The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1880-07-30
THE PAVEMENT CHARGE.
GaFfieId's Public Explanation IL ella
live 70 the DE GOlyer Pavement

q question ut MI, ana III another seiiHe u may
be. understand that several persons IN tho
district are saying that Mr.. Garfield has taken q
fec for so-callod law opinion, but which, III
fact, was something which he ought not to have
was IN reality q kind Of foe for
his official influence AZ u member OF the COM
mittee on appropriations; Or, to speak more
plainly, that accepted pay for service az q
kind Of bride, and that, too, in the so-called De
Goyer pavement.
In the first place, want the audience 10 UNI
derstand that the city Of Washington IL gov
erned, no far a. its own improvements are con-
cerned, by its own laws aud its own people.
Congress has full jurisdiction over the ten miles
square Of what IL now called tho District Of Co
lumDia. and congress could, suppose, make all
the police regulations for the city Of Washing
ton; but congress always allowed the
city Of Washington TO have its city
council, or legislature. until the present time.
We have abolished II, because We had cumber-
some machine. In the year 1871 a law was
passed by congress creating board OF public
works, appointing governor, aud creating q
Legislature for the District Of Columbia. That
and what the other branches OF the District
government could do, and among other things
Il empowered the Legislature to levy taxes TO
make improvements on the streets. Tho legis-
lature met the board Of public works, land upon
them an elaborate plan for improving the
streets Of Washington, plan amounting to
$G,000,000 in the first place, and the legislature
accepted the plan and provided that 0ne-third
Of the entire cost Of carrying out that plan
should be by assessing the foot front on the
prOperty-hOlders, and the other twO-thirds
should be paid by money to be borrowed by the
city government; in other words, by the issuing
Of those bonds. The city government Of
Washington borrowed money and raised by
special taxation enough to carry on vast sys-
tenn nf imnpnVnmnpfa Whan tllAV npt ready
to execute their plans one Of the questions that
came before them was, What kind Of pavement
shall DO put in, aud in what way shall We go
about the business by letting our pavement
contractp In order to settle that ques-
ton they wrote to all the principal
pursued by them, and finally appointed four
leading officers of the army: Gen. Humphrey,
chief engineer; Gen. Meigs, quartermaster gem
eral; the surgeon general, and Gen. Babcock, OF
the engineer corps, and those few men sat az an
advisory board having no power but merely to
advise. They took up oil kinds Of pavement
ever made. Specimens We're sent in. They
looked over the whole, and AZ q result recon-
mended this: ave recommend you, instead Of
letting this work to DC done by the lowest bid
der with oil the scheming straw bids that
may come in, TO Xix tariff OF prices you will
pay for different kinds Of payements, and we
recommend as' follows: II you put down con-
crete pavement, YOU had better say you will
pay 10 much per square yard for putting 1t
down. We have looked the cities all over, and
find that it il the proper amount to pay; but for
stone 80 much; for gravel 10 much; for asphalt
hm 80 much; and for wood 10 much" Now,
that board Of public works adopted the plan
and that schedule of prices, and, having elected
that If they put those various kinds Of pave.
ments down, they would put them down ut that
rate, they then said to all corners: Bring in
your various kinds Of pavements and show liz
their merits, and when wo have examined them
We will act" Then the various paving CON-
panies and patentees oil over the country who
had what they called good pavements present
cd themselves; but in almost all cases through
their attorneys. They sent men there to repre-.
sent the relative merits of the pavements.
A pavement company In Chicago employed
Mr.. Parsons, Of Cleveland, ~ early rs
the month of April, 1872 to go DO.
fore the board OF public works and
present tho merits Of their pavements. Mr..
Parsons had nHtng whatever to do with the
tied in advance by the board. Mr.. Parsons Wal
marshal Of the Supreme Court ut that time,
and was Just about running for congress. He
asked the chief justice OF the United State
whether there was any improperly IN his taking
that case up and arguing 1t merely because he
was an appoimtee and under his direction, and
tho chief Justice responded that there was none
in the world. He proceeded with the case until
the Sth day of June, when for the first time
heard anything about 1t. This was two days
before the adjournment Of congress-. On that
day Mr.. Parsons camc to mo and said he had
an important case; he had worked good while
on it, and was called away. He must leave. lie
did not want to lose his fec in it, was likely to
lose it unless the work was completed. lie
must go at any rate. He asked me II would
argue the case for him; if l would examine i'll
to the merits Of this pavement, and make a
statement Of it before the board. said: 81
will do it IL the patent IL what it purports to
but can't do 1t until after congress adjOurns. "
Congress adjourned two days later. The pa
pers were sent to mo of patents, modelled speci-
mems, and documents showing wheie the pave
ment had been used. The investigation Of the
patents and the chemical analysis representing
all the clements of the pavement was labori-
ous task, and worked at it AZ faithfully ~ any
thing ever worked at. l did it in open day
hight. am to-day intellectually incapable of
understanding the track of mans mind who
sees in this any ground for attacking me.
made the argument. Mr.. Parsons was to get
u fee provided he Yves successful, and not any
If he was not successful, and hence the sum
offered was large,-a contingent fee, as every
lawyer knows.
Now, l understand that it il said by some
OF these gentlemen that that was in
some way or other connected with the
United States treasury. How? That pave
ment was to DC paid for by the city of
Washington: one third of it assessed directly OH
the property-holdcrs, and paid just NJ you pay
TO BIO mid by the city of Washington in money
that # borrowed. and for which the citizens are
Intimately IN be taxed To nav. But was chair
man OF tho committee on appropriations, yoli
say, and the house OF representatives appropri-
atcd money for the District OF Columbia. How
IN front of The United states postofice, or the
patent office. or treasury, the government of the
limited States. ma n mere matter of decent jus-
flee NAYS its proper proportion In front of its
own bnildines AZ any other property-holder
would do, and that was all. Whatever was the
Legitimate. proper share of the United States b
nav. il paid. Now, docs anybody SEQ in whas
proper for me to practice my profession In q
location when I was not needed in the public
service? But some one saws, "The pavement
was bad one. II was q swindlc." Who told
Won that2
Now, I want you to understand, fellow-cit-
liens, that of the 1855 miles Of pavement
in the city of Washington, fifty-three miles
of Il ONLY are wooden pavement, and of
the fifty.tiree miles of wooden pavement laid
In Washington there were 81, 600 square yards
of IL only of the Dc Golyer pavement. There
are i, OOS. 600 square yards of wooden pavement
laid IN Washington, and 80, 900 of il only was Of
this patent. There are ten or twelve different
kinds of wooden pavement in Washington, and
only one-twelfth Of this is Of this kind, and the
prize Of this pavement was fixed by board Of
engineers before MIR. Parsons or / had word to
saw on the subject. It was only question
which of the two or three or ten payements will
you adopt, and am here to-day to affirm that It
Now, do not believe much in wood pavements
M compared with concrete or some other forms
of payements, and the board of engineers rec
ommend concrete In preference to wood. But
what were the facts? There were thirty-two
difYerent streets in Washington along which the
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