Evening star., 1927-09-23

tractors for use in buildings being
erected for the District government
under contract. We demand of the
contractor that he furnish brick suit
able for the purpose and satisfactory
to the District government. The con-
tractor will naturally secure his brick
from the manufacturer who can fur
nish a satisfactory and acceptable
article at the lowest price. The ques.
ton is, therefore. primarily one be-
tween the Hydraulic Press Brick Co.
and the various contractors or pro-
spective bidders on building work.
Factors in Deciding.
s'In deciding upon the kind of brick
to be used in any public building.
quality, appearance and price must be
considered. After considerable study
of the matter. the municipal architect
has determined that face brick suita-
BILE and satisfactory can, in the gen.
era1 case, be secured at a price of
around $26 per thousand. A price
much less than this figure generally
means unsatisfactory brick: a price
much in excess of this means brick
that are unnecessarily expensive and
would increase the cost Of the building
to an unjustified degree.
I'm connection with the study Of
this question, bids for several build
ings were advertised with the require
ment that the face brick should not
cost more than $26 per thousand. and
contractors were required to submit
samples Of brick for the various build
ings with this understanding. From
the brick submitted for this particular
group of buildings. certain ones were
selected as those which were best
suited to the purpose and were estab.
lished as standard. Other brick have
been from time to time added to the
list and any manufacturer is always
welcome to submit samples for exam
ination with a view to their being
included in the standard list.
Several Samples Submitted.
1.-THE Hydraulic Press Brick Co. has
submitted several samples for con-
sideration. These samples have been
carefully examined and compared with
approved samples, and it has been
found that those which were offered
at the same price as the approved
samples were inferior, while those
which were satisfactory in quality and
appearance were quoted at higher
price. One sample submitted by the
Hydraulic Press Brick Co., known as
their 'Homewood Colonial was ac,
cepted as satisfactory, and was speci.
fled along with three other makes in
the case of the Mckinley School, with
the stipulation that any one of the
approved samples should be satisfac.
tory. In this case the contractor did
not adopt the 'Homewood Colonial
brick, but bought their brick from
some other manufacturer.
''It Is, of course, immaterial to this
Office how much the contractor pays
for his brick, so long as his unit price
for brick work and his total contract
price do not run above what we con.
sider to he a reasonable and permis-
sible figure. The only reason for the
fixing of the standard price of $26
per thousand, is that we have found
that suitable and satisfactory brick
can be secured for this price, and that
brick offered for less is not generally
satisfactory. II the Hydraulic Press
Brick Co. can furnish suitable brick
at a price which the building con.
tractor is willing to pay. this office will
be pleased to see them get the bust
ness"
Harris Reports to Atkins.
Subsequent to Commissioner La
dues answer to Mr.. Moore, Municipa
Architect Albert l.. Harris made re
port TO Mai. l.. +. Atkins, Assistant
Engineer Commissioner, in which III
said that the Hydraulic Co. had sub
mitted q number of samples for con
sideration at price Of $26 thousand
but that in his judgment the brick:
were not comparable in color, texture
and finish to those furnished by othel
concerns.
LAS the bricks for the District build
ings are selected as to the best we ar
able to get for the price we are abb
to pay" he declared, ''and as the Hy
draulic Pressed Brick Co. has neve
been able TO meet both price and qual
1ty, they have been unable to secur
work from the District"
Mr. Stringer and Mr. Clark. togethe
with Roger J. Whitford. attorney TO
the former, are planning a conferenc
with the Commissioners, at which the,
intend to discuss further the bricl
contract awards.