Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-06-28
QUIBBLE AFTER oUlBBlE
JOB COMBINES ONLY HOPE
Facts and Logic Unite to Expose the
Bold Attempt to Play Into the Hands
Of the Street. Cleaning Contractors


THE course of the Job combine members
= Of City Council on the street cleaning
issue has been marked by retreat from one
impossible position to another.
1t was first argued that the existing con-
tracts for cleaning streets and removing
rubbish and garbage could not be tCrmi
mated on October | on the ground that such
termination would be illegal. They de-
manded an opinion from the City Solicitor.
City Solicitor Smyth straightway gave
his opinion that the contracts could legally
be terminated on October l. for there was
provision to this effect in the conditions of
the contracts themselves. Here is the exact
wording of that provision:
The bidders agree that any contract
awarded to them may be terminated on
October |, l92l..t they arc 1iren three
months notice by thc Director that the city
desires to exercise such option, and that
they will accept as full payment for all
claims against the city nlne-twelfths of the
price bid in this proposal
Then when Councilman Roper offered
formal resolution in Council that the con
tracts be terminated on October 1 IL WIS
objected that as the contracts had been
awarded by ordinance they could not be
terminated by resolution.
But no action Of Council is necessary to
terminate the contracts. They may be
brought to an end by notice from the Di-
rector of Public Works. Councilmanic ac-
tion is needed to get appropriations for
equipment. This is why the Mayor has
called a special meeting of Council for
tomorrow night.
Now Councilman Weglein, the rresi-
dent of Council, is arguing that the
city cannot get ready to do the work
on October l and that the contracts
must be allowed to continue until January
|. He is asking for more information about
the plans of Director Caven to guide him in
reaching a conclusion. as though his con-
duct from the beginning did not indicate that
it was not information which he was seek
ing but obstruction.
Director Caven says he is ready to take
over the work on October l. He has been
making his plans for it for months. His
success in cleaning the streets in the two
central districts at a saving of 5000 900
under the lowest bid of the contractors ought
70 convince the most skeptical that if he
says he can do the work in the whole city on
October he can be trusted to keep his word
But it is not fear of Director Caven's
inability to make good on October / that is
at the back of the obstructive tactics
1t is evidently a determination to force
the Administration to take over the whole
work in the middle of the winter when no
one knows what the weather conditions will
be. in the hope that the cold and the snow
will interfere so seriously with the work as
10 create dissatisfaction and make it easy
for the contractors to incite their friends to
demand that the contract system be re-
established.
The fight is for a profit of 81 900 900 a
year for the political contractors, and for
the delivery of the city once more into the
hands of the men who have grown fat by
exploiting the public business.