New-York tribune., 1911-04-20
LUMBER MEN BLAME DIX
Thompson Co. Supplies Nearly
All Material for Capitol.
SEE GOVERNORS INFLUENCE
His Brother in Law Regarded as
Active Head of Wholesale Firm
Furnishing Timber.
fRy Telegraph TO The Tribune !

tBy Telegraph to The Tribune
Albany. April l9-Lumber dealers OF this
city and vicinity express dissatisfaction De-
cause the firm of L. Thomson & Co. OF THIS
city. is supplying practically all the lum-
ber used in repairing the fire-swept por-
ton Of the Capitol The founder OF that
firm was the father OF Mrs. John A. DIX
and, Mrs. Curtis y. Douglas. While Mr.
Douglas. Governor Dix's brother-in-law' Is
regarded as the active head OF the firm
now. Lumbermen who are protesting at the
present state Of affairs consider the Gov
ernor as having a goodly interest in the
firm.
This concern is furnishing 10 the contrac-
tors about all the lumber used in the re-
pair work except certain snoring timbers'
which had been used by the state In work
on the new prison at Comstock. Washing
ton County. and on the new Education
Building Retail lumbermen here attribute
this directly 10 the influence OF Governor
Dix Some OF them assert that while TINS
Dix government may be good business ad-
mnistration." the busncss seems TO be
kept pretty well in the family.
Thousands Of dollars worth of lumber
will be required in the work. one dealer
placing the value as high az 100000. II
II is decided 70 place temporary roofs over
the burned part OF the Capitol during the
rebuilding work, as is now contemplated,
this figure will he more than doubled.
large quantity OF lumber has already been
used in putting a fence around the park
west Of the Capitol on the burned side,
and in partitionng off the destroyed end Of
the building from the other part
Little Work Done by Contractor.
As vet little or no work has been done
by Prescott & Callahan the firm which is
70 rebuild the ruins. with the exception or
cleaning out the debris and rendering un-
sound walls safe 10 work about. In fact,
the building trustees. OF whom the Cover
nor Is the head. have not yet decided what
plan they will adopt for the real work OF
rebuilding For this reason dealers here
estimated that II several thousand dollars
worth Of lumber has been used so far an
immense amount will be required when
this real work begins.
The protest of the retail dealers is not
only because they say Governor Dix has
forced them out OF lucrative contracts.
Thomson & Co. is a wholesale firm. One
of the retail dealers said to-day that the
wholesalers had agreed not 10 do any busi-
ness directly with consumers, as Thomson
&. Co is doing now on the Capitol job, and
10 permit all retail business 70 be transact
ed by the retailers. A state official who IS
actively connected with the repairing Of the
Capitol said that he understood the rea-
son the lumber was purchased from Thom-
son g. Co. was because that firm happened
20 have It on hand But" he said, eve
have given contracts 10 other dealers,
mentioning Kurtz & Wend and Blakeslee &
Co.
Mr.. Wend Of the former firm, said that
all he got was the supplying Of window
sashes, and the amount Of his contract
would be less than 500 At the Office Of
Blakeslee & Co il was said that the only
thing they were doing was the hauling Of
Thomson lumber 10 the Capitol
Say Lumber Was Got Outside.
inquiry among other retail dealers
showed that il would not only have been
possible 20 get the lumber required at
the Capitol at other concerns in Albany,
but that Thompson G. Co. had been oo-
liged 10 cali on other concerns 70 help 10
nll out the order for the Capitol job. one
OF these firms was Welsh & Gray and
another Robinson & CO. George Welsh, Jr.'
OF the former said that plenty OF LUMBER
could have been secured about Albany
without going 20 Thompson & Co.
While the retailers have taken no con-
certed action in the matter" he said
a Wholesaler
taking all this business. and lumbermen all
through this vicinity are talking ABOUT
II"
Few Of the retailers who spoke about
the matter to-day seemed 70 doubt that
the Governor was behind the placing OF
the business with Thompson & Co, nor
were they backward in saying so
IL justice to Governor Dix and the lun-
Der firm. il must be said that no contention
is advanced that the state Will pay more
for this lumber than 1t would have had 10
pay IL II came from any firm without ad-
vantageous connections. The contractors
are doing the work on i percentage basis
receiving 10 per cent OF the cost OF tne
job for their compensation
4 somewhat amusing instance Of politics
IL this repair work Was furnished fTlS
weeK. As soon as the contractors D"Raa
their work they were advised 10 employ
only laDorers who were enrolled Democrats
in Albany County. Patrick +. MI'aLe
clerk OF the Senate and overload OF lgefn"-
cracy here. looked on this as his rlghttr
perquisite. But labOrers Were AT pre-
MUM. and somehow some got on the pa
roll about whose Democracy there was a
question This week a man with a beck
went among them. compelling every nan
70 give his name and address and facts
about HIS political predictions. This ma
terial was checked off. and as a resilt
several score Of men were dropped from
tie payroll Of the contractors. their DemOc-
racy not having been properly substa.I
tiated by the records.