On November 10, at the hour called for the opening of the bids, I was present and appeared with other bidders before the committee on salvage.  I, with a number of other bidders, waited until after 3 o’clock for the committee to get together and open the bids, and was very much surprised when President Francis announced that all bids would be opened in secret by the committee.  This procedure was not in accordance with the custom of the Government and city in the handling of its property when same is for sale under bids.  Mr. Albrecht objected to the bids being opened in secret session and demanded that they be opened before the bidders.  President Francis asked me what I had to say about the way in which the bids were to be handled, and I answered that I could do nothing more than emphasize the protests of Mr. Albrecht.

I have been a bidder at many sales of both Government and city, property, and the method employed at such sales provided for the opening of bids in public in the presence of such bidders as desired to be present.

A few days later I saw by the papers that the Exposition Company had rejected all bids.  After the rejection of our first sealed bids, I learned through another bidder, with whom I was interested, that the World’s Fair officials had announced that it was probable that they would wreck the exposition buildings themselves.  Upon this information I dropped the matter and heard nothing further about the bidding until it was announced that the Chicago House Wrecking Company had secured the contract.  When I heard that the Fair Company proposed to do its own wrecking I thought it a good plan.

The carrying on of the bidding through private negotiations, as President Francis terms it, was not, I contend, the most advantageous to the Exposition Company and its stockholders.  If they had given all the bidders an equal show in the matter, and had furnished a list of the property to be sold, much higher bids would have been obtained.

The secrecy with which the contracts were handled did not give the bidders a fair opportunity, and was, I believe, an injustice to the thousands of stockholders of the exposition.  The United States Government, the city of St. Louis, and the stockholders were partners in the exposition, which made the fair unquestionably a public institution.  Why, then, were not the bids opened in public, thus securing the largest amount for the exposition and for the stockholders?  This was not done.  If it had been the bidding would have been greatly stimulated, bringing results quite different.  The salvage committee refused to allow the bids to be opened publicly before the contractors, but held them for their eyes only.  This is not in accordance with the manner of handling bids on big public works.  When the partial list of property was given out the requirements in the specifications almost made the bidding prohibitive.  The Exposition Company demanded a check for half of the amount of the bid.  In all my experience I have never before been asked to meet such a requirement.  In itself that was almost enough to drive off the bidders.  The Chicago House Wrecking Company put up less than one-fourth of the price to be paid, or $100,000.