Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1909-10-27
COUNCIL ACTION
DRAWS COMMENT
Manifest Purpose to -Discredit
Engineer in Interest of Ger
tain Filter Concerns.
MAKING DESPERATE MOVES
a Proposition Up in Which the Pub
lie Should Not Fail to Show
Interest.

Public comment that has followed
the action of the city council q the
report of Engin ~er John w. Alvord on
the filter bids has been anything but COM
plimentary to some of the members OF
that body: not that the aldermen should
mot have taken ample time for the con-
sideration of the recommendations OF
tho expert, but for the apparent
purpose to discredit the judg-
ment of tho engineer, THEREBY giving
him an excuse to withdraw from fur-
ther service in his capacity mere, II ne
were disposed to adopt that alternative.
There have been acts with the earmarks
of an attempt to get Mr.. Alvord out or
the way to make an opening for COM
pany that had gained the favor OF some
of the members Of the council.
Accepted Judgment Before.
The Argus has stated heretofore that
1t knows naught of the qualifications
of Mr.. Alvord except by reports of his
standing that have preceded him here
from other cities In which he has done
work Of similar character to THAT for
which he was engaged here. 1t was
he who advised the council a year ago
to reject the bids that were invited at
that time on two sites. the Twenty
fourth street river front pumping sta
tion and Reservoir park. He main
tanned that the most advantageous To-
cation for the mechanical filter plant
was Reservoir park. The council heed
ed his opinion then. When the .ques-
ton OF 4 selection Of an engineer TO
advise the council in determining the
best proposition Of the seven received
for the construction OF the plant on the
hill site arose Mr. Alyord was tho
unanirsous choice Of the aldermen for
the place. He was chosen from list
of q dozen of the leading engineers of
the country. He srczt week in can
wasting and analyziag the proposals.
Makes q selection.
He has named the concern which he
states he believes las submitted the
best bid fer the city to ACCEPT. He has
explained his reason for choosing this
certain company, holding that the diff
ference of a few hundred dollars
should not be a consideration in such
an important improvement. Mr.. AL
Yord, to all appearances, has been ex-
tTcmely fair with all of the bidding
CON panies, having with him represen-
tatiTe5 of those concerns while weig
'1s tie merits of the respective bids.
working on Aldermen.
At least two Of the unsuccessful bid.
ding concerns have not been satisfied
to allow the matter to rest on the re-
port of the engineer Failing to con-
vince him that they were entitled to
the contract they have carried their
cause before the members of the coun-
ell, and the manifest attempt to dis
credit Mr.. Alvord IS the result.
The Argus does not wish to be IN
derstCod as favoring Mr.. Alvord as
against other engineers; nor of sup
porting any one of the seven compan-
les. If Mr.. Alvord has been biased in his
choice 1t would seem that ii would be
the rightful course for unsuccessful
concerns to openly prefer the charge
against him before the council This
has been done by inuendo in personal
with members of the
council Publicly, however. they all
admit that Mr.. Alvord is known as an
honest and efficient engineer. In the |
face of these concentrations they go
behind his back and seek to cast as
pensions upon his professional stand |
ing.
Desperate Moves Made.