Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1880-07-15
Now. an attempt has been made to

proved the Salary act because he answered
this man that he didn't regard it as q
robbery. | answer now, | do not regard
it as robbery, and never have. Now,
one word more before | leave this Ques
ton. | am glad that the American PEG
pie rose up in Indignation against thst
salary increase. There were some unkind
and unjust things said by the people in
their uprising, but they rose against it
and rebuNed it with q powe. and might
that has been of very great service 10 the
country during the last winter. Ii could
not have been repealed but tor the re.
buke of the people. and | could not have
led, as did lead, in more han $50, 90
600 reduction of public expenses, If
had not felt behind the wei ght and help,
aud reinforcement OF the Indignation OF
the people in regard to that salary In
crease | cay II WAS an indecent thing TO
| do, 10 increase the salary tnls, ana 1t was
| a great conservative thing tor the people
| to do to demand its repeal and II We
| repealed. But let us, in discussing il,
deal with the subject according 10 the
| truth. | now pause TO inquire If any
| gentleman in the audience has any ques.
| tons to ask touching this salary, or any.
| thing concerning 1t. 1t hey have, |
shall be very glad to hear II The speak
er here paused, but no questions being
asked, he proceeded
DE GoLYER PAVEMENT.
! II not, pass to the SUBJECT my friend
over youder has seemed so anxious
| should Get to before | finished the last !,
and | approach question that in one
| sense is not a question al all, and in
| 1, ha | a
that several pers MS in The district are
| saying that Mr.. Garfield has taken fec
for q so.called law opinion. but which
in fact, was something whish he oUght
not To have done,-which vas in reality
a kind of fee for his official influence as
a member Of the COMMITTEE on Appro.
priations; or, to speak more plainly, that
! accepted pay Tor service rs a kind of
bride, and that, too, IN tie De Golyer
| pavement.
Now, have tried to s,ae that in the
brosdcst way, with the broadcast point
forward | ask the attention of this su-
dience tor a few moments TO the testi.
mony. La the first place, | want the
audience to understand thai the city Of
Washington is governed by lis own laws
and its own people, just as much as
Warren has been governed by its own
corporate laws and authority. | remem-
Der perfectly well what has been parad.
ed ia the papers so much OF late, that
Congress has full power to legsste over
the District of Columbia. Well, Congress
has full juris LECTION over the ten miles
square of what is now called the Dis
trict of Colr Ibia, and Congress could,
| suppose, make all the police regula-
tons for the city of Washington; 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
cumbrous machine La the year 1871
law was passed by Congress creating the
Board OF Public Works, appointing a
Governor and creating Legislature tor
the District of Columbia. That act stated
what the Board OF Public Works could
| and what the other branches of the
| District Government could do, aud
among other things it empowered
| the Legislature to levy taxes to make i'm
provements on the streets. The Legisla.
ture met the Board of Public Works, laid
| upon them an elaborated plan for improv
| ing the streets of Washington, plan
amounting to $6.0O0000 in the first place,
and the Legislature accepted the plan,
| and provided that The third of the entire
cost of carrying out that plan should be
by assessing the foot front on the proper.
ty 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 govern.
ment OF Washington borrowed money
and raised by special taxstion enough t.
carry on av. st system OF Improvements
When they got ready to execute their
plans, one of the questions that came be
tore them WAS, what kind of pavement
shall be put in, and in what way shall we
60 about the business by letting our
pavement contract? In order to settle
that question they wrote to oil the princi.
pal cities and found out all the methods
pursued by them, and finally appointed
four leading officers OF the army; Gen
Humphrey, Chief Engineer Geu. Meigs
Qusrtermaster General; the Surgeon
General; and Gen. Babcock, of the En-.
gineer Corps; and those few men sat as
an Advising Board, having no power but
merely to advise. They took up all kinds
Of pavement ever made, Specimens were
sent in. They looked over The whole, and
as a result recommended this: we
recommend you, instead OF letting thls
work TO be done by the 10 west bidder
with all the schemlng straw bids that
may come in, to fix tariff of prices
you will pay for different kinds OF
pavements, and we recommend as fol.
lows: If you put down concrete pave
ment you had better say you will pay 80
much per square yard for putting ii down
We have looked the cities all over, and
find that II is the proper amount to pay
but for stone so much; Tor gravel so
much for asphaltum so much and for