The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1890-06-28

Mr.. John n. semmei Explains his Reasoni
for Leaving Council.
EDITOR CARnoN ADvocArE.-Owln tc
the wide misrepresentation as to the posi-
tion took in the street matter for Council
] desire TO make brief explanation.
Several days previous to the opening Of
the last sealed proposals, Mr.. Coon, lthe
old gentlemanl called To see me, and in.
formed me that he could, on account Of
having his own crusher and easy access to
an excellent quality Of stones, build us a No.
1 road, with all crushed stones, for trihe
over two and half dollars per foot. This
was the first knowledge l had of an all
crushed stone street, and It being contrary
to the specifications, Mr.. Coon agreed TO
draw up temporary specifications, explain
ing how he would make the street, to-
gether with the cost per foot, and send II
m along with his bid on the regular
advertised specifications. As secretary, 1
told him that we wanted TO get the best
street possible for the least money, and
would be pleased for him to do so, and
would submit the same to council for CON
sideretion The day following, Mayor
Lehr, of Allentown. who is in someway
connected with Rcinsmith d Yeager, and
Yeager & Co., contractors, Of the aboYe
city, was in town looking up information
on the last change in the plan Of the street,
and dropped in to see me. In the presence
of our Street Commissioner asked him to
give me his candid opinion OH the differ
ence of the street proposed by Mt Coon and
the one according to our spechcat ions.
He was decidedly in favor of the ten inch
crushed stone, and said emphatically that it.
would be the best genuine macadam street.
Accordingly when Council met on the
evening of June 9 to open and consider the
sealed proposals explained to them the
proposition made by Mr.. Coon to make an
all crushed street for S2.57 per foot COM
ple'e, which would be direct saving of 81
cents per lneal foot, according to the
Invest bid on the regular specifications,
which was S3.0S. Very little argument
resulted, further than it was said that the
proposition was not in accordance
with the specifications, which admit it
was not nevertheless it was not too late to
save about S2000 by revising the plans
and specifications for fourth time. The
Council body knew nothing about a
macadam street, and in face stubbornly
refused to accept the opinion of an ex
peTienced man like Mayor Lehr 1t was
these very fellows who raised the cry about
sewer costing too much and piLied the
poor people, that now had lots of money to
spend on the street, and accordingly passed
resolution awarding the bid to an Allen
town party at S30S. In their dispair they
tried to make me believe that our Ciyil
Engineer, l.. S. Jacoby, of Allentown, gave
his opinion that an all crushed stone street
was no good. What he did say however,
was that all kinds and sizes of stones
thrown in at random would make anything
but good road. tried to persuade them
that they understood the engineer wrongly,
but they insisted that they were right, so
I wrote him twice for his opinion, which
shows that | was right and they were
wrong, as the letters which follow prove.
ALLENTOWN, PA, June 10th, 1890.
j. r. SEMMEL, ESQ,
Dear Sir;-Yours of this date received,
and in reply would say that an all broken
stone roadway as you suggest of three lay
ers with screening on top, will make good
street, providing the foundation on which
It rests is good, and | would sooner have il
than the pavement of large stone and only
5 inches Of broken stone.
Yours in haste,
l. - IApopv