The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-06-07
Points Out Shortcomings of Board in Respect to Spec ifications of Recent Bid ding and Asks Mayor to Urge Them to Do Better. PROVIDES MODEL SET
 OF SPECIFICATIONS Thus He Would Protect the :. Interests of the Taxpayers Which He Asserts Are Neglected Through the Methods Now in Vogue.

 o the action of the board of contrae nd supply, in letting a contract fo 1000 tons of anthracite coal, withou he usual protective specifications ir isted upon by large purchasers every vhere-
 It is stated by Alderman Harriga hat a set of the usual and suitabl pecihcations was prepared, and the .bandoned, for another set, whic lave apparently been prepared b omebody who likes his. little jokt The gist of these latter specification 3 that the various grades of cos hall not contain more than certai percentages of ''bone.'' His, 1ette olloWs:
 Bridgeport, Conn.
 June 6, 1916. Hon Clifford B. Wilson,
 Mayor City of Bridgeport,
 Bridgeport Conn.
 My dear MT Mayor
 Having listened attentive1y to . your reading of your annual mes sage to the members of the Board of Aldermen last evening, I was personally interested in that part relating to the Board of Supply, and after due consideration, d0GA1 lA4S II10lIO0 Iu0 pest LO get results, for should I had brought the matter to the attention of the Board, same would have been looked upon as purely a. Deme- cratic measure aiming at your administration.
 It is my purpose in this matter to build up the efficiency of the Board of Contract & Supply rather than to ridicu1e it's various actions.
 My attention was, called to the matter of coal supply contract, and was asked to make a per sonaI investigation Last Thurs day morning, I called on Clerk Baldwin and procured a copy of the Boards instructions to bid ders with specifications thereon. After reading some, I asked the Clerk if it was true that these specifications were waived in the granting of the contract for the two thousand tons of coal con tracted for. Clerk Baldwin re- piled that they had, as no dealer in Bridgeport would bid against the specifications called for, but that a substitution was made call- ing for the standard preparations of anthracite coal. asked to see the standard on which the con tract was given, the reply was, they had none. I asked if they ever took samples of the coal as delivered, and he stated no. The following were the specifications asked for which were considered too stringent for our local deal CTS. viz:
 '.All coal under these specifi- cations, shall be fresh mined, clean, screened and free from slate and bone up to standard preparation of Anthracite Coal, which means that Egg Coal should not contain more than per. cent of Slate and 2 per cent. of Bone in a ton, Stove Coal, 4 per cent. Slate and 3 per cent Bone, Nut CoaI,~5 per cent to per cent. Slate and per cent. Bone, also this coal shall not contain more than IT per cent. ash.''
 Investigation on my part re- vea1s the fact that there is no bone in coal The same may have been intended for the word Carbon Also that the ash per centage of IT per cent was that of a very poor grade of coal. I am herewith enclosing you a form of contract and specified ClOnS LndL IlQd ndS been SQODCed in other cities, and the specified tfons call for a more rigid in- spection of the coal to be bought, as this matter find amounts to yearly in the neighborhood of fifty thousand dollars, an item that cannot be too loosely over looked by our Board of Contract & Supply, seeing that the taxpay- CTS money is judiciously spent.
 You will note in the first sec-t ton of the contract calls for the principals bidding on the coal and that no person acting for, or employed by the City of Bridge port, is directly or indirectly in- terested in this bid, or expected to. derive any profits from the same.
 In the second section.1as to de- livery, the dealer will Sbe reQuir- ed to notify the city coal expert as to the day of his deliveries. so that samples may be procured. This coal expert may be employed by the city to make these 1abora- tory tests, thereby assuring the taxpayers that they are receiving from the Board of Contract & Supply, their moneys worth. This expert to be paid according to the number of tests he makes for the Board. As there are vari4 ous laboratories in this city do- ing such work, the expense will be thoroughly justiffab1e
 In the third section. you will note the standard required. and should the dealer. send a better | coal than contracted for, he will receive in excess of his contract price, according to the specified lions on page 3. Should they be poorer than the contract, there will be a deduction from his con- tract price.
 In the section marked District One, which calls for the coal, name of mines, etc, which will enable the Board Of Contract 6 Supply to know the grade of coal the contractor proposes to send. as each of the mines in the vari- ous states are tabuIated in the mineralogist research work, as eo the standing of sulphur, carbon, and ash.
 On page four is a rough draft