Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1873-02-19
Largest Circulation in the District
Reading Matter on Every Page.
WASHINGTON CITY:
WnNESDAY.......F February 10, 1878.

WASdlNUlON ClI1:
WDNESDAY.......F February 10. 1873.
RooseveIrs Philippe Against the
Board Of Public Works.
In his speech printed in the Globe of January
%, Mr.. ROosevelt's great object is by manipu-
lation Of the figures embraced i'm the report OF
the Board of Public Works TO expose the bad
faith-the "blunders or frauds"-of the board in
its estimates or statements and charges either
directly or by implication that these have been
deliberately prepared with the purpose of
deceiving Congress and the public. We have
now before Us the reply of Gen. Chapman. Let
us see how far Mr.. Roosevelt makes good his
charges. We shall use Gen. Chipman's. facts
and figures.
Mr.. Roosevelt's FIRST grave charge is. that the
board is guilty Of ga great blunder or fraud in
its statement of the amount of work done, en-
bracing, a he states it, ''ffty-six miles of wood
and concrete pavements," and adding to this
''enough" Of granite, !" "macadam, - and ''cob-
ble-stone" pavements and country roads, to
make a total of one hundred and fifteen miles.
These the board computes as embracing ,S92 952
square yards. But Mr.. Roosevelt computes
them as containing "more than 2,16I 900 square
yards" and charges a fraud upon the board of
cover $4,000 square yards which, estimated
at $3.50 per square yard, would make a differ
ence in their cost Of .'about a million of dol
lars" Gen. Chapman, after a careful computa-
ton, furnishes a statement which demonstrates
the accuracy of the boards statement. Mr.
Roosevelt computes all the roadway at 80 feet
in width, ignoring the fact, clearly set forth in
the report Of the board, that 81 q miles of the
us were only 20 feet wide: and a computation
uron this basis disposes Of Mr.. Roosevelts error
cr fraud Of 'oyer z2,OOO square yards" and his
almost . millions difference in their price.
With a great show of fairness, Mr.. Roosevelt
next compares the cost Of laying these lis miles
of pavements. Prom table xii OF the report he
deduces the average cost Of the payements at
"over sio' per lneal foot, and applies this
multiple to So miles of the lis miles of pave
ment laid. He thus fixes the whole cost of these
Sc miles at s11 ST 200. His object in this is to
show that the cost of these So miles is more than
double the whole cost, as stated by the board.
of the rs miles. But what are the facts?
General Chapman gives them in the following
table:
Ji.Il miles Of wood pavement 81, 2si,177 30
Sos miles of round block pavement 165 .eOS IS
50 miles of compound pavement
at S65, l06-55 per mile. 5-.165 90
1854 miles OF concrete pavement at
S6e, 0I4.56 per mile .......... 9S1 .S3j 20
Js-T Making a total - ,is5, ss6 e5
And showing a ''blunder or fraud in Mr..
KoOseyelt's statement of ss,3iI ,3l3.O5!
The unfairness, if not mendacty. of this pre-
tended showing is further illustrated in the fact
that, although Mr.. Il. knew that some of these
SO miles of pavements cost per square yard only
S1-J0, other s1T5, other 1910. and other s. 30,
vet he uses the highest price s3JO) for all in his
estimate of their cost, and this deliberately as
means OF swelling his charge of fraud against
the board to the heaviest figure possible
Again and again Mr.. Roosevelt returns to
these hfty-six miles of payements. Finding on
page 50 of the report an approximate estimate
of the cost Of finishing fifteen avenues named,
footing up, to use his own language, ''the enor-
nous sum of 1850, s02.1S@.~ He computes, or
pretends. to do 50, the length of>these. avenues
at ten miles, and dividing the length into the
estimated cost, finds the cost per mile to be
S265,o7O- He then applies this cost per mile to
the ffty-six miles. He says:-"At that rate the
hfty-six miles would cost H,sio, 900, leaving
still the residue OF the lis miles to be estimated"
Now the true length of these avenues is 2i.S
miles, instead OF ten, a. Mr.. X. states it. Con-
sequently, the cost per mile is sI2i, 49, instead
OF S265.01o-less than one-half of Mr.. r. esti-
mates, and thus is exposed another '!blunder or
fraud in Mr.. Rooseyelts calculations OF near
Ss.eoOO0o,
And Mr.. Roosevelt attempts to support these
systematic Misrepresentation by pretending to
take from the tables of assessments of the re-
port the cost per lineal foot to lay these pave
ments. He states it at si2.72 per Iineal foot.
but tne real cost Of laying these payements is
only sll-ss-anOther "blunder OF fraud- in Mr.
Roosevelts statements of s3o9i in the lineal
foot, and the average cost per Iineal foot of all
tue improvements on the street.-the LAYING of
these psvements and all other work-as shown
by the tables OF assessments, is $685. and not
Si2-!2 But Gen. Chapman shows that to apply
any price in such a calculation, a street of 50
feet roadway should be used such as Twelfth
street, at s266f, or Fourth street. at sol d. and
even then the result will necessarily be largely
IN excess Of the actual cost, because, in the as
sessments all the intersections of streets all the
expenses incurred in front of property exempt
from taxation-such as churches, schools, allev
openings, and other property exempt from tax
alton BY special acts of Congress-are charged
to the front foot Of assessable property. and be-
cause the avenues and other wide streets must
OF necessity cost more than streets the width of
which Is assumed at % feet, On which width the
length of fity-six miles is based.
Mr. Roosevelt further attempts to support
The "blunders or Frauds of his extraordinary
calculations by arranging in tabular form six
teen contracts, giving and contrasting their
Estimated and actual cost, as furnished by the
tables in the report OF the board. By this he
lsbors TO show that the actual is in excess of the
csumacu Gust over SJD,vO IN a total or
II ,0Ss $3.50. This he does with characteristic
accuracy and fairness. General Chapman has
taken this table OF sixteen contracts, and after
supplying its omissions and otherwise correcting
its figures, thus making them conform to the
real figures OF the report from which Mr.. r. pre-
tends to take them, General G. shows that in
some cases, as in that OF Twelfth street (Geor &c
Nietsey's, in which Mr.. r. makes the actual
exceed the estimated cost So, lss 95,) and that
OF the East Capitol street sewer A. Campbeil's,
in which Mr.. r. makes the actual exceed the
estimated cost s21 ,253lO,, the estimated cost is
really in excess Of the actual cost. General c.
also shows that in the aggregates of the estimated
and actual cost OF these sixteen contracts the
actual exceeds the estimated cost only s2s3 4l456,
instead Of $50, go 81, stated by Mr.. Roosevelt
critical examination of this table shows
that this excess l. caused almost wholly BY tsrse