The herald., 1898-05-11
AlWfAT OF SCIENCES
QUMUAL MEETING AND ELEC-
ZION or orIIc1Rs
abbot Kinney and Malcolm Mcleod
Discourse on the Bad Paving
Of Our Streets

sciences was held last evening at $50 South
8roadway. The following officers were
elected for the ensuing year: President,
abbot Kinney; first vice president, Prof.
George l. Leslie; second vice president,
y. d. Hooker; treasurer, w. H. Knight;
secretary, B. r. Baumgardt. reelected
1os the fifth successive year; board Of di-
rectors, w. F. Burbank, John Vosburg,
Prof. ]. A. Foshay. Malcolm Macleod and
w. A. Spaldiug.
The secretary announced the annual field
DAY and excursion to Mount Lowe on Sat
Arday naxt. Arrangements have been
made for q round trip rate good tor Sat
urday morning or evening and returning
kny time desired at $40. AccOmmoda-
hons can be obtained at the Ech Mount
oIn house from 81 to -; Individual meals,
u cents. An itinerary on foot will be or
gnnixed from Alpine tavern to the summit
Of Mount Lowe. Prof. Swift wal receive
the visitors at the observatory in the even
ing, where an opportunity will be given
60 observe Venus, Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus, the Nebulae and stars. Persons
desiring to do so can return to the city the
eame evening. remaining at the observa-
tory until 10 O'Clock.
Our Streets
The retiring president, w. A. Spalding,
presented Mr.. Kinney, who made the first
address Of the evening on Our Streets
"Los Angeles" said the speaker, has
had a peculiar history in regard to streets.
Originally the land belonged TO the pueblo
and the streets were laid out by the peo-
pie and not by the officials. The first sur
vey was made in 1S49 by Ord, through wlsat
is now Hill, Main and Grand avenue, but
no general plan was followed. There were
no lines established that any one knows of
today. Spring street actually varies in
width difference of several inches between
curbs. The last survey was made by Han
cock in 1858, dividing the city at that time
into thirty-five acre blocks. Since then
everyone who has land to sell has laid out
streets as he chose, with no plan other than
his own ideas or convenience. Hope street
Is in six fragments. Others begin and end
nowhere, and there is neither plan nor
purpose in laying out streets today"
Sixteen years ago there were no pave
ments in the city. When the speaker ar
rived here in an interview with the officials
he suggested that no paving be done until
. conduit was laid. Since then we have
come to see the necessity Of a conduit sys-
tenn and the annoyance and expense en-
tailed in constantly tearing up the pave
ment. If we assume that we are to be a
large city, let us inaugurate a system,
put the conduits in one place, where they
can be located.
The great question is the construction
and maintenance of streets. The defects
are not in individuals, but in the system
that has forced defective work and ex-
pense on the taxpayers. The speaker and
q committee Of gentlemen inspected forty
Inherent streets, and in no single instance
had the specifications been carried out. In
the street superintendent's Office at that
time there were no books kept and an ex-
traordinary laxity In methods of conduct
Ing the business was discovered. The whole
system was honeycombed with abuses
corporations had dug up the streets to lay
conduits and in no single case had they
been replaced as they were before
An examination of the work was equally
unsatisfactory; the cement varied in thick
ness from to ~ inches in thickness, with
= thin layer of asphalt on top; the concrete
was friable. the cement cheaply applied
and the specifications were not carried out.
The fault lies not in the Individual, but in
city government is primarily responsible.
The mayor has no power, and the city gov
ernment has never represented the people:
1t Is not centralized and is responsible to
nobody. There is no system to protect
men from themselves.
The remedy lay, in the speakers opin.
Ion, either In purely centralized govern
ment with one head. or popular control.
Many people fear the latter as being tickle
or anarchistic. but it has been found the
soundest and most conservative and patri-
iotic ever devised. AS an instance of this,
the speaker cited the old township gov
eminent of New England and that of
switzerland. The latter, although four
languages are spoken in it's cantons and the
country is made up of races with different
religions, has by its united patriotism
stood off the powers of Europe by which
1t is surrounded. The welfare of a COM
munity is best subserved when the gov
ernment is In the hands of it's people.
The Best Paving
Malcolpo Macleod, who was considered
an expert on street paving in the city of
Philadelphia, followed in paper on bad
Roads and Bad Health" Mr.. Macleod
gave extracts from pamphlet published
by himself and quoted other authorities
to show the effect of badly paved, badly
Kept streets on the health of city. Sta
tistics were given to show loss of tractiye
force by bad construction and drainage
and the different materials for paving as,
tested IN France. The speaker described
the various kinds of paving used in Eu-
ropean cities, the most durable of which
has proved to be the wood block pavement
with a cement foundation and asphalt run
Into the Joints. The pavement the speaker
would recommend for this locality is a hi
luminous macadam with a good founda-
ton, the materials for which are at our
very doors, abundant and cheap. It is
sanitary, and the city could execute its
own work. The chief reason for the fail
ure of our street pavements is that the
foundation is not strong enough to carry
the weight of traffic, and no matter how
good the bitumen may be it simply var
nishes the sand, and it thus easily spreads
ana works into ruts and mudholes which
form Judgments for filth to tester and evan
orate into the air to be breathed by the cit.
liens.