The Waterbury Democrat., 1937-10-02

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 DANIEL J. LEARY
 office of the City Clerk where anyone interested may see 1t. Everyone knows MT. Cairns in- tegrity is above suspicion. Every one knows MT. Cairns ability as an engineer is unchallenged.
 Engineer" Culhane
 If Mir Culhane were mayor and If similar situation arose would he take the advice and be guided by the counsel of a man who has been the city engineer for over 40 years and whose engineering skill is nationally recognized or would he be his own engineer?
 There are no favored or favor ite contractors and there never has been.
 Let us take up the matter of purchasing. Not long ago the City had to purchase 14,000 feet of pipe. Every large manufacturer of pipe submitted a bid. They competed for the order and the lowest bidder received it and by competitive bidding the adminis- tration saved the taxpayers $l0,- 000.00 No great fuss was made about the saving. Tn fact this is the first time 1t has been men, toned because this is the routine procedure followed each and every day in the Comptroller's office. MT. Culhane's untrue statements that the City does not use com petitive bidding in making its purchases are due to the fact that he does not know the difference between competitive bidding and published avertisements, calling for bids.
 Of Big Business"
 Frequent reference has been made in the campaign to our great local industrial plants, The American Brass Company, The Scovill Mfg. Company, The Chase Companies, and others. All of these factories make purchases and award contracts. They have special departments which do nothing else. The same method they use is used by the City ad- ministration.
 These factory executives do not go up on the house tops and an- nounce to all the salesmen on earth that they are in the market to make purchases. They do not take up pages of advertising in the newspapers to make the fact known that they have contract to award. Big business is not con- ducted to the music of a brass band. It Is done openly and above board, efficiently and without unnecessary noise. That is the &C., cepted rule in the conduct of any large enterprise and that is the rule followed by this administra- ton.
 Lesson Offered
 It does not mean, however, that Salesmen are not compelled to submit competing prices. MT. Cul- hane should learn something about what constitutes competi- tive bidding before he talks about 1t.
 MT. Culhane went to great lengths commenting on reductions that have taken place in various city departments. MT. Culhane evidently Is not yet aware of the platform on which we are run- ming. We have claimed repeatedly that we have reduced costs wherever possible. That Is our record.
 MT. Culhane denies our claim in one breath and proves our claim to be true in the next breath and with his own words. Tn connection with the figures which MT. Culhane used last night, his lack of knowledge re- garding the variuos departments was made pathetically obvious. For instance, MT. Culhane men, toned the park department. He does not know that the minimum appropriation for the park de- partment Is fixed by jaw. It is %ths of a mill on the grand list. If through a reduced grand list and a reduced tax income the park department was cut 25 per cent, the administration could neither take credit nor blame. MT. Culhane should know that.
 Falsehood
 But let us see whether the de- partment has been cut 25 per cent. He stated: "The park de- partmcnt had been cut 25 per cent" Well, in the year 1880 there was available for the park department the sum of $9l,375. In the year 1886 there was avail able for the park department the sum of 96,484.37, an increase of $5,l09.37. In the year 1887 there was made available for the oper- ation of the park department the sum of $l15,000, an increase of $23,625.00. MT. Culhane does this represent a 25 per cent "cut" m the budget of the park depart ment or is 1t another one of your falsehoods?
 He stated: That the City sup port of the Bronson Library had been cut 21 per cent" Tn the year 1880 there was appropriated for the operation of the Bronson Li- brary the sum of 41,275. In the year 1887 the sum of $45,557 76 was appropriated to the Bronson Library. This is an increase of $4,- 282.76. Does this represent a 21 per cent "cut" to the Bronson Li- brary support, MT. Culhane, or is this just another glaring example of your entire ignorance of civic affairs?
 The Police
 Mir. Culhane stated: That the P0lica Da0a rtf1anf hod haat, ont