Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-05-14
APPROVAL WITHHELD.
COL. BIDDLE HOLDS UP STREET
FLUSHING PROJECT.
His Previous Action Taken Through
Misapprehension-F In
quiry to Be Made.

4
! streets. which was finally awarded by the
Commissioners yesterday afternoon to R.
| V. Rusk of this city, after having been
| held up in the engineer department for
| some days, has again been placed in abey-
| ance by the action of Col. John Bidde, the
| Engineer Commissioner, who today with
| drew his approval of the papers as they
| were presented to him. Col Biddle, in
Endorsement written today states that his
| stamp of Approved" was placed upon the
papers through a misunderstanding. In
| jacketing the proposals, the recommends
| ton had been written to cover all three of
the contracts upon which proposals were
! recently invited by the Commissioners. Col.
| Bddle intended approving only the two
contracts relating to alley cleaning and the
cleaning of unimproved streets. The third
| contract, for sweeping and flushing the
| streets, was included in this group of rec
concentrations, and Col. Biddle's approval
| underneath was taken to indicate his con-
| sent to give the flushing plan trial.
| AS was stated in The Star yesterday,
| however. the inquiry set foot by Col.
| Biddle in relation to the possible deleteri-
| GUS effect of the flushing upon asphalt
pavements has not been concluded. The
| Engineer Commissioner states he would
| rather withhold his approval of the con-
| tract until such time as he has secured the
| information for which he has sent letters
| of request to the engineering authorities of
| other cities where asphalt pavements are
| used and where the flushing Of streets has
| been practiced.
Col Biddle's Endorsement.
| In taking the action indicated above Col.
| Biddle wrote the following Endorsement:
| II approve the preceding Endorsement
with the exception of that paragraph re-
| ferring to cleaning streets by machine or
| by flushing This, I think, should not be
acted upon until we have looked further
| into the matter of the possible effect of the
daily flushing upon asphalt pavements,
| which are more or less affected by water,
| particularly where there are depressions
| and uneven places in the pavement that re-
tain water after the flushing is completed"
| Commissioner West approves Col. Bid
| dies Endorsement.
The mistake in regard to the approval Of
| the contract was brought about by the
| fact that all three street cleaning contracts
| were recommended by Commissioner West
| to go to R. v. Rusk. Mr.. Rusk put in the
| lowest bids on all three classes of work.
He is at present the contractor for alley
| cleaning and the cleaning of unimproved
streets. He has been awarded the contract
for these two classes for the next three
years, Col Biddle approving the award to
| clean the unimproved streets at the rate
| of 1914 day. and the cleaning of the alleys
| at the rate of 30 cents per thousand square
yards. Mr.. Rusk offered to do the 200. 0OO.-
900 yards of machine sweeping and the 25,-
100000 yards of flushing, as called for In
| the third contract, for 16 1915 cents per
| thousand square yards on the three-year
| basis.
| Effects Of Flushing.
| When the contract reached the engineer
| offices the question as to the effect Of
the proposed flushing upon the old asphalt
| streets was brought up. At Colonel Bid
| dies direction an inquiry was set on foot.
| AS this inquiry has not progressed very
| far in the few days 1t has been under way
thnrn nc do w her
| 1t was announced the contract had been
finally approved. Colonel Biddle has little
fear of the effect of the water upon the
newly paved streets. where the grades are
| adjusted correctly and the cutters are of
brick. On these streets the excess water
will be readily carried away and will have
little or no opportunity to work injuries to
the street surfaces. On thoroughfares
where the pavement Is old and the surface
a mass of patches, such as the case OF
| Pennsylvania avenue, the excess water, 1t
| Is believed, will be injurious, as it would
be collected in the depressions and form
pools that would stand for some time. The
inquiry now in progress Is to ,i ascertain tam
| be greater than the benefits to be derived
from the flushing process of cleaning the
| streets.
Mr.. Netherlands Endorsement.
When the papers were taken before Com
missioner Macfarland this afternoon with
Colonel Biddle's withdrawal of approval
noted thereon, he made the following IN
dorsement:
81 approved the recommendation Of Com
missioner West of May g. 1909 with the
| understanding that the provision with re-
spect to cleaning streets by machinery or
by flushing in the alternative left the ques-
ton of whether there should be any clean
ing by flushing entirely in the discretion OF
the Commissioners, and that 1t was to be de-
termined by the Commissioners later, after
experiment and after securing informa-
ton as to the operation of water on asphalt
| pavements elsewhere.
| With these Endorsements the papers were
| returned to Commissioner West who
noted" them. 1t is probable the matter
| will be left idle for a while, until the engi-
| neer department has secured the informal
| ton 1t desires.
| In the specifications under which pro-
| posals were invited 1t was stated that the
| cleaning should be by machine or flushing,
| as ordered by the Commissioners. The APP
| proximate figures were given, however, of
| 300 900 900 square yards of sweeping and
| 25 600 900 square yards of flushing.
| AS this flushing estimate caused some of
| the bidders to increase their prices over
| what would have been put in for sweeping
| alone it is believed the Commissioners will
| conform as nearly as possible to the ap-
| proximate figures given. provided 1t Is de-
| cided the flushing will not be too injurious
| to the pavements