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Show Right Way the Best Way. "There s a riciil way to do that pav-! pav-! ing, which is absolutely necessary," aid Commissioner Skeen, "and that is lo have Washington avenue from Twenty-eighth street to the south city limits, designated as a state highway, which it is in reality, and obtain state aid. which is ready and easily available avail-able in paving this street "By this action the shite would pay a large part of the paving cost and this would be the right and proper ' thing to do. "It i unlair. in my opinion, for thej city property owners to be taxed for building the highly from the countv line up to their lots and then be re quired to pay in l"u)J for paving in front of their own property. The city owners are taxed to build highway in the count, and the whole county should be taxed to pave a section of highway like this in the city. It is a poor rule that will not work both ways. What the County Pays ' The extent of tho proposed paving is about a mile Eight-inch concrete paving has been costing the countv about $11,000 a mile The concrete is I "J vwuiK-.i iui c:eim-iii i. purchased from home manufacturers The cost is reduced to the lowest min jimum consistent with the best results ' With a half inch of fine rock, and coating of oil applied six months aftei 1 the concrete road is laid, a perfen cushion is the result, which can be re : paired and replaced indefinitely, at ' needed, and these pavements, like th ancient Appian way, will endure for generations That's the kind of roads the county is building. To Reduce the Burden. "Instead of saddling the city property prop-erty owners with a prohibitive heavy debt, payable in annual installments i through ten years, the state aid plan j would reduce the cost so that the improvement would not be a burden upon anybody. "The designation of the section proposed pro-posed for paving as a state highway won't impose any disadvantages that I can cone ive upon the rity property owners. On the contrary, the opposite result will be apparent "If the state aid plan isn't desired by the proper:;, owners and city officials, offi-cials, the county will, of course,' have! more money for other new roads buii I regard it as my duty to inform all' concerned that, statn aid is available I and that the county can do this pav-i ing at the lowest possible cost." "Spilled the Beans!" The above was the interview which yesterday assayed $25,000 in gold which stirred the J "villllllPBlUa causing the major to exclaim over and over, on different public occa Blons, addressing the Standard repre-sentative, repre-sentative, "You spilled the beans' y0u have halted public- improvement'" etc The mayor finally was assured , re-ply. re-ply. that The Standard was not serving serv-ing aa a "beans conveyor' foi anybody any-body except the taxpayers and the general public l From that day the city commission j and The Standard were out of harmo-Iny harmo-Iny regarding public policy The mav or also declared, over and over that Commissioner Skeen's interview meant nothing; that Mr Skeen was al confirmed optimist and could not ' SKUfrK hiu Promiso Tith achievement 1 that he had experience enoueh " tol know that the Skeen Interview wa! . sounding brass and tinklinr cvmbaJ Though the mayor didn't use' this .lenwhat he said meant the same New Board Harmonious Mr. Skeen's interview was publish- ed two weeks before his two colleagues col-leagues assumed office. "I cannot speak for them " he Bald at the time, but I know them both to be firs' Class, hard-headed business men, square dealing and strictly honorable I shall be the lone Republican on the new board, but politics, I am sure, l I cut no figure in the new board's pol icy. I feel sure we shall be perfectly agreed regarding this paving proposal, the mayor to the contrary, notwith- J standing.' Mr. Skeen's expectations regarding his two colleagues were not on) 1 alized. but absolute harmonv has char- j actenzed the entire business manage- j J ment of the board, and taxpajers of- ''n remark that the board is nonpar- tisan and highly efficient. Other Citizens Help. Besides the protests of the proper ' ty owners of South Washington aven-ue aven-ue against the mayor's expensive phn. ';;eorge c. Wessler, Washington venue, helped materially in halting the mayor's scheme by circulating a protest petition, which Was signed t.v scores Mr Wessler also wrote a lei ter to The Standard. January 4, and another letter of the same purport v 'written by W Z. Shurtliff, 3406 Wasl 1 mglon avenue, showing the proposed i cost under the mayor a plan to be pro-' pro-' hibitive, and published in The Stand aid on December 15. One of the interested propertv owners own-ers said today "All of us reniembet what Commissioner Skeen said con eernintr the cost of county road build ing; that the cost of eight-inch con crete. with a perfect cushion oompo?e of half an inch of fine rock, coatro with oil. was about Sll.OuO per m Now double the width of the 00 road and we shall have a highway adequate ad-equate for all nerds at a eot oi I est than $25,000. From this it would seen the state and county fund could be made to pay the entire cost of the paving, but we shall be eminently sat- isfled if the fund pays half the co?' Mr. Skeen's original assurance was puai me suite aid plan would --ace us at least one-third of the cost "All honor to Mr. Skeen. Mr Brown and .Mr. Knicn and mav a showei of blessings fall upon the Standard for its $25,000 interview 1 |