The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1913-10-29
MULLINS FURNISHES PROOF OF EXCESSIVE
COST OF WARRENITE, AND PROVES MAYOR
WILSON SPENT HALF MILLION MORE

the intense and constantly increagfnr
traffic.
Says Mr.. Lewis, after presenting the
facts connected with the vzcrk:
The cost of preparing the old
macodzsm roadway as above de-
scribed, including a considerable
expense for teaTning, new stone.
etc., approHnates ten cents Der
square yard. The cost of pa1teiue
In two inch asphalt concrete
wearing surface on over 100000
square yards averages So cents uer
square yard, total OF 81 cents.
These figures include plant cF1aree
representing depreciation ON
tools and equipment Of &16 Der
day, and include as well, all en-
gfneering necessary to the work
itself"
select this instance from many
because of the unbiased and high au-.
thortty, which presents the Gacte
Abundance of similar evidence erfsta-
which Mayor Wilson may see forshfrn-
self, If he desires to do 50.
have no hesitation IN saEaua that
the pavement laid in Lincoln park fs
superior in every way to that laid in
Bridgeport. In Bridgeport a large
part of the engineering work IS done
by the city. Materials aue cheaper
here. The work is not 50 wen done
here. The Chicago work fucfudeei
matters that in this part Of the -coun-
try are charged as extras"
The allus1ons to graft and corruu-
ton are advanced by Mayor wilson.
and not by me.
He has paid $1.2o per yard Tor
pavement that fnow could De w7re
down for IS cents a yard don't
know why he dtd it. That Is for tim 2
to say. I-don't know whether he vas
careless, or whether he got graft. or
aided others to get graft, or whether
the transaction was corrupt Mayer
Wilson raises those ouestfons
There are some facts, which IN COM
mon with other citizens. zee. It IL
usual to let contracts to bid The
Warrenite contracts were not let TO
bid. 1t is usual. m Bridgeport, to
con7de permanent .pavements- and
their construction TO the supervision
of the Commission on Permanent Paw
ing.
Mayor Wilson admits that the pat.
ented bituminous conerste sold as
Warrenite is a permanent pavement.
but he does not explain why ne made
such tremendous effort to take the
work out Of the hands of the con-
mission.
1t is also true that the former
highway commissioner, Mr.. Macdon-
aid, made contracts with the warren
ite company, above 100000 and that
these contracts became q. scandaI so
lowing which Mr.. Macdonald resigned
AS to the methods by which those
contracts were procured, and as TO
whether or not there was graft and
corruption connected with them, I
leave Mayor Wilson to the report Of
the Senate committe which conducted
the investigation.
Mayor Wilson is mistaken, however
in assuming that these contracts were
made by Commissioner Bennett. They .
were made by Macdonald The pave
ment on Connecticut avenue IS done
under a Macdonald contractsand rep
resents merely a transfer from one
place to another
do not charge graft and coTup-
ton. I do not know whether there
was graft or not, or whether there
was corruption or not do know
and do charge that pavement has
been laid by Mayor Wilson at an e1r-
pense of $1.20 per yard, when better
pavement could have been laid Of the
same type, for rs cents per yard
do know, and do charge that in let
ting these contracts there was no com
petition, that all usual safeguards
were thrown down, and that from the
time the paving legislation was In
itfated until the deal with the warren
tte people was closed, that nothing was
done in a business like way, and that
the city and the taxpayers suffered I'm
their pOckeLS anu LAG4I pAAIG- A-Ao-
didn't get good value for their money
and they were additionally humiliated
5y the circumstance that their own
government relieved a. powerful cor
Doratfon from it's duty to lay the
same Warrenite, which Mayor Wilson
conceived so useful to the other tax
payers that he put it down without
at $1.20 per square yard
and to the exclusion of the Permsn-
ent Paving Commission. This may
lot have been graft, and it may not
nave been corruption, but It is Ger
ainly not business, and it does need
1 shall later present in great detail
he figures to show that the present
administration has expended and vast
d more money than any that preceded
t, and will undertake to satisfy the
most exactfng on this point
For the moment I Will content my
elf with the Observation that Mayor
wilson seems to me to be most
nwise in making any reference to the
onding question at all.
He has to answer, not only for the
onds that he succeeded in issuing,
,ut for the millions that he tried to
ssue, and could not, because OF Dem
cratic opposition in the General Aa-
embly.
The question in his case is not alOns
7hat the tax rate is, and what sums
e has expended, but what the tax rat
will be, and the debt Will be, If he is
ept in power and permitted to issue
he 81 900 OO0 which he tried to ra1ees
nd the additional millions which ne
would have burdened the city with II
e had been successful in his earlies
ttempts
AS for the state tax, the fact remains
hat this years levy is not included in
is tax rate.
Who was for the state tax, and who
as against it is immaterial- I am in
orned, however that in charging
Wilson and 8dcHurraY
nth favoring this tax, Mayor Wilson
guilty of the grossest statements.
nd that his assertion is dfSprOved BY
he official records of the General As
embly. But will leave that matter