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Show WHERE MORRISITES MADE BM; BLUNDER Put Up Bluff in Constructing $250,000 Sewer With $130,000, TRUTH TOLD CONCERNING THE INTERCEPTING PROJECT Plans Wero Found to Be Faulty, and Are Being Revised. EnGmles of tho American administration administra-tion aro attempting to mako campaign thunder of the $1C0,000 bond Isbuo for the construction of tho intercepting sewer which Is to bo built on Eighth West street, from Ninth North to Ninth South strocts, and thence east to Main street to connect with tho main gTavlly sewor. In nuswor to the charge that no part of the amount of money raised under tho bond has boon uHod for the sower construction, It Is only necessary to refer re-fer to tho gravity 6cwer which has been completed from Fifth South and State street to Ninth South and thence to Fourth East street at a cost of J2B.000. ThlB has been paid from the bond fund. Thin bond fund, which an Ignoramus 3tateB nmountn to nearly $200,000, never amounted to but $106,000. Tho bond iosuo waB for 5150,000, and the accrued lntcrost diverted to it amounts to J1G.000, bo that in all thero was In tho fund for tho construction of tho gravity and tho intercepting sower tho sum of $165,000. As previously stated, $85,000 was used for the construe- tion of the gravity Hewer, so that thoro now remains In this fund Just $130,000. Dopended on Magic. From this fund of $130,000 the Morris administration expected, through some form of magic, to construct a acwor that, at the very least calculation, will cost $250,000. Tho story is a long ono and to give tho taxpayers a proper understanding of tho whole bunglesomo affair It is noc-osBary noc-osBary to go back to tho timo whon the sewer bond issue was first talked of. No one seems 'to know Just where the talk of building the Bower for $150,000 first started, but tho story Is that ono of the Councllmcn asked a draughtsman In the City Engineer's department about how much such a sewer should cost and the reply, given In an off-hand manner, was that It ought to bo built for $160,000. However, tlio impression given out by the Morris crowd was that tho sower could be constructed for that amount, no mention was made of any sum In excess ex-cess of $150,000, and tho bond Issue was made on that basis. It Is a fact, too, that cannot be dlsputod that tho bond issue was made bofore any plans for the sower were oven outlined by the City Engineer. Tho Council had no plans or official estimate to go by, and still went ahead and issued $150,000 of bonds. The cart wns before tho horso, as waB found as soon as the City Englneor had his plana prepared, for then the Engineer decldod that It would cost $189,000 to construct the sewer. He afterward raised tho amount to $224,000, which amount he estimated would also construct tho gravity grav-ity sewer. ' Looks Like a Joke. Notwithstanding the faot that only $1G6,000 was available In the sewer fund, tho Morris administration went ahead and oh October 9, of last year, let two contraetH to James Kennedy, $29,000 for the gravity sewor and $148,000 for the intercepting Bewer, amounting In all to $177,000. How It was expected to moot the obligations Involved in these contracts con-tracts when but $105,000 was available la not known. No explanation was over made to the public. Tho mattor was kept as quiet as possible, and tho fact that the Englneor Engl-neor had found that the work would cost $221,000 was not breathed. So anxious woro tho Morrlsltes for ro-electlon that the matter was dropped and tho work was not ordered commencod during tho last administration. When tho American party came Into power the gravity sewer was started and has been 'completed, and the Intercepting Intercept-ing sower was commonced in February. PlariB Found Defective. Work had not progressed vory far, however, before It was found that , It would bo Impossible to contlnuo under the plans proparod by the last administration. adminis-tration. The plans called for a sewer some twenty-six foot below tho surface of the ground, and owing to tho nature of the ground traversed, the work of constructing tho sewor is extremely difficult dif-ficult and "under tho most favorablo circumstances, cir-cumstances, according to figures proparod pro-parod by City Engineer Kolsey, tho work could not be completed for less than $300,000, and even then tho engineers aro uncertain as to whother the sewer could bo constructed so as to last for ovon a short timo, .lying, as it would, In a bod of very soft mud. When tho Board of Public Works, the Committee on Engineering of the City Council, Mayor Thompson and City Engineer En-gineer Kelsey, inspected tho work that had been dono thus far, it was decided to stop the work at once and bavo tho City Engineer draw new plans and to go no furthor with tho work until It can bo done intelligently. The plans are now beinc propared by the City Engineer, and will probably bo ready In a couple of weeks. It Is proposed pro-posed to lossen the depth of tho sewer about flvo or six feet. This will not only greatly reduco the cost of construction, but It will Insuro a sower that will not be likely to break to pieces becauso of an Infirm bod and also reduco tho cost of maintaining tho pumping station which will be necessary to pump tho sewerage from Iho Intercepting sower into tho gravity system. Admitted by Fernstrom. That the sower could not bo constructed con-structed under the plans prepared under un-der tho previous administration was well realized by the Morrlsltes, and Mr. Fern-stroni, Fern-stroni, who was ono of the advocates of tjulldlng the sewor aud raising $150,000 In the last administration, is the one, who, two months ago. Introduced a resolution before tho City Council to havo tho present pres-ent City Engineer prepare new plans for tho acwor. Members of tho previous administration havo admitted that they realized that the Bower would coat a quartor of a million of dollars, and whother ,Lhoy admit It or not. thero Is no question but what thoy must havo realized tho fact when they let contracts aggregating $177,000 for construction work alone and tho engineering expense, tho expense of constructing con-structing a lino from tho pump houso j to tho gravity eewor, whioh Is ovop onej mile and the expense of constructing tho pumping plant and Installing tho machinery ma-chinery would havo to be added to that sum. Deluded the Public. Still, the Morrlsltes had the audacltv to delude the public by making It think that the $150,000 would be sufllclont to construct tho sewer, and now that tho American administration has seen fit to put a stop to the wasteful and Incompetent Incom-petent work that baa been nothing but a bungle since Its lncoptlon, the soreheads sore-heads are raising tho cry that the taxpayers tax-payers of the western part of tho city are being abused and that the money is being held up for the benefit of somebody's some-body's bank. Tho proposition 13 simply this: Tho American administration does not propose pro-pose (o abuse the public by allowing nn abuse started' by a previous administration administra-tion to continue. The sower matter will prove a boomerang boom-erang tothe Smootlto bunch which Is raising the howl, when the public soeB, as It will, the foreslghtednoss of tho American administration in stopping work loug ouough to brlns ordor out of chaou. |