Evening journal., 1908-05-05
ASK ABOUT
WORK DONE BY
SHAW COMPANY
tcOntInued from FIrst Pas..l

be made.
TELLS ABOUT PIPE WORK.
Chief Engineer Theodore Leisen was
again called as a witness. and was ask
ed as to the Edge Moor Company and
Holly Company contracts. He said
the Water Department had no contract
with the Edge Moor or Holly COM
panies for pipe. but had letters from
them providing for that work. He
could not remember any contract with
the Pittsburg Filter Company for extra
pipe. Mr.. Leisen produced the records,
showing that the cost Of connecting the
boilers supplied by the Edge Moor
| Company to tho old pumps was 1880.
There was no competitive bidding. Tho
B. f. Shaw Company did the pipe work
under a sub-contract. The cost Of
pine connections for the new pumps
furnished by the Holly Company was
S3s3O. There was no competitive bid
ding. The b. +. Shaw Company did
the pipe work as sub-contractor.
Councilman Higgins asked Mr.. eLisen
II the Shaw Company did the work for
the Water Department or for the Edge
Moor Company. and also for the Holly
]
was done by the Shaw Company as
sub-oontractor. Estimates of the cost
of the pine work werc submitted by
the companies and the board ordered
the work done. without competitive
bidding or drawing up a contract.
Referring to a bill of the Delaware
Electric and Supply Company. Mr.
Leisen said the B. f. Shaw Company
supplied some Of the articles for the
Delaware Electric Company. There
was no advertising for bids for this
work
The Shaw Company also furnished
men 10 do some work on the forcing
and distributing main. Mr.. Leisen ex-
planned that the Shaw Company furn-
ished some men to do riveting on tho
steel mains. as the Waited Department
men had been laid off. and also SOME
other work in connection with the
steel mains. Mr.. Leisen said that part
of the work could not have been done
by anybody else in Wilmington.
Mr.. Shaw asked to be allowed to ex-
plain and he said the work included
cutting Off of pipes by a hydraulic pro-
cess, and riveting by means Of a "bull"
machine. 1T was more of an accom-
mediation than anything else" said
Mr.. Shaw
Nobody else in wilmington has a
bulr to do some Of that work" Mr..
Shaw added that the city had never
paid for this work done his firm
Pay for the Riveters
Sngineer Ieisen, after consulting the
records, said the Water Department
had paid its own rlveters 81 1-2 cents
an hour, but didn't know what the
Shaw Company had charged for the
services of its riveters. He understood
that the departments field rates were
lower than shop rates for rivetlng
city Solicitor Townsend asked Mr..
Shaw II his company had not charged
so cents an hour for its riveters.
"I don't recall, but I suppose II was
about that" said Mr.. Shaw. THAT In
cluded foreman, for when no charge
was made. It was hard to get the m n
to og to work at that"
Mayor Wilson then took up Dnigneer
Ieisen's testimony OF yesterday. Mr..
I.eisen made a correction OF his state
ment OF yesterday that seventy-five per
cent. of the water from the Weldin
farm reached the Cool Spring reser-
voir. He said It should have been
about 80 per cent. instead OF 75.
Mr. I,eisen yesterday said there were
dozens of cities where the steel pipe
had ben usd, and Mayor Wilson asked
hi INTO name a dozen places. The
MAYOR asked him 10 eliminate from
such a list the places Il hnd been aid
by the Gillespie Company IT the East
Jersey Water Company.
Mr.. Leisen said much of the pipe
had been laid by the Gillespie COM
many or the East Jersey Water Com
MAYOR Wilson asked him II he didn't
lrnovy the East Jersey Water Company
is a component part Of the gillespie
company, and Mr.. Leissn said he ala
WHERE PIPE WAS LAID
Mr. Ieisen named about a dozen places
where the steel pipe is used He didn't
know Of any in use in Europe, but 1t Is
In use in Australia. He couldn't give IN
formation of any places where It was used
prior TO 1890. Speaking OF the life IL iron
pipe. Mayor Wilson asked Mr.. Leisen;
"Would YOU think Il remarkable II the
life Of cast iron pipe was shown to be
200 yearsT
''Under some conditions, no."
Mr.. Ieisen said the use OF steel pipe in
Atlantic City had been unsatisfactory be
cause OF conditions there No reports Of
the use Of the steel pipe in Rochester have
been received by tn Wilmington Depart
ment since 1899. Mr.. Lelsen said 1t had
never occurred to him as remarkable thar
information as to the steel pipe in use was
hard TO get.
1T is subject to proof whether in the
long run steel pipe is the most economi-
CAL" said Mr.. Leisen. 1T is after all a
question OF individual judgment. and II
an engineer uses his best judgment he has
done ell that he could.
Mr.. Leisen said that Expert Engi-
neers Allen Hazen and ]. n. Gray in
their report on the proposed water
system for Wilmington recommended
the use of steel pipe. Mr.. Hazen also
had used the steel pipe in Albany
Mr.. Leisen said the use of iron mains
in Wilmington had been satisfactory.
AS to the relative effect OF electroy-
sis on iron and steel pipe, Mr.. Lessen
said Il is a mooted question, but he
believed the same precautions would
have TO be taken with steel pipe as
with iron. Mr. Townsend said he had
been told by ]. d. Winslow that some
I Ire. .ste d.. L.