Forrest Charges Mutch and Nelson Have Broken Faith-This Day In Norwood History-August 19, 1938

Arthur J. Forrest through an open letter addressed to the chairman and the Norwood Board of Selectmen and read at their meeting on Tuesday night, asked Chairman Sture Nelson and Selectman John Mutch to justify action on the awarding of oil contracts with pledges given by them at a Chamber of Commerce meeting. Charging that his company had been “deliberately discriminated against” in contract awards, and that the two selectmen had broken faith, Mr. Forrest stated that he felt that the Board had taken into their hands duties which the Town Charter delegated to the General Manager.

No reply was made to Mr. Forrest’s letter other than a statement by Selectman Mutch that he had nothing to say and that if the gentleman thought that faith had been broken there was nothing to be done about it, other than to accept the fact.

Mr. Forrest’s letter making the charge is reprinted below:

August 15, 1938 Honorable Board of Selectmen Norwood, Mass.

Chairman Board of Selectmen: Dear Sir:

A short time ago you and Selectman Mutch at a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce proposed that you and Selectman Mutch would cooperate with me and other citizens of the town for the best interests of the Town of Norwood and also it was proposed by you and Selectman Mutch that we let bygones be bygones. In view of the past records I was skeptical of these proposals, but nevertheless accepted them at their face value and I and another citizen who had also been a subject of vicious attacks by members of your board shook hands and it appeared as if the unfair tactics to which we had been subjected would now come to an end. No sooner was the meeting over than instead of being an honest proposal it seems as if it was just a subterfuge to detract the attention of the Chamber of Commerce and the taxpayers of Norwood. I accuse you and Selectman Mutch of breaking the word you publicly gave and of resuming the same unfair tactics which are so harmful to the town and its taxpayers.

You have now gone so far that in the expressed opinion of those who framed the Town Charter you are acting in wilful disregard of the provisions of said charter.

One of these provisions was that all purchases should be made through the Town Manager in order to save the tax payer’s money and obtain all our purchases and contracts on a fair basis free from all favoritism and graft. To be sure the charter provides that the Board of Selectmen may review the conduct of tho Town Manager and call him to account if he fails in the performance of his duty.

It appears now that although he has admittedly performed his duty in following the best business practises and making all purchases on the most favorable basis to the tax payers that contrary to the specific provisions of the charter the Board of Selectmen have taken into their own hands these duties which the Town Charter placed on the Town Manager and are making contracts on a basis of personal favoritism without regard to sound business principles.

Take my own case for instance:

In preceding contracts and also this last contract you deliberately discriminated against my company in awarding the contracts to other concerns at a higher bid. I would like to bring to your attention that I own a bulk plant in the Town of Norwood and am a distributor for the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, one of the largest oil companies in the world, and that by being a distributor I can sell at a lower price while still making a small profit and the Town of Norwood gets the full benefit as I do not have to pay any cuts or commissions.
Please be good enough to explain to mo and the interested public how you can justify your action in view of the pledges so recently made at the Chamber of Commerce to me and the tax payers of Norwood.

Respectfully,

Arthur J. Forrest

(All articles originally published in the Norwood Messenger)