Emmons County record. [volume] (Williamsport, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1884-current, 1922-02-16

price; he does not call attention to, the
topography of Emmons county which
is more rough and requires heavier
construction than most of the projects
in the State. Here are some Of the
counties that the Record man purpose
ly omits: 1--WE will also give date Of
April 9th Foster County Price per Gu.
yard &c 4. .H
EDITORS note: Our figures from the
state highway commission show that
Foster county paid 81 cents in 1920
and as cents in 1921.
May 18th Pierce County Price per Gu.
yard Soc
April Both Golden Valley Co. Price
PER Gu. yard 48c
July 18th Kidder County Price per GU
yard Soc
April 9Th Emmons County Price per
Gu. yard 4Sc
Out of eighteen counties listed by
the Record man, only one (McLain
County, let their contract prior to
Emmons. ut is. to be noted, says
Chief Engineer Robinson, "that the
.Emmons County project was let early
in the spring before prices. had taken
their full drop for the year, and since
our work for the preceding year ran
from Soc to 55c, and even to Coo per
cubic yard it may safely be asserted
that 4sc was a perfectly acceptable
figure at the time of the Emmons
County letting and it therefore ap-
pears that the course pursued by the
State Engineer and the County Board
in awarding the contract at the figures
at which and when they did was en-
tirely justifiable."
CAMPBELL and Mcintosh counties
do not afford fair comparison. The
Emmons County price was based on
one thousand foot movement Of dirt
while Campbell and Mcintosh figured
on only five hundred feet.
In figuring road contracts it is very
important to take into consideration
the amount Ct dirt to be moved, and
if the Record man would take the
trouble to look into this matter he
would find that prices en- the various
projects in the state vary with the
amount of dirt to be moved; in other
words, the more dirt to be moved per
mile the less the price per yard. Nc
Lain, Wells, Grand Forks, Stutsman
and all the rest Of the counties had
from one-third to twice as much dirt
to move as Emnons county, hence the
contractor could afford to do it for
less. AS an example, Wells county's
price was 45c, but it called for 1O1 1923
cubic yards Of dirt. while Emmons
county, at 48c, called for only $3.50
cubic yards. ,..5
In regard to the statement that EN-
mons county paid $4,000 too much.
we must say that it was a pretty
rough guess, and advise the Record
man to guess again. We do not have
to guess; we have the figures whereby
we can tell to the very cent. BY
comparing Emmons county with the
average cost in the whole state for the
whole year we find that we are just
exactly 1929. 40 above, and the
topography and the early date Of the
letting accounts for that. L,
The Commissioners did not grab at
the first bid. They had this project
under consideration for a long time.
They were we'll advised by the Chief
Engineer, Mr.. Robinson, who was
just as much interested in securing q
reasonable price as we were, and the
quotation from Mr.. Robinson shows
that the Highway Commission was.
and is satisfied with the contract
price.
Now since we are putting SO much
stress on the date Of the letting, some
one may ask-Why did we let the con-
tract at that time? Why not wait
until the price had gone down? We
answer, we did not know; we did not
foresee that the prices were going
down. We all get fooled more or less
during this adjustment period after
the war.
We sincerely hope the public will
appreciate our position and will see
that the Records articles have been
grossly misleading, to say the least.
In behalf Of the Commissioners,
L. du HEAUME.
Editors note: Mr.. duHeaume. in
behalf Of the commissioners does
not question the Record published
figures He stresses just two main
points in extenuation Of the unreascn-
able prices paid FOR our highway last
year. One point is that Emmons
county let the bid too early and thus
- sau "a n \.