New-York tribune., 1919-02-04
Million Asked
For Losses ON
Tube Contract
Public Service Commissions
Alleged Delay Is Blamed
for High Labor Costs
Talk Private Settlement
Other Contractors May Sue:
Travis Replies Claim of
$500 Should BeAllowed

Newman & Carey Company, subway
contractors for the section in Nostrard
Avenue, Brooklyn, lying between East
ern Parkway and Erasmus Street bava
filed damage claims with the Contra,
Ter amounting to S1,034.31O. After an
exhaustive investigation the Pubhc
Service Commission finds that III.
( company is legally entitled TO S45oa
damages and no more.
The gist of the complaints accom-
panying the claims for damage is
that the delay Oh the part of the Pub
lie Service Commission in providing
plans for construction delayed their
work, throwing it over into the worst
of the war period, when it was impox-
siblc, without serious loss, to con.
tinue construction.
Can Settle at Any Amount
The claim of the Newman & Carey
Company now is in the hands of the
Controller, awaiting adjustment. Un-
/ der the law the Controller has author.
ity to settle the claim at any amount
he deems Jus,.
The Public Service Commission hax
turned in to the Controller a special
report on the claim as presented by
the company, traversing every item Of
their schedule of damages and setting
forth that, with the exception of one
item for 81 200 and another for $500,
all the claims should be disallowed.
The claim of the Newman g. Carey
Company is OF the same general char
acter as that the Intercontinental
Construction Corporation, for a little
more than S1,000,000. The Controller
privately settled this claim for 1928 900.
and Public Service Commissioners Whit
ney sharply criticised h,m ~or making
the settlement in the face of the fact
that the engineers of the Public Ser
vice Commission contended that the
damage to the Intercontinental Com
pany was only nominal and could not
have been more than $4,000.
The Newman & Carey Company claim
seems to be predicated on the ailega-
tion that the Public Service Commits
sion failed to provide working draw
ings as required by contract.
Another feature of the case which is
likely to attract attention is that of the
1 four subway contracts on the Eastern
! Parkway system. Two of the contracts,
that of Rogers & Haggerty, whose Sec
tion is Immediately to the east of the
Intercontinental Company's, and that
of the Dock Construction Company,
/ whose contract is Immediately to the
south of the Newman & Carey JOB, were
completed months ago, and the con-
tractors have not filed damage claims
based on alleged failure of the Public
! Service Commission to furnish working
drawings.
"If the Newman & Carey Company
is allowed anything above the recon-
mendation Of the Public Service Com
mission it will be an absolute injustice"
said one of the commissioners last
night. "Rogers & Haggerty and the
Dock Construction Company are COM
petent people, backed by abundant
capital to carry on their work. The
1ntercontinental Company and the New.
man & Carey Company failed to drive
through their work on contract time.
and their losses, if they have sustained
any, are due to themselves, and to no
! one else. The Oscar ". Daniels Com
pany undertook to collect in the courts
a claim for s241 ,0S0.sl, charging neglect
on the part of this commission. The
case went to jury and the verdict was
for $7,177."
Four More Months of Work
1t will take another four months to
complete the contract. The company
serves notice that it reserves the right
to file supplemental claims "as such
claims shall hereafter actually accrue y
The clause in the contract which the
contractors assert was violated by the
Public Service Commission is:
Working drawings to amplify the
contract will be furnished by the err
gineer to the contractor, from which
the shop drawings shall be made by
him. The first of these working draw
ings will be given so the contractor
within thirty days after this contract
is delivered. and the remainder froin,
time to time as may reasonably and
necessarily be required by the cons
tractor"
If the Controller effects a privats
settlement with the Newman & Carey
Company, as he did in the case of tie
Intercontinental Company, it is UNDER
stood that other contractors, among
them the Degnon Company and Booth
& Finn, will present similar claims
for large damages based on the same
general grounds.