The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1915-08-13
lower bidders than the company that

the meeting this morning that he had
favored letting the Job TO ]. b. Marsh
Of Des Moines. who offered to do the
whole thing. including the furnishing
of plans and specifications. the SUI
pervising and the inspecting for S3.-
900. The mayor declared that bid to
be away under that of the Concrete
Steel Engineering company. which Of
fered TO do all except furnishing tho
inspector, for three and half per
cent OF the total cost Of the bridge.
which was estimated at $4,000.
But now mp comes another bridge
engineer. who even underbids Mr..
Marsh. This is Donald ID. PTice of
lincoln. Neb.. who offers to do for
three and one-quarter per cent of the
total cost what Mr.. Marsh offered to
do for $4,000, that Is, the whole en-
eineering job. including inspection and
all. Estimating the cost or the bridge
ut $4,000, this price Is $4,000. an
parently the lowest yet Mr.. Price also
makes another proposition and that is
To do for One-and three quarters per
cent practically the same work as that
New York company agreed tn do for
three and n half per cent. Mr.. Price
offers to do the supervising for 5000
a month in addition.
Mr. Price onpeared before the cnur=
oil this morning. and stated that he
had been delayed In getting his prop
Csition before the council. He had
been away from his home at Lincoln.
and bad weather and washouts had
prevented him from getting back as
soon rs he intended. The result was
that he did not reach home I'm time
10 get the letter from MankatO. in
forming him when action was to be
taken nv the city council I'm the selec-
tion Of On engineer for the new
bridge. Somebody else wrote on he
half Of Mr.. Price to Mankato. asking
that the action IN awarding contract
he delayed. In order To give Mr. Price
chance In get in his hid However.
the council went ahead and did not
wait. Now. that this action had prov
en- TO be Illegal and the mat or was
yet omen. Mr.. Price did not zee whv
the job OF rawing the pla"s should
not be awarded to him as the lowest
res"onsible bidder.
Mr.. Trice said he had drawn plnns
for NOR" important br' 90 Jobs than
that 81 M"nkaio. He I'd been state
bridge er~'rao- of Hobraska for two
years and asst 80 state bridge en-
fineer for four years before that. He
said the bridges that were constructed
in Nebraska at the joint expense Of
the county and state were supervised
in their construction by the state Of
ficials.
Attorney 4. r. Pfau. Jr.. appeared
before the council in behalf of Mr.
Price He argued that as the first
award had been illegal. and Mr.. Prices
hid had been presented to the council.
there was no reason why the council
should not award the contract to him.
II would save 81 500 to $1,000. com
pared with last MONDAYS award
Mr.. Muesscr started little fire.
works. when he politely intimated
that Mr.. Price had been guilty of I'M
professional conduct. in irving to take
advantage OF a fechnicalitv to get
away from a brother engineer a job
that had been awarded He said IL
was against the ethics Of the profess
sion to do this.
Mr.. Price came hack with coun-
ter accusation. stating that the Con-
crete-Steel Engineering comDany had
been guilty OF unprofessional conduct
in modifying It's bid. after that bid
had been submitted TO the council.
Mayor Meyer spoke in opposition TO
the plan of the New York company of
filling In the open spaces above the
piers and below the roadway with
dirt. He said that might be all right.
where the climate was milder, but he
was afraid that would not work In the
cold Minnesota winter. The dirt FILL
ing would be apt to bulge.
Mr.. Muesser said there was no dan
ger of anything Of that kind. He sa'd
such bridges had been tried up I'm
Canada, where the winters were even
more severe than here i'm Minnesota,
and they had worked all ri"ht. He
spoke at some length I'm defense Of
that sort Of filling. lie said such FILL
inE destroyed the impact and EARRING
when heavy loads crossed the bridge.
He said the weight was well distribute.
ed between the piers by such filling,
and that such filling gave the bridge
a certain heft that was very desirable
in times of high water. when the food
objects against the piers
Mr.. Muesser said his company aim
ed to give the city good lob and
services that were worth every bit
that was charged for them. He stated
that his comDany made q careful study
of the conditions ut each place where
II built bridge. and did not simply
use over again the same plans that
had been used I'm other places for
BRIDGES built under other conditions.
He spoke of contracts that his COM
pany had for planning and superyis-
ing the construction of great bridges
In Minneapolis. Galveston and else
where. and said his company could
not handle such work. II its services
were not perfectly reliable and worth
all that was asked for them.
He was asked I'm regard to the hir-
ing OF an inspector by the city. and
he said his company would be willing
to shoulder completely the RESPONSE
bility II II had an inspector OF its own
choosing and under its own control.
At this Mr.. Pfau remarked that Mr..
Price was ready to hire an inspector,
but to submit that choice to the city
council. and to shoulder the whole
responsibility. even " the council did
have the right to reject or accept the
inspector. until one was found that
was satisfactory to the council.
Mayor Meyer spoke OF the great
amount OF work that he had done In