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

|. rem has been governed by It's own corp
Q rate laws and authority. / remem6
2 perfectly well what has been parade
5 In the papers 90 much Of late ID
!. Congles has full power to legislate oy
Q the District Of Columbia. Well, Congre
has full Jurisdiction over what is no
| called the District Of Columbia, and Col
gress could, l suppose, make all the polit
regulations for the city OF Washington
, but Congress always allowed the city
Washington TO have their city council, {
q legislature, until the present time. W
have abolished II, because We had Gun
brous machine. In the year 1871 Q la
! was passed by Congress creating the boar
: OF public works, appointing governor
and creating legislature for the DistriC
OF Columbia. That act stated what III
board OF public works could do and wha
the other branches OF the District govern
ment could do; and among other thing
1t empowered the legislature to levy take
to make improvements on the streets, Til
Legislature met the board OF public works
laid before them an elaborate plan for i'm
proving the streets OF Washington, plaI
Amounting 10 six million dollars in tn
first place, and the legislature adopted tn,
plan and provided that one.third Of thu
entire cost Of carrying out that plan SHOULD
be raised by assessing the front foot on tn,
properly holders, and the other two.thirdI
should be paid by money TO be borrowed
BY the city government; In other words
by the issuing OF their bonds. The city
government OF Washington borrowed
money and raised by special taxation
enough TO carry on o vast system OF i'm
provement. When they got ready to exc.
cute their plan one of the questions that
came before them was, what kind OF pave.
ment shall we put in, and in what way
shall we go about the business OF letting
our paving contracts? In order to settle
that question they wrote TO all the princl.
pal cities and found out all the methods
pursued by them and finally appointed
four leading officers OF the army-Gen.
Humphreys, chief engineer; Gen. Meigs,
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT; the Surgeon.gene.
raj and General Babcock OF the engineer
corps; and those four men sat as an advis.
ing board, having power but merely to ad-
wise. They took up all kinds OF pavement
looked over the whole, and as result re.
commended this: "We recommend you
instead oil letting this work be done by
the lowest bidder, with all the scheming
'straw-bids' that may come in, to fix q
tariff Of prices You will pay for different
kinds Of pavement, and we recommend as
follows: II you put down concrete pave.
ment you had better say you will
pay SO much per square yard
for putting It down. We have looked the
cities all over and find that 1t Is the proper
amount to pay; but for stone 80 much for
gravel SO much; for asphaltum so much
and for wood 80 much" Now, that board
81 public works adopted the plan and that
schedule of prices, and having elected il
hey put those various kinds OF pavements
down, they would put them down at that
rate, they then said 10 all corners "bring |
N your various kinds OF pavements and |
show us their merits, and when we have |
them we will act"
Then the various paving companies and
oatentees all over the country who! had
what they called good pavements, pre-
'ented themselves; but in almost all cases
~ their attorneys. They sent men there
o represent the relative merits Of the
oayements. A pavement company in |
Chicago employed Mr.. Parsons, OF Cleye.
and, as early as the month OF April, 1879,
o 20 before the board OF public works and
present the merits OF their pavements. Mr.. |
Parsons had nothing whatever to do with |
he question OF prices; they had already |
been settled in advance by the board. Mr.. |
Parsons was marshal Of the Supreme |
Jourt at that time, and was Just about |
running for Congress. He asked the |
Chiet Justice OF the United States whether
here was any improperly in his taking
hat case up and arguing 1t, merely be-
:ause he was an appointee and under his |
direction, and the Chief Justice respond
id: "There was none in the world.h He
proceeded with the case until the 9Th day
81 June, when for the first time heard
about Il. This was two days be-
lore the adjournment oil Congress. On
hat day Mr.. Parsons cameto me and said
10 me be had an important case; he had
worked good while on 1t but was called
away. he must leave. He did not want
10 lose his fee in twas likely to lose 1t
unless the work was completed; he must
20 at any rate. He asked me II l would
argue the case for him; II I would exam.
inc into the merits OF this pavement and
make statement OF 1t before the board.
said, 81 will do it IL l, on examination,
ind the patent what 1t purports to bel
the best wood pavement patent there Is,
but can't do 1t until after Congress I'D.
lourns." Congress adjourned two days
later; the papers were sent to me OF
patents, modelled specimens, and docu-
ments showing where the pavement had
been used were forwarded To me. The in
vestigation OF the patents and the
chemical analysis representing all the
OF the pavement was q laborious
] ever worked OF. ] did 1t In
open daylight. Ihave never been able to
understand how anybody has seen any
thing in that on which TO base an attack
on me. say l am to-day intellectually
incapable Of understanding the track OF
mans mind who sees in this any ground
for attacking me. made the argument;
there were two patents contained in that
pavement itself there were some forty
different wood pavements proposed, and
to carefully and analytically examine all
the relative merits OF those was no small
work. Mr.. Parsons was To get fee pro-
viding he was successful, and not any II
he was not successful, and hence the sum
offered was large-a contingent fee, as
every lawyer knows.
Now, understand that Il Is said bv
some Of these gentlemen that that was In
some way brother connected withthe Uni
ted States Treasury. How? That pavement
was to be paid for by the city Of Washing
ton, one-tnlrd OF Il assessed directly on
the property holders, and paid for Just as
you pay for a pavement here In Warren,
and the rest was to be paid by the city OF
Washington in money that Il borrowed
and for which the citizens are ultimately
10 be taxed to pay, But | was chairman
Of the COMMITTEE en- Appropriations, you
say, and the House Of Representatives ap.
propriated money for the District Of CO.
lumbia. How? Whenever a pavement
on any given street is laid IN front OF the
United States Post Office, or the Patent
Office or Treasury, the Government Of the
United States, as q mere matter OF decent
justice, paid its proper proportion in front