Joseph McKenna

“ Claimants insist upon an affirmative answer and rely upon paragraph 48 of the specifications, which provides that 'all dredged or excavated materials, of whatever nature, will be classified as 'excavation.' All excavations shall conform to such lines, slopes, and grades as may be given by the engineer officer, and anything taken out beyond such given limits will not be paid for by the United States. The price for excavation shall include the removal of the material to its place of deposit. ”

“ That the existence of the more difficult and expensive MATERIAL WAS KNOWN TO THE PERSONS WHO MADe the borings and to the resident engineer of the United States under whose supervision they were made; and that the statement in the specifications was untrue in fact and misleading, causing the claimants to propose to do the work upon the basis shown by the drawings, and not upon the basis of the more difficult and expensive work, which, in point of fact, existed and was known to the officers of the United States. ”

“ Knowledge of the result of such investigations would protect the government, it might be, against an extravagant price based on conjecture of conditions, and enable contractors confidently to did upon ascertained and assured data. ”