Show THE WAY IT IS DONE Advertising for Information as to the Cost of Streets CONTRACTORS GREATLY AMUSED The Present Administration Working i the Dark and Starting out With the Usual Amount of Blunders Mayor Scott is advertising for brains said 1 contractor who has been hanging around for month expecting something fat to turn up In the shape of street paying pay-ing contracts What do you refer to V I asked not knowing what ho meant Did you not see Mayor Scotts advertisement adver-tisement in the Tribune asking us contractors contract-ors to furnish approximate estimates as to the cost of street pavements 11 I confessed my ignorance and my informer in-former chuckled to himself at the mayors presumption and in Yankee fashion answered his side of the question by asking ask-ing What is the civil engineer paid for if not furnishing the mayor with the ne cessary data as to the cost of street pavements pave-ments This brought back to me a statement that I made in TIIE HERALD before the council appointed a civil engineer A competent engineer familiar with city improvements is a more important officer to this city than the mayor as one qualified in every detail of sewerage waterworks and street pav ing will save to the city treasury at least 50000 year While the present incumbent is a compe tent railroad engineer and is honest and progressive unfortunately the business of the present city council is not railroad building but demands improvements of avery a-very different kind The best railroad engineer en-gineer in the world without experience and training in these special lines is an infant in the business of city building It is true that the present engineer can by assiduous application master the sewerage problem m two years and by close stucy know something of the street paving question and by a special line of reading may bo able to master the waterworks problem in six years more Had the city council heeded the feints I thvpWT ont it wmilrl nnt at this time find the mayor of the city the laughing stock of a set of contractors who are not here to enlighten the city council on the cost of street paving but for the purpose of getting out of it all they can and at the highest price possible and this by mystifying the figures and all other kinds of subterfuge which they can turn to their own advantage popular method adopted by many city councils of western cities for getting at the respective merits of different kinds of pavement has been to appoint a committee to visit the eastern cities on a tour of inspection in-spection This plan has been tried repeatedly but somehow these junketting committees are I usually played at by the suarp contractors who know how to turn a mans head at no very great expense Let us suppose that the citv council on Tuesday night passes a resolution to ap propriate 500 to pay the expenses of a committee of three to visit the eastern cit cit ies for the purpose of examining the Various va-rious kinds of pavement The resolution will no sooner pass than the Chicago asphalt men will be apprised of the fact by telegram The committee will not have stepped off the cars at Chicago until they are nailed by a contractor who will invite in-vite them to ride down town in his private carriage The turnout will stop in front of some of the hightoned restaurants res-taurants where a lunch with several betties bet-tIes of champagne will mae them feel very warmly towards the asphalt men After being dined and wined the contractor will lead the party into his carriage and while the wineis efferooscing rollthcmover miles of fine boulevards smooth as glass and without a jar to disturb the exilerated spirits They are all convinced that it is the finest pavement in the world After the wine has worked off and they begin to feel dull and tired the wily contractor knows where to take them over the worst piece of stone pavement in the city and to heighten the jar he can have I boy slip up behind the carriage and insert a block of wood between the springs The carriage jolting and jamming its cargo of passengers goes lumbering and knocking along with the inspection in-spection committee damning the infernal corduroy roads and their purple swollen faces tell too well the story of their conquest con-quest Tired and thirsty knocked out and pelted tho contractor again suggests a bottle of wine and the spirits of the party all drink toasts t tho beauties of asphalt and hurl anathema on anathema at that confounded old relic of barbarism block stone After repeating this experience in half a dozen cities the committee return home to advise the city council of their investIgations investi-gations whch let us believe are as follows 1 After a patient and thorough inspection of the pavements of Chicago Detroit Buffalo Buf-falo New York and Kalamazco and other cities too numerous t < mention we your committee beg leave to report your honorable hon-orable body that it is our undivided judgment judg-ment and this after a weeks patient and TininRtnkine toil that there is but one nrivn men tin the world worthy of your consideration wole eration and that is asphalt This i s our mature opinion after soberly considering tho adaptability of all pavements now in use to the needs of this city After a vote of thanks the cleric is ordered to make out check covering the expenses of the committed which were previously paid by the contractors The report of a city engineer who knew his business would read as follows Stone pavement is found in all the eastern east-ern cities and on such streets where traffic anl trafc is heavy it has borne the test of long trial I has the advantage of being easily replaced re-placed which is I great advantage in a city that will necessarily require a great deal of ditching through the streets for the purpose of laying sewers and water and gas mains and their connections connectons Asphalt for residence streets where heavy teaming is not permitted has the advantage ad-vantage of being smoother than stone and producing less noise The defect of asphalt is plain enaugh and i is a matter of philosophic osophic principle that if any moisture gets under it and freezes the pavement or the earth must give way and it is usually the former With the good sub soil drainage that your city enjoys this defect can be overcome with slight expense Inputting In-putting this pavement down you must have it tempered evenly or when it once begins to go you will have to keep a gang of men constantly at work repairing it at a large expense In its natural state it is hard and when tempered with coal tar the I new portions must be made to assimilate with the old to secure perfect adhesion which is difficult ConclusionHaving an abundance of both native stone and native asphalt i respectfully recommend that black stone be used on the business streets while on one of the finer residence streets Utah asphalt should be used to test its merits As it is not my purpose to embarass but to help out the present administration my advice is briefly uGo slow and learn to paddle Do notbite off more than you can chaw One yard of good pavementis better than twenty miles of bad paving that must soon be torn up and rebuilt Only enough contracts should be let this year to thoroughly organize and encourage the paving industry The experience of the men who started out to put up mammoth blocks in a jiffy is timely They started out with a rush but they came suddenly to a standstill The street building industry must crow gradually A few contracts will call out the information sought after as the bidders will then be compelled to name the prices at which they are willing to work Every foot of street paving laid makes it more expensive to lay sewers and water and gas mains in the naved streets The streets are tho roof of the city and really should not be put down until tbe plumbing is in A perfect system of water mains and trunk sewers should be laid so that when disturbed the pavement is built it will not bo To let large contracts this year for street paving would bo extravagance bordering on recklessness as it would cost nearly double as much a it can be had for after the paving forces have been thoroughly organized and can bid intelligently Enough contracts should be let to open the quarries and put the forces in readiness to be utilized in the near future WAS WORKS |