Weekly journal-miner., 1916-03-08

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 pert engineer, who would be able to judge as to whether the specifications were adequate. The necessary strength of every girder, the pound pressure on each block of granite 1 should have been verified. This is a customary preliminary to the con struction of all large buildings. l suggested delay. In the case of such building as our $250O00 court house it would have been wiser to have had the plans and specifications checked up by two or even three engineers. My motion for deferring the decision was voted down, and the other super visors accepted without question the specifications of the architect who came from Denver, where the bonds were sold.
 The matter of the contract with Architect Bowman was the next thing to be rushed through, for the reason it was argued that the architect want ed to catch a certain train. It was my judgment that the plans and speci | hcations should be submitted to the county attorney, and that he should be given time to prepare contract that would properly guard the inter ests of Yavapai county, and insure that the architect would have to dc us full justice in the carrying out oi the plans. Again I was voted down I was told that the contract would Dc approved, whether I liked it or not, ir | time for Mir. Bowman to catch tha train. Now note what followed: Mir. Bowman, the architect iron Denver, where the bonds were sold. went to the county attorneys oftlcS and personally dictated the conditions that he wanted in the contract. l vii admit that it was Jim Dandy-fol the architect My contention was anC
 is that each paragraph should have | been discussed, and there was hardly paragraph as it was drawn that die not leave the county absolutely anC entirely at the mercy of the architect who would be able to do as ne pleased without regard to the needs of Yava pal county. To sustain this conteu ton I refer to the contract itself which every man and woman inter ested in the welfare of the county should read When it was proposed to accept this contract as prepared, J strenuously objected. l pointed ou that this architect, for whose expert services we were promising to pay Sl0OOO, was not bound to even lool at the building while it was in tn; course of construction. He might he wished, turn over the work to : superintendent (perhaps 5tom Den yer tool whom we, the people Yavapai county have to pay unde ! that contract at the rate of Sl5O {; month in addition to the S10OO0 wt pay the architect.
 I called attention to the insuffici cncy of the contract and to the fail ure to bind the architect to prope- performance of his duties. and als( vigorously objected to the claus' which bound the county to pay tn' architect his travelling expenses to and from Denver, which the arcnitec finally consented should be limited tC l2 trips-an additional Sl POO added to the taxpayers's burden. Naturally 1 opposed the contract and voted No" But the two other supervisors wishing to make it possible for MT Bowman to catch his train. voted "Yes" The contract was accepte; and signed, and the architect started back to Denver on his train as per his schedule
 Note this well, here was contract covering a job amounting to nearly quarter of a million dollars. The con tract was evidently one-sided anC faulty. The faults and one sidednes< were all against the county, but two supervisors were so much more anxi ous to oblige the architect from Den yer, who wanted to catch a certain train, than they were to protect tA' county, that the contract was rushed through.
 I was not willin gto allow this tC pass without recording my protest As a consequence, it was entered or the minutes at my request. The dis cussion of the contract required SC much time that Mir. Bowman had no' time to arrange for his bond.
 My protest on the insufficiency O. the contract, subsequently resulted 1T careful examination of it by County Attorney O'Sullivan. He was as founded at the looseness of it. lr order to correct some of its evident shortcomings, he embodied several essential paragraphs in the bond. which the supervisors had promised to forward to Mir. Bowman for his signature In these paragraphs he re uuires Mr. Bowman to agree to bt personally present on the works while the foundations and sustaining walls of the court house are being erected. Mir. Bowman would not have becl obliged to do this, accord ing to the contract he carried away with him. The bond further provides that he must be present in person