San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-07-25
SHORT STOPS.
A FEW INTERESTING REMARKS
ABOUT STREET PAVING.
The Way The Streets Are Kept Clean
0fTrash And Waste Paper Po-
licemen On Bicycles. .

Written for the Light by Col. James
P. Newcomb.l
Detroit is considered a model city
and in many particulars it is so. Its
well paved streets, beautiful boule-
wards and magnificent parks make it a
delightful city, and the cleanliness and
good order that prevails everywhere
speaks well for efficient city govern
ment.
The magnificent river that forms its
front and marks the dividing line be-
tween Canada and the United States,
is alive with inland commerce and af-
fords a conduit for all the sewage of
the city. Opposite Detroit is the
sleepy old Canadian town of Windsor.
Detroit is about five times bigger than
San Antonio; it lays some claim to
antiquity but San Antonio is far
ahead in this particular.
The fact that you see streets being
paved right in the heart of the city,
proves that this kind of work is new
er finished even in model city-no ma
terial has yet been found that will not
wear out.
On one broad street there are sew
eral kinds of pavement, wooden blocks
being round cedar blocks, vitrified
brick and asphalt. 1t looked very
much like an experimental street A
contractor who was laying a brick
street, said that brick was the cheap
est and had proven satisfactory; that
the brick pavement was guaranteed
for five years. Adjacent to where the
contractor was working a brick pave
ment that had been down seven years
was still good but was considerably
worn.
Asphalt seems to be the favorite ma
terial, but the asphalt used is soft in
comparison to the Kline asphalt used
to put down the street next our new
courthouse.
A comparison of pavements will con-
vince any one acquainted with our
mesquite block, and our asphalt that
we have the best street material in the
world.
In Chicago asphalt pavement is be-
ing put down in the very center of the
business district, and noticed the sign
of the Bermuda Asphalt Paving Co."
on the outfit. 1t ought to be the Tex
as Asphalt Pavning Co., because Chi
cago always wants the best.
The macadam streets OF Chicago,
mostly in the parks and boulevards,
are perfection. They are built just
as our streets are only in the matter
of the top dressing which is composed
of finely crushed hard stone, and fin
ally of very fine gravel or sand which
when rolled makes a surface that can
be swept like a floor. We have the
material to make first-class macad-
am roads but so far the requisite
knowledge and skill has not been
brought into requisition.
One thing that strikes the San An
tonian in all these northern cities Is
the cleanliness Of the streets and parks.
There Is no loose paper flying about
it's all picked up, or not thrown into
the streets. Even in the parks where
thousands of men, women and children
are daily picnicking no refuse is left
on the grounds-the people have be-
come educated to regard the parks as
belonging to them, and readily obey the
request Of the park authorities to de-
post their refuse in receptacles provid-
ed. Mayor Callaghan should start a
reform in this direction. Here the
school children are encouraged to pick
up waste paper on their way to the
schools. The people are taught to be
tidy.
1t would be an instructive lesson to
our police department to see 200 big
Chicago policemen mounted on bicy-
Giles. Patrolman Jim Bowen would
hardly come up to the standard size
of the Chicago bike-cop.
Naturally l asked some questions
about the bike as police adjunct. No
particular make of bike is used; each
policeman provides his mount. At ev-
cry station there are bikes, and one
of the captains expressed the opinion
that the bike had come to stay as a po-
lice help. In answering emergency
aclls the bike is away ahead of horse
or wagon.
Now, if Mayor Callaghan will mount
his force on bikes San Antonio will
come to the front as a modern city.
1t is really inspiring to see big police
man patrolling his beat on bike.