Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1873-11-12

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wood paw, ment aud p miles of concrete, all 81
feet in Width. The grand total Of these figures
is Dos miles OF new Sidewalk, no miles of i'm
proved roadway, and 80 miles OF rural highway,
while previously there was not one foot OF good
road outside the settled city.
Tbis amount OF work is equal TO the baildihg
of any of the great trunk railroads OF the conn
try; and, when We come to consider the grading
which has accompanied II, il may be said that
no steam highway in the United States has had
more impediments. In two years and FIVE
months tie enormous amount Of $50, coo cubic
yards of earth and rock have been removed,
some of which was hauled more than one mile.
In the beginning the Board of Public Works
undertook to respect the interests Of indIvid-
uals, but soon found that the establishment Of
permanent grades could not be done in that
way, and hence good many people are wasp
ish because the city was not made 70 correspond
to their private economies; but II q noticeable
that the property-hOiders have voluntarily de-
manded, wherever a street has been left out of
the general plan, that the board return aud in
clude il in the general benehcence.
The impression las been sought to be con-
veyed by some opponents of hese improve
ments that they have been done pell-mell and
without system or forethought; but the investi-
CATION Of 1872 SHOWS that the paving IN terials,
tiles, &c. were fully examined by a convention
OF the authorities OF four cities--Mr. Mullett
representing Washington. The woods laid down
in the District have been chemically treated to
the following eNtent-BurnettiZed wood, ~, 900
yards; ironized, 900 yards; Seeleyized, 10000
yards, and treated with the Robbins process,
1870 ,000 yards. Mr.. Class makes the following
singular remark in his report, TO strengthen his
opposition TO macadamized streets. which he
thinks too dusty and too heavy for the sewerage
beneath. He ssyS:-"Imperial Haussman hum
bugged the world fer short space o. time in
believing in macadam for city uses, By laying
one and fourth millions of yards of that pave
ment in the streets OF the city OF Paris. This
ruse has however, long been exploded; he did
II TO remove the stone blocks tche material OF
barTicades and Tevolutions), and supplant them
by the harmless macadam."
To this | may add the opinion OF Governor
Shepherd, that $3.50 600 year will keep all the
pavements in this city in repair. Nest of the
concrete pavements in Washington are of four
pstents-the Evans, the Scharft, the ulcanite,
and the Neufchatel rock.
The system of parking the broad avenues Of
Washington was a stroke of genius by making
the sidewalks project, the area Of roadway TO be
paved was reduced by twO-thirds. while the
vista was not diminished, and the space behind
the sidewalks was sodded green and enclosed
with chain and panel ratings, which gave
every family a front yard, and turned the
been $500 yards of parking done, with eight
inches of rich soil under the sod Eleven large
squares in different parts OF the city have been
redeemed from vagTant cows and goats, and
ornamental with fountains or statuary, so that
the pedestrian constantly encounters some ex-
quisite prospect To raise and underpin houses
affected by the new grades, and ref. them with
steps and ratings, have cost about $500 900, and
wherever the grades left the residences sus-
pended in the arr, terraces were provided.
Washington had no system of sewerage wor-
thy OF the name until the Board of Public
Works took the matter in hand, and by three
great sewers drained the table ground in the
rear of the city, which had often subjected il to
such InundatiOns as make CONSERVATION in Bal
timore. At the same time, the ooZy and I'M
healthy canal which ran lengthwise through
the town, parallel with its business avenue was
filed up, paved with Belgian block and con-
verified into a noble Mall. The total new
sewerage of the city is as follows: Main sewer
age, miles, OF which large portion is 80 and
20 feet span; intercepting sewerage, half a
mile; secondary brick sewerage, & miles; pine
sewerage, 30 miles, chiefly of glazed earthen-
ware.
The growth Of private buildings in Washing
ton has fully kept pace with the public work
Last season l,0'2 new houses went up, the ma
iOrity built of brick or stone, and large pro-
portion rooted in the Mansard style
While the Board Of Public Works has thus
been engaged in comprehensive, permanent
constructions, the county authorities have built
about dozen new bridges, of which four are
thrown across Rock Creek at the street grades
and thus makes Georgetown an integral part
OF Washington. The Commissioner OF Public
Grounds has simultaneously pushed the work of
identifying the great reservations which per-
meate the town plot. There are now forty-two
miles OF street railway in the city, and more
than forty miles of steam highway in the Dis
trict. The park around the Soldiers Home has
been extended bya costly addition, the gift of
the common soldiers of the regular army and
is now about five hundred acres in extent and
represents above two millions of dollars. The
Washington aqueduct, which is sixteen miles
long, supplies thIty-six millions OF gallons per
diem, and includes eleven tunnels and six
bridges, one of which has the largest span in the
world The new marketso of Washington are not
excelled in the world and have cost about one
million dollars. The two new depots will cost
half million. The population OF the city is
about Is, 600, and the taxable real estate about
81 eco 1000, exclusive of personal and govern
ment property, which amounts to nearly one
hundred million more. The bonded debt of
the District is tribe under $40 O00. 900, of which
nearly one half was left over from the extinct
corporations OF Washington and Georgetown
The total cost of all the work achieved here in
the past two years and half Is probably about
thirteen millions The Board OF Public Works
occupies an INTERN date position between Con-
gress and the District, and disburses money for
both. The public schools of the District have
cost within ten years, for new buildings, about
The following are the debts of some of the
leading cities of the country: New York,
S136, 0G0 ,000 Philadelphia. $50 zoe 00O Chicago
sol coo 900; Boston, $50 900 900; Brooklyn, So,
600 GOO; Jersey City, SI3 O00 600: St Louis SO
100000; Elizabeth, y. j., 81 ,00O.0 Washing
ton, bonded and floating, Sl4 900, 900. The fol-
lowing IL the property valuation of the same
cities: New York, S1,129 GOO. 900; p iladelphia
-; Chicago, S2si 900 900; Boston, s6Oi,OOO,-
OO0, Co., st. Louis, $50 200 00a; Elizabeth, n j.
Sl5,500,G COO; Washington, s97 900, 900; real plus
500 coo, government and personal. The
following 70 s is the rate Of TAXATION: New York,
s3.22; Chicago, -; Boston, SIPS; BROOKLYN,
$3.50; Jersey City, $40; st. Louis, S275 Eliza
beth, S2.5s; Washington city, 50.
In conclusion, the attempts male to drive this
city back TO its proylRciasm and unpopularity
will not rebound to the credit of the persons who
have taken the contract. patriotic generation
will not be satisfied with an unwholesome, un-
beffiended, efiete town, Injecting the whole per
sonnet OF the government with its moral and
social atmosphere, and rejecting discredit upon
our national character. Rather will a hi Oh
minded posterity call to account the niggarily
spirit OF prejudice which for three quarters of n
century did little but hack at this city, until the
crisis OF the war set people neping, and they
heaped forts round about it and awakened \
civic spirit and raised up friends for il without
In another quarter OF century it will possess
the art and literary treasures the streets, sur
roundings, climate, abundance, population, and
popularity OF Florence.
LARRTEs (Ge0Tge ilfred TJlrassRdO
BOARD OF HEALTH-Pfocsed;ngs at the U.,t-
lBg Lest Niqat.-At the regular meeting of the
Rnarn of Health tas. nj lrht thn - AZ