bayly S
tUo-year contract with the District at
s5i coo a year expired July Il last but
there was provision giving the Commits
siouers the option to extend the contract
for a longer period as they saw fit. and as
the work and 2 ice were satisfactory tn y
proposed to continue Il. Mr.. BayIy, Mr..
West says. continued the work for little
time. and then sad the bond he was re-
CURED 10 furnish expired and served no.
tics that he would quit November l.
Price Increased
Shortly before this date the Commits
sioners invited proposals. with the result
that the current price Of $4,000 was
raised 10 S79,onn. Such price con-
sidered to be excessive and Commissioner
West and John T. Twohey superintendent
OF street cleaning, anticipating the en-
barrassment that would confront them
when the first day Of November rolled
around. and considering that they had no
arrangements for collecting the ashes
put their heads together. as Mr. West
expressed 1t. planning some line of action.
They were forced to do sonnet hing
and do it quick. There was no time to
parley
Finally, after considering several pos
sible schemes, Commissioner West a-rv-
ed AZ the idea of the District doing the
collecting itself They quickly ran over
the working force of the street cleaning
department, the number Of horses and
wagons. available, etc. and. acting under
Commissioner Vests directions Mr.
TwOhey transferred all the horses used
OF the sprinkling wagons to improvised
ash cats, and horses and wagons were
hired and bought, wherever possible the
result being that last Saturday morning
the day after the contractor abandoned
the work. force of thirty-four carts and
men was put to work.
This number has since been increased
10 tfty-One. and according to Commission
er West will be still further increased
as rapidly as horses and wagons can be
engaged. A large number of collectors
and laborers employed by the former con-
tractor were taken into the District serv-
ice upon the promise of an increase In
pay from 81 - to 81 30.
" hie there has been some DELAY due
10 the fact that the new force is not com
pietely organized, Mr.. Twohey reported 10
commissioner West this morning that the
"ork IS well IN hand. and that by the end
Of the week he believes no further trou-
Die will be experienced The question as
10 the liability of the contractor and The
sufficiency Of the bond IS now before the
-Ef -
Mr.. Vests Comment.
1t has taken great deal of PROMPT
and energetic work to deal with this sit
uation." said Commissioner West TODAY
but the result has shown that we ran h.
independent of contractors who submit
excessive bids. The Commissioners have
all been advised by me as to the condition
Of affairs and the action in rejecting the
bids was unanimous. There is no desire
TO make the collection of ashes a munici-
pa! service, but it Will be continued if
when bids are again invited, rea-
sonab.e bid is not submitted
Mr.. West said that everything is work
ing smoothly, and he is of the opinion that
the District can do the work for less
money than was paid Mr.. Bayly-for MOI
more than one-half the amount the con-
tractors recently bid 10 do the work
When asked If he thought this method Of
collection would be permanent he said
that another invitation VII be extended
for proposals to do the work and unless
they are within reason the District will
then do the work permanently. Mr.. Two
hey seems anxious TO have the District
do its own collecting. Contractor BayIy
says Mr.. TwOhey has had this scheme in
mind for some time. and that he inten-
uOnally made the specifications of such
nature as to force the bidders to figure
high.
Cites the Specifications.
Mr.. Bayly said that in the specifications
for ash contracts the District does not
specify any dumps that the contractors
may have at their disposal and when
the last proposals were invited the bidders
calculated on carting the ashes to dump
at B@aning and also 10 one al 3Tth and
7 streets. Georgetown. lie said the Dis
tr!ct Will use any lot or dump in close
proximity to the center of the city that
It sees ft to use IF We could do this,
Mr.. Bayly sad, we could bid at
lower figure, because the further We have
TO cart the ashes the more IT costs US.
Mr.. Bayly said the District Will lose
money trying to do its own ash collecting,
and that the householders will not get the
good service that was accorded by him.
no OF iS only Il f,,rr