Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1874-09-26

/ IN Lne plOilt ecINlC6f DuG SOmC OuC SNyb tue
! pavement was bad one. it was q swiDdle- !"
a Who told you that? Why. m n that vent 70
Washington to testify. and that had = different
| ps8ement Of his own; he was glad 70 say thai
| the De Gollyer pavement WIS bad ONE Nov
want you TO underztand, fellow citizens. thai
Of the one hundred and fftv-fve miles Of pa ge-
ment in the city of Washington. fifty three
miles Of it only are wooden pavements. and Of
tue So miles of wooden pavement laid IN
Washington, there were eighty thousand square
yards of il only of the De Gollyer pavement
There are one million i've thousaUd square
yards Of wooden pavement laid in Washington,
aud 50 coo Of il only vas Of this patent. There
sre 70 OF u different kinds of wooden pave
ment in Washington and only one-twelfth of
this is of this kind. and the price of this pave
ment was fixed by board of e-gineers before
Mr.. Parsons or I bad word to say on the sub
jeet. was only just q question which of the
TWO or three or ten pavements will you adopt.
best wood pavement til It WAS ever laid. Now
l do not believe much in wooden pavement as
oompsred with concrete or some other forms of
pavements and this board of engineers re-
wood But what we're the facts3 There
were thirty-two different streets in Wash
ington along which the people petitione
wood pavement. It was cheaper than the as
phaitum They wanted wood pavement and
the american people gener lily believe in wood
pavement; and the question was If these peo-
pie want the wood pavement and are deter
mined to have it, which pavement shall We give
them. the best or not the bestf
Now I have before me here, what had when
/ made the argument. certificates from Chiea
go. st. Louis San Francisco, and all the other
cities where the pavement was laid. that it
stood better than any wood pavement that had
ever been laid. and in the report Of this com
mittee of Investigation in Washington
Of Public works of Chicago. dated October
Der 81. 1874, in these words: '.Sinee 1869 there
have been laid here in Chicago one hundred
and sixty thousand square yards of the De
GollyeI pavement and thus far it stands we'll
and isin good condition" There is twice ss
much of that pavement in Chicago O-day as
there is in Washington.
Now will tell you another fact about it
The testimony before this committee discloses
the following: That in the city of New. York
they paid IS. so to 1850 per square yard. In
the city Of Brooklyn they. nay IS per square
yard and in the city of Baltimore. for putting
down Nicolson pavement (which is not so ex-
pensivel. they :, raid 81 per square
pavement put down in Washington was
put down at $50 per square yard under this
tariff of prices fixed by the Board o Public
of Engineers Well, now. fellow citizens. who
has raised this storm of criticism about the De
Gollyer pavement Who? Early last winter
several ofus came to the conclusion that the
Board of Public w orks WAS an expensive ma
chine; that it was costing the city Of Washing
ton too much that it was overlooking them
with taxes and that we were bound to pay too
much M money N ont Of the Issasury to keep .sR up
inquiry into the cause of the large
expenditure and committee of in
yestieation ,w's appointed and they
they have gone over the whole ground Of the
doings of that Board of Public Works and the
city government And as result oft We have
abolished that form of government and had the
President appoint commissioners, and he has
appointed Governor Dennison of our State as
one OF them, to manage the affairs of the Dis
trict of Columbia until winter. That Commit
Of this business in Washington. It was 8 com
mittee thst-had Senator Thurman of this State
on ii for one; Judge Jewett of Columbus for
another man, who is now president of the
Of the strongest stamp, We had on. from The
House as charm an of that committee, Judge
Wilson. of Indiana, enc Of the strongest and
over this ground most thoroughiy and seyerejy'
Mr.. Parsons vent before that committee and
told them all he knew about this pavement;
told them what be knew of its merits, and told
them he and argued that case. It was early
in the session Wheu ne told them that. Now.
what has been said about that ia Washingtou2
Don't you think some of the one hundred Dem
hit me a blow or the head if they had discov-
cred anything IN that to ind fault with2 The
committee made its report in full. and not only
made no possible reflection on me, but when
il the case that reflected in the slightest degree
upon Mr.. Garfield.
Now in the midst of this tempest that was
raised in the Painesville tea pot few weeks
ago the Hon George W. Steele of Paines
viile. wrote letter to the Committee who had
charge of that Investigation, and he wrote back
the following letter:
CoENERsVILLE, INDIANA, Aug. l, 1874.
'' Hon. George W Steele:
i" DEAR SIR-To the request for information !
as to whistler or not the action Of General Gar
Geld in connection with the affairs OF the Dis |
trict of Columbia, was the subject Of condem- |
nstiOn BY the committee that recently had /
hose affairs under confederation, I oastCer /
hUt q sOds not; there, IN my 0ptntCH,
ma eUideaos that t0ottld haze tGdT5 0nted any |
o. fticisn upon his conduct.
The facts disclosed by the evidence, so far /
As he il eoneenned. are briefly these:
s' The Board of Public Works was consider. |
ing the question as to the kind of psvements /
hat should be laid There was contest as to /
he respective merits of various wooden pave.
he DeGollyer 4 MeClelland patent. and being /
called away from W ashingtOn about the time
he hearing was to be had before the Board Of
Public Works on this subject, procured ten
sral Garfield to appear before the Board in
lis stead and argue the merits of this pat
mt. This he did, and this was the whole Of his
connection with the matter. 1twas not ques-
ion as to the kind of contract that should be
made, but IS 10 whether this particular pave
nent should belaid. The criticism of the com.