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Burning of Wood Floor Causes
Bridge Collapse

By George C. Stone

Consulting Engineer, Altavista, Va.

UILT in 1887 to connect the main portion of Danville, Va., with a growing suburban textile center, now a part of the city, on the north side of the Dan River, the old "Iron Bridge" collapsed on June 30, 1927, as a result of the burning of the wood flooring. This bridge crossed the river with six spans of 136 feet, 9 inches, each. The flooring consisted of 3-inch creosoted wood blocks on end, over a layer of waterproofing felt, over 4-inch square

attacked the fire from both ends of the span; but in less than twenty minutes after the explosion the fourth span was down and the flames were eating their way along the flooring of the fifth and third spans. Only a few more minutes elapsed before the fifth and third spans collapsed; then the flames were checked on the north end of the bridge, saving the sixth span practically unharmed, but the breeze carried the fire toward the south shore and before ten

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THE FIFTH SPAN OF THE COLLAPSED DANVILLE BRIDGE,
WITH BUCKLED MEMBER IN FOREGROUND

edged creosoted plank laid close, over 3-inch
by 14-inch creosoted timber stringers. Foot
walks supported by brackets on each side of
the bridge were of 2-inch untreated planking.
The bridge floor had been made much thicker
and heavier than originally, to care for a large
increase in the live load, from the original
horse-drawn traffic to heavy motor trucks, a
street-car line, a gas main, cables, and a large
pedestrian peak load. Nevertheless, the failure
of the bridge was not caused by increased load.
The worn block paving was in process of be-
ing replaced, and two spans had been finished,
when a barrel of tar, just unloaded at the tar
kettle, on the fourth span, burst and scattered
its contents in all directions as the head was
being broken in. The tar ignited and ran out
over the wood flooring, old and new; some of
it seeped down through the joints between
paving and hub guards and thus the wood deck
became ignited top and bottom. Almost in a
moment the entire floor of the fourth span was
in a hot blaze.

o'clock, or less than two hours after the beginning, the second span, too, was in the river. The first span was saved. The writer examined the truss members as the spans lay on the river-bed in about two feet or less of water, and was impressed with the evidence that failure of each span was due to the buckling of a compression member or members due to the softening of the metal by the heat from the burning flooring. He was unable to find any broken or perceptibly elongated eyebars.

While this is not the first instance of a fire in the wood flooring injuring the steel trusses of an American bridge, this occurrence should merit thoughtful consideration of engineers and of public officials as to the use of woodpaving, or tar or creosote, for floors of bridges with exposed steel trusses-although many notable steel bridges of this country have such wood flooring now.

Initial steps have been taken toward the replacing of the burned bridge, probably with a wider structure of reinforced concrete, or a

The fire department responded promptly and concrete deck on steel girders or trusses.

240

Municipal Purchasing Methods and the "Lowest Responsible Bidder"

W

By Russell Forbes

Director, Municipal Administration Service, New York

RITING on the subject of "The Purchase Price" in the June issue, the Editor of the Highway Magazine expresses in no uncertain terms his opinion of present-day purchasing methods in government. Sharply contrasted with the rapid progress made in highway engineering and construction, the methods of purchasing highway materials and equipment are described as having made practically no progress in the past quarter century.

The editorial admits that the requirement for competitive bidding is a necessary safeguard of public funds. The practice of awarding the order to the lowest responsible bidder, however, is condemned as a retarding influence. "While it has closed the door to corruption," we are told, "it has also closed it to progress. The clause 'lowest responsible bidder' has come to be a convenient shield against an inconvenient responsibility."

While the present writer believes that this statement is too sweeping, it must be admitted that public purchasing agents too often follow the course of least resistance in buying. Many of them lean very heavily upon the newspaper advertisement as a means of securing competition, and upon the sealed bid as a means of escaping the responsibility of determining the most suitable source of supply. The fault here, however, lies not with the legal provision but with the manner of its execution. The requirement for competition and the award to the lowest bidder need not be a handicap. Direct requests for bids can and should be used as a supplement to newspaper advertising to arouse wider competition. Greater competition generally leads to more advantageous bids. By going into the market early enough, the purchaser can reject all bids on the first letting and re-solicit bids, except in cases of emergency.

The courts tend toward a liberal construction of the "lowest responsible bidder" clause. To cite only one jurisdiction, the New York courts have held, in the leading case of Knowles vs. City of New York, 74 App. Div. 632, that the city may, like any private individual, call for the product of a particular manufacturer, where that product is of a generally recognized excellence, and may in awarding the order give

preference to bids on that product over bids for products of a somewhat similar quality or nature. Then, too, many lines of supplies have been exempted entirely from the "lowest bidder" requirement. It has been held that this provision does not apply to:

The renting of rooms for use of city, Davis vs. the Mayor, 83 N. Y. 207; The hiring of a dock, Farmers' Loan and Trust Co. vs. the Mayor, 4 Bosw. 80; Scientific knowledge and professional skill, People ex rel. Smith vs. Flagg, 5 Abb. Pr. 232; Services of architects, Peterson vs. the Mayor, 17 New York 449,453.

Other courts have interpreted this clause to be inoperative when the low bid is detrimental to the best interests of the city or public welfare.

The Highway Magazine further claims that "the lowest responsible bid can usually be depended upon only to yield the lowest degree of utility acceptable," and that "it tends to establish and perpetuate the 'least acceptable utility,' and is for that reason an obstacle to the best development of the highway industry." This no doubt is true if specifications are not properly drawn. Most governmental units today give detailed specifications of the material or service to be bought, as a basis for the submission of competitive bids. Such specifications should not only clearly specify the quality which will render the best service, but should be revised from time to time to keep pace with progress in manufacturing practices. If this be done, the least acceptable utility at any given time will not be perpetuated, or be acceptable for all future time. More and more, state, county, and city highway departments are making use of scientific chemical and physical tests to determine whether the quality submitted with the bid and the quality delivered conform to specifications and will satisfy the performance requirements.

Awarding Contracts on a Basis of Quality and Performance

Some state and local laws now permit the order or contract to be let to the lowest and best bidder. "Lowest and best responsible bidder," says the charter of Akron, Ohio. The Purchaser of Supplies for the City and County

of San Francisco is cuthorized to award the order or contract to cher than the lowest bid, if it be to the public interest to do so. This clearly gives the purchasing official discretionary power to determine which bid is best, not solely on the basis of price alone, but on the bases of price, quality and performance. Such a clause is to be preferred to the usual one, naming the "lowest responsible bidder." regards New York City, even though the charter requires that the business be let to the lowest bidder, the Court has held that this implies a judicial determination on the part of the public officials. Thus, speaking in the case of East River Gas Light Company vs. Donnelly, 93 New York 557, the Court said: "In addition to the proposal sent in by the plaintiff, others were submitted by various parties. . . It was the duty of the defendants to choose be

tween these illuminating substances, to determine the responsibility of the bidders, the sufficiency of the security offered, the greater or less economy and desirableness of the several means of lighting, and this could only be done after comparing the bids and the advantages of the methods proposed. As to all these things, there must first be investigation and inquiry, then discretion, and afterward determination and judgment."

The present weakness in the letting of public contracts, so forcefully described by the Highway Magazine, can to a great extent be eliminated either by a more liberal court interpretation of existing law, such as the above citation, or by the adoption of new laws granting discretionary power to the buying official, such as those now effective in Akron and San Francisco.

Massachusetts Utilities Board Vigorously Champions Actual Investment as Against Reproduction-Cost Rate-Base

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HE Department of Public Utilities, which is the rate-regulating body for Massachusetts, has long maintained the policy of basing public-utility rates upon the actual prudent investment by the company whose rates may be under consideration. It has done so in the face of a tendency on the part of the United States Supreme Court to favor the cost of reproduction at present prices as the controlling element in the determination of a rate base, culminating in the Indianapolis water decision.*

The issue is strikingly raised by the Department's recent action with regard to the electric rates in Worcester, Mass., as reported in the Electrical World for June 11, 1927:

"In one of the most drastic findings ever issued in the Bay State the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities has ordered the Worcester Electric Light Co. to reduce its maximum rate from 7 to 5 cents per kilowatt-hour, fixing the rate base at a maximum of $10,000,000, instead of the $17,837,965 claimed by the utility. Chairman Attwill and Commissioners Goldberg and Stone set the new rate at 5 cents, Commissioners Hardy and Wells submitting a minority finding of 4.5 cents. decision vigorously supports the Massachusetts doctrine of establishing the rate base on the capital invested rather than on the reproduction value of the property less depreciation. It is estimated that the reduction will amount on residential and commercial lighting bills to $355,111 per year and that the net revenue available for dividends will yield about 6 per cent on the ten-million-dollar rate base.

The

"The company maintained that it is entitled under the United States Constitution to such rates as will permit it to earn a fair return upon the value

*See THE AMERICAN CITY, March, 1927, p. 376.

of the property employed in its business, and that this value is to be determined by the cost of reproduction, including going value, cost of financing, organization, engineering and supervision expenses, less observed depreciation. The Commission declares its opinion that the law does not require the adoption of such a rate base in Massachusetts. Much of the property has been built up out of earnings. The Commission contends that the reproduction-value rate base is unsound legally, historically and economically; that its constant variation renders it incapable of easy or speedy determination, and that in periods of enhanced prices it leads to exorbitant rates and in periods of depression to much less than a fair return upon the invested capital.

"Commissioners Hardy and Wells declare in their minority reports that the time has come to find out whether the long period of regulation in Massachusetts under which these lighting utilities have prospered is to come to an end, and whether, as pointed out in the recent report of the Commission to the Legislature, it is necessary for the Legislature to take action to avoid the result of adopting valuation as the rate base."

The New York Telegram comments editorially, on June 13,

"What the Massachusetts Utilities Department has done is of tremendous importance. It has said to the U. S. Supreme Court, in effect, that when the high court makes rules to govern public utility rates which the Department thinks are unfair to Massachusetts consumers, it will not follow them, perhaps on the theory that the Supreme Court will come to see that it blundered in the Indianapolis water case and reverse its ruling. Such a chance will be afforded in a pending case involving railroad rates throughout the country.*

"In the meantime the Massachusetts Department has made a move which may have enormous political and economic consequences."

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Municipal Accounting and Finance

Conducted by Francis Oakey, C. P. A.

Member of the Firm of Searle, Oakey & Miller, New York

Safeguarding the Collection of Taxes

N the management of a city's finances two closely coordinated programs must be formulated. One is the program of expenditure; the other the program of financing. The latter program consists of two parts, the first relating to the raising of revenue, the second to borrowing.

is his duty to collect in full the amounts of the taxes assessed and to impose interest penalties for delinquencies as provided by law. He is responsible only to the taxpayers, since he does not have to report to the chief executive. There is no higher official to support him in a just action nor to condemn him for dereliction of duty. Although the process of collecting

Why tax collectors should be appointed and not elected

Why municipal taxes are peculiarly well adapted to an effective accounting control

How a city can be sure that amounts of taxes collected have not been stolen, and the record of such cash receipts omitted

The formulation of these programs and their coordination into a balanced budget require a high degree of judgment and experience and particularly an intimate knowledge of service requirements. But the success of a financial program lies chiefly in the manner of its execution. A city is better off with a poorly prepared budget carried out under strong control than with a well-prepared budget weakly exeuted.

What the several simple processes are which result in an effective audit

These and other important questions are discussed in the present article, which is the fourteenth monthly installment of the Department of Municipal Accounting and Finance which Mr. Oakey is conducting for the benefit of The American City's readers.

Many weak spots can be found in the execution of municipal budgets. Failure to establish a strong central control over expenditures is probably the most common deficiency; at least, it is the most widely known, since the abuses which result from it are given publicity and are favorite topics of political parties not in power. A weakness which frequently is not generally known, although of the greatest importance, is laxity in the collection of taxes. This weakness begins with the delegation of the collecting power, continues through defective methods of accounting and laxity in the processes of collection.

The Delegation of the Collecting Power In many cities the power to collect taxes is vested in a Tax Collector elected by the people. This official thus becomes a seeker of votes, desirous of the favor of those from whom it

taxes is an essential part in the execution of the financial program, he is not responsible to those whose duty it is to administer the program.

In the opinion of the writer the office of Tax Collector should not be elective. This office should be made a definite part of the organization required to administer the financial program and should be removed as far as

possible from the influences which govern the vote-seeking effort. It is thought that the Tax Collector should be appointed by the chief executive.

The Duties of the Collector as Defined by Law

Generally an attempt is made to define the Tax Collector's duties by law. But these attemps often are incomplete. These laws commonly include the following kinds of provisions:

1. Whether the total tax must be paid in one amount or may be paid in parts

2. The last date or dates on which taxes may be paid without penalty

3. The rates of interest to be exacted on delinquent taxes and the dates from which such interest shall run

4. The period at the expiration of which liens shall be placed on the property of delinquent tax

payers

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