r. Taylor's secretary came in and announced
that the meeting had adjourned until the next day. We all left the room
then. At 10 o'clock the next morning, November 11, 1904, Mr. Schmitt and
myself went to Mr. Taylor's office, where I filed my bid in writing for
$76,600 to cover all the buildings shown in the specifications. We
waited there until about 4 o'clock, expecting some decision from the
salvage committee. About 4 o'clock Mr. Taylor's secretary came in and
announced that the meeting of the salvage committee had adjourned until
the following Monday.

The conditions embodied in the specifications as to the time allowed for
removal of the wreckage were so prohibitive as to render it almost
impossible to carry them out. The time limit--namely, three months--was
too short. It would entail an enormous expense and waste of material to
try to comply with the time conditions stated in the specifications.

The amount required by the specifications to be deposited in the form of
a certified check, payable to the Exposition Company, viz, 50 per cent
of the amount of bid, was very exorbitant. This check was to be
forfeited to the Exposition Company in the event the successful bidder
failed to enter into a contract with the salvage committee within five
days after they accepted the bid. I consider the amount demanded, 50 per
cent, very excessive, and it had the effect of frightening bidders away.
A 5 to 10 per cent deposit is usually the amount required by the
Government and the city.

The specifications also stipulated that the full amount of the contract,
less the amount of the certified check, held and to be appropriated by
the Exposition Company, must be paid to the Exposition Company at the
time the contract is signed. I consider this out of all reason, and in
itself would have a tendency to prohibit bidding.

The time-limit clause, namely, three months, from March 1 to June 1,
1905, in which all the buildings must be torn down and the grounds
cleared, was entirely too short a time, and out of all reason, as it
would be physically impossible for any contractor to do the work in the
time specified, and no contractor would attempt it under the terms of
the specifications unless he knew he would be favored with an extension
of time later on.

The specifications appear to me to have been drawn up with the intent
and purpose of discouraging bidders. In all my experience I have never
encountered such requirements as set for