The Detroit times., 1911-09-29
GRAND JURY PROBE
OF BUILDERS IS
TALKED OF AGAIN
School Board Stands Pat on Award
Of Contract To "outsider' and Hot
Time l. Promised If Exchange
Continues Fight.
Purchase Of Playground for Bishop
School Held Up, Owners Asking
Too High Price.

The controversy between the board
OF education and the Builders & Trad
ers' exchange, over the awarding OF
the contract for the erection OF the
Caroline Crosman school, Hamilton
blvd. and Taylor-ave., to Edward A.
Connell, an outsider" In that he ID
not member OF the exchange, 10 now
squarely up TO Mayor Thompson, the
board, by a vote Of 10 to 8, having
refused, Thursday night, to recon
slider the award, az requested by In
spector Mumford.
Considerable pressure has been
brought to bear on the mayor to In
duce him to veto the boards action
The vote on reconsideration, Thurs
day night. shows. however. that Con
nell has supporters enough In the
board to win the contract over the
veto. In this event. the disgruntled
exchange members are prepared to
carry the matter into the courts with
out delay. It 10 said. The plan is TO
apply for an injunction to restrain
Connell from carrying out the con-
tract.
II It comes to this, the exchange
members will probably hnd the school
inspectors waiting with chips on their
shoulders. Inspector C. M. Burton's
recent suggestion for a grand jury
to investigate the combine alleged 70
exist among certain members OF the
exchange, IL taken seriously by sew
several OF his colleagues, who are not
satisfied to accept the statement OF
Secretary Bowen, of the exchange,
denying the existence 'of such COM
bine. These members intimate that
there 'is going TO be some "fun' II
the exchange persists In Its opposi-
ton to Connell and the laugh, they
insist, will not be on the board Oh
education.
Tnspector Mumford drew the fire OF
inspector McMichael when he declared
that the awarding Of the contract TO
Connell had been a case OF tinkering
from the start, referring to the man
ner In which the specifications mac
been altered to bring the Did WITHIN
the appropriation and to the TACT tnat
Connell had been allowed TO correct
an error In his original bid. NC.
Michael objected to the word tinker,
and declared with heat that he
wouldn't stand for any more insinua-
tions from Mumford. Assistant Cor
poration Counsel Atkinson told the
hoard that Il is not obliged TO adver-
tise for bids at all and can accept any
bid Il pleases, whether II is submitted
according to the advertisement or not
A report submitted by the commit
tee on teachers and schools, recon-
mending that one OF the streets run
ming past the Bishop school he park
ed during school hours so as to give
the 1,40O children there a play space.
evoked a lively discussion. The sum
OF $4,000 was appropriated for the
purchase OF additional land adjoining
the school for playground purposes,
but the purchase had been delayed,
Mr.. Burton explained, because one OF
the land owners, Immediately adJoin-
ing the school wanted an exorbitant
price for HIS property. President Bar
nett, Of the board Of estimates, was
present and was given the privilege OF
the oor to urge prompt action In the
matter. He thought the board should
acquire the necessary land either by
outright purchase or by condemnation
proceedings without any further de-
lay.
The committee will get busy on the
matter at once.
Three members Of the real estate
recommended the pur-
chase of the Henry MinceJ property,
the Trowbridge school, for
$4,000, the full amount Of the appro-
priation made for that purpose. In
spector Burton declared that Mincel
last February, contracted to purchase
the property for $4,000 and he didn't
think the board should submit to be-
ing held up for more than double that
Mr.. Burton proposed. as an
amendment, that the board offer Mr..
Mincel $4,000, and II he refuses TO
accept this sum, that condemnation
proceedings be started forthwith.
This was carried unanimously.
The committee on teachers and
schools was empowered to provide re-
lief for the congestion in the Lincoln,
Columbian and Fairbanks schools In
any way II saw fit. The domestic
science and manual training depart
ments In the Columbian have not
been fitted up and Supt. Martindals
told the board that II seats were
placed in these rooms, the halfway
sessions In this school would be done
away with. This will probably be
done. The committee, In all likeli-
hood, will rent outside quarters to re-
lieve the Fairbanks and Lincoln
schools.
A lively discussion on brick de-
veloped toward the close OF the ses-
sion. the most interesting part OF
which was that II brought out the
fact that the real estate committee,
under the present methods In vogue,
can select any materials Il wants for
the schools as long as the price comes
within the appropriation. without re-
porting to the board. Inspector JET.
fries objected to the selection OF
certain brick for the George school.
claiming that a better brand had