The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-12-04

| and finally after passing the secretary
| of the claims and accounts committee,
| is referred to the mayor for a final cor
rection by the head of the said commit
| tee.
Il regret exceedingly that errors orig
| mating in this office have escaped the
hurried scrutiny I have been able 10
give them. Yet do not feel wholly re-
sponsible for errors originating in a de-
partment where l am the nominal head
without the power of employing or re-
moving those under me.
Previous to this year I recall no er-
rors of consequence as the office work
was handled by men of experience but
who could not be maintained at the
salaries paid"
John Richie, the Topeka paving
contractor who has been criticised SO
Freely for failing to carry out his paw
ing work according to contract and
who. is about five months behind with
his work at this time. emphatically
fenies the charges made by the off,
Gals that he has not tried to carry
cut the contract to the best of his
obility.
II have pushed this work as fast as
POSSIBLE" said Mr.. Richie this morn
ing. 81 have salaried men working
here in Topeka on this paving and it
costs me nine dollars day. whether
l work or net, SO you can judge for
L
pavement toward completion
In spea king of the many delays and
the effect of the weather on the prog
ress of his paving gangs, Mr.. Richie
said:
''This has been the worst year 1
Lave ever seen for paving and grad
ing. First we have had little squirt
o. good weather and then it would
ain and wash everything out, making
the soil soft and muddy. We can do
oil wh0r1 the ground is
in this condition. I have had trouble
With the water rising and covering up
my paving work. I have had trouble
with my machinery. I have had the
service.
cit is necessary to patronize the
Missouri Pacific for lots of our material
and for a time we could not get cars
for love nor money. The other con
tractors have been in the same fix. At
another time 1 had my grading ma
chine on the road for ten days between
Topeka and Salina before 1 could get
It out of the cars for work. The rail-
-oads have been giving us very poor
service and it was impossible to do
nything without the material and
machinery on hand.
"Then never in the history of work
in Topeka has help been so short. l
have advertised in the State Journal
and have done everything possible to
procure men but everyone has work
this year-there are no idlers-at
least there are very few men who
care to work on a paving gang. I
am always ready to work out men but
have been unable to get them.
"AlI of these things together with
the troubles with the city employees,
the moving of gas and water pipes,
the moving of telephone poles. the
lack of sand (and 1 might say that
I am holding sand now that 1 have
been offered one dollar a load for)
and the elements, have contributed
toward the failure of my men to carry
the work on as it is contracted.
at will be impossible for the city
to collect this ten dollars a dav for
felt money. They are not offering
any money as an inducement to carry
the work out ahead of time and as a
result they have no right to demand
a forfeit if the work is not finished in
the estimated time. The city officials
know as well as I do that I will not
be able to finish up that work by the
first of January-the work has never
been finished by that time when the
amount is taken into consideration
Paving contractors all over KAN
sas say that this has been their hard
est year-the weather has been diff
ferent and the help has been shorter
than any other time in the history of
Kansas paving. Taking all these
things into consideration 1 don't be-
lieve that the Topeka contractors
should be censured for their pave
ment work in this city,