The Portland daily press., 1883-09-15

ton but as guarantee of good faith
We cannot undertake to return or preserve COM
nunications that are not used.
The Mayors Confession.
In the Argus yesterday tee following let
ter was published as if it contradicted some
thing said in the PRESS the day before. We
gladly reprint 1t because it confirms what the
fREss suggested with regard to the character
OF the work done on Commercial street.
CITY ENGINEERS sfFIoE,o
Sept 5, 1888.
To HIS Honor the Mdpor:
sir-Rsferring to the paving on Commercial
street. over the route of the sewer recently COM
pleted, as per your instructions, have the honor
to report, that the filling over the sewer is not, in
my opinion, sufficiently settled and indurated to
sustain paving on the surface grade to which it
would be laid There has been little rain upon the
nlled area to settle the fill, and bar can be thrust
down several feet over the sewer for the greater
part OF itsength In my opinion the area should be
nlied with gravel and SO remain until settled to a
BED hard enough to sustain the paving true to
grade. Very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
WIN. A. GOODWIN
City Civil Engineer.
Ii We had said that the work of the sewer
Committee in Commercial stree: was well
cone and that the street was in a fit condi-
ton to be repaved the above statement
would contradict us. But what we said was
this:
II the committee on sewers- has--aa..--..------.--
properly so far, has filled up the hole made in the
street a. 1t should have been filed. there is no
necessity for waiting for the better part of year
before the pavement Is replaced. 1t is entirely
practicable to replace the earth in street excava-
ton 30 that it will be as firm foundation for the
Pavement as 1t ever was. 1t can be made better
than before II necessary Freezing and thawing
are necessary to settle earth in a hole only when
tAe earth used is not of aproper kind or it has not
been properly distributed packed and tamped. The
reason now given suggests that the committee on
sewers, besides expanding it's appropriation without
completing its work, has made botch OF the work
II has done.
Not.a statement in this paragraph is con-
tradicted by Mr.. Goodwin. He simply saws
In explicit terms that the filling which was
put into that hole will not now sustain
pavement. We believe him, aud we sus-
pected it before; but we intended to get the
fact confessed by the Mayors defenders, as
they have confessed it by publishing this
communication. The clay and dock mud
put into that hole is not proper foundation
Tor immediate paving But this is not say
Ing that proper foundatinn could not have
been made, and we do not believe that Mr..
Goodwin, being civil engineer of good re
pute, will say so. The season has been a
dry one, but there has always been enough
water in Sebago Lake to wet down and make
solid all the earth put into the CONNER
ciai street hole. A piece of hose and a little
good sense would have overcome that diff
Guilty. 1t is evident that the Mayor and the
street commissioner supposed a proper
foundation had been prepared for only two
days before the date of Mr. Goodwin's letter
to him, the Mayor in formal communiea-
lion told the City Council that there was
mo excuse" for delay and said that the
street commissioner concurred in his opin-
ion.
MIR. Goodwin intimates that the present
nlling will never be fit to lay pavement
upon. In my opinion" he says, sthe area
should be filed with gravel and so remain
until settled to bed hard enough to sustain
the paving true to grade" That sentence
indicates what the trouble is. The facts in
the case are substantially these: Commercial
street where this piece of sewer is laid is ON
made land. 1t was filled in with clay and
dock mud and covered, before being paved.
with deep bed of gravel. In excayating
Tor this sewer the gravel was thrown out first
and then the soft earth. The sewer partly
hlled the hole and not all the stuff taken out
could be put back. Instead of caring off the
surplus of mud great part of the gravel
was carried off and the hole was filed with
soft dirt on which there is only thin crust
of gravel. This will sustain teams now, but
frost working underneath it, and perhaps a
hard rain that soaks and softens the yielding
mass below, will make it infirm. A proper
amount of gravel, properly put in, would
have made an adequate foundation for a
pavement. OF course a stable pavement
cannot be laid on the mud filling until it has
sttled, and probably not until part of 1t
has been removed and something better sub
stituted
The Mayor seems to think the point made
In the PRESS with regard to the political
complexion of the two committees on streets
and sewers is avoided by the statement that
the chairman of the committee on streets is
Democrat; but the Mayor is not unaware
OF the fact that there are five members of
that committee of whom but one is Demo
crat; nor OF the fact that the committee on
sewers Is composed of three aldermen, all of
whom are Democrats. One committee is a
Republican committee and the other is
Democratic committee, which is what we
asserted.