National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-04-20

nfonnecticat avmusi A. Yes, sir.
Q.Hkve you been paid IN full sor that A.
No, eli. not task know OF. You ask-sne 4 !,
have BEEN paid IN full for thati
Q. Yes. 4. A oertsin amount OF money =
kept bzck for sllmy work.
How much en- S OF they owe ySS s0T Between e.
bee, 900 and Si2o,oOo. have net had Astate-
ment from the board, and cannot definitely say.
Q. What was IT kept back fort A. under
stand Il Is kept bask-Mr. Willard telis me
for security that I may kssp7 these streets IN
repair. 4 GIlLAC AAkANA2
o. Take the pavement Of Connecticut ave.
nue.. Do you think that b Q frst=cfzss workf
A. 1 do onetE NOT the asurfaee.s Oonnecticut
avenue has splendid, good, thorough foulsda-
tion Of broken stone and gravel, thoroughly
rolled In. The man whom ! employed - that
time. but whose name cannot call 70 mind
but they have HIM here ISL witness--who
Thought r had aSpoof pavement, b she man
who burned my material, he oyerheated 4.
| By Mr. Hubben: "a What did he dol 4.
he burned my mststin. Hs hested = q 100
sS Mr. stewart: d. Thai i the sroabis sbou.
the surface, that the nstsrial was nurnedi A.
q. How sso to the iontdatiols A. I think
the foundstioni IS right, ] Intended then 70
have good, pavement. 1oaga sdJ safIp hsasle =
! @. What do you propose TODD about the sur
facet "A. Itis Cheaper for me 70 re-surface Il
than 50 give up what the board owes me. -
/ @. Well II hope they viii retsin Gomethilg
until Won, fnish It. A. have no doubt they
Will 6-sTg ~ -Hss - ~ az ~ y sss
o. How much WIN n cost you 70 fesurfsoe
it, per yardi a. Somewhere from fifty cents
TO dollar; I cannot tell. SHALL have to a.
certain what lean get iimestens for.0 Ga. y .
4 Q. Where have You laid payementsl A. In
New York and here would Ike 70 say that
my employees have told me that the Connecti-
tween n street and the circle, less than ~
inches depth of stone. That Is the report made
" .-s :! u On cnuserts
aysn1si. 4, Yes, sir,s, 81. $500 !,
All 81 roods q have not Seen L since some
time In October. wish the committee would
bear in mind that am away from here q large
portion Of my time, necessarily away, and my
ignorance must BE- accounted for on that
ground. - - - - - -.
Q, What other portion did you do; on what
other street; you have mentioned Massachu.
sets and Connecticut avenues; where else were
Seventeenth street; on part Of L street, N
street, Rhode island avenue, Fifteenth street
or Madison place; believe they call It Elf
teenth-and- a-han street. o5n ''i2%l ls-.4ii-A
o. Did the same man o'the work III pre-.
pairing the material that did It on Connecticut
avenuci A. No, sir. ze'-el
%! notice in some Of these streets that you
name that there is O smoother SURFACED A.
think in every instance where the pavement
has been bad IL is because the material was
overheated-burned. ~gl5cr
I. By Mr. Harrington: O.. Was that man
Abramsi A. Yes, sir; that was the man.
Q,-0n the south side Of the Avenuei A. In
front of the White House we claim that he
burned the pavement there, -ss2 80
:. Mr.. Stewart, Ito witness) You use lime
stone, and then the bitumen-the tsr-is
taken up BY the limestone; is that tie idea OF
your processi "A. We do not use tar, but as
phaltc-T Trinidad oils-anything that win ab-
sorb, and hold In solution these oils, Is . good
agent Tor q pavement. IL; - s-..s- = 80.
o. Is It not better to take the natural stone,
Neufchatel, and such as they have on street,
A. Well, that Is only limestone and asphalt
ground together. We have not that deposited
naturally In this country, and they have It in
France. e e1s 3. stsf-yi- u = ..l- s.a. y
:. By Mr.. Shepherd: q. That Is natural Deposit
A. Yes, sir; that Is natural deposit. We int
tate that by grinding up the limestone and as
phaltie oils and mixing them up together.
BY Mr.. Stewart: Q. The natural deposit is
what they use on the pavements IN Paris most
ly, is It noti A. Yes, sir; that natural deposit,
the Neufchatel rock, Is alresdy impregnated
with this oil. ' - -. -. =
o. About II per cent? A. It varies, sir; 10
to q.
o. Is not that the best MATERIAL A. No
better than we can have in this country. By
doing what nature has failed 10 do with us,
taking the oils, grinding the limestone and
mixing, you produce the same results, If you
wiz do It carefully. The difficulty Is they do
not do ID as well or as carefully here as they do
in Europe. fsi ~ asa ~ 5'-F
Q. You are more liable to make mistakes
than nature, are you mott A. / do not think
90, because nature does not mix equally.
Some of the rock you cannot use, because It
has not the proper percentages Of asphalt.
Q, Well, you do not expect TO get anything
better than that, where It Is properly mixed
A. No, sir; we only propose to get the asphalt
&c oils frce from all volatile oils, get the lime
stone ground perfectly dry TO increase its abb
sorbfng capacity, and then mix It. And do
not see why we csnuot mix these oils as
thoroughly as nature can; on the contrary,
think we can mix them more evenly.
Q. Do you know the difference in the cost of
taking the natural rock from France, and mix
ing It here-which can be done the cheapest
A. It Is cheaper to mix It here. It costs only
about one-half the price here.
Q. You have seen this pavement on street?
A. Yes, sir. 49,.
O.. What do you say about thati A. say If
/ had one block OF pavement to lay In the city,
/ would have laid precisely the same thing, snd
have done It as they did. If had had time al
lowed me TO do Il as they did l would have
done the same thing; with ssphaltic oils and
pulyerized limestone.
q. Can you make az good 3 pavement as
that A. Precisely the same, In my estimation.
Q. You have not made any Of the same kind,
have your A. Think 50. l think large por-
ton Of fifteenth street Is just as good as that.
Governor Shepherd. Yes; there are two
squares on Fifteenth street. -.--.7 .,.-
The Witness. Yes; and, think, If Mr.. Shep-
herd had not been after me with drying-whip
In his hand I would have made better pave
ments than did, +. -. -. -, 80
BY Mr.. Stewart: o. But making It as that
depends upon getting your limestone exactly
right, and your mixture right A. Yes, sir;
and then laying It exactly right. In other
words, doing the whole thing exactly right.
Governor Shepherd. think, Mr.. Evans, II
you had been here to have attended to It your
SELF, you would have had good pavement.
Mr.. Evans. I have no doubt Of that, sir;
but had some very bad employees. One
member Of the board told me he could always
tell when ] was in the city by the pavement
That was laid, and that Il the only compliment
ever received from the Board Of Public
Works. 3, l9gS! Gsf--.s-. ts1s 3
BY Mr.. Bass: q. About how many square
yards did you lay Of AIN A. should think
near q hundred and fifty thousand
between hundred and q hundred and
ffty thousand square yards. ig
@. When did you first discover that your
contracts were losing contractsi A. Not until
the spring Of 1873, when we came to settle up
accounts. I1N- =. e. El= IT, >
Q, You have been continuing your work
since that timei A. Only TO complete my con-
tracts, and occasionally block to finish street
out. -rf sss o. 1fl-.ia II 81 l-cE t.l @ I
Q. What proportion Of this one hundred and
any thousand square yards are what you term
TO be good pavements-proper pavements-as
good pavements as you can lay under your pro-
cessi 4. I do not think there ts as good pave
ment In the District, with the exception OF,
half dozen blocks laid by me, as I
could lay II had had tbs whole control and
tfmo 10 myself; but I Will answer your question
by saying that think fully 20 FER sens. of the
pavement laid here needs repafdng-will need
repairing, II they do not now. 49,
By Mr. Stewart; Q. Fully 20 per cent .ofthat
laid by you would need repsiringf A. Yes, sir.
would Like TO add, also, that 1t VIII all be 70
paired. -
By Mr.. Bass: Q. What proportion of your
are yet unfinished, If anyi A. They
are all finished TO the best Of my knowledge
now. ihAve no unfinished contracts.
Q. Did you say you made your first settle
ment in the spring. A. Yes, sir; think twas
BY MI. Wilson: Q. What year, A. I think
II vas March 1874 that wa rnrn,y,ar,nad 70 ne v