The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-12-24

probably adopt the advice of it's COM
mittee, and pave with asphalt. Like
Topeka, it will then repent at leisure.
Hutchinson's committee has evidently
started out with the intention of making
a good case for asphalt, and it has sue
ceeded pretty well in face of obstacles.
The report is full of inaccuracies and
miSStatements which indicate very.
clearly the inexperience Of the commit
tee.
It certainly doesn't make two-cents
worth of difference to Topeka what
Hutchinson uses to pave its streets
Topeka hasn't any brick to sell, as the
Hutchinson committee intimates. All
the brick made here is used here. 1t is
used here because Topeka has found
that brick pavement only costs half as
much as asphalt to begin with. The
cost of repairs on 81 miles of brick
pavement has been nothing; the cost of
repairs on miles of asphalt has been
$4,000, and is increasing at the rate of
80 per cent a year as the asphalt gets
older.
Asphalt pavement is without a bit of
question the very finest kind of pave
ment in the world; and the most ex-
pensive. It is delightful to ride on as
phalt streets, and Topeka has showed
its appreciation by laying more asphalt
pavement than any other city of its size
in the United States. And Topeka is
continuing to cling to the asphalt even
at the enormous expense of $1,000 a
year for repairs. If Hutchinson can
! afford it, it should lay asphalt, by all
means. Topeka has quit asphalt be-
cause it can't afford to be held up and
robbed by the asphalt trust.
When Topeka wants its pavements
repaired, only one company will bid on
! the work, and it bids exactly what it
pleases. Topeka foots the bill. 1t is
absolutely at the mercy at the trust
None of the so-called independent"
companies will come in here. What
sort of independence" is that?
This Hutchinson committee says that
the reason Topeka's asphalt streets
have deteriorated is because they were
not properly laid; because burned as
phalt was used and because they have
not been kept clean. The pavements
were laid just as well as they knew
how at the time of laying. Three or
four inches of the best Trinidad as
phaIt was laid on a 6-inch base of con-
| crete. No binder was used. Otherwise
the pavement is practically the same
as is laid today. The binder is not of
much real use except on hfllsides where
there is a tendency to Creep" There
was no trouble with burned asphalt,
| and in this matter the city engineer
i of Topeka is misquoted by the commit
| tee. There has been trouble with burn
| ed and inferior asphalt used in repairs,
| however. The trust uses whatever it
pleases for repairs, and the quicker it
wears out, the better for the trust AS
to the cleanliness of the streets, it
would be difficult to find, probably, in
the United States, a city where the
asphalt streets are and always have
been kept as clean as in Topeka The
asphalt streets are always clean.
The report of Hutchinson's commit
tee occupies about four columns of
| newsoaD per space, and takes up each
town separately. It seemed to find
friends of the asphalt trust at both
Kansas City and Wichita, and these
| towns are given diploma "cum laude-
/ The committee found some towns in
the state where they have experiment.
ed with Stag. rock and other things as
a foundation for brick pavement, and
failed. These instances are given con-
siderable prominence to illustrate the
inferior wearing qualities of brick
pavement.
Following is what the committee says
/ about Topeka pavements, and in the
first paragraph of the quotation will
be found the 235 word sentence:
1.-THE asphalt Davements in Topeka
were laid along about 1890. under the
guarantee. At the end of the five
years it became, of course, obligatory
on the city to make necessary re-
pairs; and from the year 1895 until
the present time. on their seven and
one-tenta miles of asphalt pavement
the city has expended. SO the engi-
/ neer's report states, approximately
tanning her asphalt pavement The
reasons for this expenditure not be-
! ing apparent to your committee, II
the light of observations to the con-
trary at other cities, they made inquiry
as to the reason of this expenditure
and were informed by the city engineer
that he was unable to state exactly