San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-06-11

which men who are shrewd and I'M
scrupulous, manipulate public and
private enterprises to make money
fast and yet escape legal accountable
ity, when contrasted with the fate of
the poor negro who is sent to the pen
itentiary for two years, for the theft
of fancy bird dog, breeds COM
munism.
A taxpayer who has been cycling
the street block pavement work, from
the common cement, passes this criti-
cism: the block pavement began in
front of the Alamo; that was splen-
did piece of work, and remains as
smooth and firm today as it was
when finished. AS the work proceed
ed and got farther and farther
away from the Alamo it deteri-
Grated; it became as rough as a
corduroy road on Houston street; oc-
tagon blocks became round pieces of
wood, and in fact from mesquite
blocks, they have come down to mes.
quite chips.
The comment may be well taken,
but who is to blame, certainly not the
contractor and his hackers; it is their
business to make money off the job II
they can.
Every particle of tbs work of
building our block pavements has
been nnder the direct inspection of
the city officials, from the grading Of
the rOadbed the mixing of the cement
to the laying of blocks, in fact, 80 close
has been the surveillance of the city,
apparently, that the contractor can
cay that he has furnished the labor
and the material and the city has
done the bossing.
Who is responsible if the pavement
work is not what 1t should be: most
ass uredly the city administration.
Ask an alderman about this business,
and you will be astonished at his ig-
norance; he will be unable to tell you
anything about the specifications, or
the cost per foot of the work.
The special meeting of the city
council to 60 through the form of ac-
cepting the fire alarm system, and to
receive the report of the Commission
ers appointed to pass on the opening
of Crockett street, was SO brief that
TWO Of the alderman came near mis-
sing their five dollars: Conner and
Beckman.
The report of the commissioners on
the Crockett street widening was SIM
ply received, and the advertisement
ordered; if the report Is sustained the
city has been successful in opening
the street at q nominal cost to the
city treasury; the burden falling on
adjacent property.
Alderman Lockwood's report upon
the test of new fire alarm system was
complete confession either of the
incapacity OF the committee appoint
ed to make the test, or their deter
minstion to avoid any possibility of a
failure of the system to do its work
perfectly.
This report is futile attempt to
gun thO ONcu luc I0pOIl DC
published in the Express Is mislead-
ing, ALARMS were turned In from fire
alarm boxes" 1t should be five"
alarm boxes. The public are thus led
to think that there was complete
test made, where in fact, only five"
out Of the sixty-five boxes were
tested.
Alderman Lockw congratulates
the council and the citizens upon
possessing the best fire alarm system
in Texas, and one of the best in
America, from the test made, this
congratulation is simply piece of
humbuggery.
Alderman Lockwood attempted to
explain why only five boxes were
turned in, that inssmuch as 1.-The city
electrician had been working for the
past two weeks with the system"
they accepted his say SO that it was
all right.
City Electrician Ryan was simply
added to the committee to render any
for the purpose of answering tor the
effectiveness of the system; the pub
lie might as we'll have been saved
this exhibition of municipal hocus-
pocus, by accepting the new system
in the first instance without going
through the mockery of a so-called
test.
Now, it may be true that the new
fire alarm is all that Alderman Lock-
wood claims for it, but so far as the
official test is concerned, nobody can
claim IL tn he 90