The morning call., 1894-10-22
WILL Go TO RUIN.
Fiimsy Street Work in
This City.
WHAT BOSSISM HAS DONE.
Incompetent Men for Offices of
Importance.
WHAT BOSSISM HAS DONE.
MR.. MANSON SPEAKS HIS MIND.
How Works of Public Improvement
Are Managed in the Leading
Cities of the World.

| annual distribution OF rain when San
francisco will be bankrupted by the de-
| struction of public improvements that
have been made under the prevailing sys-
TEN of street work." said Marsden Man
son, in an interview last night.
Mr. Manson knows whereof he speaks,
as be is civil engineer at the head of the
! first class, and has come in close contact
with public improvements in this city.
both in an official capacity and as a citizen
and taxpayer He is clearly and firmly Of
the opinion shat all street work should be
under the direct supervision ana control
of superintendent who is a competent
civil engineer. ana thinks that the Nom
Partisans have struck the keynote in NOM
mating a civil engineer for the Office of
! Street Supern tendent. Mr.. Manson has
made life study of municipal public i'm
| proyements, and his mind is stored with
facts and figures that are sufficient to NJ AXE
the average San Francisco taxpayer gasp
! for breath and wonder where ne is at and
where he is going to find himself by and
! by.
I'm all the leading cities of the civil
! lZed world the superlnt tendence of street
work is in the hands of competent engi-
neers." he said. "They would not be the
| cities that they are If such were not the
| fact In all the principal cities of France,
/ which have the best and most durable
streets in the world, all street work is in
charge and under the direct control of an
| engineer or board of engineers. The
| same system prevails in the principal
cities In the Eastern and Middle States, in
| Boston, New York. Baltimore, ST. Louis,
! Louisville and many others. In those
cities the sanitary drainage-that is, the
! sewerage syStam-is likewise under the
general street superintendent's charge. In
/ St Louis all street work is under the
superintendence of Colonel Fladd, dis
| tinGushed civil engineer with an inter
national reputation, and he could scarcely
| be spared by that city.
The Street Superintendent should in
every instance and in every sense be
! civil engineer of ability, or, more prop
erIy speaking. the City Engineer should be
! uperintendent of Streets. 1t should be
! his duty, and he should be come;eut, to
/ test all materials to be used in the con-
/ structiOD Of any public work, and he
should be sufficiently Independent and
honest TO the public to reject all that is not
up to the required standard of excellence.
| Such has not by any means been the case
In the past. For instance. in a great deal
of concrete work in this city there has
been used a so-called cement which
| did not possess any Of the Qualities
/ necessary for such work. simply be-
cause the Superintendent of Streets didn't
know good from bad. Result, o
worthless pavement or crumbling sewer
The sanitary drainage in all the principal
cities OF the United States is iu charge of
| competent engineers because it would not
be effective for good otherwise. For my
part cannot see how q SuperinteDd dent of
Srees can do his duty by the people un-
| less he Is sklllful engineer, well versed
in all the scientific knowledge that the
term implies. The people might Just as
| we'll elect a respectable butcher TO be
Judge OF the Superior Court, a watch
maker for City Physician and a hodcarrier
tor Coroner as to make Street Superin-
! tendeDt Of man who knows nothing of
the practical science so necessary TO the
! work
There is no sense in the political bosses
putting up for such an important place
the political bummers, who have abso-
lutely no hing 10 recommend them except
their dirty pulls IN dlrtier ward and pre-
clnct politics. AS matter of fact, the only
true remedy VIII come by provision in a
new charter that shall fully cover the case
In many respects this city is like an over
grown baby. 1t isn't up to the business
requirements OF grOwnup manhood. The
first duty Of Street Superintendent is to
execute the work in a decent manner ac-
cordlng TO the best methods known to
SCIENCE"
At this point Mr.. Manson consulted
some figures, which he had conveniently
| handy, and continued:
''The city of San Francisco has already
constructed $3o,000,000 worth of fimsy
| work which the taxpayer is called upon to
repair and pay for. In addition to that
there is about S1.000 900 worth of more
| flimsy work to be done each wear which
VIII require constant repairing and will
always be entirely unsatisfactory. In this
way it is only question of time and dis
tribution of rain when the city will be
bankrupted by the destruct on of the
work. Nothing short of an earthquake
| should be able to destroy a sewer And
yet here we have concrete sewers not six
months old that are falling to pieces of
their own weight for the want of mortar
or the right kind of material that COM
posed the mortar used. The street paving
is abominable. Poor cement has been
used because the men experimenting the
work were incapable of testing it.
81 am glad that the Nom -Partisans have
n0min ated Mr.. Grunsky for the Office of
Street Superintendent He is considered
among his cOnfreres in the profession as
one of its most competent and reliable
members His professional work In Cali
fornia since 1873 speaks more for him and
better of him than l or any one else can
do Facts are facts and mighty stubborn
:. things.
Il know some things which, il they had
happsned here. would make San Fran
cisco people blush. For instance, in Balti-
more, in 1876 to 1880, the city constructed
It's water works under the supervision of
the Street Superintendent. The work was
completed, and there was surplus of
900 from the appropriation, which
| amount was turned back INTO the general
fund. such thing could not have hap
pened in this city. The bosses and ring
sters of politics would have absorbed that
surplus and made deficiency or would
have died in the attempt. Anything like
that would be too startling in its nature to
be permitted here.
''The City Engineer should be Superin-
tendent of Streets. He should have
charge of sewers, streets, grades, water
works, gas-lighting, electric lights aud
street railways. He should have under
him superintendent of streets, who
should see TO their cleaning; also a SUPER
lntendent of sewers, whose duty it should
be to inspect them and see that they are in
perfect order at all times. That is the
only way in which The taxpayers can get
value for their money. By the way, right
here wish to call your attention 10 the
closing paragraph iD a book just issued
and written by A. r. Conkling, formerly
an alderman OF New York City. 1t deals
exclusively with the problems of NUM-
cpal governments"
Mr.. Manson then opened thu book re-
ferred to and read the following extract:
Great ciies are the danger points of
our national life, and hence municDsI
government is best worthy of the careful
thought of our citizens. Underneata all
remedies that may be suggested for the
better government of Municipalities ia the
incuIcatiOn of the doctrine that thev r,u.,