The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-18
SAMPLE OF IT'S METHODS
SOUTH DELAwARE-STREE PEOPLE
GET A DOSE OFF REAL "BUsINEss."
Beautiful Job in the ResurfacinE of
the Street-COntractors Not Held
to Their Guarantee.

hesloentS OF the south Side nave no par
ticular reason to admire the present period
of Democratic NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS., consider
ing the indifference with which the claims
OF that section of the city have been
treated, either with contempt or calm in
difference. Just now residents of South
Delaware street are particularly exasper-
ated over the way the Board of Works
dallied through the summer without re-
pairing the brick pavement of that thor
oughfare between South street and Madi-
son avenue. 1t is over a year since the
board first began in an indecisive sort of a
way to require the contractors to place the
street in good repair before the guaranty
period expired. The contractors fatty re-
fused to take up the entire roadway, claim
ing that they had not undertaken to guar
antee the wearing qualities of the brick and
other material used, as it had been in
spected and accepted by Democratic in
spectors under former administration
Ihey did agree, however, to take up the
brick that was the worst worn This the
board rejected with show of righteous in
dlgnation while it prated about the rights
OF the property owners. 1t finally con-
Guided to let a contract for resurfacing the
entire roadway
Bids were advertised for, but that was
not until winter had set in and there was
no chance of doing the work until spring
Ihen Mayor Taggart saw chance to
strengthen his political machine, and his
mandate went forth directing the board to
reject all bids and prepare to do the work
ltSel1 the following spring under the super
lntendency of his able political lieutenant
FOREMAN Herpick. AS a pretext for this
decision it was claimed that much money
would be saved for taxpayers, and that the
work would be done much cheaper A good
many claim that the concrete foundation
on which the old brick pavement was laid
is about worn out and that the entire street
should be reimproved. City Engineer Jeup.
however, claims that the concrete is all
right and the board decided to simply Law
new brick. 1t was given out that all the
oIlCh were TO come up and an entire new
surface laid. Residents of the street began
10 be more hopeful. Time passed and moth
ing was done until late in the spring. when
the board finally advertised for bids on
4OO,OOO brick, with the privilege of paying
FOR what was used and of taking more at
the same price II they were found neces-
sary Early in June bids were opened and
the contract was given to the Clinton Paw
ing and Building Brick Company at $3.50
thousand for repressed brick. Then Mayor
Iaggart caused another two months delay
in order that the force might be put to
work at time to further his political
schemes. The brick for the new roadway
were not delivered until ten days ago. Since
then they have laid in huge piles beside the
road While the property owners wondered
II they were TO lie all summer only to be
hauled away again. "A day or two ago they
were tled with considerable satisfaction
to see an inspector or two from the en-
gineer office looking over the ground. In
the afternoon few men with picks began
tearing up the brick from the street-car
track toward the sidewalk but there was
some surprise when people observed that
they We're piling them up on a strip three
or four feet wide outside the curb line. The
brick at the inner edge of the street is not
being torn up at all.
Another surprise was in store for prop
erty owners who had heard the board re-
peatedly declare that the old brick was too
badly worn to ever be used again, when
they saw three or four men seat themselves
on the grass and begin chipping off the old
tar with dull hatchets. When a coat of
gravel was thinly strewn over the old con-
crete the work of 'reSurfacing South Del
aware street began and the lines caused by
the intersticeS between rows of brick laid
across the street are puzzle in geometrlcal
designs Sometimes they curve to the north
and sometimes to the south. One part of
the surface is much higher than another,
and the inexperienced workmen of the
street gang, most of whom have never laid
brick before in their life. to judge from the
haphazard way in which they throw the
a smooth grade. Old brick and new are
being mixed together in tumble, the
broken and crumbling corners and edges
of the old brick being turned face down
ward so that they appear all rlght TO the
chance passerby who does not stop to
watch the men at work. Tar is not being
used At any rate none was being used
yesterday afternoon when reporter
stopped to watch the work. There is not
a property owner on South Delaware street
who would permit a brick sidewalk TO pc
laid as the brick are being laid by HerplcK
men, to say nothing about street that has
to stand the heavy traffic of South Della
ware street Only fifteen or twenty men
are at work. There seems to be an lnten-
ton to string the work out until after the
election. -. A.,
The most astonishing thing Is that the
work is being done Just about as the street
contractor who laid the original street was
willing to do it without cost to the City
The nrice of 100000 brick amounts to $1,000.
No ore knows what the cost of labor and
gravel will be- When it is finished it will
Be Just what the board declared 1t did not
want-a patched street