The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-12-16

Bros contract was 50 per cent of total cost; quite a difference in 50 per cent of the percentage on a contract which is 10 per cent and 60 per cent of the total contract.
 MT. Allen is not consistent in saying that he would do this work for per cent with a guarantee bond for fixed price, when approximately 90 per cent of his contracts for work have been cost price plus 10 per cent without fixed price.
 CHALLENGE ISSUED
 T am ready at any time to donate 5000 to the Tuberculosis camp if MT. Allen will name five reputable contrac- tors in this territory who have executed 50 per cent of their contracts on a 5 per cent basis, with a guarantee fixed price. provided MT. Allen donates S50OO forfeit to the same institution if he fails tc name that number of contractors. In fact I will let MT. Allen name his own firm as one of the contractors. Will MT. Allen, for the benefit of the public, name the number of contracts he has executed in this county on per cent basis with guarantee fixed price?
 We are reliably informed and have evidence to prove that MT Aliens usual NhAeNA " AOl dOAliS WOIh WILL IO SudIdn- tee as to cost is from 10 to 20 per cent.
 The fee We are paying to the archi- tect is the usual and customary fee, namely, per cent Regardless of MT. Aliens statement, this is also the fee the city is paying it's architects for their school building work.
 COST PLUS PERCENTAGE
 "On account of the war and the gen eral unsettled conditions, the board of revenue and it's architect thought :he best interest of the county would be to award the contract for the building of the county courthouse at Bessemer on a basis of cost plus percentage, with a guarantee bond of maximum cost from the contractor. We wanted the court house built in a reasonable time, at only a reasonable profit to the contractor, and did not want to pay large profit to the contractor on account of the unusual risk he would take in entering into a contract, the completion of which would probably be nine months.
 Neither did we want, on the other hand, to have the contractor fail in ex- ecuting his contract and force the county into litigation with his bondsmen
 Tn ordinary times and under normal conditions, we would have let the con- tract for a lump sum price to the lowest responsible contractor bidding on same. We consider 10 per cent fee to the contractor to be only a fair and reason able profit. It has been the standard fee for such work here on the same size con- tract for years. This is true in most sec tions of the country, particularly is this true when contractor gives a guaran- tee bond protecting the county against an increase over a fixed maximum cost, as Evans Bros. Construction company has done in this case.
 GOVERNMENTS CONTRACTS
 We note that in building of camps, cantonments, etc, that the United States government now uses form of contract for this work of cost plus percentage, and that the fee allowed the contractor by the government is 10 per cent on all it's contracts, the cost of which is S100,- 600 or less. If it is wise for the govern ment to do this, surely 1t is not a mis- take for Jefferson county.
 While we do not charge MT. Allen with Intentionally misleading the public, yet the verbage in his communication nas a tendency to lead the average reader into the belief that MT. Allen refers to the whole cost of the building. The con- tention rests solely on the per cent or commission allowed the builder and the architect. Touching which matter we trust the foregoing statement will appeal to the fairness of all the people and those concerned.
 U. w. GWIN,
 President Board Revenue"