Omaha daily bee., 1883-06-25
CRY HALT.

Thescoundrcllys cheme of the managers
ofthe UnionPacifc TO foist an untried and
INFESTED paving material upon the people
Of Omaha is on the verge of being con
summated. BY its old vote Of two to
one, the board Of public works ON Satur-
day evening rushed through a resolution
recommending Colorado sandstone for all
the cross streets in the business centre Of
the city and then adjourned. There was
no discussion, no examination of the
merits Of the various materials offered,
no protest against the insufficiency of the
bids in form or matter. The plans had
all been arranged before the meeting, and
the prime mover in the job had left for
the west in the perfect assurance that all
the details of the scheme would be car
ried out in his absence. 1t now remains
with the city council and mayor to deter
mine whether Omaha is to be forced to
accept sandstone rs a paving material,
before the property m who must bear
the greater burden of the expense Of
paving operations have been consulted or
our citizens who will be taxed for n
third of the contract price have been
given an opportunity to express their
views on the matter. 1t is because there
has been no adequate test of Colorado
sandstone as a paving material and no
discussion of its merits, that THE BEE,
on behalf the citizens Of Omaha, enters
an earnest protest against the snap game
by which this material has been rushed
through the approving machine of the
board of public works. The methods
used by the sandstone syndicate,
is in itself sufficient to arouse
grave suspicious that Colorado sandstone
is not what Omaha wants for her business
streets. No testimony of experts has
been produced to show that it is not open
to the same criticism as the lowest grades
Of sandstone, viz, susceptibility to the
action of water and frost, and rapid wear
under travel. The specimens in front of
the Union Pacific headquarters and
those which were exhibited at the last
state fair were scaly and seamy.
Even the carefully selected piece exhibit
ed to the board was in every respect in
ferior to Medina sandstone. Where has
Colorado sandstone been tried as a paving
material' What city is new using It'll
And if no streets subjected to five years
wear can be quoted, what engineer will
stake his reputation on it's durability
and its value as a material for paving
the streets Of large city! These are a
few of the questions which our property
owners and tax payers have a right to ask.
1t is time to cry a halt to this
game Of a scheming syndicate to force
Omaha into taking a pavement of which
she knows nothing. Right here let us
say again that if Colorado sandstone is
as good as Medina stone we want it. Let
that fact be proved to the satisfaction of
our citizens and we care not who gets the
contract so long rs it is n fair one. But
until that is done we call upon the city
council and mayor to delay an approval
Of the recommendation of Messrs. Bar
ker and Wilson Of the board of public
works. There are several hundred thous-
and ,dollarstobe invested. Inappropriate
that sum for Il pavement of whose value
no n seems to have any definite idea,
would be either the height of ignorant
imbecility or the contamination of al
infamous job.