The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1880-08-24

WIZ A4htl-bWV dAA6ANh
o. streets in Washington along which tn
er people petihoned TO have wooden pave
"a ment. They preferred wooden pave
at ment. ltwas cheaper than the asphaitum
or they wanted wood pavement, and tn
g American people generally believe Ii
W wood pavement; and the question was
n these people want the wood pavement ant
% are determined to have II, which pave
81 the best. ~
y NOW, have before me here what l haC
q when i made the argument, certificates
d rom chicago, st Louis, San Francisco
v and All other cities where the pavement
d was made, that It stood better than any
!, wood pavement that had ever been laid
Il and In tie report OF this C mmittee OF in.
o vesttgation IN Washington letter was re.
It ceiyed from the board OF public works oil
l. Chicago, dated October 81, 1874, In these
J, words: "Slnce 1869 there have been laid
. here In Chicago 10000 square yards o.
9 the De Golyer pavement, and thus far II
!, stands well and is In good condition"
i. There Is twice rs much OF that pavement
! In Chicago to-day as there is in Washing.
0 ton.
0 Now, will tell you another fact about
0 1t The testimony before this committee
discloses the following: .Thst in the
> city Of New York they paid S. so to So so
} per square yard; in the city Of Brooklyn
! they paid S. per square yard, and in the
, city Of Baltimore, for putting down Mich.
olson pavement (which Is not so expen-
siye), they paid 81 per square yard. !"
Now all the De Golyer pavement
put down in Washington was put down at
ii ~ hn mar unnapa p01d naHar khta aytH
OF prices fixed by the Board OF Public
Works upon the Recommendation OF the
Board OF Engineers. Well, now, fellow
citizens, who has raised this storm Of crit.
cism about the De Golyer pavement?
Who? Early last winter several OF as
came to the conclusion that the Board OF
Public Works was an expensive machine;
that 1t was costing the city Of Washington
TOO much; that II was overlooking them
with taxes, and that we were bound to pay
too much money out OF the Treasury to
keep up our end OF the business. But we
set on foot an inquiry into the cause Of the
large expenditure, and committee OF In.
Vesdgation was appointed, and they have |
published some 1900 pages OF o report.
They nave gone over the whole ground |
OF the doings Of the Board Of Public |
Works and the city government; and as q
result o. II we have abolished that form OF
government and had the President appoint
commissioners, and he has appointed Gov
ernof Dennison Of our State as one OF them,
to manage the affairs OF the District OF
Columbia until winter. That committee
OF investigation went over the whole
ground OF this business in Washington.
Itwas q committee that had Senator Thur
man OF this State on 1t for one; Judge
Jewett OF Columbus, for another man, who
Is now President OF the Erie railroad, both
OF Them Democrats OF the strongest stamp
We had on, from the House as chairman
OF that committee, Judge Wilson, Of Indi.
ana, oneot the strongest and ablest and
best OF our members, and they went over
this ground most thoroughly and severely.
Mr.. Parsons went before the committee
and told them all he knew about this pave.
ment, and told them what he knew OF its
merits, and told them heand / argued the
case. It was early in the session when he
told them that. Now, what has been said
about that in Washington? Don't you
think some oil the one hundred Democrats
would have been exceedingly willing to
hit me a blow on the head II the had dis
covered anythingi in that to find fault with z /
The committee made its report In full, and
not only made no possible reflection on
me, but when asked about 1t said there
was nothing whatever in the case that re-
Elected in the slightest degree upon Mr..
Garfield.
Now, in the midst OF this tempest that
was raised In the gainesville teapot q few
weeks ago, the Hon. George W. Steele, OF
gainesville, wrote letter TO the chairman
OF the committee who had charge OF that
investigation, and he wrote back the fol-
lowing letter:
"CoSSERsynIE, ISn., August l. 1874.
Hon George W. Steele:
"DEAR SIR: To the request for intorma-
ton as TO whether or not the action oil
General Garfield In connection with the
affairs OF the District Of Columbia was the
subject OF condemnation by the committee
that recently had those affairs under con-
.sideration, IdnStcer that Il trds not; nor tCdS
there in my opinion, d,!y evidence that tCould
hare trdrTanted any ttnfaporabIe criticism upon
his conduct.
"rhe facts disclosed by the evidence, so
far as he is concerned, are briefly these:
The Board oil Public Works was consider
ing the question az TO the kind OF pave
ments that should be laid. There was
contest as to the respective merits OF var
ious wooden pavements. Mr.. Parsons
represented, as attorney, the De Golyer 4
McClelland patent, and being called away
from Washington about the time the hear:
ing was to be had before the Board OF
Public Works on this subject, procured
General Garfield to appear before the
board in his stead and argue the merits oil
their patent This he did, and this was
the whole OF his connection with the mat |
ter. It was not question as TO the kind
OF contract that should be made, but as 70
whether this particular pavement should
be laid. The criticism OF the committee
was not upon the pavement in favor OF
which General Garfield argued, but upon
the contract made in reference to II; and
there was no evidence which would war.
rant the conclusion that he had anything TO
do with the latter.
every respectfully, &C.,
JIM. WILSON"
Now, iellow.citizens, 1t Is not pleasant
for me to be reading things Of that sort
concerning myself, that the man who had
charge Of the investigation in the Dis
trict Of Columbia, the man who wrote the
report on the part Of the House, who was
the chairman OF the committee, who knows
all the facts in regard to 1t, says there was
nothing whatever In the case that In the
slightest degree reflected on me. II Is left
for the excessively virtuous Judge OF the
probate court OF gainesville, and perhaps
the Judge OF the probate court OF Trnm-
bull county, to discover that this "De Col.
YER business was q fearful business on
The part OF General Garfield. [Tremen-
dous applause
who has any question 10 ask in regard TO
the De Golyer pavement business shall
be glad to hear It.
Question. Was The appropriation for the
payments for the pavements made before
or alter 1t was accepted by the board2