Читать книгу Final Report of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission - Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission - Страница 59

DEAR SIR: By way of supplement to the letter forwarded to the

National Commission March 7, and in accordance with suggestion

made verbally by the Commission at the meeting Monday, March 20,

I submit this statement relevant to the tenth allegation on page

3 of the letter from President Carter, dated February 28, 1905.

Tenth. That the specifications were misleading, in that one item of copper wire, valued at $650,000, was omitted; also 5,000 (500,000) electric lights, 5,000 tons of iron piping, 3,500 tons of other piping, the railway system on the exposition grounds, the fire apparatus, etc., were omitted.

Answer. The Exposition Company purchased under contract with the American Steel and Wire Company, dated April 3, 1902, copper wire to the amount of $320,160.33. The estimated salvage under this contract as furnished by the electrical engineer of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company on or about November 14, 1904, was $121,753.68. Of this estimated salvage the sum of $46,700 was based on the presumption that the Exposition Company could sell in the open market the copper wire in its storehouse that had never been used. The contract with the American Steel and Wire Company, as read to the National Commission, provided that wire in good condition should be taken back by the American Steel and Wire Company at 55 per cent of its original cost. Owing to changes in the head of the electrical department, Mr. Rustin being compelled to give up his position on account of sickness, and owing to changes made in the plans for electric lighting, the Exposition Company at the opening was in possession of this quantity of unused wire, estimated in the salvage to be worth $46,700, if sold at the market value, but worth to the Exposition Company $23,860 if it was returned to the American Steel and Wire Company under its contract at 55 per cent of the original cost. The Exposition Company claimed that this unused and unpacked wire should not be returned under the contract and endeavored to sell it. The company was prevented from making sale by an injunction taken out by the Chicago House Wrecking Company. The Wrecking Company had purchased the Steel and Wire Company's rights of salvage under the contract of April 3, 1903. This injunction was pending in court at the time the sale of salvage was negotiated in November. If the contention of the Chicago House Wrecking Company was sustained it would have reduced the estimated salvage on the copper wire to $97,893.68. The purchase of the general salvage by the Chicago House Wrecking Company ended the injunction proceedings. Copies of the contract with the American Steel and Wire Company and of the contract between the American Steel and Wire Company and the Chicago House Wrecking Company, which are of record in the office of the recorder of St. Louis City and in the office of the county clerk of St. Louis County, will be forwarded to the National Commission if desired. The reason that the copper wire could not be included in the original specifications was the pending injunction proceedings.

The Exposition Company purchased electric light bulbs referred to in the tenth allegation, of different sizes and under different contracts, to the amount of $65,688. The estimated value of lamps not used at the time of the close of the fair was $16,890.

As regards the fire-fighting apparatus it may be explained that most of this material was procured by the exposition on a rental or loan basis. The Exposition Company owned one second-hand La France fire engine, one second-hand Silsby fire engine, one fuel wagon, and four combination chemical hose wagons. The total cost of this apparatus to the Exposition Company was $5,325.

As regards the piping it can be stated that the Exposition Company had no unused piping; the company did not buy pipe and carry it in stock, but paid under contract for the pipe of various sizes after it was laid in the ground at so much per foot. This was the general practice by the company as regards the piping. By reference to the letter of March 7, it will be observed that the answer to the tenth allegation explains why the company could only sell the piping "subject to whatever rights the city of St. Louis may be entitled to in certain underground pipes, sewers, and conduits in Forest Park." It can be stated that this complication of title to the piping applied to two-thirds if not three-fourths of all of the piping which had been laid at the expense of the Exposition Company.

Because the copper wire was involved in the injunction proceedings, because the electric lights constituted a minor item as shown by the figures given above, because the piping was involved in the construction of the city ordinance, because the greater part of the fire apparatus was not owned by the Exposition Company these items were not mentioned in the original specifications.

As stated in the former letter, the intramural cars and equipments were excepted from all offers of sale because the company had already contracted for the sale of them.

After the first bids received under the specifications referred to in the tenth allegation had been rejected because they were in the opinion of the salvage committee wholly insufficient, new bids were asked for all of the salvage of the company including such right and title as it might have in the copper wire, in the electric lights, in the iron piping, in the fire apparatus, etc., with the exceptions of the intramural cars and equipments and the property of the General Service Company. From that time to the acceptance of the proposition to sell the Chicago House Wrecking Company the negotiations proceeded on the plan that the Exposition Company would sell all right, title, and interest to its property with the exceptions of the cars and equipments and property of the General Service Company.

Under the original specifications a certified check for one-half of the amount of the bid was required and the terms were half cash, but this requirement and these terms did not enter into the negotiations following the rejection of the first bids. All bidders showing a disposition to bid for right, title, and interest of the Exposition Company to all salvage except as stated were treated alike. Certified checks were not required on these later bids. The negotiations were carried on verbally with the bidders in turn, it being understood that the company would insist upon what it deemed to be an adequate cash payment when the contract of sale was concluded.

The secretary of the company is authorized to say that the executive committee courts the fullest investigation of all circumstances connected with the sale of the salvage and that if the National Commission shall deem it necessary to include in its report mention of the allegations contained in the letter of the president of the Commission, dated February 28, the committee asks that in justice to the Exposition Company such investigation shall be made and the conclusions of the Commission shall be given.

Very respectfully, WALTER B. STEVENS, Secretary.

Mr. LAURENCE H. GRAHAME,

Secretary National Commission, Washington, D.C.

Another communication bearing on the disposition of the salvage was received from Mr. Stevens, as follows: