St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-02-02
THE HOWARD, CHARTER AT WORK

THE HOWARD, CHARTER AT WORK
For the benefit of those who are
enamored Of the system of city gov
eminent laid down in the proposed
Howard charter, we would call atten-
t1on4t an experience that MINNEAPOLIS
is now having in the matter of street
paving. The. Howard charter is only
an amplffication Of the existing system
of government by council in the city
Of Minneapolis. It is the MINNEAPOLIS
plan enlarged and extended. AS such,
we are told by its champions in this
city, that with 1t we can prevent abuses
and secure economies heretofore I'M
imagined. Under this system of local
control the affairs of Minneapolis, in
Guiding among others the laying of
street pavements,' have been carried
on. A few of the, streets in that city,
Hennepin and Nicollet avenues prin-
cipal among them, have been paved with
asphalt. The city, following the lead of
st. Paul. has determined to put down
large amount of new pavement this
year. and asphalt is the favorite mate
rial. Now, it is simply vital to the tax
payers of the town that they get a
good article for their money. The width
Of streets in Minneapolis makes pave
ment construction and repair a costly
business. What they do now they want
to last for good many years to come.
The asphalt pavement on NicolIet
avenue in that city has been a con-
spicuous and complete failure. For
many weeks the street was torn I'D.
the old pavement taken away, and
traffic on the principal retail thor
oughfare Of Minneapolis made impos-
sible by the delay Of the paving con-
tractors. At last, after the merchants
upon that street were at the point of
lynching somebody, the pavement was
put down. That vas late last season.
Already 1t is in such a condition as
to prove that the whole thing ought to
be torn up and done over again. This
pavement was laid with Utah asphalt.
1t is a material that has, as far as we
are aware. no record in this
climate to go upon. It was
adopted by the MINNEAPOLIS coun-
Gil after what one of their newspapers
called "a junketing trip to Salt Lake
CITY and the results are what
might have been expected. Not
only this, but this same Howard char,
ter system is responsible for the award
of the contract, under circumstances
which can best. be described by the
following quotation from the Mime
apolis Times:
Did the aldermen make an honest contract
when they awarded the paving of Nicollet
avenue to the highest bidder last summer?
Against the protest of the city press, against
the expressed wish of the taxpayers, in de-
nance Of general public sentiment. the con-
tract was eiyen! to the wholly untried and
almost unknown Utah paving on bid Sc. 600
higher than that of the Trinidad, whose paw
ing has been tested and was reasonably salts
Factory. All the circumstances connected
with the transaction, from the junketine trip
10 Salt Lake City to the awarding of the con-
tract, and the patience with which the long
delay In the execution Of the work was borne
all indicate beyond reasonable doubt that the
American Asphalt company had a powerfuI
pull on the city council, or a portion Of n
All this is still further confirmed by the evil
Gent determination of the aldermen to give
the American company $500 900 or $500. 600
contract for the laying Of the pavement which
SO far as tested in this city proves to be un
suitable and practically worthless
Under the local government act i'm
rorce In St Paul, great portion of
the business streets of this city have
been paved with asphalt at prices
Which are among the lowest ever known
in any part Of this country for sim
liar work. The quality Of these pave
ments Is Of the best. Nothing but
Trinidad or Bermudez asphalt has ever
been considered. AS far as the sub
stitution Of asphalt for the old wooden
block pavements has gone, st. Paul
has eyery@ reason to be satisfied that
the work was done honestly, and with
the extreme of economy. Under the
Howard SYSTEM, which prevails in Min
neapolis, we have single body Of al
dermen, clothed with practically abso--
lutte power TO make contracts, and this
is what comes Of it. According to the
Times. they have authorized the paw
ing of Nicollet avenue with an untried
material on a bid $4,000 higher