OCR Text |
Show I HARDLY JUST. When the Board of Education not long ago went into executive session to consider bids for the plumbing of the new high school building, some of the papers grew quite excited over the fact that the business was not conducted in open session. It has since developed that the action of the board in the matter was perfectly proper, as It was learned early in the negotiations by board members that they were dealing with a plumbing trust. When the board found that there was an attempt to Impose upon it, members were natural-ly natural-ly indignant and disposed to use some rather vigorous vig-orous language toward certain of the bidders and this could naturally be done more appropriately in secret meeting. The trouble first started when a bid was entertained, but though it was the lowest, it was unaccompanied by a certified check and consequently not entitled to consideration. With the rejection of that bid came the discovery that the Plumbers' association was a plumbers' trust quite similar to the printers' Franklin club, which went out of existence about a year ago largely through the exposure of its operations in this pa-! pa-! per. By the rules of the plumbers' trust, all bids are turned in to the secretary of the association, who had authority to equalize the bids. For instance, in-stance, bids higher on one class of work but lower on another were equalised so that all, while ostensibly os-tensibly different, were the samo within a nominal amount. The secretary was also authorized to add ten or more per cent to all the bids, the added surplus to go to the plumbers association. The result was that after the rejection of the bid referred re-ferred to, the subsequent ones were several thousand thou-sand dollars In excess of the previous one. It would consequently seem that thG effort of the board of education was to save a large amount of money to city taxpayers, and that they are entitled en-titled to commendation rather than censure for transacting the work as they did, for they then threw out all bids, and will pay for the plumbing as it is done, but not under contract. |