Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-06-23
THE BOND ISSUE
Communications Sent to Congress
on the Subject.
BRICKLAYERS PROPOSED AMENDMENTS
Some Suggestions Offered by the
Brick Exchange.
NO EXPERIMENTS DESIRED


There was no quorum at the House Dis
trict committee meeting this morning, and
therefore, no business was transacted
Those who were In attendance agreed that
In the order Of business for Monday in the
House the assessment bill should be first
considered and that then the calendar order
should be followed. Several letters were
received. One was from DIR. Hammett re-
viewing the work Of the health office dur
ing the year. One was from Mrs. Briggs
protesting against the bill to issue bonds
to complete the sewerage system Of the
city. upon the grounds that the bill did
not provide properly for the protection OF
small property holders. and was in the
interest Of syndicates owning large blocks
Of unimproved and unoccupled land. One
was from the Brtcklayers' Union, No. 1.
Another was from T. L. Holbrook. chair
man Of the committee OF the Washington
brick exchange. on the subject Of the bond
bill.
Amendments Proposed.
The bricklayers propose an amendment
provide against floods. ana ask that sections
ana y OF the bill be stricken out and that
the following be substituted:
THAT all work provided for in this bill
shall be done by day labor and under the
supervision OF the Commissioners OF the
District OF Columbia. and that all mechanics
employed shall be paid current rates OF
wages prevailing in the District OF Colum-
bia."
Suggestion by the Brick Exchange.
The letter from the brick exchange sug-
gests that after the provision In the first
section OF the bill for the work therein pro-
vided for, not to exceed "one million dol
lars" the following amendment be insert
ed: mo part Of said one million dollars to
be made available until a schedule Of the
work proposed to be done. and the esti-
mated cost Of same. shall have been sub
mitted 70 and approved by Congress-
And after the limit Of three million dol
floods. that the following amendment be
added: This money to be expended In
carrying out in detail project No. I. as
recommended by the board OF sanitary en-
section. described in detail appendix B.
pages u to "a. and summarized on page IS.
No portion of the amount OF $3,3JO.UO0 to
be expended In experiments. and no item
Of the proposed project to exceed the esti-
n ated cost for such work eiven in appen-
dix B." (
The letter further says: Permit me to di.
rect your attention to the first paragraph
on page IL OF the report OF the sanitary
engineers. When they commenced their
work, Mai. Chas. W. Raymond was En-
gineer Commissioner Of the District Dur
ing IL, i.s p progress, s Lieut.. HeSIy N; Roberts
and Capt. chas: ;. Powell have IN tur9
held the Office. Please h6ttee how frsquent
these changes are. / earnestly appeal to
you. in acting upon the bill before you. to
define the.work to be done, with the money
to De derived from the proposed bond issue,
sc clearly that In the event the engineer
officers now detailed to expend the money
Congress appropriates should by any pos
aibility he franSferrn1 tn ntb dolN -
usefulness. their successors may have Q
line marked out for them to follow which
at least Will make them independent of
subordinates.
Capt. Lusk's Views.
Capt Jas. L. Lusk, who for five years was
In charge Of the sewerage of the District
under several Engineer Commissioners, and
who has been transferred to other duties,
Instituted many improvements, for which
the people of the District are under obliga-
tons to him. and which the sanitary COM
mission adopted and estimate for. Let me
call your attention to his plan for sewers
up to ~ inches in diameter. described under
the head OF Form and Material" page 20
OF report OF sanitary engineers. He also
made great improvements. now in use, In
the manner Of constructing the inverts or
wearing portion of large sewers, using con-
crete. vitrifed brick. and trap rock
In the first section, on page 10 Of the
report above referred to, the sanitary en-
gineers describe possible changes In the
arches or large sewers. Capt. Lusk made
tests Of such arches, but while some Of
them were satisfactory others were not.
and, In closing that section on page 10 the
sanitary engineers say: I'VE have not,
however. thought II proper to reduce our
estimates on this account in view of the
limited experience gained with large sew
ers Of this kind They were unwilling to
take the responsibility OF submitting esti-
mates for work which had not stood the
test Of years. l respectfully urge that such
experiments be not provided for in this
bill.
1t does not often fall to the lot of a peo-
pie governed as we are to have such men
as Capt. VIM. T. Rossell. Capt. Jas. l.. Lusk
and Capt. Gustav ]. Fiebeger administer
our laws: and under our present form OF
government one after another is transfer
red to other duties just as he becomes ac-
Quainted with our people and understands
the wants of the District.
] sincerely trust the amendments propos-
ei 10 II. r. bill 11S5. as herein suggested
may meet your favorable consideration.
Very respectfully. ETC.,
T. l.. HOLBROOk,
Chairman of committee OF Washington
Brick Exchange.