The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-03-25

out a few acquisitions for brushes and sent out purchase orders in the regular way. don't know to whom or whether they were the type of brushes MT. Vogt handles. If any of the clerks in my office had told me that he had been in the habit of supplying the city with brushes I would have given the order to him but there was no way could know" Purcell There Eight Years
 James F. Purcell, Controller Row. lands right-hand accountant, has been in the controllers office for eight years, since 1880, and has handled acquisitions for most of the millions of dollars worth of supplies during that time.
 The controller, by The Republican, says:
 MT. Purcell found him (Mr. Vog3 out in the hall and very courteously conducted him into the office where he told me his business -"
 Then: I'm glad you came" The Republican quotes the controller as telling the blind man. And if I had known about it before would have given you the orders.
 Which means either that Control Ter Rowland, who has refused to is- sue hundreds of acquisitions since January 3, because, he told those seeking them, he mad not signed them personally, has been quoted falsely or that the Republican American stories" are of whole cloth, those of lying publications. Vogt Estimates Out
 Because the acquisitions for the brushes for the school department are public records" and available to any citizen. Further, there are wit nesses to the fact that the controller personally viewed the estimates for the brushes and threw out the esti- mates of MT. Vogt.
 Then, reporters for the Republi- can-American went to the blind man and told him that the control Ter would do business with him. but that the report of his attempts to "see" the controller, which ap- peared only in The Democrat, would tend to hurt his chances" for this business.
 Aid To MT. Vogt
 The report in The Democrat was designed to protect MT. Vogt, even as report in The Democrat of the controllers laundry work patronage of Watertown Republicans in Jan- uary, saved the small portion of this work for two women who had been doing it for many years. The con- troller, confronted with evidence of patronage, about-faced and returned the work to the women.
 MT. Vogt, keeping his independ- ence for many years. even as hls father before, made brushes and sold them, in good part, to the city de- partments over the years since 1911 He is known to almost everyone i1l Waterbury. His brushes are hand made, their reputation among those in the city who are familiar With them, is that they will outlast machine-made brushes, three N one. Thus, because of the labor 1n- volved and the materials, the dura- bility of MT. Vogt's brushes, hl' prices are slightly higher than those of machine-made brushes.
 So, today, Controller Rowland or dered clerk to query MT. Vogt about furnishing the stiff-bristled street brushes which, it is under stood, the blind man does not make as regular thing. But MT. Vogt de- pends, in main, on the approxi- mate $500 he gets from the schoo department brushes and now hail of this business for the year has gone elsewhere.
 Evidence of Controller Rowland: patronage" of his friends and Re publican firms is sprinkled through the warrants payable sheets pre-