The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-06-02
THE NEW BOND ISSUE
Mr.. John c. Drewry Gives Reasons Why He Thinks
it Will Pay Raleigh to Vote For Bonds.

10 the EullOts
So many false and misleading rumors
are being circulated concerning the
proposed bond issue for street improve
ments, that [ have been told by
my friends that it is my duty as
Chairman Of the Street Committee to
make a statement of facts as / see
them, in my official capacity. dis
like so much to appear in public print
and, as the people know so well the ma
ture of the improvements which have
been made in our city, / had about
concluded to remain silent and take no
active part in the present controversy
1t is being told on the streets that
il the bonds are issued all of the
granite blocks. stone for macadam, and
other materials for street improvements
are TO be purchased away from Raleigh
There is no foundation whatever for
this report. The policy of the Street
Committee has been to purchase every
thing needed in its Department in Raj
eigh, and to give preference to Raleigh
people, always as far as it was possible
to be done. 1t is our purpose to con-
tinue this course as long as we have
anything to do with the street work.
1t is said that the granite we are us
ing is not hard enough for macadm
Granting, for the sake of argument,
that the stone does not possess all of
the elements most desirable for stone
used in macadm work, we contend that
1t is hard enough, although 1t may lack
toughness of fibre which unites it to-
gether, which last element is only found
in what is known as the ''nigger head
rock, and kindred formations. The
nearest point from which this rock
can be obtained, / am told, is Orange
county, and it would be very hard for
us to get 1t even there, besides 1T would
be very expensive. If we were to get
this rock, the macadam which is now
costing us thirty cents per square yald
would then cost us about $l.50 per
square yard. Would the small advant-
age in quality justify this large IN
crease in cost? / honestly think not.
others may think differently and be
equally as honest in their convictions,
as I am. I accord to every man the
right to think for himself. and hope
that nothing which / may say or do
can be construed as criticisin9 The hon
est belief of any man. ! desire simply
to state the convictions which have
been forced upon me after studying as
best / could the problem of street inn
perience.
Must we step the improvements or
our streets because the stone is not as
tough as we would like to have it?
Would you tell a man he must not wear
q coat because he cannot get silk
lined one?
The stone is the best and the cheapest
that we can get under the circum-
stances, and besides we get this stone
here at home. and give employment to
our citizens, which benefits our mer-
chants and every one in our city. Had
we decided to get the stone elsewhere,
large part of the bond money would
have been spent away from here,
which / think would have been unwise
and detrimental to the best interests
of our people. I think if the advocates
of such a policy would stop and con-
slider all of the evil consequences of
such a course, we would not hear any
more criticisms about the stone we are
now using.
Our Committee has been subjected to
some structures, because we tried to dis
tribute the improvements over the en-
tire city, as far as we could. When
the people were asked to vote for the
last bond issue, they were told that the
improvements would be distributed as
evenly between the four wards as in
our Judgment could be done in advance
ing the general welfare of our city. We
have honestly endeavored to live up
to this promise as near as we could, UNI
der the existing conditions. We have
tried to treat all four wards with equal
and exact justice. We were compelled
to spend more of the money in the
first and second wards, because we
thought better results could be obtain
ed by starting at the center of the
city and working out from that point.
The center of the city happens to be in
the first and second wards. I do not
think any one will contend that all of
the improvements ought to have been
made in any one part of the city, be-
cause that would have been manifestly
unfair. We have endeavored to reach
out into every section of the city, in
order that all residents of the city
might utilize and enjoy the benefits ac-
cruing from good streets. | think a
fair, unbiased survey of all the work
done, will convince any one of the
practical wisdom of our plan I am
quite sure that the Street Committee
would like to be relieved of the respon-
be done and If the bonds are issued, /
will agree to advocate having an adj
visory committee, composed of twelve
of our best citizens. three frcm each
ward, to be selected at primary, who
will act with the Street Committee in
deciding where and how the work
should be done.
Numerous calculations have been pub
Hshed figuring out the enormous
amounts that it will cost to macadamize
our streets, guaged by past expendi-
lures. / do not think these parties in
tended to mislead the public, but these
figures show now badly mistaken even
good nen can be when dealing with a
subject that they have not carefully
studied
With the money already expended on
our streets almost all of the heavy
work has been done. Nearly all of our
streets have been. graded. and more
than half of all of the sidewalks have
been curbed, and many of our cutters