The San Francisco call., 1898-03-23
PAVING
 lS IT IS
 JUGGLED Contract Work on Oc- tavia Street Between Ellis and Eddy. Strip of Basalt Blocks and Two Strips of Bitu-
 minOuS Rock. Much Sand and Rock, but Less Cement Than Specified
 tions Demand.
FIRE MARSHAL APPEARS.
Relative Quantity of Materials Used so Far as the w ork Has Pro-
 qresSed.

SOHll dClOIS LII lHG Olu SCuOOl duu solicitors of the new were uneasy yes- terday. The rumor was in circulation that the Grand Jury was hot on the trail of an enterprising solicitor who had forged the name of a property owner on petition for street work. Forgery of the name vas not all. It was said that the figures of frontage had been expanded on bona-fide pe tition. It is well known that the com petition between solicitors" is keen, and therefore it was surmiSed that some irrepressible genius, bent on se- curing the required number of front feet" and finding actual owners reluc- tant to sign a petition, had supplied the deficiency by imagination.
 Meanwhile the Street Department continues to do business at the old stand according to the old methods in- herited by Ambrose from long line of inefficient predecessors. Property- owners in the Western Addition who read The Call may get an object lesson in street paving by strolling down to the block on OctaVia street between Ellis and Eddy streets. It is not al- legged that there is jobbery or rascality in the work there progressing, but there is a deficiency in cement which may
  tractor.
 There Is a little history connected with the paving of this particular block on Octavia street. The material origin ally proposed was bituminous rock. Property-owners wanted that kind of street paving material and expressed their desires in petition for the inn provement. About the time the work was to begin the Fire Marshal appear ed on the scene witt an alacr1ty sur prising for a fireman, and he pointed out the danger of a smooth pavement on a street with such a grade lie wanted basalt rock and the property owners wanted bitumen. The con- tractor was obviously willing to have both for a compromise was arranged whereby fourteen feet in the center of the roadway was to be paved with ba- salt blocks and strip twelve rect Wide on either side was to be paved with bituminous rock The work went for ward in this variegated style.
 The Calls basalt sharp has not made an inspection of the premises, but the expert in bituminous rock pavement has made a few observations which the interested property-owners who pay TOT the work may verify if they care to em- pIoy some of their energies for their own preservation.
 finder the specifications for this work there should be used materials in thls proportion: One cubic yard (elght par rels) of cement, two yards of sand and seven yards of rock. The sand ana ce- ment should fill the interstices without increasing the bulk of the material. There should be one and one-SeVenth barrels of cement for each cubic yard of rock In the allotted area or work In this street there are 7230 square rect, or 3615 cubic feet. According to the specifications there should be used l5O ha n tractor has laid 4215 square feet, or 2107 cubic feet lightweight barrels of ce- ment have been taken to the premises and eighty-seven should have been used in the work so far performed, but it seems according to external ana 1n- ternal observation, that only forty three barrels of cement have been ap- piled to the work already done.
 The property owners who will be called upon to pay for the work are not asked to accept The Calls figures as accurate to the smallest detail, but if doubt exists as to the accuracy or the statement in the main, let them go and ask Mr. Curry, the inspector on the work, how he measures the work and how he calculates the quantity of cement used. The inspector under stands how to measure cement ana how to construe specifications. He had experience under Superintendent Ash worth, and probably learned something from Ashworth's predecessors, and so brought to the present superintendent a fund of knowledge from away back.
 Scenes of activity are presented on the work The contracting firm-the Union Paving and Contract Company employs fifteen men at g per day, one foreman at $2.50, six teams hauling rock and sand at $4 day each. When all work a half day the pay roll amounts to $30 a day. This is outgo on the job. Profits come in when forty four barrels of cement, worth $2 65 a barrel. are saved.
 These little. incidents of street work may not be of overwhelming impor- tance to the public generally, but property owners on the block in ques- tion may find sermons in the basalt stones and books In barrels of cement.