On the 24th day of January, 1885, this committee made a report by which they determined that there should be paid to the claimant on account of the matters alleged the sum of $1,214.90.

This report was based upon the measurements, examinations, and estimates of two experts, one selected by the claimant and the other by the committee.  The report was transmitted to the House of Representatives by the Secretary of the Treasury and an appropriation asked to pay the amount awarded.

But Mr. Willbur was not satisfied, and on the 6th day of January, 1885, addressed a communication to the Secretary of the Treasury in which this passage occurs: 

  I shall insist on a remeasurement of the entire work, as this is vital
  to my claim.  The excess which I furnished can only be ascertained by
  weight instead of by measuring the thickness of the plates and frames.

At the second session of the Forty-ninth Congress, and early in 1886, this claim was before the Senate Committee on Claims, and at the instance of the committee this work was again examined by experts, who came to the conclusion that the claimant was entitled to the sum of $45,615.67 for the extra work which he had performed and materials furnished.

It is only alleged that the glass tiling and frames actually put in the building were slightly thicker than those required by the contract, and this alleged increased thickness seems to be fairly represented in a general way by the claim that some of the glass and frames which were required to be 1 inch thick were actually put in 1 inch and a quarter thick.

Upon this statement it must be admitted that the sum above stated as the value of this extra thickness is somewhat startling.  In the language of the report upon this bill by the Supervising Architect, “a claim of $47,159.02 for such slight excess on work the price of which was $35,217.57 is hardly entitled to consideration.”

The claim, as well as the award of the experts last named, reach their astonishing proportions by the application of weights to the question in the following manner:  A certain area is measured.  A square foot of the tiling actually put in is weighed, and a square foot of the tiling required by the contract is also weighed.  Both these weights are multiplied by the area.  The lesser aggregate weight is deducted from the greater, and the difference is divided by the weight of a square foot of the lightest tiling, thus reducing it to square feet of such lightest tile.  These square feet are multiplied by the price agreed to be paid by the contract for each superficial foot, and an item of extra work is determined.  Thus additional weight in constructed and finished tiling is converted, as far as price and measurement are concerned, into finished tile, which more than doubles the quantity actually laid down.