Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1903-10-17
is KNOCKED AGAIN
No Asphalt Paving improvement
on TWenty.First This
Year.
THE ESTIMATE IS TOO HIGH
Barber Company Unable to Meet
the Specifica-
tiOns.

Hope of having a sample strip OF
asphalt paving in Rock Island this
year might as well be abandoned.
That is what Mayor William Neon
ochie says-and he ought to know
what he is talking about, as he is
chairman of the board of public i'm
provements, through which all petit
tions for public work of this charac-
ter must pass.
Two previous petitions for asphalt
paving on Twenty-first street have
been defeated, it has been alleged
through the efforts of the "brick
trust" which has for years had a
cinch on paving improvements in
Rock Island, and wants to enjoy Il
continuance of the good thing it has
been having.
Whether the "brick trust" is in any
way responsible for the present state
of affairs is of course conjectural, al
though one hears some strong intima-
tions that the ''nigger is still in the
wood pile" At any rate, the board of
public improvements, at a meeting
this morning, after adopting the Bar
Der company bid for the improve
ment with asphalt of Twenty-first
street between Tenth and Twelfth av-
enues, discovered that there was
strenuous objection to its action on
the part of a certain property holder
on the street, and i'm order to have
further legal advice, reconsidered its
vote and laid the matter over to flu
ture meeting.
EstImste Found Too High.
The estimate of the city engineer
on the cost of the work is $2.l7 per
yard, with a top surface two inches
in thickness. The Barber Asphalt
company, the only bidder. proposed
to do the work according to the spec
itications for $2.2s per yard. adding it
was impossible to do it within the fig
ures given in the estimate. So an
other proposition was made by the
company of S2.11 per yard. with top
covering of thickness of one and
one-half inches. This bid was accept
ed by the board, but after the action
was taken Mayor McConochie states
he was notified that there would he a
legal fight on the confirmation of the
assessment roll in the county court
He states that, as the bid was not in
accordance with specifications, it
would be an easy matter to knock out
the improvement. The original hid
could not be accepted for the reason
that it was beyond the estimate, and
in order to meet it a reassessment
would be necessary.
So, to avoid trouble, the mayor said
the board decided to hold the matter
for future consideration. Anyway. he
said the improvement could not be
done this fall. the Barber company
specifying in its bid that the work
would have to be done i'm 1904. as it
would not take chances in laying as
phalt after Nov. /.
With remembrances still fresh of
the trick that was played by brick in
tluence on the Fifteenth street prop
erty holders to deprive them of what
they desired in the way of paving ma
terial. to say nothing of what has
heretofore been accomplished on
Twenty street in the same direc-
ton, it does not seem. that the inter
eSted Twenty-first street tax PAYERS
will accept the present situation with
very good grace.
On Fifteenth street the minority fl
nally triumphcd and the majority on
the Twenty-first street section will
not be apt TO submit to the same pro
ceedings. If they want something be-
sides brick pavement they should have
It, and should not be deprived of their
preference through technicalitieS.
There is no more reason why small
percentage of the frontage interested
should be allowed to interfere at this
stage of the proceedings than that
the estimates should be as high as
they are, as compared with other cit
es, Moline, for instance.