Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1909-11-01
ALVORD IS RIGHT
OR HE is UNFIT
IF Proven Latter, He Should Be
Formally Charged Before
City Council.
FILTER REPORT UP TONIGHT
Effort Still on to Discredit the
Standardization of the
Taxpayers.

1t is expected that further consid-
Grafton. of the report of Engineer John
w. Alyord on the filter bids will be
tgiven at the regular meeting of the
city council this evening. Mr.. Alvord,
upon invitation of Mayor G. w. Nc
ECaskrin. will be present, arriving from
his home in Chicago this afternoon.
Mr.. Alvord made the statement after
the adjournment Of the council meet
Ing one week ago, that. having made
his report and recommendations, he
would not give any more of his time
to@the question, assuming that the aid
lermen had received from him all the
sadvice that they cared for, unless he
was officially ordered TO do so. Thurs
day a meeting of the finance and
waterworks committees was called,
and these bodies requested the mayor
to ask the Chicago engineer TO be here
sthis evening.
Satisfactory Up to Now.
The public is familiar with events
as they have transpired in connection
with the filter project. When bids
were asked for last spring two engin-
GERS were engaged to advise the coun-
One Of these was Mr.. Alvord. 1t
his advice the Twenty-fourth
river front was rejected as a
site for the filter plant He said that
it should be located in Reservoir park.
The council accepted his judgment and
also followed his counsel in rejecting
all of the bids submitted st that time.
In the interim new proposals were
asked on the Hill site. The council
discussed the employment of an en-
cheering expert to pass upon these
bids. The aldermen, judging from the
import of their remarks in open coun-
ell meeting, had come to know init
mately Mr. Alvord as an engineer. /
They had been looking him up, and
with q few exceptions they vouched for
his honesty and competency. He was
unanimously selected from list of Q
dozen of the best known engineers Of |
the United States
week In weighing Bids.
In company with City Enciueer Wal
lace Treichler, 1Ir. AIvord occupied a |
week il weighing the sevs. bids sub /
mitted By IS many diTcrcut upanies. /
The report was IN cXha, re one, |
thoroughly analyz.u@ the PROPOSALS, |
acd named & Pitts mrs concern as the /
one having, Il The Judgment of tho ex-
2 1rt, the best Lid fer the city to adopt. /
Twas pointed ou- that this bid was
rot the lowest in price, being a fey +.
-EEdred dollars l.Sler than the lowest,
hit the engineer held that IT was the .
cae that offered the most advantageous
lant, as present and future invest
n>eat to the municipality. week
following the completion Of this re-
Port, the representatives of the bid
ding companies were shown the cour-
tesy to be invited back to the city,
nd with the members of the council
Mr.. Alvord, went over the hill
and We're given opportunity to
ont what they claimed to be the
.erior features Of their proposals
the benefit Of the engineer and the
-dermcn. However, this did not have
5ae effect Of changing the engineering
port in his opinion as to which was
@ best bid for the city.
Lobbyists Get Busy.
In the meantime. representatives Of
at least two of the disappointed bid
ding companies, apparently knowing
that their arguments would not hold
water with Mr.. Alvord, proceeded to
exploit their proposals personally to
the aldermen, incidentally by inuendo
seeking to discredit the professional
standing of Mr.. Alvord. The Arg1s
does not personally know Mr.. AIvord
neither does it know anything of the
Pittsburg concern which he recon-
mended in his report, or of its repre-
sentatives. But it does know that
agents of the companies that failed IN
convince the expert that thew offered
the best proposition to the citv have
been resorting to every conceivable
means to sway the council from an
prevail of Mr.. Alvord's report.
Real Purpose of DELAY
The Argus has always held the conn
ell should take time in awarding an
important contract, such as is this ono
and this has been the disposition Of
the council in this transaction Rut
the purpose of the delay that it is m
derstood will be sought at the rneetino
tonight will not be in the interest Of
the city's welfare, but at the behest of
the lobbyists who are playing their
batteries on the members of the conn.
Gil in their efforts to win them over
to their companies. That is the real
situation.
The public has no reason to susnect
that the council thus far has not been
and impartially guided in I